Guarding my hard drives is M.A.S.K.’s Matt Trakker wearing his Dolphin Mask from the 1987 Adventure Pack, Coastal Patrol. His helmI bought him recently on eBay.
Every M.A.S.K. helmet has a different power. The original packaging for this figure says his helmet can “emit sonic signals.” What does that mean? Blasting sonic waves to disrupt? Or sonic signals speaking to dolphins?
The mystery remains. I don’t know. Nor do I know if this helmet ever made an appearance in any of the 75 M.A.S.K. TV episodes, so we may never find out.
Whenever I look at this figure, I wonder how his mask operates.
Is that a dolphin under Matt’s raft? We are probably safe to assume, the dolphin is not attacking him. Rather, the dolphin would be swimming alongside Matt, helping him in his mission. If that’s the case, then this mask might enable Matt to talk with the dolphin.
Although, why is Matt tossing out that anchor? I hope it wouldn’t hurt the nearby dolphin? I mean, obviously, the real reason why he’s tossing out an anchor is to show kids that this toy comes with a fun anchor on a rope.
And that hyper-photon torpedo being shot out of his boat. Yipes! Surely that must be VENOM outside the frame. Maybe the dolphin will do something to the VENOM watercraft.
That text in red at the bottom of the package is great. Surely their boilerplate text, so it doesn’t directly relate to the dophin mask, but the text bears repeating:
Join MASK — Mobile Armored Strike Kommand — where ordinary vehicles and men become an awesome fighting team to wage battle against VENOM — the Vicious, Evil Network of Mayhm. MASK — where illusion is the ultimate weapon.
Going off on a tangent, it would have been cool if the 1980s cartoon played off that illusion aspect more. It was never really a surprise when one of the MASK vehicles would show up in VENOM’s plot. Even when the MASK vehicle was in disguise.
Anyhow, so the dolphin mask will remain a mystery, unless if it happens to appear in one of the 75 TV episodes. The only way to find out? Watch all 75 episodes.