Arthur (The Tick)

Arthur, so often mistaken for a bunny, abandoned his career as an accountant and quickly fell into the role of sidekick for the Tick. As career paths go, being a superhero sidekick isn’t a bad one – especially when accounting is the option.

Arthur is a great action figure and a good display piece. His wings classify him as a “flying toy.” Which is to say, if you’ve got young kids in the house Arthur will get lots

of use. It’s a good thing he’s such a tough toy – even his wings hold up well. He doesn’t have much articulation, which helps for durability, but poseability takes a hit. (He has ball-jointed shoulders, a seam at the right elbow, and seam joints at the wrists, waist, neck, and hips.)

With a few hinge joints, his poseability would have been much higher.

Arthur fits right in with the rest of the Tick line so the playability score goes up. His right hand is sculpted like it should be holding a gun – something Arthur would never do. Actually, the hand can hold a wide assortment of accessories from many other action figures. Practically all the Metal Gear Solid 2 figure accessories can be put in his hand just as well as Rambo’s machine gun. This little feature does two things: 1) heightens display possibilities and 2) increases playability. In short, Arthur is one playable toy – just don’t lose his goggles.

Overall sculpt is good. The likeness is on the money – the costume hangs right and the wings are the perfect size – especially when he’s wearing his goggles on his face. The paint job is without oversplash and matches the TV counterpart. As mentioned before, poses are somewhat limited. There’s only one real stable pose to keep Arthur standing due to the angled hip joints. On the whole, he’s stable (in the one pose) on level ground – but the most ideal display format is stringing him from the ceiling to get that mid-flight look (and can actually look pretty damn menacing when he’s holding a gun). What I like most about the sculpt is that his “ears” are angled in such a way to keep the goggles from being lost easily. The goggles fit equally well on his forehead or over his eyes – kudos for the goggles all round.

For the Tick fan, buying Arthur should be a no-brainer. He’s essential to rounding out the Tick experience. Besides which, he’s a good figure (and collectors will probably shell out big money on the secondary market since the live action TV show was cancelled and the Tick has cult status). Arthur shouldn’t disappoint.

- Omni