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

[Steevy Maximus]

Huh, TLS’s My Pet Monster plush actually sold out.

In other sales news, according to Retro Toy Escapades (I’ve yet to find a corroborating source, so keep your salt handy), TLS reported sales of over 100K units of MASK was sold within its first day on sale. As of the time I’m posting this, TLS’s official store is sold out of the line…completely. However, I can’t recall if TLS even had the line available for order to begin with. US partner BBTS still has full range preorders available with the late August date intact.
It’s hard to properly quantify how much of success that really is given lack of context. With 4, technically 5, SKUs, across the global market to specialty retailers?

The only context I can give is that a typical Hasbro mass retailer exclusive sees runs in the 15-25K unit range per item. So, it doesn’t sound horrible that TLS might have sold a “Walmart capsule line” worth of products in a day, but again, context is lacking at the moment. I’m assuming that if sales are that good, TLS is going to tout them at SDCC along with announcements for any follow up products.

 

[Donocropolis]

Definitely good news. With that strong of sales numbers, I would sure think that we'll be getting another wave.

 

[msol]

God, I can only imagine what a NEW wave of Mask figures would look like. My guess is that no one today has the engineering ability to pump out quality stuff, but a guy can dream! The Makina stuff is pretty good, but not nothing as complex as Jackhammer yet.

 

[Platypus Prime]

I'd be shocked if the units moved were that high, but if it's true, that's great news for the line and possible continuations.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

It wouldn't be a true collector line without a black repaint!

M.A.S.K. Mobile Defense Unit Black And Gold 40th Anniversary Variant

Shown below is a first look at the M.A.S.K. Mobile Defense Unit Black And Gold 40th Anniversary Variant from The Loyal Subjects. This will be available for pr

toynewsi.com

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

It wouldn't be a true collector line without a black repaint!

M.A.S.K. Mobile Defense Unit Black And Gold 40th Anniversary Variant

Shown below is a first look at the M.A.S.K. Mobile Defense Unit Black And Gold 40th Anniversary Variant from The Loyal Subjects. This will be available for pr

toynewsi.com

*screams*

Of course they would do my favorite M.A.S.K. vehicle in my colors and it would sell out before I even knew it existed!

Not that I could afford it anyway. That's either some relief or more salt in the wound.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

*screams*

Of course they would do my favorite M.A.S.K. vehicle in my colors and it would sell out before I even knew it existed!

Not that I could afford it anyway. That's either some relief or more salt in the wound.

Lies!
It's available for preorder now, for $150 in freedom bucks. Apparently, TLS only just now added the line to preorder from their own site.

MASK 40th Edition Mobile Defense Unit

“Illusion is the ultimate weapon.” In 1985, Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (M.A.S.K.) rolled into toy stores and changed the action figure game forever. Now, four decades later, The Loyal Subjects proudly partners with Hasbro to bring collectors the ultimate tribute: the MASK 40th Anniversary...

theloyalsubjects.com

 

[Donocropolis]

The black/gold/translucent blue does look nice, but I'm satisfied with that beautiful maroon of the original.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Lies!
It's available for preorder now, for $150 in freedom bucks. Apparently, TLS only just now added the line to preorder from their own site.

MASK 40th Edition Mobile Defense Unit

“Illusion is the ultimate weapon.” In 1985, Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (M.A.S.K.) rolled into toy stores and changed the action figure game forever. Now, four decades later, The Loyal Subjects proudly partners with Hasbro to bring collectors the ultimate tribute: the MASK 40th Anniversary...

theloyalsubjects.com

Unless they're restocking whenever I'm not looking...

 

[Steevy Maximus]

To be fair...it WAS available when I made that post yesterday

 

[Steevy Maximus]

God, I can only imagine what a NEW wave of Mask figures would look like. My guess is that no one today has the engineering ability to pump out quality stuff, but a guy can dream! The Makina stuff is pretty good, but not nothing as complex as Jackhammer yet.

The core issue there is that, like most nostalgia bait lines…there is a VERY fine line between just regurgitating old stuff and trying to push the brand concept further. I don’t feel the “ability” is the issue, Loyal Subjects nabbed two former Transformers guys, it’s more a matter of whether anything “new” is worth developing when the consumer base for this line is going to gravitate to stuff they remember.


That said, I’m still hopeful that TLS will avoid the “checklist trap” so many retro lines fall into past series 1. Instead of making a compelling mix of product, the focus becomes “checking boxes”. I’m also hoping that, since they have to remake everything anyway, they’ll lean into making some unproduced stuff like the Thunderball or Ramp Up. My expectation is that Wave 2 will probably be the remainder Series 1 toys, but I think they’d make a fairly big splash if they finally produced a Shark.
The Shark was present through much of the series, but never got made. Gloria Baker didn’t see a release until series 4, meaning a figure of her in her classic yellow and green was never made as well. I think it would be a HUGE statement to TLS’s commitment to the brand to see something like that, along with some announcements like the Thunderball.

But we’ll see.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Sorry to bump this every time a wild idea pops into my brain, but we’re in that “pre-SDCC announcement“ phase with toys not expected until August. I’m getting a bit excited for MASK (despite still not having preordered anything). I’m trying to rewatch old episodes…which has been a bit of a challenge. Not necessarily in finding them (Wildbrain has a massive chunk of episodes, despite the series seemingly disappearing from Tubi), but in watching them. Animation is solid, but the voice acting is on the weaker side and the scripts are pretty pedestrian. Almost to the point many felt like generic “action toy plot with kid sidekick”. Aside from “MASK=good” and “Venom=Bad”, most of the characters and scenarios are interchangable. The only thing unique to the series are the action sequences, which sometimes felt detached from the story. It‘s not TERRIBLE, but it is quite mediocre. It lacks the FANTASTIC voice direction on the Sunbow cartoons or the defined “mythos” of the Hasbro based series. Nor does it have that folksy, kitschy charm of Masters of the Universe.
It REALLY makes you appreciate just how good the Marvel/Sunbow stuff really was, and how important developing the mythos beyond a toy concept and good vs evil really is. I’m falling into the same position with MASK as I am with childhood fave, Silverhawks, where it seems the CONCEPT is more engaging than the actual media, to me.


I was also bored at work and did some comparison shopping on old catalogs, and found some interesting things. Notably, fan favorites Stinger, Slingshot, Firecracker, and several others were priced to the SAME as the Switchblade. Does that mean TLS’s will be the same price as the new Switchblade ($90)? That’s a tough pill to swallow. In addition, most of the regular cars like the Manta and Raven were priced to the Thunderhawk, while a number of vehicles like the Jackhammer, Hurricane, and Bulldog slot in between the Thunderhawk and Switchblade.

Guess we’ll see how TLS deals with the granularity of the 1980s pricing structure. If this was getting full mass retail, I’d argue we’d see them try and slot them into “close enough” prices. But given the boutique nature of this line (I use the term “boutique” because TLS has clearly developed these for a modern retail presence, even if the nature of the line and prices preclude the typical ”mass retailers” like Walmart and Target), I could also see prices reflect the individual item more than a “assortment”.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Sorry to bump this every time a wild idea pops into my brain, but we’re in that “pre-SDCC announcement“ phase with toys not expected until August. I’m getting a bit excited for MASK (despite still not having preordered anything). I’m trying to rewatch old episodes…which has been a bit of a challenge. Not necessarily in finding them (Wildbrain has a massive chunk of episodes, despite the series seemingly disappearing from Tubi), but in watching them. Animation is solid, but the voice acting is on the weaker side and the scripts are pretty pedestrian. Almost to the point many felt like generic “action toy plot with kid sidekick”. Aside from “MASK=good” and “Venom=Bad”, most of the characters and scenarios are interchangable. The only thing unique to the series are the action sequences, which sometimes felt detached from the story. It‘s not TERRIBLE, but it is quite mediocre. It lacks the FANTASTIC voice direction on the Sunbow cartoons or the defined “mythos” of the Hasbro based series. Nor does it have that folksy, kitschy charm of Masters of the Universe.

Might explain why my M.A.S.K. consumption was comparatively limited.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Might explain why my M.A.S.K. consumption was comparatively limited.

I know mine was because I was young enough I barely caught the backend of the series. IIRC, I only had the Stinger (which even my parents thought was pretty cool) and the Bullet as true “I got them new” and few extra Venom guys I’m pretty sure were hand me downs. I’m one of those weird “transitionals” where I was exposed (and had) some of the major 80s lines, but I was maybe a bit old by the time of the big 90s wave of superheroes, wrestling and Star Wars.

 

[Donocropolis]

I had several M.A.S.K. toys and loved them all, and I have memories of watching the cartoon, yet I have almost no memories of what actually HAPPENED in the cartoon. Like Steevy said, it was apparently a pretty forgettable show.

 

[Shadewing]

I had several M.A.S.K. toys and loved them all, and I have memories of watching the cartoon, yet I have almost no memories of what actually HAPPENED in the cartoon. Like Steevy said, it was apparently a pretty forgettable show.

I've said for the longest time that the best part of the show was the theme song. After wards it goes down hill pretty quickly.

 

[wonko the sane?]

MASK is on... tubi? One of the free services. I watched a couple of eps late last year. It's not that it wasn't memorable, it's just that it wasn't more memorable than most of the other jive that was on TV at the time. It was mediocre.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

MASK is on... tubi? One of the free services. I watched a couple of eps late last year. It's not that it wasn't memorable, it's just that it wasn't more memorable than most of the other jive that was on TV at the time. It was mediocre.

It was, but I couldn’t find it last week. Not sure if it was a site issue or if it got pulled. But again, Wildbrain Arcade (Wildbrain is the corporate entity that owns most of the old DiC library) has some 30-40 episodes up on YouTube. Which is probably enough to get a solid vibe.

I find it amusing that, of all the “major 80s lines”, MASK is one of the few that didn’t have an “introductory movie”. Most series started with a 5 part “mini series” to introduce the main characters and concepts. MASK didn’t aside from a handful of exposition at the start of the first episode. MOTU didn’t either, but kept itself simple and (despite the limited animation) had a LOT more personality.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

So, some rumblings through social media point to wave 2 possibly being Jackhammer, Gator, Piranha, and a fourth “undecided” vehicle. It was posted by someone on the TLS Facebook with “sources”, so take it as you will. Speculation points to the fourth entry being the Firecracker or an actual toy of the Shark.

I’ve already remarked how I think the Shark would be a HUGE boon as a statement piece. I figure it’s probably akin to when Transformers fans finally got (passable) versions of Unicron and Arcee in the modern line, despite being absent in the original run. Further, I find the Firecracker to be a kind of a “meh” design. I’d argue the greatest value in that offering would be the Hondo figure, but if you want the character, the Hurricane is a far more interesting item in visual and design terms.

If going by a more granular nature of pricing (reflective of the original line), that likely second wave looks like this:
Piranha- $40-45 (Slightly higher priced than Condor)
Gator- $60 (Same as Thunderhawk)
Jackhammer- $75 (Slotted right between the Thunderhawk and Switchblade)
Presumably, the Firecracker would have a similar $75 price point, though a theoretical Shark should be viable at a cost closer to the Thunderhawk. As “spring” releases, I’m not sure TLS will have another $90 release so close to the Switchblade and Rhino.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

I find it amusing that, of all the “major 80s lines”, MASK is one of the few that didn’t have an “introductory movie”. Most series started with a 5 part “mini series” to introduce the main characters and concepts. MASK didn’t aside from a handful of exposition at the start of the first episode. MOTU didn’t either, but kept itself simple and (despite the limited animation) had a LOT more personality.

It all starts to make sense after watching this, which popped up in my recommendations...

Wow. You just talk about taking all the wrong lessons from what the other guys are doing...