M.A.S.K!!!

WARNING: Much reminiscing.

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Hasbro now own most of the MASK right which mean some day we could potentially see Mask vs Transformers

Interestingly enough they released a G.I Joe Matt Tracker recently as a wee tribute.

Apparently Hasbro don't actually own the rights to the name "M.A.S.K." hence the Agent Trakker figure having Mobile Armored Strike Kommand on the packaging.

...they're throwing a nod to the concept with the Stealth Force subline in TFs though. Apparently Bay thinks they're "cool" but since he gets a cut of every toy sold, he would.

MarkHall wrote: »

I set my poor Rhino on fire when I discovered i could use a spray can to replicate the Torch mask. It's in less than mint condition now.

I was absolutely-f*cking-nuts about M.A.S.K. as a kid.

Seriously. More so than Transformers. Whilst i liked the idea of TFs, i didn't always like the execution. I knew bloody well a robot that turned into a metallic dinosaur was a pretty poor "disguise", and my favourites were by far the Autobot cars.

Early 1986, i saw a commercial for Roddy, Kup, Blurr, Cyclonus and Scourge.
Not impressed... the lure of TFs was starting to fade.

Then shortly after..... i saw a MASK commercial, it felt like they filled the 'realism' gap that was left by TFs moving towards 'more futuristic' vehicles.

They were pretty hard to get for most of 1986. I distinctly remember somebody in Paddy Barrett's telling me everyone had trouble getting stock.

Early 87 they became a lot easier to get. I had most of what was released in the first two years.. when it got to the 'Racing series' the folks decided i had "too many" of them.. but they didn't object to Starcom for some reason... so i moved away from MASK... Not that i didn't like Starcom, but most of my favourites were in Series 3.

Believe it or not, unlike some other toylines, every single MASK toy was released in Europe... Although in the case of Firecracker we had to wait an extra year, beyond the fact that MASK was released here a year after the US.

In fact some of the action figure 2 packs, repaints of figures from series
2 and 3 were released in Europe, but not the US and can command very high prices for good examples. There were also some adventure packs unreleased in the US/Canada, with accessories that were never available elsewhere.
They can also fetch a good price.

There was also the fourth series, known as Split Seconds in the US. The theme was that every vehicle split in two, but the name was a bit too on the nose, as they just weren't up to the quality of the racing series which, imo, was the line's best year. Some of those final year toys are comparatively rare and can fetch high prices. Especially if you happen to have the US boxed versions which have distinctly different packaging.

The cartoon ended after the racing series, between that and the fact Split Seconds wasn't quite up to the standard set, the line faded away. I didn't own any Split Seconds vehciles at the time... they just dind't look as interested to me, i was more fussed with G.I.Joe (Action Force) at the time.


I do remember around summer 1991, Kenner Europe liquidated LOTS of Mask toys, they were being sold off at 5.99 each.. and i bought a few more as a Swansong of sorts.


About 6 years ago, i started to collect MISB MASK toys, got my hands on a sealed example of every single toy made. All American boxes, as well as all the Europe only stuff case fresh.

Sold the collection on to a guy in the US, at a tidy profit. Apparently Skybolt is so rare in a US box, he wasn't even sure it existed in such packaging.

Well i did warn you about the much reminiscing. I've a particularly sentimental attachment to this toyline for some reason.

...and yeah, the cartoon was pretty horrible at times. Dic would later became quite infamous for paying Hasbro a BIG chunk of money for the rights to make a G.I.Joe cartoon, even if it was widely seen as vastly inferior to the Sunbow one.

MarkHall wrote: »

Some of the designs where better than preivous runs.
.

They're only toys, so we can agree to differ......

By the time i was done with the line, i'd owned all of them loose.

Stiletto, in fairness was actually a pretty good toy.... although if you're an 80s kid, you may make exception for anything Countach related. *ahem*
Wolfbeat i quite liked.

The rest, IMO were mediocre to lacking..... I'm particularly biased towards the Racing series though. Bulldog/Bulldoze was probably my favorite toy from that year, and i've a soft spot for that year as a whole...

.... aside from Pit Stop Catapult and Billboard Blast which were both thrown together...... and the Collector...was kind of a micro Boulder Hill.


I still have an unused Collector in a (beat) 'spend 14.90 and get this free' box... i'm not sure where it originated from, but i think i got mine from Asia (?)

I don't think it's of much value, but if someone wants it, pm me.