Afterburner is an Autobot with the function of Gunner who is defiant, bad tempered and has a dislike of authority figures (according to his Tech Spec).  He transforms between his robot mode and his motorcycle mode and is one of the five Technobots that combine to form Computron.  In the original Transformers cartoon series Afterburner is designated as the left arm of Computron, but as a toy can be used as an arm or a leg.  

The Generation 1 Afterburner was released in 1987.  He was also available in the Computron gift set released in the same year.