As a child Tyson had a Grumpy Bear stuffed toy, until Tyson’s father forced him to give it away - along with other toys - when he was twelve. Tyson’s Kipper the Dog stuffed toy was also taken and the Superman action figure that Jethro had gotten Tyson for his tenth birthday.
It was one of the few times that his father decided to jointly punish them for something one had done. Jethro had lashed out publicly at one of the Professors attending a dinner party hosted at the family manor, condemning Christianity for its treatment of the Jewish people in a less than delicate way.
Even as a child Tyson understood why his father had reacted so strongly, but he also knew that it didn’t justify this father’s decision. Tyson keenly understood the kind of danger that could put their family in. It wasn’t the right choice, not even close, but he understands that John acted out of fear.
Predictably, Tyson was allowed to keep his chess, draughts, and backgammon sets. He was also permitted to keep two sets of playing cards and the Rubik’s Cube, but all other games were taken away. The broken slinky and a rather dented hula hoop weren’t exactly losses.
Given how many times Jethro had almost broken something with them, Tyson was honestly surprised that it had taken so long for the Devil’s Sticks to get confiscated. The Diabolo that had come with the same set was saved by virtue of being in their attic hiding place when the purge occurred.
Tyson managed to make a good argument for various balls as practising hand-eye coordination for his various lessons, but that still reduced them down to only one ball of each type; which somewhat defeated the point of the juggling balls. His fencing equipment was left untouched, but various toy swords were taken away.
He honestly can’t remember what argument that made that caused him to keep his skateboard, but he knows that the bike was kept as a way of letting Tyson get to and from school. The scooter was rarely used and had become too small anyway, but Tyson was sad to see the roller-blades go.
It was that moment that caused Tyson and Jethro to move their more valued personal items up into the attic permanently, just in case one of them managed to anger their father that much again.