Instead of a clip-show, there should've been a whole episode set between Armada and Energon, with little to no dialogue at all to show than tell, revolving around Kicker being trapped in Ocean City by his father Brian Jones, with the only people who really cared for young Kicker was Misha's parents Pierre and Ollie Miramond, who worked under Dr. Jones at the time.
I imagine Ollie pushing to take it slow and gentle in understanding Kicker's powers, believing that the boy should feel inclined to learn more about himself than exploiting him through traumatic tribulations. Even one scene with the Miramonds introducing Kicker to Misha when visiting the Mayan ruins. Inevitably, Brian grows tired and impatient with Ollie's meddling and shoots his own son to see if he want to sense the danger before he pulls out his gun.
The incident naturally pisses off Ollie and Pierre but Brian shoots Pierre in the head in a fit of a rage. Shocked that he killed a man, he strangles Ollie to death to keep her from speaking out. Far away, Alexis is looking after little Misha, who has no idea that her parents died. In the end, not only is Kicker back in the same position he was in before Ollie and Pierre came into his life, but Misha is trapped under Brian's supervision as well, because her parents were good to his son.
Yes, it's a big leap for a kid's show, that's made to sell toys, to have a character go from an uncaring and egotistical father to straight-up murderer but Energon had the potential to be so much darker. Energon skimmed over Kicker's personal arc to rush the Autobots into fighting Unicron and then just repeat it twice than actually the human characters for something more serious, and it's frustrating as hell, just like bringing Starscream and doing nothing with Alexis when she was right there!
