So no new feature, but as today’s title proclaims, I’ll be back tomorrow with FigureFan’s first look at Kenner’s wonderful 80’s toy line: MASK. Last year I dabbled with featuring some vintage toys here on FigureFan and this year I’m going to try to do a little more of that. There were only a total of five Vintage Vault features throughout 2011: Two were for Toy Island’s Robocop figures and the other three were for Coleco’s Sectaurs. While I plan on revisiting Sectaurs in the very near future, I’ve decided to spread some loving to MASK.

For the uninitiated, MASK (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) was the story of a secret organization of peacekeepers (and by peacekeepers I mean people who engaged in furious deadly and highly irresponsible combat on the roadways) called MASK and their never ending battle with the terrorist group VENOM. Besides being a poorly spelled acronym, the name MASK was something of a double entendre, as not only did all the characters wear masks (ok, more like helmets) with some kind of high-tech weapon or gizmo, but all the vehicles transformed from everyday vehicles into fighting machines. It was a world where illusion was the ultimate weapon… well, illusion and a Chevy Camero that could turn into an attack jet and drop bombs on people.

The MASK toys hold a place near and dear to my heart. You see, it was the last toy line that I got as a kid to actually play with (as opposed to as the toys I collect now as a middle-aged functional alcoholic). I can remember getting half of the Series 1 toys for my birthday and the rest for Christmas (except for Boulder Hill… never had that one!) and I was pretty smitten with these things. Series 1 came out in 1985 and the figures and transforming vehicles struck an obvious chord in the GI JOE and Transformer lover in me. I never did get any of the toys past Series 1, as I was gradually gravitating away from toys and onto other pursuits (i.e. girls).

Naturally, I watched the cartoon religiously, and while I still think it has one of the best opening sequences of all the 80’s cartoons, sadly I don’t think the episodes themselves have held up all that well. I can still gleen enjoyment out of watching Transformers or GI JOE or even Thundercats, but I can’t say as I enjoy watching MASK all that much anymore. Maybe I just need to try a little harder.

As for the rest of the week… It’ll be back to business as usual. In other words a hodge-podge of goodies. I will be dropping my bucket in the Marvel Universe at least one more time… sorry… and I hope to finish up a two-part piece on a Transformers toy I’ve been meaning to get to since… well, since I started doing this nonsense. Also, hopefully by next weekend, I should be able to get back to finish up DC Universe Classics Wave 20 with the last two packaged figures and the C&C Nekron.

And I’ve gotten rather long winded for a day off, so I’m going to cut myself off there. Until tomorrow…