Hey, remember last week on Throwback when we discussed Captain Power? And how that totally got a bad rap for being nothing but a half hour toy infomercial, when it was actually trying to be good entertainment?
I thought for this week we should actually look back on a show that was nothing but a half hour toy infomercial: M.A.S.K. Don’t get me wrong, the toys that this thing was an infomercial for were awesome. Essentially, the “creators” of this show kinda picked through all the ’80s greatest hits and spit this out. It was an amalgam of GI Joe, Transformers, Go-Bots, and Super Friends.
What was it about? Well, it centered around billionaire philanthropist Matt Tracker (who was totally not Bruce Wayne), who was on a mission to defeat the evil organization VENOM (which was totally not Cobra). To do this, Mr. Tracker built a fleet of vehicles which would convert to other vehicles and/or battle stations.
For instance one character, the memorably named Brad Turner, had a motorcycle that turned into a helicopter. Yep, motorcycle into a helicopter. I remember owning that toy, and knowing that when I turned 16, I was going to make the motorcycle-helicopter my “starter car.” Others including a semi-truck that turned into a battle center and a dune buggy that turned into a jet.
So each week, Matt Tracker’s forces would don secret identities via specialized masks (get it?) and take the fight to Stan Lee-inspired Miles Mayhem and his VENOM rouges — who had their own fleet of transforming vehicles. I should also take a moment here to point out that the creators of M.A.S.K. not only had a problem with originality, but also acronyms.
For instance, M.A.S.K. was an acronym for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand. With a K.
The cartoon ran for 75 episodes between 1985-1986. The toys went through about four series before someone realized they canceled the show and should probably stop producing toys. That or the toys lost popularity. Either way.
Personally, I liked T Bob, the Snarf-like cowardly robot that turned into a scooter, built by Matt Tracker’s genius son. Robots are cool, but robot scooters are a whole new level.
If you missed it the first time, or would like to invest in childhood memories, M.A.S.K. can be purchased here.
Comments
No comments.