What made M.A.S.K. so special? First the
toys. In everyday life they look like ordinary vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, trucks or even airplanes. In combat mode, they sometimes turn into completely new vehicles (e.g. a car into a jet, a motorcycle into a submarine.) And have hidden weapons.
The
toys mostly have spring mechanisms that transformed the
toys at the push of a button. Although die-cast metal was not used, the url=https://kenner-mask.com/modules/toyline/index.php]toys[/url] were made of high build quality and featured high quality stickers, paint, chrome and rubber tires. Some
toys and tires were even licensed replicas of real brands.
The second reason that made the
toys so special were the actionfigures. The almost 2 inch tall action figures came each with their own mask. The masks, as you could see in the
cartoon series, all had secret functions (e.g. flamethrowers, let the agent fly or could lift heavy things). In each
toy was min. a figure with mask included.
Most of the
characters were introduced in the
1st and
2nd series. The figures were later repeated in different outfits and in different
toys.
The
toys were delivered in windowless boxes made of paper. The packages were very lovingly designed by
Lance Anderson. The
artwork of the packages are a piece art for me. For Europe, Kenner had to defuse the packages and remove all weapons.
The packaging had different sizes depending on the toy.
The
toys ranged from cheap motorcycles to complex
playsets. In the
first series or early in the
second series, the figures with their masks of the
first series were sold in
two-packs on blister packs. Some of the characters received so-called
Adventure Pack sets with transformable accessories.
The
toys of the first two series consisted of different types of vehicles, mainly based on normal vehicles that were on the roads of America at the time.
The
third series focused on racing and stunt themes, with the vehicles being various racing cars, vans, or stunt vehicles.
The
fourth series went a step further towards fiction and technology with the
Split Seconds. Each
toy is divided into two independent vehicles for its combat mode. The second vehicle was controlled by a translucent plastic hologram version of the driver.
Despite the enormous initial success, the interest in M.A.S.K. got down with the
Racing Series. Due to the
Split Seconds series, the
toys were rarely bought in the USA. The end was sealed.
In Europe, the
Racing Series and the
Split Seconds series had greater success. Which led to additional
figure packs and adventure packs that were only available in Europe.
However, the concept of combat vehicles disguised as ordinary cars and trucks has not been entirely forgotten. Kenner tried out with Vor-Tech to revive M.A.S.K. The vehicles were based 1: 1 on the old
M.A.S.K. Toys, only the design has been changed. It wasn't a success, hardly anyone knows Vor-tech today.
More recently, the rise in toy nostalgia for the 1980s
toys has led Hasbro (they bought Kenner and all of his real estate) to name Matt Trakker as a G.I. Joe figure, that was in 2008. In 2017 there was also a Matt Trakker figure for
IDW Comics, in the IDW Revolutions sets.
In 2020, 2
MASK vehicles (Hurricane and Stinger as small Transformers vehicles) will come onto the market.
There have been numerous rumors of a possible restart for M.A.S.K. but so far none has entered.
