Kickback's vehicle mode
is a tank. The turret's kinda odd-looking, seeing as how it has two smaller
guns, one on each side of the turret. Whether there's real tanks like this
or not, I don't know; all I know is I haven't seen one. But still, even
if it doesn't it still gives Kickback a slightly futuristic look to him,
what with that and the Energon weapons and all, and it looks pretty cool.
The main body of the tank looks pretty realistic, however, with tons of
mold detailing, like bolted-on panels and the tread detailing. He also
has a decent amount of paint detailing on him (though he could use a tad
more on the turret)-- some silver and gold are on his his front and sides
of his tank body, his treads are a nice glossy black, his guns have black
faded "burnt" paint apps on them, and he has a "B/12" insignia on the sides
of his tank mode, in old early 1900s-style lettering. And the actual color
scheme itself-- green, black, and gray-- is very appropriate for a tank,
and looks nice, so no complaints there. His turret can also move from side-to-side,
and his side guns can move up and down to aim. There are a few downsides
to this mode, however-- for one, the robot hands are clearly visible on
the top of the turret if the Energon weapon isn't attached. And secondly,
if you turn the turret to the side, you can see through part of the tank
that the turret normally covers. Kickback's Decepticon spark crystal is
on the front of his turret, and his blue Powerlinx symbol is on the right
side of the tank next to the front of said turret.
Kickback's robot mode
is very good, and he has perfect proportions all around. He also has excellent
articulation, as he's able to move at any point you can reasonably expect
on a figure of this size. His joints are also pretty secure, so no floppiness
issues here. And he's packing tons of firepower, to boot; he has head-mounted
rocket launchers, guns on the back of his hands, and his Energon weapon,
which is a double-barrelled gun with some kind of weird... satellite dish..
on the back. Some aspects of his design are also very, very creative; the
sides of his tank mode actually become insect-like wings in robot mode,
something I never would've thought of in a million years. And they can
even fold behind his back to allow more arm movement, though I would have
liked the wings to be a little smaller, since they are a tad on the cumbersome
side. His head has a roman-helmet feel to it, and the mold looks pretty
cool, but I do NOT like the bright orange paint used for his face. It really
clashes with the light gray, and just looks... ick. A few other minor downsides
are that the middle of his chest sticks out at an odd angle because of
his transformation, his feet look really flat and dorky, and the guns on
the backs of his arms tend to pop off easily during transformation. But
still, a very good mode.
Kickback is an excellent
transformer, even without considering the fact that he's a combiner. Excellent
proportions, color scheme, and an original design, although he has a few
minor flaws here and there. Highly recommended, even if you don't plan
to buy all the Bruticus Maximus components.
No Stats
Review by Beastbot