Yama’s Hawg revisited
Yama’s Hawg from Ebay
Not too long ago, I wrote about the Magical Mystery Machine Tour, which was a special project put together by the folks that posted on the old Polar Lights forum. Here’s another little piece of Polar Lights history…
Back in the old days of the Polar Lights forum, there was a tight knit group of Polar Lights fans that regularly participated on the message board. Each year, a bunch of them would get together at Wonderfest and Lisa Greco from Polar Lights would have something special for them. In 2000, the special gift was Yama’s Hawg.
Original Yama’s Hawg art from Andy Mihail’s collection
The story behind this mysterious kit is quite interesting. One of the early regulars was a guy named Dave Potter, otherwise known as Yamahog. Dave had a great sense of humor and every so often he would start a thread with a fun theme such as “Barry Yoner Day” or something totally off the wall. “Yama’s Hawg” was one of those amusing ideas he came up with, in response to all postings about what kits Polar Lights should produce. He sent the drawing to Lisa Greco and Lisa ran with the idea.
Yama’s Hawk built by Hooty. Photo from the Polarpedia
She told another PL board regular, Russ Hooten aka “Hooty” about the drawing and Hooty actually built a figure to match it! To further the joke, Lisa made up kit boxes with the artwork shown above. Each kit was sealed and contained leftover plastic sprues to give the kit a bit an an authentic rattle. Lisa later said that one of the kits actually had a complete Polar Lights Black Beauty inside.
Lisa Greco, Mike Warshaw, and Dave “Yamahog” Potter at Wonderfest 2000
Anyhow, there’s currently one of these rare Yama’s Hawg kits on ebay. There were certainly less than 50 of these produced and given that most owners hang on to them, this is your chance to pick up one of these obscure, rare Polar Lights giveaways.
Thanks to the Ebay Auction, the Polarpedia, Andy Mihail, and Mike Warshaw for the photos that I “borrowed” for this little column.
