My theory is that the Night Stalker serial killer prompted Kenner to rename it to the Hurricane, which in turn might have caused a delay if packaging needed to be redone.
Shows like M.A.S.K, Dinosaucers, Bionic Six, Silverhawks, Wheeled Warriors were awesome shows that had the best toys, that I could never regularly find on TV. I'd see them for a few weeks, and then they'd move with no notice. Maybe it was just me.
Why didn't you mention that in the beginning of 1985 in California there was a serial killer called Richard Ramirez, who was called by the media "Night Stalker". That's why Kenner changed the name into Hurricane. But because the production of the serie was already started, both names are mentioned in the series.
***** I just read it on the Dutch Wikipedia site about MASK :) I could'nt find it on the English version. I also read that the former Welsch Metalband Hondo Maclean named it's band after this character. I enjoy your work! I still have all my Mask toys :)
Hurricane/Night Stalker was not the only vehicle in the series that got alternate names. If I recall correctly in the second toy series, Firefly was called Dragonfly in the cartoon, and Stinger was sometimes referred to as Scorpion. As for the third season (which changed the plot to be more racing themed,) the vehicle Bullet was sometimes called Bandit. But the biggest mystery of the toy line to this day is if they ever released Shark (Gloria Baker's Porsche 928/Submarine)
I think the Hurricane name change suited a '57 Chevy as "Night Stalker" aside from the Richard Ramirez reference is more appropriate a name for a VENOM vehicle.
Some thoughts to add but this risks becoming a massive thing that also takes in Buddy Hawks, Dusty Hayes and Gloria Baker: * In Europe at least Firecracker was seemingly absent from the first year of releases as it does't appear on the poster/catalogue that came with the toys. It came on the second year's poster. * Conversely the action figure packs for the first year toys are made up of nine of the ten definite year 1 figures but include Hondo in place of Dusty. * On the US second year poster the toys are listed and clearly grouped into year 1 and year 2. Firecracker is positioned to be either the last year 1 toy or the first year 2. * Then there's the question of just which is Buddy's vehicle and who drives Gator. Buddy is shown driving it on the box art for Boulder Hill. The Mini World books printed in the UK seem to have been based on early ideas for the toyline (they also use the code names which didn't make it into the main fiction) suggesting they used early guides from Kenner and Gator is piloted by either Hondo (in Volcano of Venom) or Buddy (in Car Wars). I don't think either Dusty or Firecracker ever appeared in them. In the cartoon Buddy is the co-pilot of Firecracker and Gloria is assigned variously to Shark or to co-pilot Gator or Thunderhawk. Some of the mysteries are easily explained because often toy promotional fiction is produced by a different company who only have prototypes and working names to go on. Occasionally these toyline guides hang around, especially for more minor items like colouring books and pocketbooks. So often a new toy appears with a different name from the one on the shelf or with the wrong driver. My best guess is that Hondo and Buddy were originally going to co-pilot Gator in fiction with Hondo to be released with it and Buddy to be allocated to Boulder Hill to boost sales (ditto having Alex Sector, about the third most prominent agent, associated with both the two most expensive toys looks deliberate) but somewhere along the line they created Dusty for the Gator pilot role but without telling all the licensees or for that matter the list later used for the year 1 action figures. Firecracker may have been prepared as a standby toy to release early on if the line took off quickly and got added to the original episodes to promote it anyway. (Other toy cartoons of the era sometimes included characters who would only make it to the shelf if the show was a success.) Hence also the rarity of the original choke hazard version of the Blaster mask. As a slightly larger toy it made sense for Firecracker rather than Gator to always have co-pilots who could appear individually to up the number of appearances of the vehicle. IIRC Gloria only ever appears with Gator as Dusty's co-pilot. (There's a slight tension in the show's construction between having female characters who are equal team members to broaden the appeal/deflect criticism and not wanting to spend too much time promoting vehicles that wouldn't have toys because of perceptions about female action figures not selling. So Gloria alternates between her own show-only Shark and being a co-pilot for Gator or Thunderhawk. Ditto Vanessa Warfield alternates between Manta, which was show-only at that stage, and being a co-/alternate pilot for Jackhammer and Switchblade.) In the cartoon I had vague, and it seems false memories, of a version with Hondo in the original Blaster mask and in Firecracker, and assumed the DVDs are using a later version that was edited onto the early episodes to give the whole series a uniform look. But this would suggest a definite change early on. Hondo is possibly wearing the same clothes with both Blaster masks as an animation saving technique that allowed cells to be recycled - again very common in the era's animation. But that leaves the whole questions of why does Hondo, alone of all the non-leader characters, get a new vehicle in year 2 when it's replacing the *newest* year 1 toy. And so long before the rest of the newer toys show up. Was Hurricane released months before the rest? Or were both toys hanging around as prototypes for "Year 1 & 1/2" and got allocated the same driver character as the only one left in the pool?
I never noticed when I was young that Hondo's Hurricane suit from the toy was never in the cartoon, and it was always a bit strange to me that he got two masks with the same suit (at least in the show) when everyone else got new suits to go with their new masks and vehicles. . . I also seem to recall Hondo joking that "I must have left it in my other suit" (or words to that effect), but I don't remember which episode that's from. . . I assumed he was talking about his Hurricane suit! XD
Shows how much attention I paid as a kid. After Firecracker was destroyed and Hurricane/Nightstalker came in with Blaster II, I was like, "Oh cool, they updated the intro to add in Hurricane and Blaster II!"
Completely forgot this channel existed. Thought you closed up shop. Great you tackled my favorite character from the show, and yeah I went through head scratching as a kid over this stuff too & more. The two versions of blaster 1 for example.
Yeah, not sure why... Samething happened with Ranger Review. I think the Google+ switch over that TH-cam did has something to do with it, at least that's what their assessment is. ...Are you guys in Georgia? I notice you hit a lot of cons in & around ATL. Im in Sav.
Thanks for the info, i suspected some changes when revisting the novelisation of the first episode which explained Hondos mask in a different way. I have included your vid as a link to mine.
What's stranger for me is that Firecracker and the Blaster 1 are both in the show open for at least the first several episodes. Then out of nowhere the Hurricane/Blaster 2 show up, but it is WELL before episode 29. They actually made a point to switch to the Hurricane open without having Hurricane in the show yet. Weird!
good video. Love these little tidbits of past favorites. Just out of curiosity any plans on checking Denver the Last Dinosaur??? Or Dinosaucers from Coca-cola?
Maybe this video was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but the mystery is based on the assumption that the intro sequence was produced early in the production process. This seems unlikely, as the main work is the toy design and production, followed by the cartoon episode production. The intro would have taken very little time to produce and it makes sense to do it as late as possible. It would appear that they started off with Firecracker, but decided to replace it for the next wave of toys and wrote that into the cartoon. So the intro sequence would have been made after the Hurricane and new mask had been designed, but before Hondo's clothing had been changed. From that we can deduce the following chain of events: 1. First wave toys designed & produced 2. First twenty-odd episodes animated 3. Second wave design process started 4. Intro sequence animated 5. First wave toys & cartoon released 6. Second wave design completed (including Hondo's new clothes)
What is even more inconsistent, is that Firecracker is destroyed in episode 29 and Hurricane is used from then on; however, in 3 later episodes 'Fog on Boulder Hill', 'Disappearing Act' and 'The Gate of Darkness' Firecracker suddenly is back again without any explanation. Has anyone ever tried to find out why this happened?
Some interesting thoughts mate, I always thought Buddy Hawks should have been the driver for Firecracker and not just a gunner for Boulder Hill. Maybe the Night Stalker issue was a copyright thing with Mattel. Hurricane seems to me to be totally out of place with the first series vehicles not having proper windows.
Very interesting. Good Questions. But you are forgetting to things: 1st madhead two vehicles from the beginning and got esearch, volcano, in series 2 and 2nd later in the show Firecracker was repaired and usable again. And it is very interesting that both come on in firecracker also used for more or less private matters or use.
Hondo has appeared in his Hurricane outfit in the UK comics. But the UK comics really sort of did thier own thing. To add another wrinkle to the mystery, Hondo when he first appeared in the UK comic, he didn't even have his own vehicle, rather he was relagated to being the co-pilot of Gator with Dusty Hayes. Only later on did he get Firecracker and then Hurricane.
It's not that odd, all things considered. Sunbow featured a lot of 1985 toys in 1984 episodes of The Transformers and G.I. Joe. Shockwave, Skyfire (being the legal stand-in for Jetfire), the Insecticons, the Dinobots, and the Constructicons were all 1985 series toys (though previously existing, yes). Revenge of Cobra features Flint, Lady Jaye, Shipwreck, the Dreadnoks, and the Crimson Guard a year in advance. Furthermore, a lot of early Season 1 episodes (excluding Pyramid of Darkness, produced much later in the run) were written and possibly animated in 1984, and currently have MASS Device intros and Revenge of Cobra end credits on their 1" master tapes (and on the old FHE video tapes), presumably because the Season 1 intro and end credits weren't produced until much later on. As for the Night Stalker business, the Cobra Ferret is called a "Python Cycle" in "Lights! Camera! Cobra!", an episode conceived during 1984 that also was the first episode to feature the silver Firebats, which didn't come out until 1986(!), and then were colored red.
I think it's a mistake to assume that the intro is produced first simply because it's what the audience sees first. I'd guess that the reason the Hurricane appears in the opening may be due to budget restrictions. Old cel animation companies could be extraordinarily restrictive on the number of paint colors used and it's possible that looking in their paint budget the animators just had more of the teal paint than the orange.
My theory is that Kenner already had the designs for both Hurricane, Firecracker and Hondo's Blaster Mask 1 and 2 ready. Then EITHER there was a miscommunication between them and the animation studio and the animators used the Hurricane and Blaster 2 Mask for the intro sequence instead of Firecracker, OR the animators decided to use the Hurricane instead because it was visually much more striking than the Firecracker (the blue and yellow does pop out more than the orange especially among the other vehicles who are all in various shades of red.)
actually as stated on several shows on dvd (including Spiderman the MTV version, transformers animated, tmnt 2003 and several others.) The intro is one of the LAST things put together for a given season.
Generally the intro is outsourced to another company and yes it can be done at the VERY end of production for a given series. They very well could have done a 28 episode season and then got the intro in. For example if you look at the TMNT opening, there's a marked difference in quality over the show it's self. In Transformers Animated the studio responsible for the intro also worked on the "Full Transformation" sequences for the robots, again you can see a distinct difference in the quality. Also to the toys, as we've been finding out more and more recently that there's not always open communication between the company making the toys and the studio making the show. Take a look at any of the first wave TMNT figures from each incarnation and you'll see they almost never look like the animation model. Again could be wrong, you guys are the retro experts but just some food for thought.
***** I used to have a Superman figure That My Dad got mr back in 1981. Do you know was there a figure line back then of Superman or from Superman 2 ? This was not from the Super powers series I'm positive
The most logical reason would be budgetary issues on the animation side. It would cost more for an additional character yo be licensed Voice actors also get paid per each character.
it is very unusual that this happened and from a fans perspective it would be interesting to know why such a mistake was made, definitely it was not noticed as a kid while watching the show that's for sure from me anyway.
Nice Mike. This was some thing I wondered about back in the day, but as kids we didnt really worry about stuff like this. Frankly I liked Firecracker more, it seemed more like a solid combat vehicle thatn Hurricane, plus it had the motorcycle as a backup.
Hey I was just watching a previous video where you were talking about the sidkit firefly pistol. I've recently found one on ebay and the current bid is at £9, I was just wondering what sort of price you think it's worth. I like it a lot but I really don't want to overspend.
couldn't it have simply been that the Firecracker wasn't all that popular and was going to be discontinued. This could allow the show to destroy the vehicle
MASK was my fav show growing up, loving the fast that I am learning new things about it to this day. What are your thoughts on the potential movie/script ?
I think part of it could come down to branding seeing the the hurricane is a chevy they may have had hang ups there as well as the original name of nightstalker that it was too creepy for us toy buyers those sort of things could help answer this mystery
I'm completely out of the loop on this, but after watching the explanation of these oddities in this video, I'm left wondering if there was some type of miscommunication, and both vehicles were always intended to be in the show, at the same time. But maybe there was a licensing issue with one of them, or the animators designed two different characters that were both misassumed to be Hondo? Either way, it's very odd, indeed.
I've held to a theory of my own for several years now. This is all speculation on my part, but I believe that Hondo and Gloria weren't created by Kenner. They were likely created by DIC (the animation studio) to add diversity to a largely white-male cast (except for Bruce Sato who was Asian). The communication between Kenner and DIC were probably somewhat disjointed and asynchronous. Perhaps that's why the inconsistencies with Hondo. And it might possibly explain why Gloria didn't even get a toy until the fourth series (Split Seconds), and it wasn't even her vehicle or mask from the show (though the mask's mold is very similar). Illusion is the ultimate weapon, indeed.
Hey thanks for the answer i injoy your video's specialy the jayce and WW. I thank you for answering questions i had about some of these cartoons when i was young i got hooked on a lot of these cartoons and in a way they did shape me to the person i am today.I never knew that the cartoons where a vehicle to sell toy's its strange to me to see this that a toy company would go to so much trouble to sell toys. Keep up the good work!
***** I find Linkedin is a great way to search for people like this. I found 2 M.A.S.K. toy designers listed there, and you can send them messages through LinkedIn. One guy even lists his phone number.
I fear the reasons behind Kenner's decisions about Hondo are more nefarious than you realize: They were simply picking on him because he's African-American. Subtle racism, kids.
![แฟนแนวใด๋ - ยูริ โตเกียวมิวสิค [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4_XVMuhhbsU/mqdefault.jpg)
My theory is that the Night Stalker serial killer prompted Kenner to rename it to the Hurricane, which in turn might have caused a delay if packaging needed to be redone.
Shows like M.A.S.K, Dinosaucers, Bionic Six, Silverhawks, Wheeled Warriors were awesome shows that had the best toys, that I could never regularly find on TV. I'd see them for a few weeks, and then they'd move with no notice. Maybe it was just me.
Dear Hasbro please look....collectors love MASK, kids would love MASK, MAKE MORE MASK!
They tried to revive MASK using the IDW Transformers comic as a Trojan Horse.
Why didn't you mention that in the beginning of 1985 in California there was a serial killer called Richard Ramirez, who was called by the media "Night Stalker". That's why Kenner changed the name into Hurricane. But because the production of the serie was already started, both names are mentioned in the series.
***** I just read it on the Dutch Wikipedia site about MASK :) I could'nt find it on the English version. I also read that the former Welsch Metalband Hondo Maclean named it's band after this character. I enjoy your work! I still have all my Mask toys :)
***** Than I'm glad I shared something new, just thought that you already knew that.
Hurricane/Night Stalker was not the only vehicle in the series that got alternate names. If I recall correctly in the second toy series, Firefly was called Dragonfly in the cartoon, and Stinger was sometimes referred to as Scorpion. As for the third season (which changed the plot to be more racing themed,) the vehicle Bullet was sometimes called Bandit.
But the biggest mystery of the toy line to this day is if they ever released Shark (Gloria Baker's Porsche 928/Submarine)
They never did. The only versions that exist in the wild are fan-made resin kits that are modified Porsche model cars.
I think the Hurricane name change suited a '57 Chevy as "Night Stalker" aside from the Richard Ramirez reference is more appropriate a name for a VENOM vehicle.
Awesome job! Thanks for voicing the questions that we M.A.S.K. fans have been pondering for years!!
That Shatner "Why?" cracks me up every single time I watch this RetroBlasting video.
Some thoughts to add but this risks becoming a massive thing that also takes in Buddy Hawks, Dusty Hayes and Gloria Baker:
* In Europe at least Firecracker was seemingly absent from the first year of releases as it does't appear on the poster/catalogue that came with the toys. It came on the second year's poster.
* Conversely the action figure packs for the first year toys are made up of nine of the ten definite year 1 figures but include Hondo in place of Dusty.
* On the US second year poster the toys are listed and clearly grouped into year 1 and year 2. Firecracker is positioned to be either the last year 1 toy or the first year 2.
* Then there's the question of just which is Buddy's vehicle and who drives Gator. Buddy is shown driving it on the box art for Boulder Hill. The Mini World books printed in the UK seem to have been based on early ideas for the toyline (they also use the code names which didn't make it into the main fiction) suggesting they used early guides from Kenner and Gator is piloted by either Hondo (in Volcano of Venom) or Buddy (in Car Wars). I don't think either Dusty or Firecracker ever appeared in them. In the cartoon Buddy is the co-pilot of Firecracker and Gloria is assigned variously to Shark or to co-pilot Gator or Thunderhawk.
Some of the mysteries are easily explained because often toy promotional fiction is produced by a different company who only have prototypes and working names to go on. Occasionally these toyline guides hang around, especially for more minor items like colouring books and pocketbooks. So often a new toy appears with a different name from the one on the shelf or with the wrong driver.
My best guess is that Hondo and Buddy were originally going to co-pilot Gator in fiction with Hondo to be released with it and Buddy to be allocated to Boulder Hill to boost sales (ditto having Alex Sector, about the third most prominent agent, associated with both the two most expensive toys looks deliberate) but somewhere along the line they created Dusty for the Gator pilot role but without telling all the licensees or for that matter the list later used for the year 1 action figures. Firecracker may have been prepared as a standby toy to release early on if the line took off quickly and got added to the original episodes to promote it anyway. (Other toy cartoons of the era sometimes included characters who would only make it to the shelf if the show was a success.) Hence also the rarity of the original choke hazard version of the Blaster mask. As a slightly larger toy it made sense for Firecracker rather than Gator to always have co-pilots who could appear individually to up the number of appearances of the vehicle. IIRC Gloria only ever appears with Gator as Dusty's co-pilot.
(There's a slight tension in the show's construction between having female characters who are equal team members to broaden the appeal/deflect criticism and not wanting to spend too much time promoting vehicles that wouldn't have toys because of perceptions about female action figures not selling. So Gloria alternates between her own show-only Shark and being a co-pilot for Gator or Thunderhawk. Ditto Vanessa Warfield alternates between Manta, which was show-only at that stage, and being a co-/alternate pilot for Jackhammer and Switchblade.)
In the cartoon I had vague, and it seems false memories, of a version with Hondo in the original Blaster mask and in Firecracker, and assumed the DVDs are using a later version that was edited onto the early episodes to give the whole series a uniform look. But this would suggest a definite change early on. Hondo is possibly wearing the same clothes with both Blaster masks as an animation saving technique that allowed cells to be recycled - again very common in the era's animation.
But that leaves the whole questions of why does Hondo, alone of all the non-leader characters, get a new vehicle in year 2 when it's replacing the *newest* year 1 toy. And so long before the rest of the newer toys show up. Was Hurricane released months before the rest? Or were both toys hanging around as prototypes for "Year 1 & 1/2" and got allocated the same driver character as the only one left in the pool?
I never noticed when I was young that Hondo's Hurricane suit from the toy was never in the cartoon, and it was always a bit strange to me that he got two masks with the same suit (at least in the show) when everyone else got new suits to go with their new masks and vehicles. . . I also seem to recall Hondo joking that "I must have left it in my other suit" (or words to that effect), but I don't remember which episode that's from. . . I assumed he was talking about his Hurricane suit! XD
mike i felt what u where feeling at the end when u open that r2, no words to describe
Shows how much attention I paid as a kid. After Firecracker was destroyed and Hurricane/Nightstalker came in with Blaster II, I was like, "Oh cool, they updated the intro to add in Hurricane and Blaster II!"
Love this video. Keep up the great work!
Another awesome video, amazing attention to detail, thanks RB.
Never knew M.A.S.K was s complex. Remember the PSA where T-Bob stuck a knife in a toaster...just the thought of that made all my troubles go away.
lol knife in toaster?! actually it was a fork ! lol
Thank you for your level of geek. It is appreciated.
Completely forgot this channel existed. Thought you closed up shop. Great you tackled my favorite character from the show, and yeah I went through head scratching as a kid over this stuff too & more. The two versions of blaster 1 for example.
Yeah, not sure why... Samething happened with Ranger Review. I think the Google+ switch over that TH-cam did has something to do with it, at least that's what their assessment is. ...Are you guys in Georgia? I notice you hit a lot of cons in & around ATL. Im in Sav.
It's possible they planned for it to appear at a later date, got ahead of themselves and included it in the intro.
Thanks for the info, i suspected some changes when revisting the novelisation of the first episode which explained Hondos mask in a different way. I have included your vid as a link to mine.
Hondo always had kickass vehicles (the hurricane was pretty much my number 1 MASK toy) but his Masks looked woeful.
Love this channel. It almost covers everything that's great about being a kid.
Antique roadshow/CSI!
Good job 😉
Very informative video job well done buddy!!
What's stranger for me is that Firecracker and the Blaster 1 are both in the show open for at least the first several episodes. Then out of nowhere the Hurricane/Blaster 2 show up, but it is WELL before episode 29. They actually made a point to switch to the Hurricane open without having Hurricane in the show yet. Weird!
good video. Love these little tidbits of past favorites. Just out of curiosity any plans on checking Denver the Last Dinosaur??? Or Dinosaucers from Coca-cola?
Maybe this video was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but the mystery is based on the assumption that the intro sequence was produced early in the production process. This seems unlikely, as the main work is the toy design and production, followed by the cartoon episode production. The intro would have taken very little time to produce and it makes sense to do it as late as possible. It would appear that they started off with Firecracker, but decided to replace it for the next wave of toys and wrote that into the cartoon. So the intro sequence would have been made after the Hurricane and new mask had been designed, but before Hondo's clothing had been changed. From that we can deduce the following chain of events:
1. First wave toys designed & produced
2. First twenty-odd episodes animated
3. Second wave design process started
4. Intro sequence animated
5. First wave toys & cartoon released
6. Second wave design completed (including Hondo's new clothes)
Agh RetroBlasting, answering the unanswerable questions of my childhood.
I love that yellow lightsaber.
What is even more inconsistent, is that Firecracker is destroyed in episode 29 and Hurricane is used from then on; however, in 3 later episodes 'Fog on Boulder Hill', 'Disappearing Act' and 'The Gate of Darkness' Firecracker suddenly is back again without any explanation. Has anyone ever tried to find out why this happened?
Could they have been aired out of order or one of the writers didn’t know the Firecracker would be destroyed?
Some interesting thoughts mate, I always thought Buddy Hawks should have been the driver for Firecracker and not just a gunner for Boulder Hill. Maybe the Night Stalker issue was a copyright thing with Mattel. Hurricane seems to me to be totally out of place with the first series vehicles not having proper windows.
As someone mentioned below, how weird of them to destroy Firecracker only to bring it back as Buddy's vehicle from Episode 54 onward.
That's crazy. I have both of my original Hurricane and Firecracker. Love Retro's Vids!!
Kenner probably did this thinking no one would ever notice. They were wrong, they were so wrong.
Very interesting. Good Questions. But you are forgetting to things: 1st madhead two vehicles from the beginning and got esearch, volcano, in series 2 and 2nd later in the show Firecracker was repaired and usable again. And it is very interesting that both come on in firecracker also used for more or less private matters or use.
Only in the 80s would you get a male figure colored Pink and yellow
Actually I think it would be more prevalent now.
love these toys! still have a few of them.
Hondo has appeared in his Hurricane outfit in the UK comics. But the UK comics really sort of did thier own thing. To add another wrinkle to the mystery, Hondo when he first appeared in the UK comic, he didn't even have his own vehicle, rather he was relagated to being the co-pilot of Gator with Dusty Hayes. Only later on did he get Firecracker and then Hurricane.
great video
It's not that odd, all things considered. Sunbow featured a lot of 1985 toys in 1984 episodes of The Transformers and G.I. Joe. Shockwave, Skyfire (being the legal stand-in for Jetfire), the Insecticons, the Dinobots, and the Constructicons were all 1985 series toys (though previously existing, yes). Revenge of Cobra features Flint, Lady Jaye, Shipwreck, the Dreadnoks, and the Crimson Guard a year in advance. Furthermore, a lot of early Season 1 episodes (excluding Pyramid of Darkness, produced much later in the run) were written and possibly animated in 1984, and currently have MASS Device intros and Revenge of Cobra end credits on their 1" master tapes (and on the old FHE video tapes), presumably because the Season 1 intro and end credits weren't produced until much later on.
As for the Night Stalker business, the Cobra Ferret is called a "Python Cycle" in "Lights! Camera! Cobra!", an episode conceived during 1984 that also was the first episode to feature the silver Firebats, which didn't come out until 1986(!), and then were colored red.
Never liked Hurricane, but Firecracker was my jam!!!
I think it's a mistake to assume that the intro is produced first simply because it's what the audience sees first. I'd guess that the reason the Hurricane appears in the opening may be due to budget restrictions. Old cel animation companies could be extraordinarily restrictive on the number of paint colors used and it's possible that looking in their paint budget the animators just had more of the teal paint than the orange.
My theory is that Kenner already had the designs for both Hurricane, Firecracker and Hondo's Blaster Mask 1 and 2 ready. Then EITHER there was a miscommunication between them and the animation studio and the animators used the Hurricane and Blaster 2 Mask for the intro sequence instead of Firecracker, OR the animators decided to use the Hurricane instead because it was visually much more striking than the Firecracker (the blue and yellow does pop out more than the orange especially among the other vehicles who are all in various shades of red.)
actually as stated on several shows on dvd (including Spiderman the MTV version, transformers animated, tmnt 2003 and several others.) The intro is one of the LAST things put together for a given season.
Generally the intro is outsourced to another company and yes it can be done at the VERY end of production for a given series. They very well could have done a 28 episode season and then got the intro in. For example if you look at the TMNT opening, there's a marked difference in quality over the show it's self. In Transformers Animated the studio responsible for the intro also worked on the "Full Transformation" sequences for the robots, again you can see a distinct difference in the quality.
Also to the toys, as we've been finding out more and more recently that there's not always open communication between the company making the toys and the studio making the show. Take a look at any of the first wave TMNT figures from each incarnation and you'll see they almost never look like the animation model.
Again could be wrong, you guys are the retro experts but just some food for thought.
*****
I used to have a Superman figure That My Dad got mr back in 1981. Do you know was there a figure line back then of Superman or from Superman 2 ? This was not from the Super powers series I'm positive
The most logical reason would be budgetary issues on the animation side. It would cost more for an additional character yo be licensed Voice actors also get paid per each character.
*****
Most 80s cartoon intros were done in Japan by the same team of guys. The equivalent of the Disney old men in the US.
it is very unusual that this happened and from a fans perspective it would be interesting to know why such a mistake was made, definitely it was not noticed as a kid while watching the show that's for sure from me anyway.
I don't remember but did Hondo ever wear the outfit from Hurricane in the cartoon?
Your Good The Team Of RetroBlasting
MINDBLOWN
You never seen a episode on mask where firecracker got destroyed and Hondo had to have another vehicle
Nice Mike. This was some thing I wondered about back in the day, but as kids we didnt really worry about stuff like this. Frankly I liked Firecracker more, it seemed more like a solid combat vehicle thatn Hurricane, plus it had the motorcycle as a backup.
Hey I was just watching a previous video where you were talking about the sidkit firefly pistol. I've recently found one on ebay and the current bid is at £9, I was just wondering what sort of price you think it's worth. I like it a lot but I really don't want to overspend.
couldn't it have simply been that the Firecracker wasn't all that popular and was going to be discontinued. This could allow the show to destroy the vehicle
At least Hondo's two vehicles got toys. Gloria and Shark didn't get toys. Gloria came out with a different vehicle. They never came out with Shark.
MASK was my fav show growing up, loving the fast that I am learning new things about it to this day. What are your thoughts on the potential movie/script ?
are you guys going to make a vintage lego video, or would it be too hard to collect?
I think part of it could come down to branding seeing the the hurricane is a chevy they may have had hang ups there as well as the original name of nightstalker that it was too creepy for us toy buyers those sort of things could help answer this mystery
I don't like when adults underestimate the understanding of a child.
How strange indeed.
I'm completely out of the loop on this, but after watching the explanation of these oddities in this video, I'm left wondering if there was some type of miscommunication, and both vehicles were always intended to be in the show, at the same time. But maybe there was a licensing issue with one of them, or the animators designed two different characters that were both misassumed to be Hondo? Either way, it's very odd, indeed.
In early M.A.S.K. artwork, I've seen Hondo as the co-pilot of Gator. What was that about?
Odd decisions indeed!
Lo conocí el primer capitulo la aparición de cohete finalizo con ser desintegrado el capitulo 29, luego se cambio a huracan
I noticed this as a kid too. For some reason it just didn't spark any curiosity.
It boggles the mind!!!
How many episodes actually showed Hurricane?!?
Wonder if it has to have something to do with licensing the car its based on?
i used to have that truck
I've held to a theory of my own for several years now. This is all speculation on my part, but I believe that Hondo and Gloria weren't created by Kenner. They were likely created by DIC (the animation studio) to add diversity to a largely white-male cast (except for Bruce Sato who was Asian). The communication between Kenner and DIC were probably somewhat disjointed and asynchronous. Perhaps that's why the inconsistencies with Hondo. And it might possibly explain why Gloria didn't even get a toy until the fourth series (Split Seconds), and it wasn't even her vehicle or mask from the show (though the mask's mold is very similar).
Illusion is the ultimate weapon, indeed.
I got a question did you ever call the people from kenner that work on the toy line in the 80's to ask them what the hell they where doing??
Hey thanks for the answer i injoy your video's specialy the jayce and WW. I thank you for answering questions i had about some of these cartoons when i was young i got hooked on a lot of these cartoons and in a way they did shape me to the person i am today.I never knew that the cartoons where a vehicle to sell toy's its strange to me to see this that a toy company would go to so much trouble to sell toys. Keep up the good work!
***** I find Linkedin is a great way to search for people like this. I found 2 M.A.S.K. toy designers listed there, and you can send them messages through LinkedIn. One guy even lists his phone number.
Nice info there Desslar i will check it out thanks guys :)
Damz, if you didn't say it, I didn't realise it LOL
PLEASE UPLOAD YOUR THEME SONG FULL AND ALONE! ITS JUST THAT AWESOME!
We were kid's dude.. We didn't give a shit.
Thank god you were here to provide such insightful commentary...
Ami me gusta mas fire cracker viéndolo bien huracán alternativa es súper
I always wondered who that guy was. I didn't get tow watch much of the show but he always seemed out of place!
you have to have a ton of time on your hands to pick up on this kind of stuff lol
I fear the reasons behind Kenner's decisions about Hondo are more nefarious than you realize: They were simply picking on him because he's African-American. Subtle racism, kids.
Argh. My brain hurts.
I actually laughed out loud at this review. Are you really talking about the discrepancies between an intro video and a toy? Only in America!!!!
Old news
Old video
Why does he always wear the same thing?
He doesn't. He has a style.
mat tracker is a republican ! miles mayhem is saddam hussein in disguise ! and the MASK theme song is totally 80's !
None of this really matters
Peculiar that you would take the time to comment
@@timothyward8695 it took less than five seconds to type lol
@@juicybear7696 And something of no consequence merits a response?
@@timothyward8695 irrelevant video
@@juicybear7696And yet you return once again...
In early M.A.S.K. artwork, I've seen Hondo as the co-pilot of Gator. What was that about?