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kendra remembers...Neither my brothers or I owned the toys,but the cartoon was awesome! 'M-M-Mask! More »
Posted on 07/31/08
PHOTOS:
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In the mid-80s, Hasbro kicked off an era of hybrid heroism with its successful line of Transformer toys. Designers at Mattel were now left with the arduous task of coming up with a competing line of toys for those who preferred a bit of multi-functionality in their playthings. Rather than simply focus on the vehicles, however, they also decided to introduce a cast of characters that had a little morphing ability of their own and, as a result, presented the M.A.S.K line of toys.
M.A.S.K was a somewhat clumsy acronym for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand and consisted of a collection of brave heroes and a number of decidedly cool vehicles to transport them. Together, they waged war against the evil VENOM forces (who apparently hadn’t taken the time out of evil doings to create an acronym of their own.) Each action figure was equipped with a facial mask that gave them advanced abilities such as laser blasting, mind reading and super vision. Coupled with their advanced transportation, they were certainly forces to be reckoned with.
On the side of good, team leader Matt Trakker was paired with a swanky red sports car, the Thunder Hawk – which, with the simple press of a button, would sprout wings and a jet engine. Brad Turner preferred the Condor, a motorcycle that transformed into a powerful mini-chopper. Dusty Hayes drove an unassuming Jeep that could convert to a speedboat in the blink of an eye. Of course, the evildoers over at VENOM were a formidable force, but M.A.S.K. had an ace up their sleeve with the Rhino – a heavily armed big rig that was virtually unstoppable. During their downtime, the men and their machines stayed at their official headquarters, the optional Boulder Hill playset.
Over at VENOM headquarters, their dastardly leader, Miles Mayhem took to the skies with a helicopter- blade-equipped super plane called the Switchblade. His comrade, Cliff Dagger, drove a pickup called the Jackhammer, complete with a hidden machine gun turret. And Sly Rax drove the deceptive Piranha motorcycle with an attached sidecar that converted to a jet ski.
With the M.A.S.K. line of toys (not to mention a successful cartoon by the same name,) Mattel certainly rose to the challenge and delivered a winner – a set of morphing mobiles, masked heroes and veiled villains that won the hearts of adventure-seeking kids everywhere, ready to let the forces of good and evil face off in battle with some truly impressive gadgets.
