We don’t know how toy companies sold toys before television existed to market their productions. But if a show designed to promote toys works, then more power to those nutty toy company executives.

Kenner Toys produced MASK, a weekday cartoon that was part G.I. Joe, part Transformers, and all action. On this corner, the good guys: Matt Trakker, square-jawed hero of the Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (put the initials together, you’ll get it), led an elite force of crime fighters. On the other corner, feel free to boo the bad guys: the Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem, VENOM for short.

Each character had a specialty to contribute to the team, like martial arts expertise or technological know-how; in the case of Scott, Matt’s son, it was the ability to get captured on a daily basis. When the team rode into battle, their biggest assets were their vehicles and their helmets—masks, they called them—that conferred special powers to the wearer. The vehicles could transform at will, like Matt’s Thunderhawk that went from sports car to jet car. Miles Mayhem, leader of the baddies, operated a helicopter that converted into a jet.

Before a mission the whole MASK team would gather at Matt’s hideout and slip into masks chosen from a wide selection. Like the vehicles, the masks had names like Shroud, Ultra-Flash, Lifter and Disruptor. Depending on the mask used, one could fly, levitate objects, project holographs or create pockets of vacuum. Just imagine how useful those things would be during a killer morning commute.

The series was action packed with car and plane crashes and balls of molten metal being fired around willy-nilly. The kids ate it up and asked for more if the healthy, 75-episode run is anything to judge by. Toy sales increased as well and MASK introduced new characters, vehicles and mask to coincide with the release of new toy lines. Fans may still have the rallying cry of ‘Collect them all!’ ringing in their heads.