the ability to deploy Mini-Cons into battle. He is very heavily built and has virtually impenetrable armor. He seems to only speak in stage directions and other dialect towards "acting".
During the war on Cybertron, Overload was known to be the top spy for the Decepticon cause led by Megatron. He cast himself through many identities and has undertaken through his skills of acting. His work resulted in him to destroy several Autobot installations until Optimus learned of this fraud and stopped Overload. However, Overload also managed to badly injured Bumblebee during the battle. Overload was placed in stasis on board the Alchemor but the ship crashed landed on Earth.
Overload woke from stasis when he had sensed Optimus's presence on Earth. He arrived at the scrapyard and began seeking for his old nemesis by attacking the scrapyard and demanding to know Optimus's whereabouts. In his search, he attacked Bumblebee, Strongarm, and Grimlock, while Fixit was hiding in the Alchemor's command center in the scrapyard with Russell Clay and Denny Clay. Fixit informed the two humans about Overload and his past before he was placed on the Alchemor. When Bumblebee reveals to Overlaod that Optimus was gone, Overload comes up with a plan to lure Optimus out by endangering the people of Crown City. He heads off to the city with a pair of Cyclones named Backtrack and Ransack following him without his knowledge. He soon discovers the Cyclones in a parking lot while on his way to Crown City. Overload welcomes them to join him as he lets them attach themselves to his arm deployers, tested them out as they wrecked a few cars in the parking lot that they were in and then they proceeded to head towards Crown City as Overload evilly laughs on the way.
Overload found a human vehicle which he began smashing as a warm up to the main show for Optimus until Bumblebee located him and stopped him from doing more damage. Bumblebee pinned Overload the ground and began punching him around. While it did little damage, Overload proved more than a match for the Autobot as Backtrack and Ransack helped their ally with fighting the Autobot. When Overload tried to remember Bumblebee, he points out that Bee once called him "shameless and overdramatic". However, Bumblebee stated that it wasn't him. Overload then managed to pin Bumblebee down and began beating him in the same manner as before when Overload was pinned by him. However, despite receiving some bits of holes in his head by Overload, Bumblebee managed to persuade the two Mini-Cons to turn on Overload by using a pot to knock on Overload that created a noise that they appealed to. The pair of Cyclone Mini-Cons used some pots and pans near the campsite to hit Overload. With Overload distracted, Bumblebee stated to him that he wanted a perfect rap up where Overload remembers him and he punches him out. Instead, Bumblebee was happy to render Overload unconscious with a punch to his face, even with Overload not remembering who Bumblebee was. Overload was carried by Grimlock to the scrapyard to get stored away in a stasis pod.