The Loyal Subjects High Tech Helicopter Review

When the Loyal Subjects announced they got the M.A.S.K. license, I was skeptical. If you listen to Agents of M.A.S.K.’s 40th Anniversary chat, you can hear my disappointment. The only thing I had seen from TLS before that were pretty ugly vinyl Transformers figures, so my hopes weren’t very high.

(Photo Courtesy: Brian Cave)

When the first wave was revealed, I ate my words - these toys looked exactly like the ones I remembered in my youth. Even the boxes looked the same! The figures were scaled like the originals with some added articulation in the shoulders and hips. They included two masks for each figure and even had a bunch of effect pieces like laser blasts and smoke trails. The quality of these was so impressive. The only thing that left me disappointed was the new names - High Tech Helicopter and Mobile Defense Unit. Trademark issues aside, they’ll always be Switchblade and Rhino to me.

As a fan of all animated villains, I’ve always considered Miles Mayhem one of my favorite bad guys, so I wasn’t going to miss my chance to own him again since I never had him as a kid. And let me tell you, I was so happy to get this toy after so many years. I just want to take a minute to share my impressions.

(Photos Courtesy: Brian Cave)

Looking at the box, I love how authentic everything is to the original, even keeping the Kenner logo on it. In fact, Hasbro, the current owners of M.A.S.K., only has a small logo on the bottom of the box. Inside, the vehicle and figure look immaculate. I honestly felt a little intimidated taking it out of the box - after waiting so long to hold one, I was afraid my old man hands would fumble and break it. Rest assured, the toy survived. I wasn’t looking forward to applying the stickers either because I have always stunk at lining them up, but they came out okay, too. They’re very glossy and of great quality. The instructions also remained faithful to the look of the original, except updated with the new features of the toy, like plugging in the blast effects. 

(Photos Courtesy: Brian Cave)

Once I mustered up the courage to actually take the toy out of its packaging, I started with Miles himself. The detail on the figure is great, and I love that they lined the face more than the old toys. His articulation is great for the size - I know smaller figures could have better articulation (like the mini-figs that came with Mega Construx building sets), but I’m happy with the few points that were added. Realistically, the only thing I would have liked added was elbows.

Each figure in the line includes two masks, the long mask and the short mask. I’ve always preferred Viper’s short mask since I don’t understand why Miles would leave any of his face exposed, so it’s super disappointing to me that his long mask includes the activated feature, a spray of translucent green acid. The short mask does have another flaw, which is being a little too tight on the head. I am worried about paint scratching down the line.

(Photos Courtesy: Brian Cave)

Onto the vehicle itself, what can I say? It’s freaking awesome. Having never played with one as a kid, I unfortunately can’t compare it to the original. I can say that all the conversion and action features work great, besides being pretty sensitive. I had a hard time returning it to helicopter mode without accidentally triggering the transformation. The button for the spinning blade is a little stiff to push and doesn’t spin much each time press but it works as advertised. 

(Photos Courtesy: Brian Cave)

The missile drops just fine when triggered, and the missile with the smoke effect plugs in tightly. I will admit the laser effects aren’t as secure as I’d like, and it’s a little awkward to hold the blasters out in their spring-loaded configuration to put them on. I know I could press them on when they aren’t deployed but I don’t like the idea of pushing on the mechanics that hard either. I’m not a huge fan of blast effects (I never use the ones that came with a bunch of Transformers I own), so I’m okay just keeping them in the box.

(Photo Courtesy: Brian Cave)

I had read about quality issues with some of TLS’s offerings, but I didn’t read about any of them specifically. I can say the quality of my toy is great. The only weird thing I noticed with the toy was some kind of greasy residue inside the cockpit. I cleaned it off without any problem, but it was weird to find. 

Overall, I am so pleased with the High Tech Helicopter. The Loyal Subjects knocked it out of the park with this. I admit my hesitation at the original announcement was really misplaced. I’m looking forward to what might be coming next: I really hope we get an Outlaw or a Raven at some point since those were the two vehicles I really remember having, so I can compare them.