History of M.A.S.K Toys | Where Ambition is the Ultimate Weapon

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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
03:50 Origins of M.A.S.K
06:02 M.A.S.K Series 1
07:28 Thunderhawk
13:11 Switchblade
16:14 Jackhammer
18:15 Rhino
21:27 M.A.S.K Series 2
25:47 Carded figures
27:39 M.A.S.K Series 3
28:54 M.A.S.K Series 4
30:25 Conclusion
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#Kenner #mask #actionfigures

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

Gotta love the '80s for being creative, competitive, and innovative in everything from technology, music, movies, tv series, vehicles, and toys.

[@georgewatts6790]

It’s changed so much

[@radioseppe]

Also people were doing fine financially, I think this was the golden era of action figures

[@bigbabatunde1218]

We'll never see the likes of that time era again.

[@radioseppe]

@@bigbabatunde1218 everything last shorter time nowadays, too. All the fads go out like in 10 min. A lot of stuff is also scattered in a way that there’s no unifying/collectiboe thing toy-wise these days. Guess it’s more like fortnite n other digi stuff for kids now

[@williegreen9102]

​@@georgewatts6790your fantasizing about the 80s because I don't remember any of that shit you talking about I remember people struggling financially because we were in a fucking recession Reaganomics didn't work for us but perhaps you were Rich middle class people

[@GustHal]

The years have past and still believe this is one of the greatest toy lines in history. I really love it. The idea of have pilot and vehicle , the transformation, the mask in characters... and the scale was fantastic.

[@MusicTheLifeBlood]

I loved M.A.S.K. as a kid. Condor was my favorite of all the good guys. I was in a vintage toy store a while back & picked up a Thunderhawk & held it in my hand for a moment. I was struck by how small & delicate it felt. But it's worth mentioning that I'm 6"4 & have caveman hands. Still, given the assorted mechanisms in each toy, it's impressive they're still holding up. Rad episode Tony! -Dustin

[@number6223]

As a child of the 80’s I can say these were awesome to grow up with! What a great time to be a kid!

[@chronogaruda2003]

This line is just great! Never lived in the 80s but collecting them today is quite an experience. If only the individual vehicles weren't so expensive now.

[@RabbiJoeInJerusalem]

I still have Dusty Hayes, almost 40 years later. Boulder Hill was one of the best birthday presents I ever got.

[@konstantinkoverchenko9587]

I still can’t believe the M.A.S.K. series didn’t come back in full swing. Especially since Matt Trakker had a G.I. Joe fig. Later, Miles and his brother had Iron Grenadiers figures, too.

[@42calking53]

Whoa really? Thanks idk that what's that 2nd toy line about I don't remember that line

[@scubapete9500]

Great job Tony! It was a blast working with you and witnessing the development of this project. Thank you mate! 👍

[@AnalogToys]

Same here Scuba, you guys inspired me to up my game on this one!

[@tydiriumhanger1320]

I love Kenner Mask and it is still astonishing how deep they went with this line!

[@arctrooper999]

I liked the way the Switchblade was blue with a red cockpit, it could have doubled as a Cobra drone to fight the Joes.

[@karmainmotion3060]

I remember getting Switchblade for my birthday one year. I'll never forget that!

[@Chasing80sToys]

Thanks so much for having us on board for this ride. We love M.A.S.K. at Chasing 80s Toys, even T-Bob ; )

[@3Storms]

Kenner most likely drew inspiration from James Bond's Lotus that transformed into a submarine, Knight Rider's KITT that in later years had a bunch of pop-out features that turned it into super-KITT, and the STRIPES movie RV that turned into a battle attack vehicle. The car that turned into a plane in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was probably also a factor.

[@hillbillyharper4008]

Awesome video. I only had 3 of the vehicles. I had the Condor, thunder hawk, and raven. Only have the raven now. Never was able to watch the cartoon. It was on at around 6:30 in the morning through the week. Great job everyone

[@cowpuddles4851]

I had a bunch of these vehicles but never Switchblade. Wish I had asked for that instead of the Volcano Van. That thing was crap. Great video gents!

[@jeremyj2667]

Fantastic video. Comprehensive and entertaining.

[@AnalogToys]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@olepigeon]

I liked how Hasbro handled the retcon for MASK when they acquired the property. After the GI Joe vs. Transformers crossover, MASK became a secret project by the U.S. military that utilized Cybertronian technology to create their transforming vehicles. It was a backup plan incase the Transformers (Decepticons _or_ Autobots) tried to take over Earth. Great way to bring it all together.

[@MarkTyger]

Great job as always, Tony. But there is another factor to the appeal of the MASK line in the 80's that often does't get mentioned. The 80's was the heyday of the "Hero Vehicle" TV shows. Primetime viewing on all the big networks featured action/adventure shows with either signature vehicles (Magnum PI, The A-Team, Dukes of Hazard, The Equalizer, Hardcastle and McCormick, Riptide, etc) or the 'battle vehicle' shows where the vehicle was the key feature of both the show and the plot. Knight Rider, Blue Thunder, Airwolf, Automan and Street Hawk all featured weaponized futuristic high-tech vehicles, some of which even changed shape. And while some of these had their own toys, they never had the 'toyetic' quality of something like MASK. So with 'grown up' vehicle shows everywhere, MASK was a direct compilation of a proven formula at the time, in this case more directly marketed to kids. The Kenner design team really knew what they were doing with the MASK line, marketing to the kids who wanted something a bit more accessible. I was never a "car guy" but even I had some MASK toys back in the day, because who can turn down a good spring-loaded gimmick! In the end, the only problem with the line is by keeping the scale smaller than their contemporaries to keep prices in check, the MASK line had to stand on its own, and it was hard to cross-pollinate them with other toys at the time. And with so many other lines to compete with throughout the 80's, they got caught standing alone and couldn't maintain their momentum in the face of staunch competition.

[@jandecoleman1]

As a child of the 80's, I would LOVE to see a toy line reboot!

[@katanapop]

One of the most beautiful reviews of your channel.

[@ReynoldsReviews]

What a great look at this wonderful toy line!!! I’m not sure I could love it any more, great collaboration boys, loved seeing all this MASK goodness, learned some new info too 👊

[@DougPalumbo]

Couldn’t agree more!

[@eriklarson7023]

While Transformers are my first love, MASK is the only other childhood toy line I can’t bring myself to sell off. I just need a few more vehicles to have them all, mainly the expensive Split Seconds. FUN FACT: in the cartoon, Scott Trakker was voiced by Brennan Thicke, son of Growing Pains actor Alan Thicke and brother to “Blurred Lines” singer Robin Thicke.

[@PixelPipes]

This. This is what I'm here for. No one does these types of toy videos better than you.

[@MichaelJShaffer]

Fantastic job, Tony! Absolutely loved it. A truly awesome toy line and you equaled it in your work. Great to see the 3 gentleman from Chasing 80s Toys and hear all their input. I can tell you really poured yourself into it. Thank you for the dedication, sir. Truly humbled.🖖

[@yesterlandtoys1138]

This should be pretty epic!

[@wilhelmtoyandhobby]

Great video on a really fun toy line. Awesome team up! I loved seeing each vehicle and figure and watching your demonstrations. Also the tips you provided about collecting these is valuable information that will help current and future collectors. Thank you Tony and chasing 80s for this excellent video.

[@frankschuler2867]

The Condor was the only one I had as well…still have it! I grew up in Cincinnati (the home of Kenner), so anything Kenner-related is special to me.

[@fawziekefli2273]

I love the way V.E.N.O.M. doesn't pull any punches when it comes to naming their organization. 🤣

[@jonniehotdog]

Excellent video, Tony, Chris, Jeff and Pete! MASK always takes me back to Xmas morning in '86 when my brother got a Switchblade and I got a Thunderhawk along with Scott and T-Bob (I think my to even up the value of the presents!) I was then overjoyed to get a Gator from my grandparents later that same day. That was all the MASK I ever owned, but I was able to experience much of the first two waves through friends. Thanks guys for going through all of the transformations -that really took me back! These really were excellent toys!

[@ccipher5990]

Another wonderful video Tony! Was thrilled when this popped up on my feed. I always really enjoy your MASK content in particular. Many thanks.

[@yesterlandtoys1138]

Gentleman! Outstanding video and such an accurately told story of the history of M.A.S.K! Well done guys! Well done! 🤞🏻🙏 praying to see the return of them someday!

[@tatsntoys7587]

Look forward to this Tony!! 👍

[@jordel2010]

Great video. Where I grew up, all Kenner toy lines were, more often than not, considerably more expensive than toy lines from other manufacturers; so, when compared to Mattel's MOTU or Hasbro's GI Joe, I didn't get a lot of toys from Kenner growing up. In the specific case of M.A.S.K., I only got 3 of them, the very first one being Thunder Hawk. I still remember when I opened it on xmas morning and immediately being like WOW! because it featured rubber tires. While I had it, I kept it mostly complete except for one bomb that went missing. I'm not so sure if M.A.S.K. as a property could be successfully brought back in other way than cashing in on nostalgia, since it's very much a product of its time.

[@johnchesteryu4873]

The 80's and 90's are the best Christmas for kids.... I'm very glad I grew up in the 80's. 🎄🎄🎄

[@varnishyourboard]

I still have a memorable Christmas morning with the Switchblade and The Pirhana. Thanks for taking me back (and thanks mom and dad).

[@TheGuitologist]

Excellent video!

[@bobahicks]

Great seeing the Chasing 80's Toys crew join forces with Analog Toys for this awesome video. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@CoraBuhlert]

I was a big fan of the MASK cartoon back in the day. I also discovered it on Fun Factory as well as on Dutch TV. Never had any of the toys, alas. A pity that there never was a MASK revival, though those amazing vehicles would be way too costly to make these days.

[@PhantomJM]

I still remember my grandmother's initial reaction when I asked for Switchblade for Christmas that year. I was jumping up and down when I actually got it.

[@KensToyz]

I somehow managed to keep my Switchblade over the years. I had to replace my Condor though. I'm not sure what happened to that bike..... Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing this!

[@MrRKWRIGHT]

I was one of the first children to receive a Mr. Potato Head "kit" as a gift for Christmas, in 1952 when I was twelve. This was before they came out with the version of the toy that included a plastic brown head with holes in it. The original iteration of MPT was simply a box of plastic, feet, ears, noses, eyes, hat, bow tie, etc. The child had to stick these into a real potato. My maternal grandfather Liam had emigrated from Ireland as a baby in 1849 to escape the Great Famine and he was still around in 1952. He ultimately lived to 105, eventually expiring while participating in an amateur boxing match in 1954 when a fellow railroad locomotive coal tender from his union he was fighting landed a solid right hook. Both of them had just returned that afternoon from working the New York to Chicago run for the past thirty days. and they'd gotten drunk and shared a hooker before the bout. Grandfather gave 87 years of his life to that railroad, having started when he was a teenager with a seventh grade education (a year before he formally took up drinking on a daily basis). All throughout Christmas Day, the more the old man drank the more he cursed the Hasbro Toy Company for making "a blasted toy out of the damnable spud, a feckin' bag of which would have kept me and me dear brothers and sisters off that stinking ship and home and abidin' in Muckholligam, Galway, where we belonged. - working our peat bog and attending mass. Colleen wouldtna ended up a Haarrr and Fintan woulda entered the priesthood, instead of makin' barrels all his lousy life and sellin'' 'em cut rate in Boston. " Eventually, after throwing the Mr. Potato Head kit into the fireplace, and pretty much losing his ability to stand up, or keep from wetting his pants, he moved on to his favorite joke... "Pretend yer walking up to me boyo in front the church. Ask me if mass is out yet." So, I'd ask him..."Is mass out yet." He'd start cackling, take a big slug from his bottle of Jameson's and chortle "No, but it's only a matter of time you feckin' idjeeit, seein' s how the flap on yer Guddamnable britches is undone." He always told this same joke every Christmas, and oddly it always signified, without fail, that he was about to finally shut up and pass out for a few hours. By then, in '52 , my new Mr. Potato Head kit had been completely incinerated - head feet, eyes, nose, mustache - all gone. I still have the cardboard box however. on the mantle of my fireplace. I keep Grandpa's ashes in it, purely out of spite. He wanted to be buried back in Ireland, but as executor of his "estate," I was able to make other arrangements. 😁

[@BlackArroToons]

Great M.A.S.K. video collectible story, thanks! I'm a big fan of 3" figures though I know I'm in the minority on that. Season 1 MASK was the last figure/vehicle line I had as a kid and my favorite overall.

[@KRONIK3636]

Loved M.A.S.K when I was a kid! THey were some of the best action/vehicle toys EVER! I had Rhino & Condor & my friends had others, we used to all play with our M.A.S.K. toys together. Such awesome toys. Great video!!

[@impossiblepie]

What a fantastic toy line! Great video gentlemen!

[@maxblackcat]

Somehow, I can remember Condor as my first vehicle and getting Jackhammer for my 6th birthday. Great video.

[@anthonyfocbit67]

Firefly was once my first M.A.S.K toy bought by my mother to me when I was a kid... loved that toy...

[@indietaiwan]

all characters in this animation are nice drivers, they all put on seat belt and helmet when they driving.

[@kipp1231]

This was my favorate cartoon as a kid. I had almost the entire set. The toys were amazing.

[@JonathanMedd]

Great video, really enjoyed this and learned a lot about the toy range

[@andrewflashchannelgibbs5384]

I had a number of the mask toys - including Firefly. I loved it and so did my cat apparently. It would open the box and push it around the floor! You wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it. 😮

[@citadelli]

Mask was cool…my little bro liked them, but he also liked transformer’s lol. I was just too into joes and the comics. I did get the 2 sets that were bikes with figs. The line was actually line all around and like our other 80s goodness full of animated goodness up there with thunder cats and brave Star and so many others. Jack hammer was prolly the coolest, while also the simplest.

[@EnglishLaw]

3:08 you are missing my favourite; Firefly. The car plane thing.

[@timothyward8695]

They mention it at 22:55

[@MrB.Barbarian]

I had so much M.A.S.K it was an absolutely fantastic show.. Great video!

[@BricksNJitzz]

This was one of the only American shows I remember seeing when we were stationed in England back in 88-89. I remember having the green bike and black car vividly!

[@KensToyz]

Loved the video.. We really had the coolest toys in the 80's.

[@beaker126]

Great stuff! Never got into MASK as a kid, but always admired it. I think the size is kind of a sweet spot for cool figures and affordable vehicles.

[@wreck-itralphreuss7075]

Man! This brings back memories thank you to all three of you from doing this video. I had a lot of these growing up and wish I still kept them And was able to protect them from parental toy purges 😢… I had Thunderhawk, Rhino, Jackhammer, switchblade, piranha, condor, The Jeep, and the 55 Chevy! I also had boulder hill… I always wished they had made the mask table where they sit and it distributes each mask to each user and I feel like maybe they did make that as a separate piece but I don’t remember. These toys were awesome! They had such amazing play value and lasted for years…!

[@Spoofsinyourface]

Love how hopeful you guys are. Unfortunately nothing but nostalgia ever really comes back from old eras. I feel like we just grew up in the middle. The best era in human history. I feel for kids these days that will never know the feeling of roaming a toy store. We played till teens. These days teens are shooting up schools, and having kids. They just need toys! 😆

[@salvation7362]

I had Firecracker and my best friend got Condor so we could drive around on our bikes together. You couldn't go wrong with 2 vehicles in 1 set! I think I was way more invested in the cartoon than I was the toys. I believe I have some MASK comics in my collection.

[@Its.Chad.]

Streamer 😂 Great video, Tony & Chasing ‘80s Crew! MASK is easily my second favorite line, but yeah, Wave 1 was the best they made. 1:18 scale is definitely the way to go with any new MASK toys. We all know Hasbro hates vehicles as it is and 1:12 MASK wouldn’t have any, just figures. That’s why I made customs of MASK vehicles in 1:18…cause I don’t wanna wait for Hasbro.

[@DougPalumbo]

Great collaboration video!

[@GarysActionManChannel1970]

Excellent in depth video👍

[@Duhjokersinhell]

i remember as a kid being very disappointed that the springs were disabled on the projectile firing toys due to too many lawsuits.

[@DarthRockyt]

M.A.S.K. was my favorite as a kid, love to get my hands on them again 🤘 Great video, thank you for sharing.. Subscribed 👍

[@Pahricida]

I was born in '87. By the time I really got into this toyline they had mostly disappeared from store shelves so I spent most of my childhood on fleamarkets looking for M.A.S.K. I had a respectable collection and even got Boulder Hill 95% complete for like 5 bucks in the late 90's. Today I wish I hadn't sold pretty much all of it when I was a teenager. My fav. was Manta and I disassembled it at some point due to curiosity ... well needless to say the springs in there are no joke and I failed at reassembly.

[@benthomas1885]

I had jackhammer and can still remember the quality of it. Brilliant toy

[@kidelectro4679]

My favourite toys of my childhood

[@pitbullkomics7249]

Great channel, thank you!

[@andrewstevenson3807]

My Nan bought me firefly for Xmas in 86! I was so chuffed! Amazing toy.

[@xazylsclubhouse]

I loved MASK and even enjoyed the racing season. I had a VHS named MASK the movie which was just a few episodes of that racing season. Great video, I'm also enjoying the inclusion of Sgt Slaughter 😍😎😜

[@AnalogToys]

I thought you'd like that!

[@xazylsclubhouse]

@@AnalogToys 🤜🤛

[@barryschalkwijk9388]

That theme song sure was something.

[@ParumPirum]

I remember seeing these as a kid and thinking: Hey, why didn´t Star Wars use this scale? The Kenner SW ships and vehicles always felt cramped - the scale was off - except for Snowspeeder - and the legs couldn't bend which made figures sit weird. A whole Star wars line with the MASK scale would have been awesome. But on the other hand.... the tiny blasters would have been so easy to lose.

[@LOKNES1]

Sooo cool. 80's cartoons man had the best power ballot intros. 🤘🏾 I had a Fire Cracker the pickup. Rhino was cool as well. Great vid. 👍🏾

[@jays_toycollectionuk]

I wanted to learn about Mask and knew Tony's would be the channel to come too 👍 great video

[@aboutthemetal8783]

I have to say , if Hasbro brought mask back to toy shops in some retro line I'd be very interested , if they released the toys and vehicles and they were basically the same look and scale I'd buy the lot . Still got my original rhino rig and a couple of other bits and bobs , all my life I've known rhino as rhino rig , I don't know why ,watching this show is the first time I've realised that the rhino toy was called rhino , I was convinced it was called the rhino rig , love how I've learned something new about things I love , nice one Tony .

[@wiseguy100]

God I loved my MASK toys. Still got them all in boxes in my loft. Might have to get em out and have a play. I'm 45 lol.

[@benjaminandrew9057]

M.A.S.K. and Transformers. My favorite two toylines when I was a kid. Wish I still had them both.

[@kibbo]

Very Cool..... Love It.... Back Bring My Junior High School Moment.... Thank You...

[@sarah-janegalipo3995]

I miss Saturday morning cartoons I would wake up at 6am and wouldn’t move until 10 or 11. I even knew the time table on both channels. Good innocent days

[@WARPUDDY666]

I have a retro toy store here in Kingman A.Z that has a lot of them. They did some very cool toys for M.A.S.K.

[@georgeaitken2719]

This came out when I was collecting action force my only experience of it was the comic strip which was in the eagle comics still have them used to see them next to the masters of the universe and a team toys on the toy aisle’s

[@gavinmorgan8861]

Loved Mask. I remember one of the toys was a road sign that opened up and there was a gun in there. Bolder hill was number one on my Christmas list one year.

[@chriscummings4206]

The intro reminds me of the laser graphics military jet T-shirts advertised in Popular Mechanics! I watched some M.A.S.K. episodes when I was in middle school. Somebody, somewhere, has to invent a cartoon and a toy line out of thin air, even if just as a joke!

[@KmT81]

As a kid,I was offered Jaques LaFleur's Volcano whilst I wanted ThunderHawk so bad. But not too late ,40 years later,I can order it and SwitchBlade for my collection rememberings.

[@TheNightBadger]

Pretty sure the mask change was so they wouldn't get stuck in kids throats, and they would have 'air' holes if they did, as all the second run masks were both larger and had gaps. I never had any MASK toys back in the day, but they called out to me frequently, and I think I should have at least gotten Condor (which always seemed to be in Argos...) I completely agree about the 'two toys' thing - I was always drawn to what gave you the most play value, and toys which could 'split' were the best. Firecracker is one of the MASK vehicles I still really want. Thunderbird 2 always made me feel the same way because it came with Thunderbird 5 (my favorite). A more recent example of this is the GI Joe Rhino (I think made about the time of Rise of Cobra), it works as a tank, a troop transport, and the central piece is a detachable helicopter.

[@kieronball8962]

A superb documentary that proves what an amazing toyline M.A.S.K. is and what a talented film maker Tony Roberts is.

[@sturner151]

Series 1 and 2 were great, I had all of both them. I just had no desire to get anything in series 3 or that Spilt Seconds 4th wave that I thought even as a 12 year old was ridiculous.

[@bittertroll7476]

really enjoy your videos

[@KeyKiller74]

I loved M.A.S.K. I remember getting my Switch blade I loved it so much. 😃Great review 👍

[@miaouew]

Such a cool line of toys.

[@happiaxxident]

🥷🏻💪 Great vid guys! I have a (rather) “checkered 🏁,” history with this toy line. I could definitely talk at length about these wonderful toys.

[@davefrancis4529]

Best news is that F.Gary Gray has the film rights and it is currently being written. Fingers crossed it will be an amazing movie that will rekindle interest in the franchise, my favorite as a child.

[@peterdr.kopacsi2961]

Really, its one of the best of the toylines ever made, even with the very unlikeable Split Seconds series. It would be nice to mention the south american versions of carded figures/playsets, and the european specials. Cool video, as always, thanks for it!

[@user-vr7bs3ud1e]

I had Thunderhawk, Jackhammer, and Piranaha. For awhile, I played with these as often as my G.I. Joe or Transformers. The cartoon was also really cool.

[@anonymousSWE]

I had the hurricane. I fucking loved that car. So cool when you turned the top part a little and all of a sudden it's a killing machine on 6 wheels.

[@johnvader4584]

Fantastic video

[@pyroglyphics]

Yes! The datsun that transforms into a Fighter plane was Just sooo frikkin awesome!

[@S-T-E-V-E]

I loved Mask as kid, the guitar led Score was amazing, even the stings were guitar based! My favourite Vehicle was Gator, the Jeep that opened up and shot out a speed boat! I also loved Switchblabe, probably because of Airwolf! I had both of them and Condor, I can't remember if I had any of the others TBH! My Friend had Rhino too, It was probably too expensive for my parents! Although I can't complain they did buy me He-Man, Transformers, Star Wars, Lego, Terrahawks and every other Toy Line that came along! PS I seem to remember having Pirahna too!

[@JasonSum1979]

really interesting video… These toys were so cool but, they were so delicate and the mask’s themselves were so easy to loose (its cool to see so many of these in near mint condition with actual masks 👍👍👍

[@Dghost24]

I got my M.A.S.K. toys from when I was 8 years old and because I had to pay a little from my savings money I was so nice what these toys and saved all boxes that they came in! Now I have it displayed with some other toys and hoped they whould bring this back to life because then I'm in!

[@seatspud]

The MASK and Venom vehicles I had: Condor Rhino Hurricane Firefly Vampire Stinger Oh yeah, also had a T-Bob w/Scott for some reason.