I find Kicker's character from Energon/Superlink to be a infuriating waste of potential

Discussion in 'Transformers Earthspark and Cartoon Discussion' started by YellowCorvette, Jul 18, 2021.

  1. YellowCorvette

    YellowCorvette Average Core Gundam enjoyer

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    Would it be ok if I ranted about Kicker from Energon/Superlink, for a bit?

    Kicker-card.jpg

    The character does get quite a huge amount of bad rep among this fanbase, but that's not what I want to rant about; What I may mention may sound like blasphemy and a controversial take, but... I find Kicker to be a more active human character than the Armada/Micron Legend kids, and I actually liked the core idea behind his character at first.

    Just think about his past for a moment: Kicker Jones was born with a superpower that allows him to detect Energon, which causes him traumatic experiences since childhood as his well-intentioned but irresponsible father exploited this for his researches, which left him a neuroses-riddled mess with trust issues; But eventually learned to trust and love others. I actually think that this was a good idea and character arc to explore with a human character in this franchise..... at least, on paper.

    Unfortunately, Energon/Superlink managed to screw Kicker's character over by having him remain as the same unlikable, irritating asshole; and never gains any positive character growth as the series progressed. Every interaction he had with basically anyone except his GF (And maybe his sister) was hostile and the character lost his charm. This may be intentional and does make sense considering his backstory, so it may be hypocritical if I do say it's a mistake (Since if I have an upbringing as Kicker, I might also behave exactly the same way growing up), but the writers never gave Kicker much chance to do anything noteworthy and have heroic moments like some of the Armada/Micron Legend kids (Something that even Billy and Fred from Armada got), and that's where the mistake lies. Kicker never got to redeem himself or becomes less obnoxious, so the audience could never get to fully support him. Yes, his actions make sense considering his less-than-ideal backstory, but it's the writers' fault for not creating a situation where he manages to do anything to redeem himself. The Autobots does briefly mentioned that Kicker has learned to trust others, but it's in such a way that doesn't impact the PLOT in a significant way that demonstrates Kicker's supposed growth -- and that is a huge mistake on the writers, that only exists because they didn't know who they wanted as the main character.

    Another thing that kinda pisses me off is that Kicker's views are always expressed in a manner that makes him sound irrational, which degrades his character. He occasionally says that he hates teaming up alongside the Autobots for fighting against the Decepticons just because "they love to fighting", but it's obvious that giving in to the Decepticons and not doing anything would lead to the Cybertronians and human civilians suffering under the Decepticon's tyranny. This obvious point just makes it seem that Kicker is stupid.

    But it isn't like the potential for growth wasn't there. Kicker could've started off hating the Autobots for bringing the conflict to anywhere they stumbled across. He could have been a character who starts out hating the Cybertronians because of his traumatic upbringing caused by his father who exploited his childhood for his research. Then he could later learn to view the situation from a broader viewpoint, and learns to forgive the Autobots, his father, and put his past behind for the greater good. All of these potentials are just left so unexplored that there is virtually no point to them.

    In summary, as hated as Kicker was, I liked the core idea behind this character and think that Kicker's character had a lot of potentials; but all of it was wasted because the writers had no idea of what they want to do with this character.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2021
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  2. Nova Maximus

    Nova Maximus Well-Known Member

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    "I ... Energon/Superlink to be a Infuriating waste of potential"

    Hey look, Energon's catchphrase.
     
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  3. Novaburnhilde

    Novaburnhilde Destron Enforcer

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    Like with a lot of things in that series, good idea, bad execution.
     
  4. CannonBlaster

    CannonBlaster Well-Known Member

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    That's just Energon/Superlink. The shows could have easily been called "Transformers: Wasted Potential"
     
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  5. Mako Crab

    Mako Crab Well-Known Member

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    I remember an early episode where Ironhide tells Kicker how great his dad is & that he should look up to him, grow up, and stop being stuck in the past, and Kicker basically… takes his advice & he’s suddenly cured of all the hatred of his father and mistrust of the Autobots in one episode. Though his mannerisms don’t change any. They just dropped his entire setup in exchange for nothing. It’s some of the worst writing I’ve seen in this franchise.

    It does make you wonder what Mika/Misha sees in him, though she scored the best burn, when she told Kicker that he loves to whine for all the attention it gives him. :p 
     
  6. Autobot Burnout

    Autobot Burnout ...and I'll whisper "No."

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    That and Prime :lol 
     
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  7. RKStrikerJK5

    RKStrikerJK5 number one Bangles fan on the boards

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    It's a good rant on Kicker. And yes, as with SO MUCH in Energon his character was practically begging for better development.
     
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  8. MrSoundmeister

    MrSoundmeister Bang,Bang Boom!

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    Kicker Jones sorta did have quite a bad rep, but i could totally see his character done better if the writing and his overall direction was done better.

    Like they could develop some interesting connections by doing stuff like episodes that don't focus on the battles, like one episode would involve Ironhide, Kicker and some third person (Maybe Rad or Carlos.) go out on a road trip to lighten Kicker up & have some heart-to-heart moments while going out for some good times, likely go out for some lunch or something, have a little fun along the way.
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2021
  9. Mako Crab

    Mako Crab Well-Known Member

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    The problem with Energon is that it almost never did an episode that focused on just one or two characters. Every episode had to be a big group ensemble. The result is a big cast of cardboard cutouts.
     
  10. YellowCorvette

    YellowCorvette Average Core Gundam enjoyer

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    NGL, the writers for Superlink/Energon had no clear idea of who they wanted the main cast to be, so the story as a whole suffered (With neither the characters returning for Superlink or the new casts getting much in needed character growth, to get fully invested in them). And here, I want to be honest.

    I would have enjoyed following the previous casts from Micron Legend as the main casts of Superlink more. For better or worse, those are the casts I've followed for an entire 50 episodes, so it's obvious I would prefer seeing what they're up to (even if some of them like Hot Shot or Jetfire are nothing but cardboard cutouts, that doesn't do anything in Superlink). However, if they really wanted to feature new characters such as Kicker, Ironhide, or Inferno as the main cast, then the writers should have never bother making previous casts from Micron Legend return for Superlink.

    Hell, even Optimus was last seen in Micron Legend floating around in space, regretting failure of letting his inner darkness got the better of him; So it would still make sense just to show that Optimus was still MIA, and briefly show some of the previous casts peacefully retired or something. If the returning Micron Legend characters would be nothing but "glorified cameos" in Superlink, I would rather that they never show up in Syuperlink and further stealing the spotlight from the new cast, further bloating the cast of characters.

    it's like the writers wanted a huge ensemble cast featuring both returning and new characters, but never bother with any effort to make each of them has any character growth and interesting personalities (In a way that was consistent and sticks); What it ended up was a bloated ensemble cast with new characters that aren't interesting or likable enough to carry the show, and the returning casts ended up as bland, more obnoxious caricatures of their former selves.
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2021
  11. K1712829

    K1712829 Member

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    Yeah, even Youtuber Diamondbolt put him in the first place as the worst human
     
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  12. Girl Pants

    Girl Pants Well-Known Member

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    Energon really needed some more dev time or something. There are kernels of a lot of good ideas in the series, but execution just didn't work out. And that's not even counting the issues that were multiplied by the rushed dubbing too. I honestly could see Kicker's role/archetype done well under other circumstances.
     
  13. agent j 15

    agent j 15 Banned

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    Never seen Energon but just going by description, Kicker sounds like an incredibly interesting character and the kind of thing that human characters in TF needs - so the fact that we have never seen this character revisited or even the concept tried again means they must have fucked him up BAD.

    Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing another character named Kicker with the same backstory in a future TF story, but hopefully they actually do new things with the character and mellow him out.
     
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  14. Moonracer2084

    Moonracer2084 Member

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    Kicker both in Energon and Superlink is a bully with no redeeming qualities whatsoever!!
     
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  15. Liege Nemesis

    Liege Nemesis Snarks about old cartoons

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    Energon on the whole is an infuriating waste of potential. I can't honestly think of much that the show did right with any of its ideas, characters, or broad directions. Heck, I can't think of anything the show did right from a production standpoint either as it mostly looked awful and was so sloppily written that you can see the exact moment they finished most of their major plot points, looked at the schedule and realized "oh hell, we've still got a bunch of episodes left to make!"

    Kicker might be the worst though. His personality is grating and infuriating seemingly by design, his excuse while sensible is acknowledged, milked, discarded, and forgotten with no real impact. His growth is almost non-existent outside of other characters telling us he's better instead of him showing it, and he treats basically every other character, almost all of whom are better than him in every conceivable way, like utter garbage while still expecting that he is entitled to respect, consideration, and understanding. Misha deserved better (Misha should've been the viewpoint human. A young energon researcher with a sad backstory that they could've worked the Decepticons into for added pathos and who has to overcome the massive handicap of her baffling attachment to Kicker in order to grow as a person? Sign me the heck up for that.). His family deserved better (except maybe his dad, who was a huge dick from time to time and possibly the worst father the franchise has had given the cavalier way he treated Kicker when he was younger). The Autobots deserved better. And the audience deserved better.

    EDIT: I just realized this thread was bumped today after being inactive for 2 years. Whoops. I should've been paying more attention :lol 
     
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  16. GuardianofIaconCity

    GuardianofIaconCity TFW2005 Supporter

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    Kicker was painful to watch.
     
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  17. YellowCorvette

    YellowCorvette Average Core Gundam enjoyer

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    TBH, considering the infamous reputation of the character I'm not surprised to see comments like these pop out..... and completely missed every single points I'm trying to make, as if everything I said you guys just "in one ear and out the other".

    Yes, I also dislike Kicker's character as he is, but not in a way that most people do. If anything, I just hate how much of a wasted potential Kicker was character-wise than anything. As hated as Kicker was, I unironically think Kicker's character archetype can be done well but all of the untapped potentials this character had was, unfortunately, completely wasted in the show. This kind of character archetype is rare but can be done well (ala Hiroto Kuga from Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE), but both Kicker Jones and Shinn Asuka is like great examples of how not to do these kind of "Angry, traumatized teenagers with a grudge against the previous show's cast" type characters.

    I also think Kicker's strained relationship with his father especially was rife with storytelling opportunity that was unfortunately missed, especially since Dr. Jones wasn't portrayed as evil or selfish, he just wasn't a great parent figure and didn't understand the trauma he was putting his son through. There should've been some more depth and exploration to that dynamic, and some reconciliation between Kicker and his dad after Dr. Jones realized the damage he'd done.

    Do you think that my assessment is fair? Am I wrong for thinking that Kicker has great writing potential that was unfortunately wasted? The original post that I made in this thread was made a while ago where my posts can leave something to be desired, so maybe I just don't express my thoughts as clear as it should (In that case, my bad)
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2023
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