As our readers obviously know, boulder-hill.net has been a bit quiet recently, apologies for this. We wanted to take this time to wish all our readers, their family, and their friends a Happy Thanksgiving. With a little luck, things will get back on track in not too long. The backlog has been building up, only reinforcing how much amazing M.A.S.K. is out there. As usual, we try to draw in from all different sources for the best M.A.S.K. coverage we can give you. Without spoiling all the fun, we can tell you that there is both vintage and new material to be added. With that, enjoy your meals and we hope to see you back here soon!

We are still waiting on the arrival of some great new items coming to us from overseas, however that doesn’t mean we don’t have something for you. First off, something that slipped past us a while ago. Our friends over at Cereal:Geek put out a second printing of the first issue. Copies of Cereal:Geek #1 Reprint can be ordered from Graham Crackers, a fantastic comic book store based out of Chicago, IL.

Our other update is of the more traditional variety. Photographs of three different Action Figure Packs. Kenner released a variety of these packs during the M.A.S.K. era. Each pack contained two figures and their masks. The new additions to boulder-hill.net are:

• Bruce Sato & Brad Turner
• Cliff Dagger & Sly Rax
• Matt Trakker & Hondo MacLean

If you would like to see these new images, head on over to the Toys area of the site!

The outside world has kept us busy here at boulder-hill.net for the last few weeks but we’re happy to get back to the world of M.A.S.K. today. The upside of not posting new content for a length of time is that we have even more to post now!

• Dynamo
• Raven Box
• Manta
• Bruce Sato (Dynamo)
• Bruce Sato Clone (Dynamo)
• Parker Brothers Board Game
• Toyfare 121 Exposé

To see everything in this update you’ll have to visit almost every page of the site. Dynamo, Raven, and Manta can be found under the Toys section. Bruce and his Clone will be added to Figures. Photos of the board game have been added to the Merchandise area. And last but not least, the Toyfare images are now available on our Guides page.

Despite all the additions today, we still haven’t made it through our entire backlog of material. To top it off, we have quite a bit of new purchases coming in the mail. One package in particular, is coming all the way to us from Oslo, Norway. So come back soon and we’ll have even more for you!

The update for today is part of our core purpose here at boulder-hill.net, and that is to photograph and display M.A.S.K. toys. An additional feature of this post is that all of the toys added today include their packages!

As our readers may have guessed from the comic panel above, one of the toys we are able to present today is a packaged T-Bob with Scott Trakker. This is the North American release which came on a blister card. Our second addition is from the second series of toys released in the M.A.S.K. line, Stinger. Stinger was driven by Bruno ‘Mad Dog’ Sheppard who is already on display in the Figures area. Our third, and final toy, is from the third series. Wildcat is a red pickup, controlled by Buddie Hawks from the Racing Series. All three of these can be seen over in our Toys section.

As any of our readers can guess, that photo above is a picture of our newly arrived Shout! Factory DVD set. That’s right, at long last, the United States has received an official DVD release of M.A.S.K. We’re going to give you a rundown of the highlights, so strap yourself in as we take you on a tour of this awesome new release. We will also compare it against the set previously released in Australia by Madman Entertainment.

Nothing to compare from the outset. The American release from Shout! has a nice slipcase, something the Madman set lacks. This case features beautiful art and high quality printing. As you can see it showcases both Matt Trakker and Miles Mayhem standing between the M.A.S.K. logo with three of the main vehicles in action poses.

Read the rest of this entry »

Late in the series M.A.S.K. was still introducing new characters and vehicles. Some of them were instant favorites, some were a little less exciting to a young boy. Slingshot was the latter. While the inside had lots of great features, the outside is a van. Understandably, things like a red sports car and a green motorcycle were a more popular but Slingshot is still worth noting. First appearing in episode forty-eight, Quest of the Canyon, piloted by Ace Riker.

To find the images of Slingshot, click over to our Toy section. We have seven different photos to give you a full look at M.A.S.K.’s CRUISIN van.

We would also like to remind everyone that the new U.S. DVD release of M.A.S.K. is coming out tomorrow, August 9th. Show your support for this 80s classic and pick up a set if you can.

These were words every child dreaded hearing. There were few things worse than opening up a brand new toy on Christmas morning and finding out their parents forgot to pick up a pack of C batteries. With M.A.S.K. that was usually not a problem; Thunderhawk, Switchblade, Boulder Hill, none of these required batteries. However, there were a few exceptions and today’s update is one of them.

Anyone familiar with M.A.S.K. will know that this photo comes from the M.A.S.K. vehicle Volcano. This toy, when switched on, would drive forward, pop into attack mode and rotate the gun turret on top. All of this at the cost of two C batteries.

Volcano came with two M.A.S.K. agents, another incarnation of Matt Trakker with Lava Shot and Jacques LaFleur with Maraj. Both of these figures were previously added to boulder-hill.net and can be seen in the Figures area. To view the new photos of Volcano itself, click on over to the Toys section.

We have a fairly major update today, so buckle in. Boulder-hill.net wanted to focus on our original priorities with this post, and it seems fair to say we did. This time around we have the pleasure to showcase a little bit of everything that inspired boulder-hill.net, so without further ado, let’s have a rundown of the new additions:

Figurines:

• Miles Mayhem (Outlaw)
• Nash Gorey (Outlaw)

Merchandise:

• Mini World Books
• Red Lunchbox & Thermos

Toys:

• Collector
• Razorback (with box)

In addition to the big content refresh, we have another function change. Along the right-hand side you can now click our RSS icon to add our feed to your reader of choice. With the RSS feed, you will be able to receive updates as soon as they happen! Finally, remember to check back soon for some big toy updates coming soon.

We’ve featured quite a few of Orion Pax’s (the work name of LEGO artist Alex Schranz) on boulder-hill.net and today we are happy to show you one more!

Often depicted in the show, but never produced as a toy, the M.A.S.K. transport plane was essential for shuttling their vehicles from one location to the next. As you can see from the photos, Alex has not only done a beautiful job recreating this unsung hero of the M.A.S.K. world, he has also built it on scale with his other, previous creations. The most recent constructions on Orion Pax’s website suggest he may be moving on from M.A.S.K. to explore other ideas. We hope he will decide to revisit the M.A.S.K. universe sometime soon. For those interested in some of Alex’s other work, click here.

Today boulder-hill.net also has a small change that should make searching and navigating around here a little easier. Every post on the site has now been categorized and a drop-down with these categories is now on the right-hand side. By selecting a specific category you can quickly and easily find the topics you’re looking for.

Some time ago M.A.S.K. started getting DVD releases. Unfortunately for many of us, they generally fell into two types: very incomplete or non-English. Then came the fantastic release from Madman Entertainment, out of Australia. An English language set; sure, it didn’t have any extras or restoration, in fact it was as bare bones as possible, but it was – finally – all seventy-five episodes available on DVD in English.

Recently, Shout! Factory (the company that has seemingly risen out of the ashes left by Rhino) announced plans to release a U.S. edition of M.A.S.K. on DVD. The day of that release is now less than one month away! On Tuesday, August 9th, M.A.S.K. will hit stores across the United States. This set will include the original sixty-five episode series one. The final ten episodes, known as the Racing Series will not be part of this set, the final ten episodes are currently owned by another company – Cookie Jar Entertainment.

The set can be ordered online either through Shout! Factory or Amazon.com. At this time, Amazon.com is offering a pre-order price of $60.99 ($9.00 less than on Shout! Factory’s official site), however, Shout! Factory is offering a M.A.S.K. iron-on transfer logo with purchase – while supplies last.

On a different note, boulder-hill.net would like to draw your attention to our Figure section. Boulder-hill.net is always looking for ways to improve, whether they are major or minor changes. The update today is simple, but something that should enhance the quality of the site greatly. All the preview images in the Figure area have been redone with increased resolution for a sharper and clearer picture. If today’s post did not excite, check back soon, our next updates will be a return to toys and merchandise!