Back when Hasbro was talking about its cinematic universe, I always thought M.A.S.K. was the easiest tech that could evolve from the Transformers. I mean they had a whole Stealth Force line (and convincing holograms if that helps).

In later TF movies, I expected groups like Cemetery Wind to be riding in generic armored strike vehicles to aid them against giant robots.

So set a new franchise somewhere else in the world, where some no-gooders who operate under a punchy acronym have acquired this tech and been secretly improving it for nefarious purposes, and the creation of M.A.S.K. was the do-gooder response. Transformers footage would only need to be shown or spoken about for 2 seconds.


*I clearly know nothing on the canon M.A.S.K. backstory.