Hasbro today held it's Financial Call for Q2 2015, and during the presentation they showed a slide (see below) which featured many of the brands in Hasbro's vast library of toys. One of those brands featured on the slide was M. A. S. K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand), which in turn has once again stirred up rumors that Hasbro plans to bring the toy line from the 80's back to shelves in the near future, but is that really the case?
While I know M.A.S.K. is on Hasbro's radar, and they are aware of the fan demand that is out there for the brand, I am not so sure we will be seeing that toyline return anytime soon, at least not for another year or so. Why do I say that? Well it's based on a long conversation I had with Hasbro's own Derryl DePriest during this years San Diego Comic Con. In that conversation he was confirming for me Hasbro's plans to bring back Micronauts and ROM The Space Knight in a joint effort with the folks at IDW Comics. See this article
here for more one that. During that conversation I asked him if this joint venture with IDW could open the doorway to other Hasbro brands returning, specifically asking about M.A.S.K.? While Derryl wouldn't give me a firm answer one way or the other, he did leave me with the strong impression that M.A.S.K. could see a return at some point, but that for now their efforts would be focused on Micronauts and ROM, with a big emphasis on Micronauts. I was also left with the impression that while this joint venture could certainly open the door for other Hasbro brands to return, a lot would depend on the success of this initial relaunch of Micronauts and ROM.
I know things like this are planned out well into the future and I have know doubt Derryl knew more than he was telling me, but I think it's a safe bet that Micronauts and ROM are the two brands Hasbro will be pushing in 2016. So even if M.A.S.K.'s return is assured (and my experience with the toy biz is nothing is guaranteed till it's on actual shelves) it would likely not be until 2017 or later before we see M.A.S.K. products on shelves, and then it could be anything from 12" Titan Hero type figures to 2 1/2" figures and vehicles.
I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer for M.A.S.K. fans but at the same time I hate to see people get their hopes up for no reason. Remember when everyone thought Hasbro was going to do a full line of Star Trek toys? So I simply suggest people wait till their is more concrete information available before getting to excited. Either way though you can bet we will be staying on Hasbro about this till we get the full picture, so stay-tuned.
Speaking of Star Trek, one other thing I learned during my conversation with Derryl was that Hasbro is pretty much done with Star Trek, so it will be interesting to see if anyone else ends up picking up the master toy license for it down the road.
