Toyshiz video on Instagram giving a good look at physical samples
The Loyal Subjects to relaunch MASK, and other Legacy Hasbro Brands
- Thread starter Steevy Maximus
- Start date
Here are some photos of the samples, for those who don’t want to deal with Instagram:
www.toyark.com
My initial thoughts?
-One part of me is sad that these are seemingly a niche collector product, and will be priced accordingly. They’ve basically come short of saying that the Rhino will be $100. I think it would have been so cool to see this kind of stuff at retail, or at least Target who’ve carried this sort of nostalgia stuff before.
-I’m cautious on pricing. Collector stuff means collector pricing, and I think that can run out more casual fans like me. THAT SAID…given how accurate they are to the originals, it would be an enticing alternative to trying to dig up the originals.
-The sculpt work, especially on the figures, it REALLY nice. Assuming these are representative of the retail product, the figures are a clear step up from the originals.
-Boo to stickers. Authentic or not, I was hoping most of the key deco points would be tampographs. Self applied stickers suck
-Effects pieces are a nice inclusion, and I’m glad to see them willing to spice up the presentation with these sorts of additions.
I’m cautiously optimistic. These are hitting a lot of the same buttons as Missing Link and MOTU Origins for me: modern recreations with just enough “modernization” to make these appealing to more modern sensibilities. I’m worried on pricing*, but I’d readily admit I had only a couple of MASK toys in my youth, so I’m probably not going to get THAT many to begin with (Stinger was an AMAZING toy with a lackluster figure). I’m hoping that TLS changes up the release slate a bit. As nice as “chronological” releases are to nerds, I’d argue that bringing in later series early might work to spice up the line to keep things interesting.
*Being the hypocritical nerd guy I am, if TLS or Mattel were to make Dino-Riders like this? The purse strings would FAR looser.
UPDATED: Toy Fair 2025 – M.A.S.K. by Loyal Subjects Preview Event Recap
Today The Loyal Subjects officially revealed their new M.A.S.K. retro line to the world at a special event in New York City, one day before Toy Fair 2025 kicks off. The Loyal Subjects have the license from Hasbro to completely reproduce the original line in all it's glory, from vehicles to...
www.toyark.com
My initial thoughts?
-One part of me is sad that these are seemingly a niche collector product, and will be priced accordingly. They’ve basically come short of saying that the Rhino will be $100. I think it would have been so cool to see this kind of stuff at retail, or at least Target who’ve carried this sort of nostalgia stuff before.
-I’m cautious on pricing. Collector stuff means collector pricing, and I think that can run out more casual fans like me. THAT SAID…given how accurate they are to the originals, it would be an enticing alternative to trying to dig up the originals.
-The sculpt work, especially on the figures, it REALLY nice. Assuming these are representative of the retail product, the figures are a clear step up from the originals.
-Boo to stickers. Authentic or not, I was hoping most of the key deco points would be tampographs. Self applied stickers suck
-Effects pieces are a nice inclusion, and I’m glad to see them willing to spice up the presentation with these sorts of additions.
I’m cautiously optimistic. These are hitting a lot of the same buttons as Missing Link and MOTU Origins for me: modern recreations with just enough “modernization” to make these appealing to more modern sensibilities. I’m worried on pricing*, but I’d readily admit I had only a couple of MASK toys in my youth, so I’m probably not going to get THAT many to begin with (Stinger was an AMAZING toy with a lackluster figure). I’m hoping that TLS changes up the release slate a bit. As nice as “chronological” releases are to nerds, I’d argue that bringing in later series early might work to spice up the line to keep things interesting.
*Being the hypocritical nerd guy I am, if TLS or Mattel were to make Dino-Riders like this? The purse strings would FAR looser.
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Rhino looks nice.
I wonder why not just reissue the originals? At least the vehicles. Updated figures could be neat there. But are the vehicles really bringing anything new to the table, besides blast effects, which I argue could probably be adapted to the original molds somehow?
WTF is a "Short MASK"?
I wonder why not just reissue the originals? At least the vehicles. Updated figures could be neat there. But are the vehicles really bringing anything new to the table, besides blast effects, which I argue could probably be adapted to the original molds somehow?
WTF is a "Short MASK"?
For one thing, I HIGHLY doubt that after 35 years, the molds even still existed. And if you are going to have to remake them from scratch, essentially, you might as well put some modern polish on them. Hasbro/Kenner were always outliers in how long they kept (and reused) molds. A famous story I recall was that, at the end of the original 80s MOTU run, Mattel sold off the molds for scrap (which, supposedly, were melted into the steel used by the Hong Kong International Airport).
Even Hasbro largely cleared out their existing catalogs around 2010. Even the recent Beast Wars reissues, many were “recreations” rather than the actual, original, molds.
Looking at “MASKforce.com” (a 3DJoes for vintage MASK, it seems), Kenner made two variations on the MASKs included with the original 1985 series: a “long MASK” which covered the head and extended onto the torso, and a “short MASK” which was more just a helmet without the extended harness elements.
We’ll see how things shake out, but I figure there are enough “release venues” that TLS could do “long MASKs” in some sort of figure set. There were several interesting carded decos, and it would also be a good way of getting a “cartoon colored” Gloria Baker in the line. She was in the second episode (token female character for good guys), but didin’t get a figure until the line’s end (Vanessa Warfield didn’t crop up with her vehicle until year 3, despite appearing in the first season as well).
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Anyway I'm very excited. I really hope some molding changes fix some of the issues, like my Rhino's mirrors snapping off over time, Thunderhawk's bumper not fully covering the jets in car mode. Just little things that can go a long way.
Can you imagine a Jackhammer gun that is on a 5mm peg instead of a delicate 1mm one??
Can you imagine a Jackhammer gun that is on a 5mm peg instead of a delicate 1mm one??
I always thought the longer masks looked better.
Same, around 3" I believe
Modernized recreations. Think almost like Missing Link. Characters will be the same size, but with added articulation and deco. The Vehicles will be…probably as close as they can without treading on license issues. But will feature modern “pluses” like foot pegs, modified sculpting (the Thunderhawk has side view mirrors, the Switchblade has some newly sculpted jet engine elements on the underside), while still retaining all the old “gimmicks”.
Pricing is a bit rough for cheapskates like me: Conder 29.99, Thunderhawk 49.99, Switchblade 74.99, Rhino 99.99. Cheaper than trying to get originals, but certainly not mass market friendly.
Here‘s a video featuring John Warden (TLS consultant, for now) doing a bit of a walkthrough with the prototypes on display, highlighting some of the stuff I mentioned above:
And here’s John Warden doing a run through of the next wave(s) of Jem products