Gears

Gears likes complaining. It makes him happy. But more importantly, he knows that his fellow Autobots find his endless litanies amusing rather than annoying. And in a war that's run a few million years, a little laughter can make a big difference, so he keeps at it.

Fiction
Gears was sent to South Africa to prevent the local Autobots from being slaughtered... but then had to let the Decepticons go, to prevent civilian deaths. When Brawn balked that the humans could see them being beaten, Gears responded that when it comes to saving lives you shelve your pride.

Among the friends Gears lost during the war, the last was Tailgate, who was killed by Reverb. Gears studied ancient documents and learned of the presence of cache of weapons hidden during the war against The Fallen on Earth. He set out to find and protect the site against the Decepticons.

He arrived on Earth in time to save the human Kevin Bowman from being run down by a van, though he sustained damage to his leg in the process. When Reverb arrived a short time later, Gears fought and managed to defeat the Decepticon, though was unable to finish him off. Taking the form of a derelict SUV as an alternate mode, Gears set about continuing his mission with help from Kevin and headed for Hawthorne Army Depot. Though Gears hesitated in bringing the boy along, Kevin proved invaluable in getting them to the depot.

There, they quickly located the hidden cache in a hill, however it wasn't long before Reverb arrived with Ratchet and Bumblebee, whom the Decepticon had convinced that Gears was an enemy. Reverb managed to damage Gears enough to immobilize the Autobot, and load up with weapons. Gears struggled to make himself operational, but it wasn't until Kevin persuaded him to generate a hologram of Tailgate that they lured Reverb into the cave and Gears was able to get off a lucky shot that destroyed Reverb's personal force field, letting Optimus Prime defeat the Decepticon. Afterwards, Gears assured Kevin that his damage would soon be repaired.

Kevin's attempts to teach him Twenty Questions didn't go well, as most of his knowledge was Cybertron-based. He accompanied Kevin back to Hurley Crossing so the boy could pick up some belongings. When they returned to the NEST Rapid Response Base, it was to the news that another Cybertronian storehouse had been located near Battle Mountain. A Decepticon attack at Hyperdynamix resulted in Gears and Bumblebee being left at base while the other Autobots went to defend the labs. Kevin and Douglas Porter talked Gears into driving up to Battle Mountain with Bumblebee, and he scanned a new sports-car alternate mode before doing so. Once at Battle Mountain the two Autobots found themselves facing a group of Decepticons led by Blowback. They succeeded in dispatching all four of the enemy, though Gears was damaged in the process, and found that Kevin and Douglas had located the storehouse in the meantime. After a brief encounter with Reverb, Ironhide took them back to base where Optimus was not very impressed with their actions.

Gears and Kevin were visiting the laboratory when the Battle Mountain cylinder was accidentally powered up. When it was to be transported to a secure vault near Yucca Mountain, Gears "persuaded" Chief Lindsay to allow the pair to take part in the convoy. When said convoy was ambushed by Reverb and some stolen autonomous tanks, Gears defended it along with Bumblebee. Gears and Kevin followed Reverb to Hyperdynamix Aerospace, where it turned out a satellite was being launched that would wipe out Cybertronians worldwide. The pair hitched a ride on one of the rockets and managed to disable the satellite with Reverb's help, though directly afterwards the Decepticon shot Gears in the back. The severely-injured Autobot was taken back to Earth for repairs by a supply rocket for the nearby HODDIS space station, and soon patched up.