Hasbro and M.A.S.K.
Hasbro has been trying to do something with M.A.S.K. for years now. In 2008, they released Specialist Trakker* as a G.I. Joe action figure. In 2011 they included M.A.S.K. in the Unit E comic. And now Hasbro shared the M.A.S.K. logo in a presentation.
Sites started posting about this revelation earlier in the week, but seeing the news makes me remember that Hasbro also announced Micronauts in 2009. I see the Micronauts logo is in the same new slide, so I can’t get all that excited about M.A.S.K. until we see something substantial out of Hasbro’s offices.
Still, it’s nice to see that someone at Hasbro still wants to revive M.A.S.K.. I assume their plan is to hand the franchise to Michael Bay and then make some money.
Related articles
- A History of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (mentalfloss.com)
- After M.A.S.K. – Kenner’s Vor-Tech Action Figure Series (battlegrip.com)
- 1988 G.I. Joe “Is This The End of Sergeant Slaughter?” Flyer (battlegrip.com)
Sign me up! Even if it means Michael Bay making the movie… he’s a proven blockbuster director. It it means new toys, by all means, YES!
I strongly suspect MASK and Micronauts are properties that Hasbro is trying to get a licensing deal on. They want a production company or a comic company to come to them about producing a new series THEN they will start working towards toys.
Now that Micronauts comics are a thing for 2016, I could see a small rollout of figures from that line should it be successful, though I doubt it would be more than a test a la the Toys R Us / BBTS GI Joes.
So are retailers not keen on picking up properties if they don’t have a media tie-in? Is that S.O.P. these days?
Pretty much… have you strolled down the toy aisle at your local Target or Wal-Mart lately?
@Jay – Yeah, there’s so much happening in the world these days that without a television show, movie, game, or _something_ happening it’s a lot tougher for toys to get into stores.
I assume the MASK property will either be a revamp of the G.I. Joe brand, bringing them all under one banner (and no doubt being able to reuse a lot of existing moulds), or a smaller line that’s in scale with the 2″ figures they do for Marvel movies.
LOL…I’d be okay with a Bay-led MASK movie. For one, that’s his deal…big movies with things that transform. For two, while MASK is loved, it’s not as sacred as Transformers so they can play around with it without pissing too many people off.
A MASK movie would excite me more than another GI Joe or Transformers movie.