Minicons

Minicons are a race of diminutive cybertronians native to Cybertron's two moons; Epistemus and Solomus. Minicons are the smallest among the cybertronian race, standing around the average height of organic life forms. Despite the physically fragile nature of the average Minicon, each possess an internalized well of power that can greatly enhance the abilities of anyone tapping into it, through a process known as powerlinking, allowing them to act as a sort sentient battery. Some Minicons can also transfer special powers and abilities like super-speed or invisibility to their powerlinked partners.

Though members of the cybertronian race, Minicons were widely regarded as second-class citizens bythe larger population. They were seen with distrust due to the urban myth that Minicons were covert spies for the current government at that time, the senate. It wasn't until the Great War that Minicons were seen as something else-weapons. Their ability to enhance and grant powers drew attention from Autobots and Decepticons alike, further withering away their individuality. Most neutral Minicons formed the Micron faction and built a spaceship, the Exodus, to leave Cybertron and the escalating war, but a malfunction had caused the ship to crash into the surface of Luna, the front half flying into the orbit of the planet Terra. The Minicons onboard survived the crash, escaping in stasis panels that were fired all over the world, where they lay dormant until a trio of human children reactivated them after 5 million year stasis-igniting Autobot and Decepticon hostilities on the planet.

Powerlink Process

The Powerlink process (known as powerlinx in cybertronian slang) is a catchall term for power upgrades among cybertronians brought about by merging with a Minicon. The term is primarily used to refer to the process by which Minicons bond with and enhance the abilities of a larger cybertronian (Bulk). This ability has always been with the Minicon race, but it was only recently discovered in the middle stages of the War for Cybertron by Megatron, who sought to capture and enslave as many Minicons as possible to increase the power of his troops. The Autobots, after learning about this, began taking Minicons into protective custody.

Targetmasters; Minicons who transform into weapons who could comingle the power of their own Sparks with those of the bots who carried them to wield incredible destructive power. Such Minicons were very rare, and were highly sought after by both sides.

Minicon Gestalt Program

Tensions ran high between the Minicons and their larger cousins, with the former slowly losing their freedom and individuality as the war dragged on. Eventually, a secret military program spearheaded by the Microns was implemented using combiner technology stolen from the Autobots. The purpose of the project was to create a gestalt defense force against any and all Bulks who wished them harm and initiated the creation of gestalt Targetmasters of great power. This led to the creation of the Minicon gestalts Centurion and Heavy Metal, with the combined targetmaster weapons, the omni-saber, skyboom shield and hydra cannon.