Luan Oliveira perfect KICKFLIP in slow motion.

As of now you are doing a quick flick right after the pop and the trick happens very fast. Maybe try to work towards putting more pressure in the pop so you can do a slow flick while going up, I would recommend watching Pros like Luan Oliveira (big pop beautiful flip) in slow mo to see what the ideal movement is and adjust to your reality [VIDEO]

It's a perfectly legitimate stance. Here's Luan with the same technique [VIDEO].

I never said they look awkward, I think they look pretty good tbh. What I said is that they feel awkward when I keep the shoulders parallel to the board like you and many others suggest. I think Luan Oliviera has one of the best kickflips in the world and his shoulder are nowhere near parallel. Here's a nice clip: [VIDEO] I encourage you to try facing more forward when doing kickflips, it was really a game changer to me.