The Loyal Subjects to relaunch MASK, and other Legacy Hasbro Brands

[Steevy Maximus]

While wave 1 seemed to (finally!) release to some mixed reception, TLS is moving forward with wave 2, dubbed “The Heavy Hitters”. First official renders have been revealed, as well as some additional details about the changes/upgrades being made to the vehicles:
The Gator now features metal plating on the engine block, swappable to the vintage version.
Both the Gator and Hurricane now feature clear windshields
The Piranha bike windscreen is now only a partial translucent piece.
All the vehicles will likely be sporting new foot pegs for figure attachment.
All figures come with two masks: one standard, one with blast effects (with Dusty Hayes and Dagger’s effects pieces being the “long MASK” variants).
That’s all in addition to the typical sculpt/articulation upgrades on the figures and vehicles and effects pieces.

Official Images: The Loyal Subjects M.A.S.K. Wave 2: The Heavy Hitters

Shown below via an overseas etailer is a look at the new M.A.S.K. Wave 2 from The Loyal Subjects. When more information is available we will be sure to let y

toynewsi.com

Worth noting that this seems to be the first assortment where John Warden, former Hasbro guy, seems to be having an active hand in development, so we’ll see how this batch turns out. In addition to the muted reception from some fans, I think the pricing (exasperated by recent events further) might have damped enthusiasm and sales for a niche line like this. Doesn’t seem like anything has overtly “sold out” and even the limited 40th Anniversary offerings are still very much available.

I know I’ve not been able to partake as much given pricing IRL concerns. I’m still of the opinion that some of the later, more interesting or rarer offerings, and some unproduced items would do a LOT to spruce up interest in this line. I know Missing Link seems to really “pop” on a lot of radars when Tomy revealed Arcee.

 

[msol]

I'm just hoping they improved the connection pegs on Piranha's shield and Jackhammer's small gun.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Official images have come out for Super7’s first wave of Visionaries ReAction+ figures, Darkstorm and Leoric. Unlike the original toys, these WILL be scaled with Super7’s current ReAction+ series of GI Joe figures.

Super7 Visionaries ReAction+ Wave 1 Figures

Shown below is our first look at the upcoming Super7 Visionaries ReAction+ Wave 1 figures which includes Darkstorm and Leoric. You may recall these were first

toynewsi.com

 

[lastmaximal]

I know I haven't been able to dip into new MASK due to finances. I'm surprised I've been able to get the Transformers I have this year. But there's just not as much left for extracurriculars. I'd love to get a Switchblade, and a fresh Jackhammer would be appealing. Maybe someday.

But I'm glad to see these Reaction+ Visionaries. As jacked up as Super 7 prices tend to be, especially here, it'll likely still be cheaper to get a Leoric (and without the decades of plastic degradation) than trying to put one together from ebay. Can't decide if I'll just keep this as is or try to convert it to a modern body, but it'll be good to just have it finally. AND apparently with the holos.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Announced via The Loyal Subjects social media, the next wave of MASK, “The Heavy Hitters”, will be going up for preorder July 7th from BBTS and other partner retailers.

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/MASK

Reminder that the wave will feature (with modified names), the Jackhammer, Gator, Piranha, and Hurricane.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Also, in addition to the blue hologram MASK Thunderhawk due for SDCC, TLS has just announced/revealed a green hologram Condor for SDCC as well

2026 SDCC Exclusive M.A.S.K. Thunderhawk And Condor Translucent Hologram Series Vehicles

It was announced last year that The Loyal Subjects would be offering a translucent blue variant of their M.A.S.K. Thunderhawk with Matt Trakker vehicle this y

toynewsi.com

 

[Steevy Maximus]

While the site is working...
It's Amazon Prime Days! There are deals on select Micronauts ReAction+ figures and Loyal Subjects' entire range of MASK toys are marked down 15%, bringing them closer to the original MSRP TLS announced originally.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Can anyone access The Loyal Subjects website? Not sure if it’s because of the SDCC scalpers or what, but I’ve not been able to access their site for several days. It just…doesn’t load. Not sure if it’s a traffic issue or back end issue on their end. Surely, these SDCC exclusives and a site wide sale aren’t enough to crash their site, is it?

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Some minor news:
Reportedly, Loyal Subjects will be ”sunsetting” their Jem product line. Despite a big splash at launch, TLS seemed unable to maintain momentum on the property, not helped by an inability to get the line into broader retail coverage. It seems the revealed Misfits dolls will NOT see release.

I’m not sure this bods well for MASK, especially after the mixed reception to Wave 1. Wave 2 is slated to drop preorders early next week, but I’m not sure how long the legs are for a line at this price range, without significant retailer support, and which remains as niche as this is. I could see another wave…but unless they get the price down a bit or start producing some new or compelling items…

In slightly better (or mixed, depending on your view ) -
TLS Design Director John Warden has left the company. While wave 2 is “in the bag”, it seems, it raises questions on future assortments.
That said…
He’s leaving because he was hired to be the Global Director of Prototype Development at The Lego Group! A nice rebound for a guy who was laid off at Hasbro and is now a MAJOR executive at the world renowned Lego Group. As part of his new job, he’ll be making the big move to Denmark to work at Lego’s worldwide headquarters.

 

[Donocropolis]

I've been enjoying the new M.A.S.K. toys, but I definitely wondered how long a lifespan something like this had. It would have been nice to see these toys on the shelf at Target next to similar retro re-releases of old Heman and Ninja Turtles, with that volume of sales helping to bring prices down, but unfortunately I just don't think that M.A.S.K. has the same nostalgia power as those brands.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I think a valid argument is that MASK was a novel toy line that hit at the right time with the right motifs to resonate with the broader market. All the other subsequent “MASK-likes” certainly didn’t garner anywhere near as much attention (closest was my beloved Dino-Riders, because dinosaurs…but it still remains just a niche to this day).
I would argue that MASK is more remembered for the TOYS (and kick ass theme song) than anything else about the brand.

And I’m not sure the “plussed up remake” path is sustainable much longer. I still argue part of the issue is the same as with all collector lines like this: they go to remaking the popular, early, stuff, but once all that gets remade…interest drops off. It would NOT surprise me if the reason we got the Hurricane instead of the Firecracker (besides mixing up the wave’s “color”) is so that TLS has a Series 1 item hanging over the line to maintain momentum.
I still think they should be sprinkling in some rare and unmade (since they got to remake everything from scratch anyway) offerings to make it more interesting. But then…would the nostalgic buyers still show out?

Man, collectors really can suck the fun out of things….

 

[LordGigaIce]

And I’m not sure the “plussed up remake” path is sustainable much longer. I still argue part of the issue is the same as with all collector lines like this: they go to remaking the popular, early, stuff, but once all that gets remade…interest drops off.

In fairness, people said that would happen with GI Joe Classified, that once the heavy hitters from GI Joe and Cobra were done, it would die a slow, unremarkable death. And Classified is a line that's gotten more retro as it's gone on.

I think it's fair to say that MASK just isn't a line people care about, whereas stuff like Transformers and GI Joe still have wide enough cultural resonances, even when they're being slavishly 80s.

Not every brand is going to be a home run waiting to happen. Maybe this is just what MASK is and there's no getting around that.

Man, collectors really can suck the fun out of things….

Never listen to collectors. Both Mattel and Hasbro have been experimenting with new characters for MotU and GI Joe. No one in the collector community would have been excited for this stuff on paper but even they've proven very amicable to it once it starts to get shown off.

So don't listen to collectors. They'll come around if the product is strong.

See also: Wars, Beast

 

[Haywire]

I don't exactly have a horse in this race; MASK was something I knew about, and friends had, but I never had growing up. (Honestly, as little as my family earned in the 80s, I was lucky to have as many GI Joes and Gobots as I did)
I will say, 2 things that were a full-stop for me to buying any of these were:
1) the price (which was at least partly a timing thing and out of TLS's control)
2) the scale. This is where I know I will differ from actual MASK fans, because I DO collect 3-3/4" GI Joe, and if I were going to buy into MASK, I would want them to be compatible with those. Obviously, this would be at odds with fans who have the older MASK toys, especially if TLS delved into the unproduced ones. So I guess there's no pleasing everybody?

So don't listen to collectors. They'll come around if the product is strong.

I would amend this to "Don't listen exclusively to collectors". I work in retail, and while I don't buy into the "customer is always right" bit, the customer is also not always wrong, either. Collectors are customers, too, just (hopefully) not the only ones. The trick is to straddle the fence enough to keep all the customers coming back for more...

 

[Donocropolis]

2) the scale. This is where I know I will differ from actual MASK fans, because I DO collect 3-3/4" GI Joe, and if I were going to buy into MASK, I would want them to be compatible with those. Obviously, this would be at odds with fans who have the older MASK toys, especially if TLS delved into the unproduced ones. So I guess there's no pleasing everybody?

As a kid, I never was into GI Joe and, as much as I did like Star Wars, somehow never ended up with many of the toys. What I did have (other than Transformers/Gobots) was M.A.S.K., Dinoriders, and Bone Age, all of which were at that Kenner 3" scale, so that will always be what I consider the "ideal" action figure size. It helps that that's also 1:24th, which makes them ideal companions for Alternators.

Now, that being said, if Loyal Subjects had made their new toys as SMALLER versions of the originals, with the drivers being roughly Megabloks figures sized, I would have been all over that as well. That would have kept price and required shelf space down.

 

[Haywire]

Now, that being said, if Loyal Subjects had made their new toys as SMALLER versions of the originals, with the drivers being roughly Megabloks figures sized, I would have been all over that as well. That would have kept price and required shelf space down.

I would be interested in MASK vehicles that scaled roughly with Deluxe Transformers, so that definitely would have been an interesting direction to pursue.

 

[LordGigaIce]

I think a valid argument is that MASK was a novel toy line that hit at the right time with the right motifs to resonate with the broader market. All the other subsequent “MASK-likes” certainly didn’t garner anywhere near as much attention (closest was my beloved Dino-Riders, because dinosaurs…but it still remains just a niche to this day).
I would argue that MASK is more remembered for the TOYS (and kick ass theme song) than anything else about the brand.

And I’m not sure the “plussed up remake” path is sustainable much longer. I still argue part of the issue is the same as with all collector lines like this: they go to remaking the popular, early, stuff, but once all that gets remade…interest drops off. It would NOT surprise me if the reason we got the Hurricane instead of the Firecracker (besides mixing up the wave’s “color”) is so that TLS has a Series 1 item hanging over the line to maintain momentum.
I still think they should be sprinkling in some rare and unmade (since they got to remake everything from scratch anyway) offerings to make it more interesting. But then…would the nostalgic buyers still show out?

Man, collectors really can suck the fun out of things….

I think another thing to consider is that the scale of both. AFAIK TLS just reproduced the original MASK and Jem scales...

... but the collector game is firmly in the 1/12 six inch scale these days. What's one of the big talking points about Mattel's new Core line for DC? That we finally have DC figures that can scale with Marvel Legends for the first time in six years.

Now kids don't care about scale. Kids would be all over the original MASK and Jem scales TLS is working with, but these things aren't being sold in toy aisles at Walmart and Target. They're almost exclusively being sold to collectors. In scales that collectors, for the most part, just don't collect in.

I mean yes, fashion doll collectors exist and the smaller 3 and 3.75 inch scales have their fans... but I have to think that the larger slice of the collector market interested in 80s retro bands is pretty firmly committed to 1/12 six inch scale.

I don't know how you make that work with MASK's vehicles but... I donno. Makes me think MASK may just not be viable these days.

Jem could work though.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

In fairness, people said that would happen with GI Joe Classified, that once the heavy hitters from GI Joe and Cobra were done, it would die a slow, unremarkable death. And Classified is a line that's gotten more retro as it's gone on.

I think it's fair to say that MASK just isn't a line people care about, whereas stuff like Transformers and GI Joe still have wide enough cultural resonances, even when they're being slavishly 80s.

Classified had the benefit of starting with the more…stylized..flavor which gave Hasbro an out for redesign later on.

But it’s easily said the reason for lack of cultural resonance for MASK is because…it never left the 80s. Transformers only had a brief 2 year break between the end of G1 and start of G2 in the US, but has been present at retail ever since in some form. GI Joe, while never able to recapture its peak glory of the mid-80s, stayed a fixture in toy aisles in some form until 2014-ish. And then Classified managed to carve out its own niche since its launch.

While lines like VorTech, GI Joe Sigma 6, and Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5 seemed to evoke the “vibe” of MASK, the brand itself never really left the 80s outside from a few nods and comic books (which kids aren’t really exposed to anymore). Just like Thundercats, Robotech, The Wheeled Warriors, Sectaurs, Power Lords, and a dozen more many of us have only fractured memories of.

As a kid, I never was into GI Joe and, as much as I did like Star Wars, somehow never ended up with many of the toys. What I did have (other than Transformers/Gobots) was M.A.S.K., Dinoriders, and Bone Age, all of which were at that Kenner 3" scale, so that will always be what I consider the "ideal" action figure size.

Shoot, I’m a late 80s/early 90s kid and “scale” was all over the place with the toys I had
But no love to the Tron/Micronauts hybrid, Computer Warriors?

That said, I’ve always gravitated to the smaller 3” scale. To me, it was always small enough to allow a lot of stuff cheaply, while still being significant enough entities to provide valid play value. I’m just not sure a lot of those benefits really exist in how toys are made and costed these days…

... but the collector game is firmly in the 1/12 six inch scale these days. What's one of the big talking points about Mattel's new Core line for DC? That we finally have DC figures that can scale with Marvel Legends for the first time in six years

The problem is that, without the vehicles, MASK is even less a “thing”. Outside of Matt and Scott Trakker, T-Bob, and Miles Mayhem, I would be HARD pressed to identify any of the characters on sight.

The vehicles are the pillar and curse of the brand. Without the vehicles, there is really not much value to the characters. That said, once you start increasing the scale of the characters, the vehicles get MUCH more expensive (Especially with the mechanical complexity involved in MASK designs).
It’s the classic double edged sword-
Fans will complain about the figures not scaling with other popular collector scales, but if you scale the figures to those scales, the vehicles get prohibitively expensive.
Like, do you think ANY company, at any size, is going to try and offer a 6” scale RHINO with its classic features for less than $250? $300?

 

[LordGigaIce]

The problem is that, without the vehicles, MASK is even less a “thing”. Outside of Matt and Scott Trakker, T-Bob, and Miles Mayhem, I would be HARD pressed to identify any of the characters on sight.

That's likely what we're looking at. Going to the Cops reference in the GI Joe thread, they don't seem averse to working references from other lines into Classified. And unlike Cops, they own MASK outright. So doing a Matt Trackker or Miles Mayhem Classified figure isn't out of the question.

You're right, the vehicles are the lifeblood of doing a MASK line in full, but I feel like the only way for THAT to work would be to take it in a modern direction to appeal to kids.

A collector-oriented MASK line probably can't work for all the reasons laid out here, and a few homages in something like Classified is probably the extent of what we can expect.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Damn!

They should have led with Boulder Hill, just to get people like me (but not me, because I don't have room for it) who would use it as a makeshift Ark/Mt. St. Hillary.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Damn!

They should have led with Boulder Hill, just to get people like me (but not me, because I don't have room for it) who would use it as a makeshift Ark/Mt. St. Hillary.

But we’re cheap! We ain’t paying two hunded ‘n fiddy bucks for no toy . (Or $350 for the 40th Anniversary version with the yellow/gold and black mechanical deco)