Hasbro US Conference talks about a Cinematic Universe

[bowspearer]

Yeah, I'm not sure I can really agree with you on this.

-I feel you might be overestimating the impact of M.A.S.Ks nostalgia value and it's audience. Aside from the IDW series and an unlaunched line (which reshaped a lot of the original premise), it's had basically no media exposure for over 30 years.

No it hasn't had the exposure, yet you seem to be underestimating the cult following it has in toy-related pop culture sections. In fact in countries like Germany, M.A.S.K. was pretty big last I checked. Yes it's not as well known as GIJOE or Transformers, but as a second stringer, it's even more well known than and loved than Visionaries, which is one of the brands Hasbro seem to be wanting to revive.

-The reaction from people on forums is often insignificant when it comes to wider film-going audiences and what they want. There are exceptions but I sincerely doubt M.A.S.K is one of them, given it's relatively small status outside of certain nostalgia markets (which aren't big).

You mean the same market that justified making a Transformers movie and a GIJOE movie to begin with?

-IDW's MASK would've sold badly even if they kept Trakker as Caucasian because it wasn't a particularly good story, nor was it wanted, nor was there any demand outside of what feels like Hasbro executives wanting to mimic the worst parts of Marvel/DC/what-not shared universe concept.

Ok, let's say for a minute that this was all Hasbro. Yes, the problem is that Hasbro don't really seem to understand M.A.S.K. Their approach almost seems to be to try and shoehorn it in under something else - largely GIJOE.

However that doesn't absolve Hasbro's part in all of this. Case in point, would anyone have cared about characters like Bludgeon or Thunderwing if Marvel had simply gone off what Hasbro wanted?

Likewise, would anyone have cared about Transformers much today if the cartoon was at the same level as Gobots?

This is my big bugbear with IDW - it's gotten almost to the point where they've stopped seeing stories to tell for the sake of good storytelling and only care about properties as vehicles for identity politics.

In fact it even harmed the core market that was there; the cynical identity-politics-pandering only turned off fans who are purists, such as myself because they failed to respect the core mythos.

-I'm guessing that Hasbro pulled M.A.S.K and ROM from their lineup because of the four properties they had (and were intending to throw a ton of money at to make films), they had to consolidate and go with the more reasonable approaches. Maybe their reasoninig goes something like "no one outside of people approaching forty remember or care about M.A.S.K", and you need people outside of that to care.

Except that while M.A.S.K. might be a b-grade toy property, it is at the top end of those properties and could easily become an a-list property with the right writing and movie. In fact, before Transformers was a hit, it had the same market demographic that G1 had in terms of a live-action movie aimed at older audiences.

-Likewise, ROM was cancelled along with M.A.S.L and that didn't have any issues with race-bending, but rather (and this is a guess), "we can't even use the parts of ROM that people, all of which are approaching forty or beyond MIGHT remember from a short-lived comic series, but probably don't, because those parts still belong to Marvel"

Actually there would be a strong argument for dumping ROM based on demand. The one thing you left out is that in international market, ROM has far less popularity and recognition than M.A.S.K. did. In fact I'd even put Rom at the same level of obscurity as Spiral Zone in countries like Australia.

-I just feel that MASK, if you were to compare it to what is out there at the moment, could feel like merely a hodgepodge merging (to those without nostalgia) of Transformers and G.I Joe, the former which is critically panned (still made a lot of money, but doesn't need to be replicated) and the latter which can be a hard one to sell but has a much better chance than M.A.S.K on name recognition alone.

Which would only happen if you had bad writing, as from a marketing perspective, that's exactly what M.A.S.K. was developed by Kenner to be. However if the writing and talent behind it were good enough, it could easily stand on its own two feet and find it's own place. Just look at Kamen Rider Drive as compared to Kamen Rider W.

Personally, i don't think the race-bending is as big of an issue as some. With M.A.S.K and Trakker, I was neither for nor against it, becuase even if it was a genuine desire for more broader representation or a cynical ploy to exploit that for profit, it just wasn't a series of any importance nor real merit (AFAIK).

That's just it, to most of us against it, it does read like cynical diversity pandering. As another fan who will remain nameless unless they choose to put their hand up to me said, it would have been one thing if they were doing it as a generation later sequel to the original (eg it was Hondo's son leading the new team), but this was just the old story of IDW putting "diversity" first and things like universe building and respect for properties dead last.

I mean hell, even the First Strike issue of M.A.S.K was literally just part II of the G.I. Joe issue, and Trakker is now part of G.I. Joe (with a new codename), that's how insignificant the IDW interpretation of M.A.S.K is and, dare I say it, as a broader property?

That only goes to demonstrate how little respect for the property they had to begin with; precisely why I panned it from the getgo.

Not to say that MASK is bad or that I'm being critical of anyones taste, I just don't think that IDW having a black Trakker is all that important,

Which it wouldn't be to anyone who isn't much of a fan of the series. To those of us who are more fans of the series, it comes across as a slap in the face to the character (and yes, I'd say the same thing if they made an iconic black character white).

also considering what IDW produce has relatively little bearing, content-wise, on films (outside of the concept of a shared universe and what-not).

And yet IDW comics are the medium which Hasbro seem to be using to reach their older audiences - the ones which PG-13 movies tend to be aimed at.

Sorry I get a bit worked up whenever I see something about race-benidng HI HOW ARE YOU

Race-bending is dodgy as hell and I imagine that Dwayne MacDuffy would be rolling in his grave if he could see the current state of play with it.

I despise it because it: a) it disrespects properties and reduces them to nothing more than blatantly shallow political vehicles, and;
b) unlike strong original characters who simply happen to be <insert minority here>, which empower people the people they're meant to, character bending essentially sends <insert minority here> the message that they can only succeed by riding on the coat tails of others.