Abhiroop Das
Created by Ben Edlund, ‘The Tick’ revolves around the eponymous, amnesiac superhero, whose powers seem to grow in proportion to how dramatic a scene is. In season 1 of this superhero comedy series, he teams up with a man named Arthur Everest, who has no powers of his own but has dedicated his life to researching whether the Terror, an infamous villain of the bygone era, is dead or alive. Before his presumed defeat at the hands of Superian, the Terror took countless lives, all the while maintaining a picture-perfect cover in front of the world. As the story goes on, we learn that he has been heading an organized crime unit from the shadows, using his soft drink company, Brown Tingle Cola, as a base. However, bringing the truth out to the world proves to be a uniquely difficult challenge by itself, as to do that, Arthur and the Tick have to infiltrate BTC and uncover what secrets it holds.
Brown Tingle cola is a Work of Fiction That Parodies Superhero Related Pop-Culture
Brown Tingle Cola, also known as BTC, is a fictional soda company created by Ben Edlund and his writing team specifically for the world of ‘The Tick.’ While depicted as the biggest soft-drink conglomerate in The City, in reality, it serves as the secret den of the Terror, which makes it a distinctively fictional setting. Notably, while the series itself is based on Edlund’s eponymous comic series, BTC is a TV-original construct and finds no mention in the comics or in its subsequent animation and television adaptations. In the original comic run, the Terror’s base is a giant, spider-shaped vehicle, which adds to the contrast with the Tick, but is nonetheless entirely different from BTC as we see it on screen.
While the name and in-universe reputation of Brown Tingle Cola naturally invite comparisons to real-life soft drink giants from the homeland, it is unlikely that the parallels are meant to be intentional. To begin with, the words “brown” and “tingle” in the name are general descriptors of what a cola drink looks and feels like. The brown color in many cola drinks typically emerges due to a caramelization process, whereas the tingle feeling can be attributed to the nature of carbonated water itself. As such, the description of BTC isn’t exclusively a nod to any one company, but rather, speaks to the broader process by which cola drinks are typically made. The shorthand, BTC, also makes for an overlap with the real-life cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which uses the same acronym. However, this reference, like the previous ones, also appears to be coincidental at best.
The creation of BTC is in line with the larger creative structure of ‘The Tick,’ which parodies elements from classic superhero stories. On a deeper level, however, the show also captures how superhero culture assimilates itself into broader chunks of society and entertainment, to the point of having a new psychological effect. Recalling the period of the comic’s creation, Edlund told TheWrap, “The culture was exploding with superhero expression and saturating itself with this manic obsession, so it seemed like the audience couldn’t have been better educated for the norms of superhero stuff.” The decision to create a fictional cola company is likely an effort to illustrate the same point, as by mashing several pop-culture icons together, Edlund and his team are able to craft a more immersive and thematically relevant experience.
Read More: The Tick Season 2 Ending Explained: Who is in the Spaceship? Is Superian a Fugitive?
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