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!

As promised, boulder-hill.net has brought you a quick follow up to yesterday’s update. Today is another vehicle that had a naming mix-up during the show. Julio Lopez is something of an overachiever; language expert, cryptographer, and doctor. Oh yes, do not forget race car driver. Julio Lopez pilots the M.A.S.K. vehicle Firefly – mistakenly referred to as Dragonfly at one point.

Firefly was an off-road racer that converted into an attack plane. It sported an underside hatch that could release a bomb on unsuspecting VENOM agents. While this toy had some rather ingenious features and transforming parts, it also had some fragile pieces. Due to this fact, many of today’s Fireflys suffer from minor to major damage. Luckily, here we have the opportunity to present you a pristine example of this vehicle. Click on over to the Toy section to view photos of Firefly in both modes, as well as images of the box it came packed in.

Hondo MacLean is, without a doubt, one of the core members of the M.A.S.K. team. He also had the privilege of piloting not one, but two vehicles in the original series. For the first half of the main series he commanded the orange pick-up truck Firecracker. However, in episode twenty-nine, A Matter of Gravity, VENOM unleashed a weapon that ended Firecracker’s career. The upside to this event was that it allowed the creators to introduce Hondo’s new vehicle!

Originally, Matt revealed Hondo’s newest ride, a 1957 Chevrolet with the sobriquet ‘Nightstalker’. This was quickly abandoned for the more commonly known name, Hurricane, the same name that would appear on the packaging for the toy.

This update to boulder-hill.net is to bring you photos of Hondo MacLean’s Hurricane. For new visitors, these photos can be found in the Toy area of the site – listed in alphabetical order. Also, check back soon, as we have several more new additions coming to boulder-hill.net, including toys and merchandise!

Julio Lopez and Firefly might not have seen as much screen time as they deserved, but that didn’t stop them from getting a very cool toy in the second series. And with that great toy, came lots and lots of stickers. Twenty-five years later however, stickers can start to wear off and fall apart. Luckily, there is a group of dedicated people who can help us all with that.

It seems like only last week the people at StickerFixer released their reproduction labels for Stinger. This week boulder-hill.net has the pleasure to showcase their newest set. One of the more complicated sets to-date (note the $8.00 price), these stickers are absolutely worth every penny.

As usual with us, if you head on over to our Merchandise section you can click the image for a much larger view of these gorgeous labels.