Back in 1986 Rankin/Bass Productions introduced us kids to the Silverhawks! They were partly metal, partly real, but all action! Allegedly this cartoon was created to be the equivalent of an outer space Thundercats. It was created by the same company, had many of the same voice actors and that may be why I really liked it!
A quick synopsis of the series goes a little something like this...It's the 29th century and a big bad guy named Mon*Star has escaped from prison in the Galaxy of Limbo. A team of heroes is needed to bring him back for the crimes he has committed. Commander Stargazer recruits the best of the best for this mission and creates the Silverhawks! Each Silverhawk came with their own avian companion who helped them fight against the worst criminals in the galaxy, like Yes-Man, Hardware & Mo-Lec-U-Lar.
It was so cool and me and my brother bought into the hype. We had the toys, watched the cartoon after school and even bought a few of the Marvel Star comics! But, our minds were blown when we saw this in 1987...
Burger King had Silverhawks toys in their kids meals!!!! What? We had to go! We bugged our Mom and finally she gave in and we made our way to the local BK!
There were some cool items in this promotion like a lenticular ring & Copper Kid foil sticker, but the item we wanted most was that Tally-Hawk pencil topper! Tally-Hawk was the companion of the Silverhawks leader, Quicksilver and he was AWESOME! This really was the golden age of fast food premiums! We lucked out and got him in our meals. The next day, I had to bring him to school to show off to my classmates.
That day in school just happened to be our 1st grade class trip to the local library. I brought Tally-Hawk with me on this excursion. This would be a mistake! During our librarian's boring lecture on the Dewey Decimal system, I took out my newly gotten toy and started playing with him. My teacher saw me making Tally-Hawk fly majestically through the musty library air while making exciting "WHOOSH!" noises and she immediately took him away!
When we got back to school my teacher put my Hawk in her desk and told me I could have it back at the end of the week. The time came and I was too scared to ask for it back and I thought I would get punished if I told my Mom what happened, so my Tally-Hawk was never returned to me. Sadly, he lived in that cold, dark desk drawer for the rest of his life!
Flash forward to February of 2021. In a search for random stuff from my childhood on ebay, I found a listing for a Tally-Hawk pencil topper from BK for $4.99! I immediately clicked "Buy" and today I have been reunited with this tragic piece of childhood past. I am so glad to have this heroic hawk back in my collection and I vow to never have him taken away from me again and I can finally sleep in peace! Just so you can also witness the coolness of the Silverhawks cartoon, I have placed the intro animation below for you to enjoy. The 80's really were the best, weren't they?
Thanks for sharing! It's always interesting to hear stories about toys and such from when we were kids. I remember losing an issue of Toy Fare magazine for the rest of the day when I was in 7th grade. I brought it with me to talk about it with my friends and pulled it out during silent reading time. Big mistake as I kept giggling during silent reading and the teacher snatched it for the rest of the day. I got it back, though.
ReplyDeleteThat happened with me and the 1992 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue! Teachers mean business, man!
DeleteNeat story. Glad there was finally a reunion. Did you check the name of the seller - maybe it was your teacher. :-0
ReplyDeleteI was actually thinking that. Her last name was Laraura and it did not match the sellers name.
DeleteGreat read! So many of my childhood toy stories took place in school.
ReplyDeleteIt was the place where shenanigans were enacted!
DeleteNow the true irony will come when you learn it was your teacher's stepson who found it in her attic while doing some cleaning and sold it back to you.
ReplyDeleteNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteI remember the days of going to school with G.I. Joes in my pockets, and playing with them whenever I could. Thankfully no one ever tried to take them away from me, as that probably wouldn't have gone well for them :)
ReplyDeleteIf it was another student, there would have been fists flying. More than once got in a fight over a toy at school, but this time it was an adult and there was no amount of whining or pleading or begging that could sway those Catholic School teachers!
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