Kicker Jones
- Kicker is a human from the Energon portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.
Kicker Jones is the son of Dr. Brian Jones and Miranda Jones. He's brash and headstrong, always ready to leap before he looks. During the war over energon, Kicker accompanied the Autobots on many of their missions, even fighting Decepticons and Terrorcons himself by utilizing a high-tech battlesuit developed by his father. He is a top-notch cyclist, though his real strength is in his mysterious ability to detect and harness the power of energon.
Traumatic experiences while traveling with his father as a child have left Kicker a neuroses-riddled mess; agoraphobia, claustrophobia, technophobia, homophobia (don't ask), scotophobia, gigaentomophobia and borderline attachment disorder are just the beginning of his problems. He's slowly learning to trust others and, with the Autobots' continued love and support, might even one day be on speaking terms with his father!
True to his name, he tends to kick things. Usually his Autobot Partner.
Fiction
Cartoon continuity
Energon cartoon
- Voice actor: Brad Swaile (English), Daisuke Kishio (Japanese), Masumi Asano (Young Kicker, Japanese), Johan Svensson (Swedish), Jimmy Redler (French)
As the Unicron Battles ended, Optimus Prime assumed command of Cybertron to lead the new Autobot-Decepticon alliance. With it came contact and diplomatic ties to Earth's governments, including Dr. Brian Jones, humanity's foremost expert on the newly discovered ore, energon. Doctor Jones travelled to Cybertron to meet with the Autobots, and he brought along his young son, Kicker. Kicker was initially very afraid of the strange, metal world and its towering robot inhabitants. While his father was busy, Kicker ran away, hiding in a long-ruined part of Cybertron. This led Optimus Prime to search for him, warning that the areas was strictly off-limits. While trying to escape the Autobot leader, Kicker accidentally fell down a long shaft only to be saved by a mysterious glowing sphere - Primus, the living heart of Cybertron. Fascinated by the boy, Primus imbued him with a special gift - the ability to detect energon, which manifested itself as an eerie, yellow glowing of his hair. Cybertron City
Dr. Jones exploited his son's new talent, dragging the young Kicker from planet to planet, wherever they expected to find energon. At times, he would strap Kicker into a space suit, and send him out into the void alone, with nothing but a radio and a single tether line connecting them. On one occasion, Kicker's line detached and he floated miserably in the vacuum of space, unable to contact his father or control his movement. When he eventually landed on an asteroid and managed to recontact his father, Dr. Jones continued to insist Kicker press onwards to find more energon. This experience gave Kicker an extreme fear of dark places and being alone in the vacuum. Over time, due to this and many similar experiences, Kicker came to greatly resent his father and the Transformers. The New Cybertron City The Legend of Rodimus Nevertheless, he still cared about his family, especially his younger sister, Sally, and would fight to protect them. As he grew up, Kicker and his family came to live in Ocean City, a subaquatic mining facility that was one of many established around the globe by the Earth-Cybertron alliance to search for energon. He formed a relationship with Misha Miramond, a young scientist stationed on a research outpost in Desert City.
Some ten years later on the day Ocean City discovered energon, Kicker was still bitter at his ordeal and his status as a tool for his father's scientific research, which concerned his mother. After the Cybertron City on Mars was destroyed by Terrorcons. Kicker was the first to realize Ocean City was their next target, thanks to his innate Primus-given sensitivity. Riding outside the city with Hot Shot in tow and concerned for the safety of his family inside, Kicker lured the strange beast Transformers away until he was surrounded but was saved at the last moment by Optimus Prime's Autobot reinforcements. Angry that his father had asked Optimus Prime to look after the boy, Kicker took off again away from the city and soon ended up in trouble despite assistance from the young Autobot Ironhide. Once again, Optimus Prime came to his rescue by throwing him a special suit developed by Dr. Jones specifically to protect Kicker in dangerous situations. After the dust settled, Optimus Prime explained that Dr. Jones knew Kicker would refuse to allow the Autobots to protect him, so the suit was made so Kicker could fight alongside the Autobots. Cybertron City
Kicker did not follow orders easily, and he loudly interrupted a strategic meeting between Optimus Prime and Alexis over what to do about the Terrorcon threat. Ocean City and the other mining colonies were evacuated of the human civilians and most of the staff, for fear of further attacks. Kicker's mother and sister left Ocean City behind, but he was very concerned about Misha, who chose to stay behind in Desert City with a skeleton research staff. Optimus teamed Kicker with Ironhide, a young Autobot rookie, but Kicker ditched the big galoot the first chance he got to go flying into battle with Jetfire in defense of Lunar City. Optimus Prime gave Kicker a stern warning after the battle, threatening to send the young punk home to his mother if he didn't watch out for his partner in the future. Energon Stars
Now that the Terrorcons had passed the energon mining colonies on the asteroid belt, Mars, and the Moon, Optimus was sure that one of the Earth cities was their next target. Kicker correctly predicted that Desert City, Misha's colony, was the next target, and the Autobots bridged out to Desert City to save Misha and Hot Shot, who was on scene. Kicker and Ironhide fought their way into the mining facility past the Terrorcons, and successfully pulled Misha and the research team to safety. Scorpinok Despite his hotheadedness, Kicker slowly became comfortable following orders. When Mars City was attacked, Kicker was eager to leap into action and defend the miners, but Optimus chose to keep the team in reserve on Earth, fearing a sudden Terrorcon strike if the planet was left unguarded. Kicker reluctantly listened and, when Prime proved to be correct, he also followed orders in battle on Earth that initially kept him away from the fighting and on crowd control. In this battle, Kicker encountered the Energon Saber Mini-Cons for the first time, and began his rather unorthodox use of the sword as a personal hoverboard. Megatron's Sword
Kicker experienced a vivid dream of a new source of energon in the frozen mountains. After locating the mountain from his dream online, he led an expedition out into the ice to pinpoint the energy source. During the search, however, the ground gave out underneath him and Grindor, causing them to tumble into a crevace. Luckily, the crevace turned out to be the source of the energon they were looking for. Unluckily, the Terrorcons arrived at the location, hunting for the same energon that Kicker was now sitting right on top of. The other Autobots managed to hold the Terrorcons off long enough for Strongarm to pull Kicker and Grindor to safety, and they triggered a Space Bridge signal to Cybertron. Once that signal went out, Doctor Jones lowered an entire energon-mining installation down on top of the energon...and the Terrorcons. Kicker was impressed with how his dad saved the day and, looking back, he began to realize that his father had always been looking out for him on their energon expeditions, too. He finally began to accept that his dad DID care about him as a son, not just as a energon detector. The New Cybertron City
As the Autobots and Omnicons began to steady themselves for invasion, the various energon cities were reinforced with considerable firepower and defenses. Kicker congratulated Misha on her idea to use energon in place of regular power for the gun turrets, although she was reluctant to accept the idea that her work was being used for war. During a Terrorcon raid, Kicker shanghaied a Battle Ravage and used it to find energon in the mine FOR the Omnicons, knocking it out once it did its job. Things seemed to be going well for the Autobots...too well, as Megatron soon returned and assumed control of Alpha Q's operation. Kicker and the Autobots arrived at Plains City to find Megatron had demolished the installation and dismembered Hot Shot. Megatron Resurrected Optimus Prime benched Kicker from the next fight, out of genuine fear for what Megatron would do if he learned of Kicker's abilities. Despite this, Kicker eventually entered the battle anyway, providing Prime with a clone of Megatron's sword to counter the Decepticon leader in personal combat. Megatron Raid
At Ocean City, Kicker started to get a vague sense that something was wrong. Trusting his feelings, he eventually identified Starscream, an invisible assassin sent to Earth by Alpha Q to eliminate Optimus Prime. Despite Prime's protests, Kicker helped organize the other Autobots to keep watch over their leader and prevent him from coming to harm. Optimus soon fled to the moon, hoping to lure his assassin away from any comrades that could be hurt in the crossfire. When Prime fell in battle, Kicker worked desperately with Sky Blast to bring him back on-line, and Optimus later told Kicker how touched he was by the boy's dedication. Starscream the Mysterious Mercenary
When the Autobots discovered a mysterious signal emanating from the asteroid belt, Kicker and the team Bridged out into space to search for it. The Autobots were relying on Kicker's intuition to guide them to the threat, but he had difficulty locking onto it. This was partly because Kicker was being plagued by visions of a previous space mission with his father as a young boy, where he tumbled untethered through space for a time. Without any means of propulsion on his own, Kicker felt very exposed out in the vacuum, especially after Ironhide and the others left him behind to confront the enemy. Caught in a mega-blast when an enemy ship exploded, Kicker nearly lost it as he was tossed uncontrollably through the vacuum. The Autobots rescued him and brought him home to Ocean City, where he lamented about his poor showing during the mission. Misha managed to cheer him up, though, reminding Kicker that even Optimus was a young rookie once, and he just needed to push past his weaknesses and do better next time. Battle of the Asteroid Belt
Kicker had a lot of trouble adjusting to his father's return to Earth. Their relationship hadn't improved any by Kicker's time with the Autobots, and he showed no interest in making an effort to improve it either. He ran off to Jungle City with Misha to avoid spending time with his father, and missed it when a Terrorcon attack struck Ocean City. Despite hearing cries for help over the radio, Kicker initially refused to return to Ocean City, childishly declaring that his dad would fix everything, and EVERYTHING would be fine as long as the great Doctor Jones was there. Only after his sister Sally got on the line and lied to Kicker, claiming his father was badly wounded, did he swallow his resentment and rush back to his father's aid. Energon Tower
Kicker was assigned by his father to lead an energon prospecting team in the dark mines below Blizzard City, as the energon tower landing on top needed a power source. He initially lashed out at his teammates to cover his own discomfort, but Kicker eventually came to realize that, unlike his father who lowered him alone into dark scary places as a child, his friends were here with him and weren't going to abandon him — even if he kicked them. The Legend of Rodimus
On a visit to Jungle City, Kicker and Misha went out to their favorite place to meet as children, the steps of the long abandoned Mayan temples which sat overlooking the energon mining facility. As they spent the day together reminiscing, Kicker suddenly got a flash of insight that there were Terrorcons nearby, and he alerted the Autobots. Sure enough, Alpha Q had sent new stealth-capable Terrorcons to steal the energon right from under the Autobots' watchful eyes. As Misha and the civilians were evacuated for safety, she had Optimus Prime promise to do his best to preserve the Mayan ruins because of how special those memories were to her and Kicker. Unfortunately, the arrival of the Decepticons and their Terrorcons as well as Alpha Q's pushed the situation to its breaking point, and Kicker and the Autobots were forced to destroy Jungle City and the surrounding area to prevent their enemies from getting the energon. Back at Ocean City, were regretting the day's losses when Kicker had another special insight...there was still energon on Lunar City! Crisis in Jungle City In order to help search for the intermittent energon readings he was getting, Kicker had Signal Flare lasso a Battle Ravage drone salvaged from one of their battles, using its senses to guide them to the energon. Out on the surface of the moon, they were met by Demolishor, who half-heartedly attempted to hide the fact that he was there to kidnap Kicker for Megatron. Kicker agreed to go along with Demolishor, believing he could spy on Megatron's forces in the process. Plans changed when the true source of the energon readings was revealed...Omnicon survivors from the earlier raids on Lunar City. By raising their tower base, Doctor Jones was able to dispatch an energon field generator from Cybertron, unleashing a wave of energon that blasted the Decepticons and Terrorcons off of ol' Luna. As it powered up, however, the leashed Ravage began speaking to Kicker, in the voice of Alpha Q. The Terrorcon's mysterious creator talked to Kicker, asking him how he could sense energon. Before the conversation got too indepth, though, the Ravage was destroyed by the energon tower's shockwave, leaving Kicker with many questions about Alpha Q. Kicker Beware!
Back on Earth, the energon towers' construction was nearly complete at the various cities. In was just in time too, as Megatron launched a set of artificial comets from Unicron at the Earth, which could potentially wipe out human civilization. Desert City's tower failed to power-up properly, so Kicker took Misha and Ironhide out to check on the problem. Inside the tower, Kicker and Ironhide found a pair of wounded Terrorcons causing the malfunction. Instead of attacking the Terrorcons, Kicker tried offering them an energon star, which they accepted and then voluntarily left the tower, allowing it to come online in time to save the Earth. As the Terrorcons departed, Kicker first began to realize that Alpha Q and the Terrorcons might not be as big a threat as Megatron. Energon Grid
With the energon grid activated, Earth and its energon were effectively secured against any further attacks by Megatron or Alpha Q. The Autobots no longer needed to devote most of their efforts to defensive work, and Optimus Prime began drafting a battle plan to return to space and seek out Unicron to destroy him before someone resurrected him. Kicker was nonplussed about returning to the void of space, and Ironhide's bumbling attempts to take his mind off it only helped a little. Rodimus: Friend or Foe? As the Miranda II prepped for launch, Kicker was surprised to learn that Optimus recruited Misha for the away mission as well. On their way out of the solar system, the Autobots deployed a mobile warp gate to continue their travels, but it was damaged by a Decepticon attack before they could pass through. The Autobots and Omnicons exited to repair the gate and confront the Decepticons, but several were injured during the melee. Eventually, Kicker was the only teammate still available to fix the gate, forcing him to overcome his fear of space. Stepping out into the vacuum alone, Kicker faltered at first and nearly went into a panic attack. With Ironhide and the rest of the team cheering him on over the commlink, though, Kicker marshalled his courage and reached the gate, repairing it in time for the team to press onwards. Go for Unicron!
As they proceeded along their search for Unicron, Kicker temporarily halted their progress when he sensed energon on a nearby planet as they passed. Optimus Prime ordered them into the planet's atmosphere for a search expedition, but the extreme sub-zero weather caught the ship in some fast-forming ice. Kicker began to blame himself and his abilities for their predicament, and his self-contempt only increased when Jetfire got injured during a Terrorcon attack and couldn't make it back to the ship. Jetfire finally snapped at him and told Kicker to quit taking responsibility for every mishap -- they were soldiers, it was war, bad stuff happens. The important thing was to support your team. Together, Kicker and Ironhide helped get Jetfire back to the Miranda II, and everyone made it safely off-planet. The Return of Demolishor
Cybertron cartoon
Kicker was present for the launch of the four recovered colony ships Atlantis, Ogygia, Hyperborea and Lemuria, the re-starting of the galaxy-spanning Space Bridge mission.
He had a mullet. Weird. Beginning
Energon comic
At 16 years of age, Chad "Kicker" Jones was spending his time in the Australian outback, using his unexplained energon-detection powers at Alterenergy's Exploratory Excavation/Drilling Operation. He longed for more excitement, but he complied with the wishes of his father, who also worked for Alterenergy. What Lies Beneath
The monotony was broken, however, when Scorponok led a Terrorcon raid on the facility. This was possibly the first Decepticon attack on Earth in a decade, and it's unclear whether Kicker even knew about the existence of Transformers. He fled on a motorcycle, but Battle Ravage gave chase. Nearby, Alexis had been leading a protest against Alterenergy's strip-mining practices, and she saw Kicker wipe out. When Battle Ravage caught up, she shot the Terrorcon in the eye with a flare gun, then joined Kicker on his bike. But that only prolonged the hunt; Battle Ravage still managed to capture them and bring them back to Scorponok.
Just by looking at him, Scorponok could tell that Kicker had a "unique physiology. The proximity of energon fires sensory nodes in his medulla oblongata, resonating throughout his entire nervous system." (It's unclear how many Transformers could see this. Tidal Wave said outright that he "doesn't look like anything to me." But it's vaguely implied that Battle Ravage had retrieved him alive because of his abilities.) When the Autobots inevitably appeared, Scorponok kept Kicker specially captive, but Alexis was able to escape with the help of Rad and Carlos, who were part of an Alternenergy rescue team. (Notably, Rad was wearing a suit that looked very much like the one that would become Kicker's signature look.) Rad also destroyed one of the Terrorcons' energon siphons, which apparently damaged their operation enough that Scorponok felt the need to retreat.
But he didn't retreat far; they simply attacked Alterenergy's nearby Mobile Command Center. Scorponok was betting that Kicker would be emotionally attached to someone there and would help the Terrorcons if they stopped the assault. He was right. Dr. Jones himself was there, and in fact was nearly killed. So Kicker led them to another energon source, but the Autobots were still in pursuit. As the battle renewed, Hot Shot rescued Kicker, who had already laid the seeds for the Terrorcons' defeat. The energon source he had found for them "wasn't, y'know, exactly... pure." This caused the siphons to explode, and Alpha Quintesson teleported all the Terrorcons back to Unicron.
During the rescue, Hot Shot had given Kicker a suit that, as mentioned earlier, looked like Rad's. Strongarm said it was something Dr. Jones and the Autobots had "cooked up together." Kicker would never be seen dressed in anything else from that point on.
He seemed quite happy helping the Autobots afterwards, probably due to the newfound adventure. They took him around the world in search of energon, from the Yukon Omni-Potent to the Black Sea. Multiplicity In the latter locale, he had Signal Flare create an energon bubble around him so he could go underwater and plant a drill module while his Omnicon companions stayed onshore. But just as he was setting up the drill on the sea bottom, a Terrorcon squad attacked. Signal Flare's energon stream was interrupted, and the bubble collapsed. Despite his super-special suit, Kicker simply choked and then floated motionless.
Sharkticon engulfed him and may have purposefully revived him, as the mission had been to capture him alive. At any rate, Sharkticon surfaced and flipped on his back, then his belly exploded. Kicker levitated from within, surrounded by a ball of energy, powered by the "energon well" below. He saw the Terrorcons standing over the defeated Omnicons onshore, so he sent streams of energon into his allies, reviving them. They quickly chased the Terrorcons off, and Kicker reveled in how his energon-manipulation powers were growing. "The more I work my energon mojo, the stronger I seem to get. It's like... there's no limits, none."
Toy pack-in comics
Kicker rode High Wire in a battle between Autobots and Decepticons. Energon Volume 4
Toys
Energon
- Kicker (Microman, 2004)
- Japanese ID number: SL-14
- Accessories: Energon Sword, chestplate, backpack, belt
- The first Kicker toy is based upon Takara's 2003 Microman body. As such, it is super-posable, and its parts are fully interchangeable with other Microman figures. He is armed with a small, non-transforming silver version of the Energon Saber, plus his torso armor and belt are removable.
- The toy is incredibly breakable. Some people have bought them only to find them broken in-package.
- SL Grand Convoy and Kicker (Multi-pack, 2004)
- Japanese ID number: SS-03
- Accessories: Energon Sword, Destron Clone Sword, chestplate, backpack, belt
- This limited-edition "Transformer X Microman Anniversary Set" (celebrating the 30th anniversary of Microman and the 20th anniversary of Transformers in Japan) contains an exclusive variant of Kicker, with an exclusive variant of the Deluxe-level Optimus Prime toy. This version of Kicker uses clear-black plastic rather than opaque (which makes it even more susceptible to breaking with even moderate pressure than the normal Microman Kicker, so be careful), uses vacuum-metalized chrome on the body armor, plus along with a gold-chromed version of the Energon Saber accessory, also has an exclusive chromed "Destron Clone Sword".
- Kicker Energon Edition (Microman, 2004)
- This special clear-red version of Kicker is a Lucky Draw prize, limited to 100 pieces. He also comes with a red-chromed Energon Saber accessory (and goes very well with the Japanese mail-away "Fire" version of STD Grand Convoy). Contest entries were found in the Super Link soundtrack CD and the first three volumes of the Super Link DVD, and the prize winners were announced in August 2004.
- Energon Kicker with High Wire (Deluxe, 2005)
- Hasbro's release of Kicker is an all-new sculpt, based around the 3'3/4 inch 2003 G.I. Joe "Valor Vs Venom" body design. He comes packed with a Joe-scaled (though slightly oversized) version of High Wire, also an all-new sculpt. Kicker has a spark crystal located on his backpack, which can be used as a mounting point for energon chips.
Notes
- In the episode "Energon Tower", Kicker's father calls him "Junior" twice (three times in Superlink). Whether this means his real name is "Brian Jones, Jr." or "Junior Jones" or if his father was just using "junior" as a term of endearment is left open to interpretation.
- Kicker is really cool. You're sure to like him. At least, that's what Aaron Archer claimed during the Hasbro Panel at OTFCC 2003 so it must be true. Would Hasbro lie to you?
