The Tick Action Figures
Item No.: unavailable Manufacturer:BanDai Includes:nothing Action Feature:Press down on lever, let go for "bounding" action Retail:$6ish Availability: ca. 1995 Other: One of the best TV-based Tick figures
Spooooon! The 1990s was a wonderful time to collect action figures. The sheer variety based on then-current films, classic properties, and the explosion in adult and teen-friendly kid's shows like The Tick brought us Bounding Tick and dozens of other fantastic figures. Not all the lines lasted more than a handful of series, but the sheer variety offered to toy fans in that time was staggering. You wanted Earthworm Jim? You got it. Star Wars? Yes. This was really the end of an era, just before McFarlane Toys forced the industry to grow up and before Hasbro realized it was flushing money down the toilet by acquiring and developing new licenses every year. (Think about it, what's the last brand-new license Hasbro brought to the toy aisle that wasn't part of an existing deal?)
Standing about 6 1/4-inches tall, the Bounding Tick was one of the first versions of the character to exist in toy form, and was brought out by BanDai oddly enough. Weird superheroes and TV shows got a lot of love in the 1990s, so this was a perfect fit for the toy aisle, despite being almost-but-not-quite dead on arrival. The show was pretty successful and the fans were there, but weird toys like the Steel Box were dumped at Kay-Bee before Toys R Us even had a chance to bring them in and blow them out. This figure was a toy more than a collectible, with jointed arms and a neck and that's about it. The part that looks like a waist joint is actually his action feature-- push him down and let go, and he'll jump a little bit. Well, that was the idea anyway. He'll jump up and faceplant. There, are you happy?
With few paint applications, this mostly-blue figure looks great and matches the style of the Fox Kids TV show on which he was based/licensed. (That's what the box said.) He aged fairly well, but you may notice the shades of blue don't quite match. I kept this guy out of the sun, under my bed, in a box for about 10 years-- so sometimes aging can't be prevented and your toys are just going to look off as you get older.
He doesn't do much, but he looks good-- which is sometimes all you'll need. In addition to Bounding Tick's basic action figure line, there were a few talking action figures and 2-inch collectible PVC figures. Some figures like the Man-Eating Cow were rare to the point of being legends back in the 1990s, but the secondary market prices on eBay prove that today, nobody really cares to buy even the rarest figure of the line. As such, it's a buyer's market, and these were some delightful, cartoony, and fairly statuesque action figures. Worth snagging on the cheap, definitely.
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