Kick-Off (G1)

Kick-Off is an Autobot Action Master from the Generation 1 continuity family.

He turned into a white car in front and a black car in back.

Kick-Off (aka Kick-Over) spent nearly a full vorn inside a Decepticon prison in Polyhex, where he was forced by his captors to fight his own teammates in brutal gladiatorial combat. Kick-Off did everything he could to survive... and everything he could to learn the inner workings of the Decepticons' security measures. After his rescue from the grease pits, he put this knowledge to good use as a member of the Autobots.

However, having been forced to injure his teammates has left Kick-Off a very bitter robot, who prefers to work alone. He also tends to get too worked up when it comes to enacting revenge on his former captors for his own good. Still, his skills are unquestionable, both in planning raids against Decepticon strongholds and on the battlefield, where he can kick skidplate with ranged weapons or his own fists and feet.

Fiction

The Battle of the Star Gate

Actually using his primary accessory!

Kick-Off was one of dozens of Autobots sent into high orbit to stop the Decepticons from taking over the Trigger space station. Things didn't go so well for him (or anyone else, really) after Starscream and his own time-displaced ghost from the future fused with the Trigger to form a colossal robot thing. When the Starscreams' giant body exploded thanks to the combined power of Megatron and Optimus Prime (further augmented by the Matrix of Leadership), Kick-Off was sent hurtling to Earth along with virtually all of the other Cybertronians involved in the massive battle. The Battle of the Star Gate

2005 IDW continuity

First appearance: Stormbringer #1

We're being attacked by Michael Bay's camera work!

Kick-Off was stationed on board the Autobot Orbital Command Hub. Stormbringer #1 He was also present on the Hub when Ku'arn returned Blaster to the Autobots. Spotlight: Blaster

Very soon thereafter, Kick-Off picked up a new duty assignment under the command of Fortress Maximus at the Garrus-9 penitentiary, overseeing security matters. As a guard, he was one of the few who treated the prisoners with respect. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3 During the sudden attack by Banzai-Tron's Decepticon Secret Services, Kick-Off was ordered by Maximus to activate the autoguns and mobilize their security teams. Spotlight: Arcee

When every Autobot outpost's security codes fell into the hands of the Decepticons, initiating a galaxy-wide massacre, Kick-Off suspected an inside job. But his boss, Fortress Maximus, was the only keeper of Garrus-9's security codes, so they were confident that they could keep out Skyquake's Decepticons. And they did, until Overlord killed Skyquake and took command of the assault on Garrus-9. Instead of turning over the facilities to Megatron, Overlord decided to make the world his.

Hey, someone read his Tech Spec bio!

Three years later, Overlord was still running Garrus-9 as he saw fit. He especially enjoyed setting loose Autobots so his Decepticons could hunt them down, or pitting Autobots against others in gladiator-like fights for his own entertainment. Kick-Off was one of these fighters, and he proved himself one of the more proficient among them, racking up eleven kills. By the time of his twelfth bout, with the Decepticon Borehole, he had become violent and savage, and brutally murdered his opponent by ripping off his head. In accordance with Overlord's rules, Kick-Off was taken to the Decepticon's quarters and offered a reward in exchange for twelve successful kills. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1

Little did Kick-Off suspect that this "reward" was actually a choice: to commit suicide, or to battle Overlord himself, with the same outcome. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4 Kick-Off chose the latter and his dead body was later was found by the Wreckers during their invasion of Garrus 9. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3

Years after his death, footage of Kick-Off saying "terrified that you'd" was used by Rewind in his final, spliced-together message to Chromedome. The Gloaming

Classics

Turbo-Pack not included.

Long ago, Kick-Off was forced to fight his fellow Autobots in the gladiatorial pits of Polyhex. When Gigatron left Polyhex in boredom, leaving a void which created a power struggle to fill his place, Kick-Off used the distraction to mount a revolt. Since then, Kick-Off has never trusted anyone with a Decepticon badge, regardless of their individual intentions or, perhaps, their universe of origin. BotCon 2012 Kick-Over profile card

Eventually, Kick-Off would settle into the Autobot base on Earth in Oregon, Ironworks and become a lieutenant. Following a foiled attack by Gigatron and his Decepticon cronies, Kick-Off oversaw the reconstruction of their damaged headquarters. However, repairs were cut short when a strange portal opened up in the sky above them. As Kick-Off called for back-up, snake-like creatures burst through the portal, attached themselves to several of his comrades, and converted them into strangely-colored Junkions. Rad and Kick-Off were forced to flee, and Rad sacrificed himself to keep Kick-Off safe inside Ironworks... for a moment.

After more Autobots fell following the arrival of an evil Ultra Magnus and the rest of his army, Kick-Off and the other survivors were introduced to heroic Decepticons from another universe. Kick-Off admitted that despite their badges, he'd rather join them in battle than the Autobot jerks who killed his friends. Ultra Magnus's plan was thwarted... sort of. Though the heroic Decepticons were able to save Earth from being destroyed, they were not able to save the rest of Kick-Off's universe, leaving the heroic Autobots and their Earth stranded in a new universe near the heroic Decepticons' Cybertron.

This was distressing news, to say the least. Invasion

On negative Cybertron, Kick-Off reluctantly integrated with his new heroic Decepticon comrades. Solar Requiem

Regeneration One

Later, Kick-Off developed a Flappy Bird addiction.

In 2012, more than twenty years after the supposed end of hostilities between the Autobots and Decepticons, Kick-Off was stationed on Cybertron under the command of Optimus Prime. He was not one of the Autobots who accompanied Prime on his mission to end Megatron's reign of terror on Earth, working instead as a guard at the Bastion-five lock-up and when Grimlock returned from his sojourn to Nebulos, Kick-Off was tasked with guarding the Dinobot commander there. He didn't do a very good job, allowing Grimlock to get the drop on Perceptor, who subsequently infected Kick-Off with Scorponok's Gene Key. Natural Selection, Part Two Fortunately, Perceptor's infection was actually a ruse, allowing him to undermine Scorponok's plan from within. Natural Selection, Part Five

Having recovered from the Gene Key's effects after Grimlock and Perceptor thwarted Scorponok's plans (although apparently hanging out with Gutcruncher and Axer), Kick-Off was on Cybertron shortly before the rise of the Anti-Matrix's shadow-leeches. The War to End All Wars, Part 4

Toys

The Transformers

If I hear one more "overcompensating" joke, I'm cracking skulls.

• Kick-Off with Turbo-Pack (Action Master, 1990)

• Accessories: "Turbo-Pack", "sonic blaster"
• Known designers: Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Part of the third assortment of individually-carded Action Masters, released in the seventh and final year of The Transformers in the US, Kick-Off is a non-transforming 3¾-inch action figure of a robot with hints of a ground vehicle alternate mode, possibly an off-road vehicle, given the oversized and thickly-treaded tires. His construction is broadly similar to that used by the G.I. Joe figures of the time, having a swivel neck, shoulders and knees, plus ball-jointed hips attached via a steel rod internally secured by a rubber "o-ring". His hands have standard 3 mm holes which allow him to hold any other accessory in the Action Master line, plus his feet have holes in the bottom to secure him to larger vehicles. On top of that, the hole in his back is compatible with 5 mm posts.

He came with the Turbo-Pack accessory, a very large jetpack with adjustable wings that attaches to his back, and features a spring-loaded, over-shoulder (non-firing) cannon, which can also transform into a massive cannon Kick-Off (or any other compatible toy) can hold.

• More information on Kick-Off at TFU.info

Timelines

You really have to see this thing in person.

• Kick-Over / Optimus Prime (Multi-pack, 2012)

• Accessories: "Sonic blaster", left & right amplifiers

A new-head retool of Reveal the Shield Jazz, Timelines Kick-Over (thanks, trademark) transforms into a "street rally" sports car that looks like a Porsche wearing Pontiac Solstice headlights for a hat. He has deployable speakers in both robot and vehicle mode, plus a rifle that collapses for vehicle-mode storage. The speakers can also be removed from the doors and combine with his rifle via c joints to form a super rifle, or they can be used on any other c joint-compatible Transformers toy.

Since the fluorescent orange stripe running down the middle of his alt-mode is actually fluorescent, in, like, a non-pejorative sense, it doesn't really photograph accurately.

Kick-Over was released in an at-show-only bagged souvenir set with Shattered Glass Optimus Prime.

The original version of this mold was also used to make United Stepper and Shattered Glass Longarm and Stepper, and the alternate-head version was used to make Shattered Glass Treadshot. It was also retooled to make Generations Wheelie.

• More information on Kick-Over at TFU.info

Notes

 

• Kick-Off is the only new-character carded Action Master Autobot to come with an accessory rather than an "animal/robot" partner. Whether or not he was originally intended to have his wave-mate Snarl's partner, Tyrannitron, is unknown.
• Kick-Off's colors went through several alterations before production.
  • The 1990 boxback mural^[1] and Optimus Prime's Armored Convoy package art feature Kick-Off in a yellow and brown color scheme (with Skyfall also in entirely different colors in those artworks).
  • Meanwhile, Kick-Off's catalog photography and Power Plans show him with far more red and white, along with dark blue thighs.
• Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye profile for Kick-Off replaced his sonic blaster with a heat beam rifle, presumably because the More than Meets the Eye writers did not have access to his instructions as part of their reference materials and instead extrapolated upon the detail in his packaging bio that described the Turbo-Pack's flamethrower as having a heat beam attachment.
• In addition to being called "Kick-Over" on his file card, BotCon 2012 Kick-Off was also called "Kick-Out" on convention signage. Finding a viable trademark can be a drag sometimes.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Kick-Off (キックオフ Kikku Ofu)
• French: Démarreur (Canada, "Starter")
• Mandarin: Kāi Chǎng Shào (China, 开场哨, "Opening Whistle")

References