Properties of the tetraphenylcyclobutadienecyclopentadienylnickel(II) cation 1 and its tetra-o-fluoro derivative la have been measured and calculated. The B3LYP/TZP optimized geometry of the free cation 1 agrees with a single-crystal X-ray diffraction structure except that in the crystal one of the phenyl substituents is strongly twisted to permit a close-packing interaction of two of its hydrogens with a nearby BF4- anion. The low-energy parts of the solution electronic absorption and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra of 1 and la have been interpreted by comparison with TD-DFT (B3LYP/TZP) results. Reduction or pulse radiolysis lead to a neutral 19-electron radical, whose visible absorption and MCD spectra have been recorded and interpreted as well. The reduction is facilitated by similar to 0.1 V upon going from 1 to la. Unsuccessful attempts to prepare several other aryl substituted derivatives of 1 by the classical synthetic route are described in the Supporting Information.