SilverHawks
Ep. 215 is live!
Welcome to week two of our month celebrating Larry Kenney, and his projects with Rankin/Bass. This week sees us reviewing the second offering of Human/Animal Hybrids in a sci-fi/space setting, 1986's SilverHawks. Though I recall SilverHawks on TV, and their presence on the toy shelves, I certainly never owned any of the Hawks and rarely got to catch it on TV. I do, however, recall my neighbor JR had a Quicksilver, The SilverHawks' leader. Lord, did I want one so bad! Now that I am an adult, however, I have SilverHawks episodes at my fingertips and watch them as much as I damn well please, and you better believe I'm starting to hunt down the vintage toys...and I may have some offerings from Super7 on Pre-Order. It's a real shame this property didn't have the legs that its spiritual predecessor Thundercats had, because it really seemed to have all the right ingredients. First of all, the animation is great for its time, and the show had something that was CRUCIAL for getting a kid's attention: A banging opener. For years, the part that always stood out to me in the intro was that shot of Bluegrass (LARRY KENNEY, ladies and gentlemen) playing the guitar as those tasty licks fired off. In addition to that, though, you really did have some tremendous character designs between the heroes and the villains.
This was the 80's, and what good is a kids' show if it isn't driving sales for a toyline!?! By the way, real quick...since I did the whole exclamation point, question mark, exclamation point thing that I so often do...isn't it high time we brought back the interrobang? Still think "The Interrobanger" would've made a great Riddler knock-off in "The Venture Brothers." Nevertheless...Toys, dammit, toys! SilverHawks NATURALLY had a toyline, only the property did NOT scale with their cat cousins! While Thundercats landed at LJN, Silverhawks would be produced by Kenner. With Star Wars winding down HARD, and Super Powers Collection approaching its end (1987), Kenner needed another hit. As was the case with the aforementioned Super Powers Line. Kenner opted to focus more on play gimmick and built in action features over articulation. This made for cool looking play features, but very limited poseability. In total, two waves were made, with a third one planned. However, with SilverHawks only lasting one season and not continuing into 1987, the second wave that hit shelves in '87 had a short shelf life and low production run, naturally leading to them being more expensive and highly sought after today. This lack of a second season, and the sharp drop off of wave two, led to the third wave being canceled. Yet another shame, as it would have given us variants of Mon-Star and Copper Kid, as well as Copper Kid's racer. The Hawk Haven Playset, headquarters of the SilverHawks, was advertised in Kenner's 1988 toy catalog, but it would not see production due to its high cost. But you have to imagine just how sweet it would've been.
What's an 80's roll out without additional licensed merch, right? Of the many things branded for "SilverHawks", I think my favorite has to be the SilverHawks pajamas with the wings under the arms, as well as a mainstay that happens to be a part of my collection, a sweet ass lunch box.
Just as quickly as it was here, it was gone. SilverHawks got one season of 65 episodes, then it was out. Its legacy, though, is not through. Even now, you can order SilverHawks t-shirts through 80stees.com (which I have done, please believe me), and Ramen Toys came to the rescue to give us a Quicksilver a couple years back. Super7, however, made the announcement that they would be producing SilverHawks figures, and have begun to release them. Initially, fans were not thrilled that these figures did not have a vac-metal appearance, HOWEVER...Super7 have posted pre-orders for vac-metal versions of Quicksilver and Steelheart, set to release in the year's third quarter...and you better believe I have them on preorder. Additionally, The Copper Kid's racer will see the light of day, as it is also a pre-order right now...and, fingers crossed that soon a great sin of an M.I.A. 80's Lady will be rectified if we get a Melodia figure. Aside from toys, the Hawks are expected to take flight once more in animated form by way of a new cartoon from The Nacelle Company; I, like so many other fans, have a great deal of interest in seeing how that's going to turn out.
That is going to wrap things up for SilverHawks, but do come back and see us next week! Dustin, Jason, and I DIVE right in on the third attempt by Rankin/Bass to wed humans, animals, space, and sci-fi by discussing TigerSharks. Oft forgotten, or barely remembered at the very least, TigerSharks did not exactly make a huge splash, and we're going to discuss it! Ready yourself, as Larry Kenney month continues next Monday here on Yesterdaze. Enjoy!
-Derek
