MVC-005F by johnnyapollo, on Flickr
So, I’m way behind on this, but a few weeks back Power Pal Pixel Dan asked me to help promote the fact that Mattel is apparently curious about what kind of interest there is in a Major Matt Mason comeback.
Part of me wonders whether this is partly inspired by the success of Glyos and the Outer Space Men; I suppose it would be way too much to hope Mattel would work with the Four Horsemen and Matt Doughty on creating a new Matt Mason line.
Ordinarily I’d probably say astronaut toys would be a hard sell to today’s kids, what with their Ben 10 and their Bakugan and their preferring electronic devices to plastic toys. But we may be due for another round of interest in outer space exploration, if the massive popularity of the Curiosity is any indication. And from what I can tell, Major Matt Mason seems to have a strong adult collector following – adults who are even older than me and probably have a lot more disposable income as well.
major matt mason 01 by iagorune, on Flickr
So it all depends on how Mattel approaches it. Will they try the kid-line-and-adult-line combo that Bandai did with Thundercats, and Playmates seems to be doing (to much greater success) with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Or will they actually go down the Glyos route, which is perhaps a viable way to do both: like the Outer Space Men, adult fans get vintage-looking toys while kids get the interchangeability of the parts.
And then there’s always the (remote) possibility the rumored movie starring Tom Hanks will actually get made – the movie with a plot, according to the potential screenwriter, like this:
“The story is set on the moon, near future, and it’s a team of people on a base on the moon, on the south pole of the moon. And of course everything goes wrong. There’s no bad guys. There’s no aliens. Nothing like that. It’s just, can you survive? It’s really fun […]
Oh yeah – no aliens or bad guys, and a team of people in space where things go wrong? Sounds like a ton of fun. Almost as fun as another Tom Hanks movie called Apollo 13 – which, of course, is famous for its appeal to young kids who buy toys.
What do you think? Are you interested in a Major Matt Mason revival, and if so, what form would you want it to take?