Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Wings Of Silver

[The Silverhawks: the suit is cool but peeing will be a problem]
Written by GL

You've gotta love the Silverhawks; they had awesome characters, an awesome theme song, great plot-lines and bangin' gadgets. Probably the most memorable of the gadgets the Silverhawks ever had were their companion bionic hawks and the Maraj (pronounced Mirage)

Of course, you couldn't have the Maraj without Bluegrass.

[Bluegrass & Sideman: giddy-yap]

Bluegrass was the chief pilot of the group, and a cowboy to his very heart, pard'ner. He is the only Silverhawk who can not fly, but he is the one that flies the team's main transport vehicle, that would be the Maraj. The cool thing is, he can use his companion bird, Sideman, as an interface device with the Maraj's advanced dynamic piloting system. Bluegrass calls this Hot Licks.

The first series was the first time that all of us (as kids, of course) had a look at the Maraj. And boy, was it an awesome plane.

[Original Packaging: now that's a huge box]

Kenner toys released the Maraj toy in 1987 as the first series of vehicles to compliment the first wave of Silverhawk action figures. The Maraj can fit the original 5 Silverhawks in their launching sets. The cockpit, also called Hot-seat (where Bluegrass usually sat), can be launched from the rest of the plane to serve as a standalone cycle. Too cool.

[Kenner's Catalog: amazing detail and the design is near perfect]

Collectors have found that the Maraj can be tough to come across unbroken and complete with its missiles. These missiles can be fired from each of the two wings - and in any case, what's an 80s toy without missiles right?

[The Maraj: with missiles and detachable Hot-Seat]

The Maraj was amazing because it complimented the cartoon exactly - it's something that's very rare of toys nowadays. The Maraj that you saw in the cartoon was the Maraj you got when you purchased it, because the Silverhawks sat in their bays perfectly and the toy features mimicked the cartoon-interpreted functions all the way.

I had the Maraj and I would like to say that this is in the top ten of the coolest retro vehicles of all time. You heard that? Of all time.