Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

So, the trained soldiers in the elite NEST headquarters don't notice that the crab in the room has a metal sheen?

From page 219: "That human, had she or he been present at this moment, might have paused to take a closer look, upon which he or she might have noticed a particular metallic sheen to this individual crab.   And the observation of another minute would have removed all doubt."

Or to page 225: "Nothing was left to chance. Ventilation ducts were investigated, air-conditioning pipes checked, every piece of furniture moved, turned over, and closely examined."

One argument might be that the crabs are, to be fair, infesting the station.   Still, they don't notice a metallic sheen?   Yeah, it sounds like the crabs were left to chance.   If they're doing that much of moving, etc, then yeah, I think the soldiers would notice the metal crab.   I'm also assuming that since NEST is post-Sector Seven humans working with Autobots, that these are highly skilled, highly trained soldiers, and not grunts, given the level of security and, well, skills you'd need to get in on NEST.

One might argue that, hey, animal, infestation, so couldn't it possibly look exactly like a crab?   Yeah, except explicitly metal - and thus shiny.   Plus, let me present to you how the Bayverse has treated animals so far. 

Scorponok:

And how they will be presented in the movie Revenge of the Fallen, and remind you that the Veiled Threat is the prequel to Revenge. 

Bayverse does not make robot animals that can be mistaken for real animals.    Under any circumstances.   Foster should have known this since, hey, Scorponok was from the first movie which was already out.   

Fail on consistency within continuity.