Armless but Not Harmless

*Oh, **great.** Not only are my arms committing crimes, but they're stealing girls' stuff!*
— **Tick**

**"Armless but Not Harmless"** is an episode of the animated television series *The Tick.*

## Synopsis

After Tick and Arthur's arms are stolen and placed on evil robot duplicates, they have to clear their name, and infiltrate the Enemy Awards.

## Plot

The episode commences with Venus and Milo robbing the City Art Museum, and Tick and Arthur arriving to stop them. Venus entrances Tick with her powers, but Arthur manages to snap him out of it, and chase them to the ladies' bathroom. Before Tick and Arthur even arrive, Venus and Milo are swiftly dispatched by a stall door, opened by Plunger Man (an ordinary plumber who hit them by accident). We are then shown a commercial for the 45th annual Enemy Awards, to which Venus has not been invited, after her recent defeat. She formulates a plan to create robot duplicates of Tick and Arthur, using their real arms, which Milo will thieve with his newest device.

Later on, Tick and Arthur are working on a maneuver, and Tick, thinking that Arthur will catch him, jumps off of the roof. Unfortunately for him, Venus and Milo are driving by, and he crashes through the roof of their limousine. Venus attempts to manipulate his mind, but he snaps out of it when they run over Arthur. He escapes the limousine, but Milo uses his device to remove their arms, and steals them. They try to phone American Maid for help, but she is "toppling an unauthorized dictatorship". Meanwhile, Milo finishes the robots, and they begin a crime spree. They go to the diner for a drink, when a news report comes on, talking about the crime spree conducted by Venus, along with the robots. The vendor calls the police, and Tick and Arthur are chased into hiding.

While resting for the night on a rooftop, and lamenting the current situation, they see on a newspaper that Venus is stealing women's clothing. Arthur deduces that she must be putting together an outfit for the Enemies, and they go to the Evil Eye Café for information. When they arrive, they are greeting with open arms, although Forehead becomes suspicious, and provides a test of their evilness: eating a kitten. Tick refuses, and makes quick work of them, managing to get the location of the Enemies from Forehead. At the Enemies, Venus and her gang arrive, as well as the Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight, although he is less warmly received.

Tick and Arthur notice some costumed performers in an alley outside the building, and steal their costumes to disguise themselves. They are thrown on stage, and have to preform a tap routine, which they obviously don't know, but they manage to keep their cover. Outside, Plunger Man is allowed in, as he was called on some business. Venus is presented with the award for "Most Improved Villain of the Year", but her speech is cut short by Tick and Arthur, who chase she and her gang backstage. They are overpowered by the robots, but Tick manages to convince his arms to come back to him, and smash his robot. Plunger Man arrives and attaches their arms, and Venus surrenders out of fear of Plunger Man. Tick and Arthur explain themselves to the police, who forgive them, and they enjoy having arms once again.

## Characters

### Main Characters

* Tick
* Arthur

### Antagonists

* Venus
	+ Milo
	+ Tick (robot)
	+ Arthur (robot)
* Forehead
* Eyebrows Mulligan
* Jack Tuber
* Crease
* Various Evil Eye patrons

### Other Characters

* Sgt. Doodlehead
* Brian Pinhead
* Octo Raymond
* Chairface Chippendale (pictured)
* Terror (pictured)
* Harriet Curse
* Enemy Awards staff and performers
* Mindy Moleford
* Police officers
* Ben's Diner vendor
* Security guards

## Locations

* The City
	+ Ben's Diner
	+ City Art Museum
	+ Venus and Milo's lair
	+ Enemy Awards building
	+ Evil Eye Café
	+ City Police Dept.
	+ American Maid's office
* Moon (background)

## Notes

* **Ending Lines**:
	+ Tick: "Ah. Y'know, Arthur, when evil is afoot, and you don't have any arms, you've gotta use your head. And when evil is ahead, and you're behind, you've gotta do the leg work. But, when you can't get a leg up, you've gotta be hip. You've gotta keep your chin up, and kick some-"
	+ Arthur: "Tick. We get the idea."
	+ Tick: "Well, then, sidekick, gimme some of them arms!"
* At the Enemy Awards, a group of people in costumes perform, their costumes highlighting "some of the year's most sinister triumphs from all around the globe!" Those being:
	+ The Chrysler Building, with what appears to be green smoke billowing from it.
	+ A Godzilla-esque head, possibly referencing Dinosaur Neil's rampge (although that wasn't much of a "sinister triumph").
	+ The Moon, referencing Chairface Chippendale's attempt to write his name on it.
	+ Mindy Moleford, wearing red sunglasses.
	+ A man who greatly resembles a character that would appear later, though only through flashback, the Sub-Human (although the vessel on his head appears closer to a dirigible, and has fake flames coming from its rear. This may be a reference to the crash of the Goodyear blimp crash in 1995).
	+ A bag of money.
	+ A document labeled "S&L", which is most likely a reference to the savings and loan crisis, in which the Resolution Trust Corporation closed or otherwise resolved 747 institutions from 1989 to 1995.
	+ A rocket.
* Based on the timeline of the series, specifically the episode (the year being 1995, the year it aired), and the Enemies referred to as the 45th annual, the Enemies must've started in 1950 (the Emmy Awards, on which the Enemies were based, were first handed out in 1949).
* Not only are Venus and Milo obviously named after the famous statue, the Venus de Milo, but Tick and Arthur having their arms stolen is also a play on the statue, which lost its arms shortly after its discovery.
* For seemingly no reason, after being stopped by Plunger Man, Venus and Milo are in their hideaway, rather than jail or prison.
* Although Venus is supposedly putting together an outfit for the Enemy Awards, she wears the same outfit there as she is seen wearing before.