AlbertPenello.com's M.A.S.K. Page!

As with any toy line, there are always variations. The most obvious was the change in MASKS that happened for the 1986 line. Many of the old MASKs were re-done with additional plastic that went below the neck, probably to keep them on the figures better or prevent choking. Also, several masks were re-painted for use in different vehicles. Here are a couple examples:

Sly Rax's STILETTO, SAWBLADE	Dusty Hayes' BACKLASH, VACUUM	Cliff Dagger's TORCH
Bruce Sato's LIFTER	Matt Trakker's ULTRA FLASH, LASERTRON	Matt Trakker's SPECTRUM
Miles Mayhem’s VIPER, RAYNET	Hondo McLeans' BLASTER	Alex Sector’s JACKRABBIT, DISRUPTOR (Sliver Paint)
Buddy Hawks’ PENETRATOR	Brad Turner’s HOUCS POCUS

Also, I found this variation on the VAMPIRE's trigger switch.

VAMPIRE trigger switch

Here's an interesting Firecracker variation. This is a yellow version from Argentina!

Yellow Firecracker (Argentina)

RATFANG from Lasercommand also uses the same mold as Firecracker

Here are some package variations, many courtesy of the very cool Bryan White. (one of the few guys I know who has every vehicle released!) While the US and European packaging was simiar for the 1st 3 series, the Split Seconds vehicles had different packaging in the US and Europe. There were also some interesting naming differences. Here are some examples:

Barracuda US	Jackal (Barracuda) Europe
Bullet US	Bandit (Bullet) Europe
Bulldog US	Bulldoze (Bulldog) Europe
Detonator US	Detonator Europe
Dynamo US	Dynamo Europe
Skybolt US	Skybolt Europe
Vandal US	Vandal Europe
Volcano US	Volcano Europe

Once again - the eagle-eyed Bryan White spotted an interesting difference between the US and European M.A.S.K. logos. The logo on the right is the logo for the 1st 3 Series in the US and UK. For the "Split Seconds" line both the US and European logos changed. The US logo change was pretty dramatic (see my Toy page), but in Europe it was much more subtle. I guess the exploding rocket and firing guns were just too violent :)

UK "Split Seconds" LOGO

US LOGO

DC Comics released 2 M.A.S.K lines of comics. The 1st was a 4-part mini-series, followed by a 9 issue run of regular stories. Below are the covers of the 1st 4 books.

The 4-part series was followed by 9 issues of a regular book. I don't believe this was a mini-series -- so I assume that poor sales caused the line to stop.

Thanks to the collection of Matthew Purdy for the pictures!

The origin of M.A.S.K. and V.E.N.O.M. were only told in the mini-books that came with the vehicles. Below are the original 3 comics that shipped with the 1st series. Click on the covers below to read them.

A Kenner standard -- every toy comes with a catalog! I've included the 1st two from the U.S., and the European Split Seconds. I probably won't do the 3rd US one, as it's WAY to big for my scanner. If anyone has a US Split Seconds catalog, let me know!