Activator

Activators are a subspecies of genetically engineered Cybertronian Mini-Cons from the planet Cybertron.

Anatomy
Activators share a similar biology to other Cybertronian Mini-Cons.

Powers and abilities
Activators share many of the same abilities as other Cybertronian Mini-Cons, such as Powerlinxing. Due to their genetic modifications, they can combine with larger Cybertronians in vehicle mode, thereby unlocking a vehicular power-up mode.

Activators can generate GroundBridge-like portals to a dimension known as the Shadowzone.

Despite being mute, Activators are able to communicate with other Cybertronians via telepathy.

Culture and society
Activators are largely submissive, having been stripped of their free will by Cyclonus' High Council. However, Hi-Test would eventually become as sapient as other Cybertronians after abandoning Soundwave.

History
The Activators are originally Mini-Cons that had been captured by a team of Decepticons led by Cyclonus that had been posing as the Autobot High Council and reprogrammed against their will. All memory of themselves were wiped from their data banks during the procedure. They were then sent to Earth to assist fellow Decepticon Soundwave in helping escape the Shadowzone and contact Megatron.

When the Activators arrived at the Shadowzone, Soundwave began dispatching them one-by-one to gather Decepticon Hunters from a team of Autobots led by Bumblebee. Around the same time, the Decepticon Mini-Cassette Laserbeak was reformatted into an Activator when Soundwave augmented and modified their bodies using debris and spare parts found in the Shadowzone.

Stuntwing spied on the Bee Team as they tangled with Heatseeker in Grand Valley. When it looked like the Stunticon was getting the better of the Autobots, Stuntwing linked with Bumblebee, thereby giving him a flight mode. The Activator remained silent under Bumblebee's questioning. After an explosion caused the Bee Team to merge into a combiner known as Ultra Bee, Stuntwing made off with Bumblebee's Decepticon Hunter. He later opened a GroundBridge portal to the Shadowzone and headed through it to rendezvous with Soundwave.

Sometime later, Soundwave dispatched Trickout through a GroundBridge, ordering him to find more Decepticon Hunters. Trickout succeeded in his mission when managed to grab Sideswipe's weapon while the Autobots were busy being inadvertently merged as Ultra Bee and returned it to Soundwave.

Hi-Test surreptitiously observed Strongarm and Nightra patrolling a forest road. He attempted to steal Strongarm's Decepticon Hunter only to disturb some birds, prompting Nightra to run and Strongarm to follow. Hi-Test later opened a GroundBridge portal to report back to Soundwave, who berated him for his failure. Frightened, Hi-Test fled, with Soundwave threatening to offline him at the first opportunity.

Despite Hi-Test's failure, Soundwave would get another opportunity to collect Strongarm's Decepticon Hunter. After Strongarm got knocked out by the Stunticons during a fight in a railyard, Goldgear casually retrieved her weapon and slipped away before Bumblebee could notice anything amiss. Having gathered all three Decepticon Hunters, Soundwave was one step closer to completing his "project". At the same time, the Autobots began to realize that there was a connection with the thefts of their weapons.

Sometime later, a team of Decepticon convicts lead by Steeljaw were sprung from custody by Cyclonus' High Council, who they regarded as their "benefactors". Goldgear silently provided GroundBridge service from the Shadowzone, allowing Soundwave to contact Steeljaw's "pack". Revealing that he was associated with their benefactors, Soundwave directing them to prepare for his arrival on Earth or face painful deactivation.

When Steeljaw stole a set of nuclear fuel rods, Stuntwing emerged from a Shadowzone bridge portal to retrieve it on behalf of Soundwave only to be brushed off by Steeljaw, who was insisting on a personal delivery. Stuntwing went back through the portal to deliver Steeljaw's message. Concurrently to this, the renegade Hi-Test took to following Bumblebee's team for a while.

With his plan coming to fruition, Soundwave executed the remaining Activators, having served their purpose. He then used the Decepticon Hunters to escape the Shadowzone while in a supercharged state and rendezvoused with Steeljaw at a demolition derby, where he presented his "project": a transgalactic beacon generator constructed from wreckage in the Shadowzone that could summon Megatron back to Earth so that he could supposedly lead the Decepticons to a new era.

Dismissing Steeljaw's objections that the radiation from the rods he collected will result in the destruction of life on Earth, Soundwave forcing Steeljaw to retreat before deploying Laserbeak to deal with an eavesdropping Sideswipe. He then proceeding to take the generator to the highest point in the city, the Crown City Bank Building.

Detecting Autobots, Soundwave sent Laserbeak in pursuit of Optimus Prime before being engaged by Bumblebee's team. Laserbeak came close to finishing Optimus when Hi-Test finally revealed himself by knocking the Decepticon Activator aside. Hi-Test then transformed into engine mode and linked himself up with Optimus, upgrading him into a fight-capable truck with missile weaponry. With the additional power provided, Optimus successfully defeated Laserbeak by knocking him out of the sky.

Using the combined Decepticon Hunters to freeze Bumblebee and Strongarm, Soundwave found himself being disarmed by Sideswipe before Bumblebee, having been freed by the Dinobot Grimlock, used the weapons to first cut off the ends of Soundwave's tentacles to bring him to his knees and then freeze his body. As the generator started to fire up, Soundwave declared that Megatron would return before it was suddenly destroyed by Optimus. With his mission failed, Soundwave went into stasis akin to fainting.

With the threat posed by Soundwave and his generator nutralized, Hi-Test telepathically communicated with Optimus, who explain the Mini-Con's origins and his connection to recent events to the Bee Team. Encouraged to make the Shadowzone his home as no one would hunt him there, Hi-Test opened a GroundBridge portal and silently bid the Autobots farewell before disappearing though it. Soundwave and Laserbeak were subsequently taken back to Cybertron by Optimus onboard Prime Force One so that the Decepticons could stand trial.