#1025 M.A.S.K. – THUNDERHAWK with MATT TRAKKER/ SPECTRUM (1985)

The most popular reference from this toyline has to be the Thunderhawk, the red Camaro from Matt Trakker that can fly in its alternate mode. It was the vehicle that featured most of the comic stories and cartoon chapters, and included the main character of the M.A.S.K. organization, so it was 100% the favorite toy of children, when they had to choose one of the boxes in a toystore.

 

The car in which is based is one of the most iconic American cars of the 80s, and the toy is an accurate reproduction: the Chevrolet Camaro Z28. The transformation, however, is not so great, it just opens the doors, as if they were wings, and the spoiler takes a different position to reveal two afterburners. The wheels do not move to the inside to be hidden, as in other models of the toyline but the interior is well done with two seats, security belts and a nice steering wheel. The security belts are common in this toyline, which I find nice, and, in this case, they are necessary, as the figures may fall down, when the car is flying with opened doors.

Another action feature of the model is that it can drop two bombs. The bombs are fitted in two small compartments in the chassis, and they are activated from behind.

The figure included in the pack is the most iconic representation of Matt Trakker, the main character in the whole toyline. The hero that saves the day in every single chapter of the TV series and the leader of the M.A.S.K. He is also the father of Scott Trakker, the child that usually gets into trouble and has to be rescued. The mask is Spectrum, and it pretends to create radio interference. There are two versions of it. The one in the pictures and another smaller one that fits over the head of the figure but not over the shoulders, chest or back.

Another interesting fact to comment is that the toy is over 35 years old (soon it will be 40) and the rubber tyres are usually in bad shape. If played with it again, sometimes they break into pieces (literally). I hope somebody can create repros for those who would like to play with this toy again. Other fragile parts are the exhaust pipes below the doors and the bomb, which is really small and can be easily lost.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name:  THUNDERHAWK with MATT TRAKKER/ SPECTRUM (Ref. 37370)
• Toy Line: M.A.S.K. (Wave 1)
• Year: 1985
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the vehicle: Around 8’’ or 20 cm
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#891 M.A.S.K. - DETONATOR with JACQUES LAFLEUR / MARAJ (1987)

The VW Bug is one of the most iconic cars of all times, so Kenner also used it for M.A.S.K. in its fourth "split-seconds" wave. It is not the classic model, but some dragster-type baja bug, in bright colours, which is even cooler.

By the way, the Split-Seconds wave is different from the previous waves, in which the each vehicle transforms into two different vehicles, and not into one different vehicle.

The car is slightly oversized compared to the scale of the figures, but this is not so important. The car splits into one strange vehicle, similar to a quad and a hovercraft. The news in this series was that each set included two figures, an ordinary one plus its clone, so each vehicle can be driven by one of the figures.

In the original artwork, the hovercraft appears flying, so it could also be some kind of drone. At the time, drones were not popular yet.

The quad motorbike is nice, but the figure does not sit very comfortably in it and is difficult to keep it there. The hovercraft instead comes with a nice seat including some kind of security belt and also two small orange missiles, which, of course, you have to check if they are present, because they are often lost.

 The figure is Jacques LaFleur, and comes with his own clone, also another characteristic of the Split-Seconds series. Here are both figures with their respective masks (Maraj).

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: DETONATOR with JACQUES LAFLEUR / MARAJ
• Toy Line: M.A.S.K. (Wave 4)
• Year: 1987
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the vehicle: Around 6'' or 15 cm
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#845 TOYS FROM THE PAST - MUSEUM (VIII)

See more of these entries here: http://toysfromthepast.blogspot.com/search/label/TFTP

See you next month!

Important notice: The items on display are NOT for sale.

 

#826 M.A.S.K. – ARTIC ASSAULT with CALHOUN BURNS (1986)

Here’s another figure set by Kenner for the M.A.S.K. toyline and sold only in Europe. I already wrote about this in entry #314, so this will be a short entry.

The figure is one of the usual characters in the M.A.S.K. storyline, Calhoun Burns. The figure is a repaint of another Calhoun Burns version that was available also in 1986 together with the Chevrolet Corvette C4 known as “Raven”. Even the mask, is the same, only in another colour. The name of the mask is Gulliver, ad its feature is that “pretends to shrink or to enlarge people or objetcs”.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ARTIC ASSAULT with CALHOUN BURNS
• Toy Line: M.A.S.K. (Wave 2)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 6 cm approx.

#746 M.A.S.K. - FIREFLY with JULIO LOPEZ/ STREAMER (1986)

In the second series, M.A.S.K. issued 8 more vehicles, more or less the same number than in the first wave, including new types of vehicles, which were chosen probably for being as different from the ones in the first wave as possible.

An so we got a dune buggy. This type of car was somehow popular in the 80s, with some dirt races and circuits in the U.S. and other countries. I remember watching some races on TV. I haven't seen them for years, wo I guess, they are not celebrated anymore. Buggys are today almost forgotten, probably because of security issues, since they seem to be very dangerous cars.

Despite that, I love the Firefly, a Buggy that transforms into a jet. The buggy itself has every detail: from the side mirrors to the exhaust pipes, the front spoiler, the not-round steering wheel... it looks awesome.

The jet is somehow more strange, but it still looks like some flying thing with huge turbines behind, long wings and several small guns.

Behind the pilot seat, there is a compartment that hosts a bomb. In flight modus, it can be dropped off by pushing one lever on the top of the vehicle. Anything that is designed to be dropped off gets lost easily, so it was a great luck to find one of these. Now I can show this vehicle 100% complete (well, almost, one of the wing guns has a broken tip).

The figure that comes with the vehicle is Julio Lopez, a new character with hispanic roots. Most toylines, after the initial success tried to present characters from ethnic minorities or other nationalities, and M.A.S.K. is a ood example. This is a great chance to enter foreign markets, mostly in Europe or South America.

Taken from a German M.A.S.K. Comic Book

The mask is Streamer, and, as most masks in the series, is not "mortal". This one pretends to release super-tack glue.

 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: FIREFLY with JULIO LOPEZ/ STREAMER
• Toy Line: M.A.S.K. (Wave 2)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the vehicle: Around 6'' or 15 cm
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm