Idea Men

“	Mmmm mmm mmmmm mmmmm mmm!	„
	~ The Idea Men in The Tick vs. The Idea Men

The Idea Men are the first major antagonists in the 1994 The Tick animated series. They were a pretty straightforward group of villains, but their bulky metal masks made them impossible to understand. This created communication barriers throughout their appearance.

Biography

The Idea Men were a group of businessmen turned terrorists. Getting tired of the grind of corporate life, they turned to a life of crime to fulfill 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 vehicle, a zeppelin with a fluorescent light sign in the pattern of a light bulb 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 their lives and water supply for ransom. They are unable 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. However, The Tick is dissatisfied with allowing them to get strong-arm the City, and heads for the dam, as well as many other angry and argumentative superheroes. The Tick arrives just as the Idea Men receive their 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 receives the very straightforward answer that they want to ransom cities such as the City so that they will be able to quit 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 appearance 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 two-headed, high school-level French-speaking bluebird by Brainchild .