Idea Men

"Mmmm mmm mmmmm mmmmm mmm!"

- The Idea Men in The Tick vs. The Idea Men

The Idea Men were the first major villains in the 1994 The Tick animated series. They were a pretty straight forward group of villains, however their bulky metal masks made them impossible to understand. This created communication barriers throughout their appearence.

Evil deeds
The idea men were a group of businessmen turned terrorists. They tired of the grind of corporate life, and turned to a life of crime to fulfil their financial and thrill seeking needs. They started by robbing a bank using a combination of high explosives and fully automatic guns. Though the Tick, Arthur, and the Crusading Chameleon intervened before they could complete their heist, the Idea Men did manage to escape with some money, and take to the sky in their getaway vehichle, a zepplin with a florecent light sign in the pattern of a lightbulb on the side.

The Idea Men advance to the next stage of their plan, announcing to the City that they have taken them hostage, and holding thier lives and water supply for ransom. They are not able to communicate this through their speech garbling masks, and have to rely on signs for communication. The City's cowardly mayor Blank gives in to their demands without hesitation or resistance. The Tick however is not satisfied with allowing them to get strong arm the City, and heads for the Dam as well as many other angry superheroes. The Tick arrives just as the Idea Men recieve thier money. He watches as they proceed to arm the bomb to destroy the dam anyway as if their demands had not been met. This injustice enrages the Tick, and he attacks many Idea Men, making them pay for their cruelty. He unmasks one and asks why they do what they do, and recieves the very straight forward answer that they want to ransom cities such as the City so that they will be able to quite their boring jobs. The Tick is left with little time to disarm the bomb, and runs to the top of the dam with it where it will do the least damage when exploding.

The Idea Men make a short appearence in the episode Coach Fussell's Lament in season two, where they are among the villains competing in an auction to buy the Tick, who has been transformed into a canary by the Brainchild.