Mini-Con

Mini-cons are a race of small Transformers capable of powerlinking with a larger Transformer and to impart extra abilities or greatly increase their strength.

Beast Era
Ramulus mentions the existance of Mini-cons.

Animated Continuity
Unicron created Mini-cons using human souls and sent them to Cybertron as an agitatign element to cause civil war. Initially presented as 'smart tools,' Mini-cons eventually 'woke up' and achieved their own cosciencness (the resutl fo contact with time-traveling humans.) When Unicron attacked Cybertron int he present, the Mini-cons appear to have undergone a mass evolution, unlocking vast pwoer wich they sued to combat Unicron. Following the Chaos-Bringer's defeat, most Mini-cons moved to floating cities offworld. Those that remained (usually Autobot allies) no longer exhibited the ability to boost Transformer strength so greatly.

Dreamwave Comic Continuity
Mini-cons are a 3rd race of Transformer, mostly living in designated sectors to toemselves, which left the open to attackw hen Megatron led his Decepticons on capture raids. Mini-cons are capable of adding their power (disproportionate to their size) to a Transformer with whom they powerlink. Mini-cons are also capable of tapping an extradimensional energy source of unknown origin, but are wary of doing this, and most have inhibitors installed to prevent this from happening.

Over-Run, a Mini-con refugee from another dimension led Cybertron's collected Mini-cons in tappignt hat dimension's energies and channeling them into an attack on Unicron which left him stranded on the far fringes of space. After Unicron's defeat, Most Mini-cons re-established their villages in the Mini-con sector. When Unicron appeared again 10 years later, no one went to fetcht he Mini-cons to kick his giant metal butt again, so it seems likely the Mini-cons conenction to their extradimensional power source was severed.

There is no indication that Mini-cons are related to Unicron in Dreamwave continuity.