Deployer

Deployers are Transformers that have chosen to form a partnership with one or more Mini-Cons. The term can also refer to the Mini-Cons they partner with.

Instead of transforming into vehicles or machinery, Mini-Con Deployers instead become additional armor or accessories for bulk partners and remain attached until summoned into action. The advantages that this symbiosis confers are manifold: the full-sized Transformers gain an extra pair of hands while Mini-Cons benefit from the additional armor and protection that their partners afford.

Most Transformers only pair up with one or two Mini-Cons, although Soundwave has partnered with at least four at a time.

Transformers: Exodus
Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage and Laserbeak were Soundwave's minions located in his chest cavity.

Transformers: Prime
Laserbeak was Soundwave's Deployer who he used for various tasks such as kidnapping William Fowler,   keeping an eye on Starscream,   providing support in battle  and looking for Iacon relics. However, he became seemingly offline after Jack and Arcee blew up a gas station and some Vehicons right in front of him. Laserbeak was later repaired and used to provide air support for Shockwave against Optimus Prime while searching for Predacon remains in Texas.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise
Many Decepticons and Autobots chose to become Deployers. According to Airazor, Autobot Deployers used buzzsaw alternade modes while Decepticon Deployers became torpedoes. A third group known as Cyclones were mostly unaffiliated and became free-rolling spheres. Many Decepticon Deployers were imprisoned aboard the Alchemor along with their Mini-Con partners and were subsequently free to run amok on Earth.

Transformers: War for Cybertron
Soundwave's minions Frenzy, Rumble and Laserbeak battled Optimus, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, and Air Raid during an Autobot breakout. War for Cybertron

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
With the help of Laserbeak and Rumble, Soundwave secretly salvaged and rebuilt their glorious leader Megatron. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark
Rumble and Laserbeak accompanied Soundwave, Shockwave and Starscream to locate the Dark Spark. While on the mission Rumble was used by Soundwave to unlock multiple passages to the Dark Spark using his small size. Laserbeak was also used to locate the Dark Spark, however when Soundwave and the rest of the Decepticons got trapped in the Dark Spark chamber Laserbeak was the only one not to be trapped and freed his fellow Decepticons.

Known Deployers

 * Soundwave: partnered with Laserbeak, Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage
 * Drift and sometimes Sideswipe: partnered with Jetstorm and Slipstream
 * Fracture: partnered with Airazor and Divebomb
 * Overload: temporarily partnered with Backtrack and Ransack
 * Crazybolt: partnered with Slicedice
 * Razorpaw: partnered with Glacius and Swelter
 * Simacore: partnered with Axiom and Theorem
 * Bisk: partnered with Hammer and Anvil
 * Quillfire: partnered with Back and Forth
 * Ratchet: partnered with Undertone