Triggered abilities (starting with "when," "whenever," or "at") are unaffected by the cost reduction ability of Forensic Gadgeteer
Much like the all-planeswalker superfriends archetype, its strength is in having a huge toolbox of independently strong effects that are all enabled in roughly the same way
The Shadowmoor art certainly isnt bad its just that Theros was tailor-made to give enchantments their own look and feel, and the night sky in the shadow of the wings is just a perfect, trippy, dreamlike effect deployed stunningly
If Mono-Red ever gained popularity, the meta could easily shut it down
This allows the Aethermage to play into a great space that supports a ton of classic Azorius strategies without getting ahead of itself
It can passively benefit your other cards while waiting to be activated