My uncle had got a M.A.S.K. car for Christmas back in the 80s, and broke it hours after receiving it. He then wrote a letter to Kenner saying he was disappointed that it broke. He then received a package in the mail soon after with a new toy vehicle sent to him from Kenner themselves. Great video guys, love the new series.
Kenner before turning into Hasbro was a great company for Customer satisfaction and would gladly replace almost anything free of charge (and also sell you additional accessories for your Star Wars toys).
@@spencerwelchii573 If they still made it. I got a Jabba the Hutt on clearance that was missing the air intake stem for the hookah and the slave harness. I couldn't get the parts even though the instruction sheet said "We really do care!" and had instructions on writing to the company in such an instance. In my case, it was too late.
My support experience was more limited but also pretty good. One of the mask toys (the billboard) was missing the stickers. I sent them a postcard and got replacement stickers soon after.
I'm a huge MASK fan, but it's a strange situation where the brand's presence toes the line between "company actually investing in the world and characters" and "quick gimmick cash grab"; the characters in MASK are really fun, but at the same time they are very stereotypical characteristically. The whole concept of MASK is a fun, very cool...but very confusing one, when you think about it: Ok, so Matt Trakker is dumb enough to believe Mayhem was genuinely once a good guy, despite stealing half the plans. Why did he only steal *half* the plans? If you're gonna attack each other, why are you doing it with helmets, rather than weaponry? Like I said....a lot of potential, but they only met the necessity halfway, and that is why I think MASK endured with collectors, but didn't last as long as it might have been able to, back in the day.
Since this aired, someone on RUclips was kind enough to upload an entire episode (The Hunger). Watching it again after all these years reveals the reality that while the toy lines were remarkably similar, the shows themselves had very little in common. M.A.S.K. was pure 80s in look and feel - it fit beautifully between GI Joe and Transformers while Vor-Tech is absolute "extreme era" 90s animation: overly muscular character models, villains with a mutant slant who all acted a bit like Pauly Shore on crack, the vehicles were sentient (and talked), the masks were a non-entity. Really, there were almost no similarities in action. It's nice that Vor-Tech and A.T.O.M. kept the transforming vehicle and helmet wearing character idea alive, but the differences between the shows far outweigh the similarities in retrospect.
If a regular person had a time machine they'd probably change something in history for the betterment of mankind or their own personal profit... Dan would go back to record old cartoon shows & spend money on things that became hard to find in the future... the paradox is they're only hard to find because future Dan made a time machine.
I remembering seeing an episode during my local network channel back in day. Our channel 20 here in Maryland had reruns of everything from Ronin Warriors, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice, and EXO Squad.
But if future Dan had already created a time machine and had his full collection, then his past self would never need to build a time machine to go back in time in the first place, which means he wouldn't have his collection, leading him to want to build a time machine to go back in time and complete his collection....
I remember Vor-Tech! They aired this show along side of Beast Wars and G.I. Joe Extreme! It's too bad the show ended so abruptly! It could have started a reboot of MASK!!!
Hot damn! I worked at KB Toys when these came out, they actually sold pretty well. I wasn't interested in them until I discovered Ebay and found vintage MASK items for cheap, ( at the time), that I noticed how similar they were. By that time they were on clearance and all we had left were a green pick-up truck and an ATV. I've been kicking myself ever since for not getting the rest when they were still available.
I remember watching the whole Vortech series. It incorporate a tech corruption element like Spiral Zone. Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger as one of the heroes turned into a borg by over using his helmet.
Wanna know whats more obscure than Vor-Tech ? Shadow Strikers also produced by Kenner. Been waiting awhile for you do to a video on them, I still own the VHS from when I was a kid
Forgot all about these! Though strangely far more information exists on the net about them than Vor-Tech. The thing about Vor, as Dan was jokingly insinuated, is it's almost unnatural how all record of it seems to have vanished from existence. Maybe Matt Tracker is involved.
I'm glad you published this!!!! I've tried looking for the toys over the last 10ish years or so but they're so hard to find and when something does pop up, they're astronomically priced! I worked at KB Toys (1998-99) and bought a few of the vehicles for a few bucks since they were clearance of a clearance. The red car (shown in the commercial) and the green 4X4 truck reminded me of my M.A.S.K. days from the 80's! Sadly I don't know what happened to them.... Another hard to find toy line from the late 90's was Fistful of Aliens. I bought everything that came into that store (with my KB employee discount) and mailed in the proof of purchase barcodes to get the huge metal monster guy that wins every round. Again, sadly I don't know what happened to that collection. It's like a box of my 90's toys disappeared ages ago. Y2K perhaps?
It aired on a weekday block called "The Power Block" that included the first season of Beast Wars, GI Joe Extreme and edited versions of Reboot. The block aired 30 minutes a weekday, with every show airing once a week, except for Beast Wars, which aired Mondays and Tuesdays. By the spring, Beast Wars was airing three to five times a week and the other shows simply vanished. I believe that Vor-tech had 26 episodes, so it definitely had a second season, like GI Joe Extreme. They only aired 13 of the 26 ABC episodes of Reboot on Power Block.
wow, i remember watching that block on my local FOX channel at 2pm. And I remember clearly seeing Beast Wars, GI Joe Extreme and Reboot. But, not Vor-Tech. must have been a regional thing.
Yeah, I remember seeing Vor-Tech on the intro of the Power Block and wanting to watch it, but it was never on. I guess local affiliates got to choose which shows they wanted to air in syndication and nobody wanted Vor-Tech.
I remember vor tech, it was the Wednesday show i think. Reboot was Friday and gi joe extreme was Thursday. Think it ended where 1 pilot had used his helmet too long and was being taken over by the virus.
@@gigadrill0000 I am here to further confirm the existence of Vor-Tech on this Power Block, as well as the general show schedule which you laid out. Vor-Tech was indeed real!
I will now set off on a mission to discover episodes of Vortech in the course of my hobby: digitising VHS tapes of television recordings. While I typically hunt for commercials, I will make an exception for Vortech.
Good to see I'm not the only one who remembers Vor-Tech. I had at least three of the toys and I think I still have a few of the parts somewhere in my collection.
When you described the vehicles as basically just turning into a flying version with guns of the original it sparked something, I had the Sonic Stinger (Red sports car) w/o figure. Every so often I'd try to figure out what line it was from, years ago MASK was a promising source but no, I checked it all and it wasn't there.
OMG. When looking back on my childhood I always THOUGHT i had MASK toys but now that i saw this video I realized they were Vor-Tech toys. The jet that turns into a tank and the atv that turns into a hover.........atv, I had those and thought they were MASK toys.
the Jim Carrey MASK movie forced Kenner to change the name to something else, hence Vortech. i work on this toyline a little but have very few leads for you
I've been watching your channel for nostalgia kicks, but this one totally surprised me. Excellent research, how has this curio from the 1990s stayed so lost in this day and age???
I oddly enough am aware of that other MASK style show ATOM. It aired briefly at Disney Channel where I live, although it didn’t really last long. I noticed the ads for it more than the episodes for some reason. Although I never found the toy line for it (or even knew there was) for some reason too. Nice informative video still. Lost media really fascinates me.
IIRC, the Vor-Tech show was in a syndicated block of cartoons based on Hasbro/Kenner properties in 1996 which also had GI Joe Extreme & Beast Wars as part of it. I had a relative who had the red convertible car toy.
OMG, I loved Vor-Tech! Don’t forget, if they wore the helmets too long they got “assimilated but we don’t call it assimilated because the Star Trek people will sue us”.
Oh. My. God. VORTECH. I was born in 92 so when these showed up at K.B. Toys i was all over them. I vividly remember checking out the sports car you see in this vid every time I dragged my parents there. And finally we bought it and it is to this day one of my favorite toys. I had a few others but they were pretty bad by any standard -.- Ironicly, I never learned the name "Vortech" and had no intrest until 2 years ago. Then I found only one site with plenty of information about it and it was through THAT that I learned what M.A.S.K. was (even though I had one of those from a garage sale somewhere around 95). Ah good times...such good times
I had the Vor-tech car! And I vaguely remember the commercial for the toys. Every now and then I remember it and try to find evidence of what it was. Now I know why I can never find anything.
I remember seeing Vor-Tech in stores and immediately said to myself that it was a poor rip off of M.A.S.K. I couldn’t believe that Kenner was doing it.
I had quite a few of MASK's first series vehicle toys and a few series two when I was little. The only one I wanted the most, but never got, was Mayhem's main vehicle Switchblade (jet/helicopter).
I remember the Vor-Tech show. The vehicles were sentient (like KITT in 'Knight Rider'), and I remember it being not awful for the time (this was, after all, in the age of the Street Sharks and Double Dragon cartoons). I realized that it was an extension of the MASK property the moment I saw the dune buggy that transformed into a powered glider, as that was one of the vehicles I owned in the MASK line.
I remember Vortech but you are forgetting a few things...Mr Roger's once sang a slightly different version of his opening song, Sinbad starred in a genie movie called Shazam, and Nelson Mandella died in prison in the 80s. Vortech was lost as a result of the cosmic event CERN caused, which resulted in land mass shifts, multiple Pacific region earthquakes, and a equatorial shift due to earth's axis itself being affected.
I remember when these came out and immediately thought they were exactly like MASK, which was great for me since I missed out on most of the original toyline from MASK. Pretty sure I have all but the large pick up truck from Vor-Tech. I remember the cartoon, It was on the power block along with beast wars and gi joe extreme
I remember Vortech. It aired in the Charlotte Metro area on the long lost UPN network as part of a rotating morning cartoon block alongside Beast Wars and Battle Planets.
I did not remember that I apparently owned all of these until I watched this, but I still don't remember a cartoon at all. Maybe it was one of those syndicated-most-places-but-not-everywhere deals like Arthur and the Knights of Justice or Double Dragon.
I never saw the cartoon, and I only recall seeing the commercial for the Vortec toys once. Since MASK was one of my favorite toy lines growing up, it got my attention. I found these in the bargain bin of KB Toys in 97/98 and bought them all (I might still have them somewhere). The toys were alright but far from being as iconic as their predecessor. Being a Kenner product of the mid-90s, the figures got the POTF2 treatment of being sculpted into action poses with big muscles. The biggest disappointment about this line was that the helmets were just one color with no painting for the designs.
I'm 90% sure I had one of these, and saw like three episodes of the show. I don't actually remember the proper name of the brand, but the timeframe fits. It was a blue and green dunebuggy/ultralight aircraft with tires acting as propellers attached to wings under the body. The only armament was a reversible nose cone with a laser that pointed between the pilot's legs in car mode. I remember the name Gearhead for the pilot. It was pretty sturdy; I had it for years and nothing ever broke until it got sold.
I actually remember this cartoon vaguely. two episodes stand out in my mind: one where during a fight the female biomech was exposed to radiation which damaged her cybernetic components and she started to partially revert back human and her backstory was revealed that she willingly sought to become a biomech to escape the depression she felt after her father died. The other episode I can remember with any detail was probably the series finale where in lord mech captured a member of the Vortech team and converted them to a more advanced and powerful Biomech but they were able to resist his control in part and caused the destruction of the Biomech's stronghold ending the series on something of cliffhanger because the fate of lord Matrix and the converted member of the Vortech team was left unclear. If I recall correctly the storytelling in Vortech was actually a cut above MASK but I think the shows and the toylines underwhelming and indistinct design atheistic coupled with the fact it cameout in the middle of the 90's cartoon golden age doomed it to obscurity. Also i think it was a syndicated cartoon so it aired kind of randomly in a time when cartoons were dominated by rival network blocks.
To be honest I just think I remember plot lines and plot details well in general especially if they go beyond the good simplistic guys fight bad guys. BTW have you done or plan to do a show spotlighting Exo Squad" because I think both the show and its toyline are forgotten gems. Pretty sure that "kids show" wracked more implied and explicit onscreen deaths than any other American made TV cartoon show ever made. If remember correctly there were at least 2 instances where an airlock got blown out and you saw multiple people get sucked into the void of space without a helmet.
I remember seeing toys in store, I passed thinking to my self MASK is better, didn't realize the connection 😮... I love this type of "mysteries" and I'm gonna be all over this. Great video guys! 👍🏼✌🏼
Speaking of toy vehicles changing to other vehicles, I’m trynna remember one toy I had mid 2000s that changed from a futuresque semi to a hovercraft where you could store a car in by togglin a switch behind it. Maybe it was Alpha Teens ?
I actually have the complete Vor-Tech toy line, a holdover from my love of MASK. I remember first seeing them in KB Toys back when that store was also the best source for diecasts and whatever new thing McFarlane was trying
Hi again Dan. Please do not pay attention to any of the comments saying that your inventing toy lines from the 80s. Whether it's or not I don't care. Your charming voice and easy way of saying things, adding your cool sweater makes up for any wrong doing. Thanks.
I actually watched Vor-Tek when it was on in '96. And at the time until I watched this video I never knew that is was a resurrection of M.A.S.K. And I never knew they had a toy line. And watching the few quick snippets of an old commercials the purple jeep is the exact same toy that was in the M.A.S.K line. the hero name was Dusty and he drove a normal jeep. However press the button and the jeep would open up and spring out a boat. Holy crap this was a great vid. I subscribed to check out more.
Thanks. If you check out the site linked in the description you'll see they not only have photos of the line but they also list the MASK vehicle each one was based on.
Love these oddities as well. In the UK we would occasionally see ONE or TWO figures from a toy line that we've never heard of. Turns out they were from some big thing in America (I remember seeing figures for Battle Tech and being the only person who knew what the hell they were because I played the board game)
Granted my viewing habits had changed... a little... from the mid 80's to the mid 90's, but I nothing on this one. And the more I think about it, I'm not even sure if I remember the logo or I'm mixing it up with VR Troopers.
I never heard of this until... just now... but three of the Vor-Tech vehicles are literally exactly the same as MASK vehicles, just with a new coat of paint. (Blazin' Fury is Wildcat, Rattler is Gator, and Desert Striker is Firefly)
I remember the Vortech cartoon being boring, enough to make one change the channel. It was the Wednesday show on the "Power Block" of cartoons that aired weekdays. Beast Wars was the Monday and Tuesday show, the highlight of the week. Friday was GIJoe Extreme. Thursday might have been...Reboot? Ironically I did not want toys for any of these, at least not until decades later thanks to nostalgia for Beast Wars.
I did watch MASK every so often, but I just liked the idea of the cars transforming into weapon systems and I always wanted to collect some of the vehicles but I never did. Didn't get any as presents as a kid. lol I think it was Rhino, the semi tractor truck? that I liked the best.
I remember that show. Final episode was sad because one of the team members who had been infected with the virus decides to sacrifice himself and dies.
Kamenriderneo think he became infected by the virus cause he spent too much time in his helmet. And i think he switched sides in the end because of using his helmet and vehicle 1 last time. Motorcycle driver i think.
This cartoon is something I grew up with too. I remember the car was able to talk and had some cyberpunk type villains. I never saw MASK as a kid, I don't get to worked up cause I know this series is no where near as good as I remember it.
God I'm still trying to remember the name of the line of toys where the vehicles opened up at the push of a button and the figures had magnets on their feet to simulate magnetized boots on their space suits. I used to watch the cartoon this toyline came from as a kid.
I watched Vor-Tech on the Power Blow (Pow Er In Up Da Po w Er Block!) with Beast Wars, Reboot and G I Joe Extreme in 199X on weekday AMs, I recall little but 1 ep this guy was devolving into a thing with the tech virus or w/e and went off to off screen die as some base crumbled when someone tried to get him to be saved. Took me a while to even recall its name until I found a wikipedea page of it. I think it ending open ended where it could come back after maybe beating the bad guy. I also recall the name Matrix as it was also used in Reboot and Beast Wars (This was before the Keanu movie). I remember a lot of light colors like silver and yellow and bright green. I was never big on it and recall little of it, but its existence sticks with me like that kid remembering Mel Gibson in Mad Max 2
Did Skysurfer Strike Force ever have a toy line? I swear I remember seeing a toy from that show in an outlet mall in the late 90's. I remember Ultra Force, Wild CATs, and WMAC Masters all having toys; but I'm really not sure about Skysurfer Strike force.
Funny the show was made by what was left of Exosquad. after Exosquad creator Jeff Segal was fired, I guess the animators tried one more time with Vor-Tech. Oddly like Exosquad, this show had no coproducer helping them. We all know Universal Animated Studios created Exosquad, but years later they did Vor-Tech the same way Exosquad without Jeff Segal, as well as Wing Commander Academy and a short-lived Woody Woodpecker show "The New Woody Woodpecker Show." Every other show Universal Animated Studios was co-produced with another production company. It literally makes no sense. Jeff Segal was the head of Universal Animated Studios when he created Exosquad. But after his firing several months before canceling Exosquad. Universal got weird with their shows. Like Vor-Tech.
I remember Vor-Tech as part of a programming block that included Beast Wars. (Spoiler: It wasn't very good. They should have just stuck with Beast Wars.)
I'm kind of surprised the animated series hasn't been covered by any lost media fanatics, might be because of how little information there is about it, though.
the show was on Fox in the mornings back in the 90s as for as I know some of the episodes were released on VHS I am pretty sure the pilot as an example was launched as a movie title which you could rent at Places like Blockbuster. I don't know if anybody actually has a copy of the series I think it was something between 22 and 36 episodes they never actually completed the storyline unfortunately the Toy sales did horribly which pretty much killed the series. Ironically here in Canada the toys were pretty uncommon a few of them briefly turned up at places like the bay but most more common toy of let's never carried them. The boys I'm sure are pretty rare to find these days.
Sweet baby Hera. I remember this show, not so much the toys. I’m chalking that up to being in high school by that time (other than, er, all the other toy lines I was still into). Hot damn, is there ANY ‘obscure’ show we didn’t know about in our house...? Apparently we were super lame.🤓
Shazam seems to think it's Animal (Original Mix) by Pryda, but if so, I can't pick out where in the song it was from. I second the call for IDing the song, even 3 years late. RUclips makes everything contemporaneous.
Ahhh, VOR-TECH! While I've never owned any of the vehicles from this line (huge M.A.S.K. fan right here, currently (re)establishing his collection of vehicles as we speak), I've gotta say a couple of the VOR-TECH vehicles were pretty stellar, mainly the Sonic Stinger and Desert Striker -- the latter one of my favs 'cause it's basically Firefly from M.A.S.K. with a different paint job.
I definitely owned a few back in the day because I, like you, was a big MASK fan. Unfortunately my excitement for "new" MASK stuff was immediately diminished by the quality of the actual pieces.
Since I've gotten back into M.A.S.K. and started re-collecting some of them, I've also been looking around for some VOR-TECH stuff, but it's hard to find 'em with the masks. I would've loved to collect these back in the day. (A.T.O.M., not so much.)
I have looked off and on for a long time to find anything out about vor-tech. I thought like mask although not as good the toys were pretty cool. I would love to see the cartoon , I don't really remember seeing much other than bots and pieces of it.
ATOM fans, you there? Its my favorite series for sure, i like it so much i bought all 4 main action figures new sealed this year. Had to order them all the way from the UK and Poland.
it was popular in Europe, not so much in the US. I found this russian website that has lots of pictures vk.com/atomworld A couple years ago i stated working on a Lego version of Action Man ATOM and i was surprised by how little information and pictures there are. You really have to know what you are looking for if you want to find good pictures. Also great job as usual with the video, ATOM shout out was a pleasant surprise :)
My uncle had got a M.A.S.K. car for Christmas back in the 80s, and broke it hours after receiving it. He then wrote a letter to Kenner saying he was disappointed that it broke. He then received a package in the mail soon after with a new toy vehicle sent to him from Kenner themselves. Great video guys, love the new series.
So he got to play for another few hours, sweet. :P
That's pretty awesome.
Kenner before turning into Hasbro was a great company for Customer satisfaction and would gladly replace almost anything free of charge (and also sell you additional accessories for your Star Wars toys).
@@spencerwelchii573 If they still made it. I got a Jabba the Hutt on clearance that was missing the air intake stem for the hookah and the slave harness. I couldn't get the parts even though the instruction sheet said "We really do care!" and had instructions on writing to the company in such an instance. In my case, it was too late.
My support experience was more limited but also pretty good. One of the mask toys (the billboard) was missing the stickers. I sent them a postcard and got replacement stickers soon after.
M.A.S.K. is the most underrated toy line of all time IMHO. I love these videos!!!
SwankeyMonkey I got the show for Christmas last year. I use to have a ship when I was a kid
Both m.a.s.k and Robotics could hold that title
i want to see a live action mask series
robotics?
I'm a huge MASK fan, but it's a strange situation where the brand's presence toes the line between "company actually investing in the world and characters" and "quick gimmick cash grab"; the characters in MASK are really fun, but at the same time they are very stereotypical characteristically. The whole concept of MASK is a fun, very cool...but very confusing one, when you think about it: Ok, so Matt Trakker is dumb enough to believe Mayhem was genuinely once a good guy, despite stealing half the plans. Why did he only steal *half* the plans? If you're gonna attack each other, why are you doing it with helmets, rather than weaponry? Like I said....a lot of potential, but they only met the necessity halfway, and that is why I think MASK endured with collectors, but didn't last as long as it might have been able to, back in the day.
Since this aired, someone on RUclips was kind enough to upload an entire episode (The Hunger). Watching it again after all these years reveals the reality that while the toy lines were remarkably similar, the shows themselves had very little in common. M.A.S.K. was pure 80s in look and feel - it fit beautifully between GI Joe and Transformers while Vor-Tech is absolute "extreme era" 90s animation: overly muscular character models, villains with a mutant slant who all acted a bit like Pauly Shore on crack, the vehicles were sentient (and talked), the masks were a non-entity. Really, there were almost no similarities in action.
It's nice that Vor-Tech and A.T.O.M. kept the transforming vehicle and helmet wearing character idea alive, but the differences between the shows far outweigh the similarities in retrospect.
If a regular person had a time machine they'd probably change something in history for the betterment of mankind or their own personal profit... Dan would go back to record old cartoon shows & spend money on things that became hard to find in the future... the paradox is they're only hard to find because future Dan made a time machine.
I remembering seeing an episode during my local network channel back in day. Our channel 20 here in Maryland had reruns of everything from Ronin Warriors, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice, and EXO Squad.
But if future Dan had already created a time machine and had his full collection, then his past self would never need to build a time machine to go back in time in the first place, which means he wouldn't have his collection, leading him to want to build a time machine to go back in time and complete his collection....
Me too
I love "Oddities" so much. Also I kind of like the whole techno organic virus aspect of the vortek idea.
I remember Vor-Tech! They aired this show along side of Beast Wars and G.I. Joe Extreme! It's too bad the show ended so abruptly! It could have started a reboot of MASK!!!
Hot damn! I worked at KB Toys when these came out, they actually sold pretty well. I wasn't interested in them until I discovered Ebay and found vintage MASK items for cheap, ( at the time), that I noticed how similar they were. By that time they were on clearance and all we had left were a green pick-up truck and an ATV. I've been kicking myself ever since for not getting the rest when they were still available.
I have the Sonic stinger sports car with figure. Would be willing to part with it for a decent price.
I remember watching the whole Vortech series. It incorporate a tech corruption element like Spiral Zone. Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger as one of the heroes turned into a borg by over using his helmet.
No, wasn't he infected by the virus?
Wanna know whats more obscure than Vor-Tech ? Shadow Strikers also produced by Kenner. Been waiting awhile for you do to a video on them, I still own the VHS from when I was a kid
Forgot all about these! Though strangely far more information exists on the net about them than Vor-Tech. The thing about Vor, as Dan was jokingly insinuated, is it's almost unnatural how all record of it seems to have vanished from existence. Maybe Matt Tracker is involved.
Never heard of this line. But I love the oddities segments. Great job Dan another informative video
I'm glad you published this!!!! I've tried looking for the toys over the last 10ish years or so but they're so hard to find and when something does pop up, they're astronomically priced!
I worked at KB Toys (1998-99) and bought a few of the vehicles for a few bucks since they were clearance of a clearance. The red car (shown in the commercial) and the green 4X4 truck reminded me of my M.A.S.K. days from the 80's! Sadly I don't know what happened to them....
Another hard to find toy line from the late 90's was Fistful of Aliens. I bought everything that came into that store (with my KB employee discount) and mailed in the proof of purchase barcodes to get the huge metal monster guy that wins every round. Again, sadly I don't know what happened to that collection. It's like a box of my 90's toys disappeared ages ago. Y2K perhaps?
I love reading about past and forgotten toylines, especially from the 80s and 90s and I just found a new favorite channel!
Excellent! Thanks for watching!
I love these oddities! One of your best segments
It aired on a weekday block called "The Power Block" that included the first season of Beast Wars, GI Joe Extreme and edited versions of Reboot. The block aired 30 minutes a weekday, with every show airing once a week, except for Beast Wars, which aired Mondays and Tuesdays. By the spring, Beast Wars was airing three to five times a week and the other shows simply vanished.
I believe that Vor-tech had 26 episodes, so it definitely had a second season, like GI Joe Extreme. They only aired 13 of the 26 ABC episodes of Reboot on Power Block.
Power Block intro: ruclips.net/video/EzjPQgfZROY/видео.html
wow, i remember watching that block on my local FOX channel at 2pm. And I remember clearly seeing Beast Wars, GI Joe Extreme and Reboot. But, not Vor-Tech. must have been a regional thing.
Yeah, I remember seeing Vor-Tech on the intro of the Power Block and wanting to watch it, but it was never on. I guess local affiliates got to choose which shows they wanted to air in syndication and nobody wanted Vor-Tech.
I remember vor tech, it was the Wednesday show i think. Reboot was Friday and gi joe extreme was Thursday. Think it ended where 1 pilot had used his helmet too long and was being taken over by the virus.
@@gigadrill0000 I am here to further confirm the existence of Vor-Tech on this Power Block, as well as the general show schedule which you laid out. Vor-Tech was indeed real!
I will now set off on a mission to discover episodes of Vortech in the course of my hobby: digitising VHS tapes of television recordings.
While I typically hunt for commercials, I will make an exception for Vortech.
So how's the search going?
@@92Raider-art nothing yet
@@LorchVHS Alright. Keep up the good work. There's gotta be more Vor-tech episodes out there 😎👍
Good to see I'm not the only one who remembers Vor-Tech. I had at least three of the toys and I think I still have a few of the parts somewhere in my collection.
When you described the vehicles as basically just turning into a flying version with guns of the original it sparked something, I had the Sonic Stinger (Red sports car) w/o figure. Every so often I'd try to figure out what line it was from, years ago MASK was a promising source but no, I checked it all and it wasn't there.
OMG. When looking back on my childhood I always THOUGHT i had MASK toys but now that i saw this video I realized they were Vor-Tech toys. The jet that turns into a tank and the atv that turns into a hover.........atv, I had those and thought they were MASK toys.
Wow never heard of this line! Great job Dan another interesting video! I hope some footage surfaces so we could see more of what might have been!
Omg thank you for this, I watched this as a kid been trying years to find the name!
You're welcome!
I'm old enough to remember watching M.A.S.K, Vortech, and A.T.O.M.. A.T.O.M. is on Amazon Prime. It actually carries the Action Man moniker.
the Jim Carrey MASK movie forced Kenner to change the name to something else, hence Vortech. i work on this toyline a little but have very few leads for you
I've been watching your channel for nostalgia kicks, but this one totally surprised me. Excellent research, how has this curio from the 1990s stayed so lost in this day and age???
It did NOT perform well when it was released.
True :-D However that hasn't stopped lots of other obscure properties having a fan page or two on the internet. Poor Vor-Tech! ;-)
I oddly enough am aware of that other MASK style show ATOM. It aired briefly at Disney Channel where I live, although it didn’t really last long. I noticed the ads for it more than the episodes for some reason. Although I never found the toy line for it (or even knew there was) for some reason too.
Nice informative video still. Lost media really fascinates me.
Oh man, I like those oddities video so much!
IIRC, the Vor-Tech show was in a syndicated block of cartoons based on Hasbro/Kenner properties in 1996 which also had GI Joe Extreme & Beast Wars as part of it. I had a relative who had the red convertible car toy.
OMG, I loved Vor-Tech! Don’t forget, if they wore the helmets too long they got “assimilated but we don’t call it assimilated because the Star Trek people will sue us”.
Never heard of Vor-Tech before, but then again, I was in college by that point, and long before I started collecting vintage toys again.
Oh. My. God. VORTECH. I was born in 92 so when these showed up at K.B. Toys i was all over them. I vividly remember checking out the sports car you see in this vid every time I dragged my parents there. And finally we bought it and it is to this day one of my favorite toys. I had a few others but they were pretty bad by any standard -.- Ironicly, I never learned the name "Vortech" and had no intrest until 2 years ago. Then I found only one site with plenty of information about it and it was through THAT that I learned what M.A.S.K. was (even though I had one of those from a garage sale somewhere around 95). Ah good times...such good times
Dan..... been loving the ODDITIES videos.
I had the Vor-tech car! And I vaguely remember the commercial for the toys. Every now and then I remember it and try to find evidence of what it was. Now I know why I can never find anything.
Man, I loved that show. Wish I could find any trace of its existence.
Epic and awesome! Great video Dan!
I remember seeing Vor-Tech in stores and immediately said to myself that it was a poor rip off of M.A.S.K. I couldn’t believe that Kenner was doing it.
I BEEN TRYING TO REMEMBER THIS FOREVER!!!!
I had quite a few of MASK's first series vehicle toys and a few series two when I was little. The only one I wanted the most, but never got, was Mayhem's main vehicle Switchblade (jet/helicopter).
I remember the Vor-Tech show. The vehicles were sentient (like KITT in 'Knight Rider'), and I remember it being not awful for the time (this was, after all, in the age of the Street Sharks and Double Dragon cartoons).
I realized that it was an extension of the MASK property the moment I saw the dune buggy that transformed into a powered glider, as that was one of the vehicles I owned in the MASK line.
M.A.S.K is forever legend
As a child I loved Vor-Tech. I had those 3 toys. I remember the cartoon came on early in the morning either before or after Beast Wars.
I remember Vortech but you are forgetting a few things...Mr Roger's once sang a slightly different version of his opening song, Sinbad starred in a genie movie called Shazam, and Nelson Mandella died in prison in the 80s. Vortech was lost as a result of the cosmic event CERN caused, which resulted in land mass shifts, multiple Pacific region earthquakes, and a equatorial shift due to earth's axis itself being affected.
I have literally never heard of Vor-Tech. Ever.
Until now.
Sounds like Vor-Tech hangs out with Gobots.
somarriba333 Damn, that was cold!
I actually like Gobots but never heard of this line at all.
the gobots comic was all kinds of fuck up
J Smith In what way?
That's a low blow...
I remember when these came out and immediately thought they were exactly like MASK, which was great for me since I missed out on most of the original toyline from MASK. Pretty sure I have all but the large pick up truck from Vor-Tech. I remember the cartoon, It was on the power block along with beast wars and gi joe extreme
There’s THREE of you filming?!?! That’s more shocking than Vortec!
I remember Vortech. It aired in the Charlotte Metro area on the long lost UPN network as part of a rotating morning cartoon block alongside Beast Wars and Battle Planets.
I did not remember that I apparently owned all of these until I watched this, but I still don't remember a cartoon at all. Maybe it was one of those syndicated-most-places-but-not-everywhere deals like Arthur and the Knights of Justice or Double Dragon.
I never saw the cartoon, and I only recall seeing the commercial for the Vortec toys once. Since MASK was one of my favorite toy lines growing up, it got my attention. I found these in the bargain bin of KB Toys in 97/98 and bought them all (I might still have them somewhere). The toys were alright but far from being as iconic as their predecessor.
Being a Kenner product of the mid-90s, the figures got the POTF2 treatment of being sculpted into action poses with big muscles. The biggest disappointment about this line was that the helmets were just one color with no painting for the designs.
I'm 90% sure I had one of these, and saw like three episodes of the show. I don't actually remember the proper name of the brand, but the timeframe fits. It was a blue and green dunebuggy/ultralight aircraft with tires acting as propellers attached to wings under the body. The only armament was a reversible nose cone with a laser that pointed between the pilot's legs in car mode. I remember the name Gearhead for the pilot. It was pretty sturdy; I had it for years and nothing ever broke until it got sold.
I actually remember this cartoon vaguely. two episodes stand out in my mind: one where during a fight the female biomech was exposed to radiation which damaged her cybernetic components and she started to partially revert back human and her backstory was revealed that she willingly sought to become a biomech to escape the depression she felt after her father died. The other episode I can remember with any detail was probably the series finale where in lord mech captured a member of the Vortech team and converted them to a more advanced and powerful Biomech but they were able to resist his control in part and caused the destruction of the Biomech's stronghold ending the series on something of cliffhanger because the fate of lord Matrix and the converted member of the Vortech team was left unclear.
If I recall correctly the storytelling in Vortech was actually a cut above MASK but I think the shows and the toylines underwhelming and indistinct design atheistic coupled with the fact it cameout in the middle of the 90's cartoon golden age doomed it to obscurity. Also i think it was a syndicated cartoon so it aired kind of randomly in a time when cartoons were dominated by rival network blocks.
Wow, you retained some detail. I don't think I remember anything beyond the opening theme.
To be honest I just think I remember plot lines and plot details well in general especially if they go beyond the good simplistic guys fight bad guys.
BTW have you done or plan to do a show spotlighting Exo Squad" because I think both the show and its toyline are forgotten gems. Pretty sure that "kids show" wracked more implied and explicit onscreen deaths than any other American made TV cartoon show ever made. If remember correctly there were at least 2 instances where an airlock got blown out and you saw multiple people get sucked into the void of space without a helmet.
I remember seeing toys in store, I passed thinking to my self MASK is better, didn't realize the connection 😮...
I love this type of "mysteries" and I'm gonna be all over this.
Great video guys! 👍🏼✌🏼
Thanks.
Speaking of toy vehicles changing to other vehicles, I’m trynna remember one toy I had mid 2000s that changed from a futuresque semi to a hovercraft where you could store a car in by togglin a switch behind it. Maybe it was Alpha Teens ?
I actually have the complete Vor-Tech toy line, a holdover from my love of MASK. I remember first seeing them in KB Toys back when that store was also the best source for diecasts and whatever new thing McFarlane was trying
Oh sweet. You should put some pictures on a website somewhere so people can see them.
the plot is also similar to spiral zone maybe?
I would love to see more of Vortech
I remember this cartoon show and toy line. I still got that red car that can flies.
Hi again Dan. Please do not pay attention to any of the comments saying that your inventing toy lines from the 80s. Whether it's or not I don't care. Your charming voice and easy way of saying things, adding your cool sweater makes up for any wrong doing. Thanks.
I don't think anyone is serious about that. Or at least I didn't take it that way.
I actually watched Vor-Tek when it was on in '96. And at the time until I watched this video I never knew that is was a resurrection of M.A.S.K. And I never knew they had a toy line. And watching the few quick snippets of an old commercials the purple jeep is the exact same toy that was in the M.A.S.K line. the hero name was Dusty and he drove a normal jeep. However press the button and the jeep would open up and spring out a boat. Holy crap this was a great vid. I subscribed to check out more.
Thanks. If you check out the site linked in the description you'll see they not only have photos of the line but they also list the MASK vehicle each one was based on.
Totally had that red car toy!! I couldn’t remember the name though. Thanks!!
Love these oddities as well. In the UK we would occasionally see ONE or TWO figures from a toy line that we've never heard of. Turns out they were from some big thing in America (I remember seeing figures for Battle Tech and being the only person who knew what the hell they were because I played the board game)
Granted my viewing habits had changed... a little... from the mid 80's to the mid 90's, but I nothing on this one. And the more I think about it, I'm not even sure if I remember the logo or I'm mixing it up with VR Troopers.
I really love this channel. That show sounds familiar though.
I never heard of this until... just now... but three of the Vor-Tech vehicles are literally exactly the same as MASK vehicles, just with a new coat of paint. (Blazin' Fury is Wildcat, Rattler is Gator, and Desert Striker is Firefly)
Some of the mechanical stuff is simplified as well. They aren't nearly as well made.
Woooowwwwww I has totally forgotten about this.
I wish I still had my VHS copies. That was one of the shows I recorded. It was because of its similarities to M.A.S.K. that I watched it.
I remember the Vortech cartoon being boring, enough to make one change the channel. It was the Wednesday show on the "Power Block" of cartoons that aired weekdays. Beast Wars was the Monday and Tuesday show, the highlight of the week. Friday was GIJoe Extreme. Thursday might have been...Reboot? Ironically I did not want toys for any of these, at least not until decades later thanks to nostalgia for Beast Wars.
I had a bunch of these and completely forgot about until now lol
You guys are awesome!!! I love this series.
I did watch MASK every so often, but I just liked the idea of the cars transforming into weapon systems and I always wanted to collect some of the vehicles but I never did. Didn't get any as presents as a kid. lol I think it was Rhino, the semi tractor truck? that I liked the best.
I remember that show.
Final episode was sad because one of the team members who had been infected with the virus decides to sacrifice himself and dies.
Kamenriderneo think he became infected by the virus cause he spent too much time in his helmet. And i think he switched sides in the end because of using his helmet and vehicle 1 last time. Motorcycle driver i think.
Cool. I never knew that. And now I know, and knowing is half the battle.
Please make a video about JASON OF THE STAR COMMAND
This cartoon is something I grew up with too. I remember the car was able to talk and had some cyberpunk type villains. I never saw MASK as a kid, I don't get to worked up cause I know this series is no where near as good as I remember it.
I loved MASK, I had no idea there was a sequel/reboot/rip-off
God I'm still trying to remember the name of the line of toys where the vehicles opened up at the push of a button and the figures had magnets on their feet to simulate magnetized boots on their space suits. I used to watch the cartoon this toyline came from as a kid.
Ask and ye shall receive: ruclips.net/video/KILO_ldquzI/видео.html
you're talking about one of the series from 1988 or 87, I sold a bunch of those on eBay a few years ago the boys are pretty rare. COLECO STARCOM
I had the rattler, loved the boat shooting out of the jeep gimmick
I watched Vor-Tech on the Power Blow (Pow Er In Up Da Po w Er Block!) with Beast Wars, Reboot and G I Joe Extreme in 199X on weekday AMs, I recall little but 1 ep this guy was devolving into a thing with the tech virus or w/e and went off to off screen die as some base crumbled when someone tried to get him to be saved. Took me a while to even recall its name until I found a wikipedea page of it. I think it ending open ended where it could come back after maybe beating the bad guy. I also recall the name Matrix as it was also used in Reboot and Beast Wars (This was before the Keanu movie). I remember a lot of light colors like silver and yellow and bright green. I was never big on it and recall little of it, but its existence sticks with me like that kid remembering Mel Gibson in Mad Max 2
Yeah, You can make that for interested parties. My curiosity is picked. Great vid!
When i was a kid and asked for "Vor"-Tech, i was sent to the Redlight district.
Instructions unclear.
Did Skysurfer Strike Force ever have a toy line? I swear I remember seeing a toy from that show in an outlet mall in the late 90's. I remember Ultra Force, Wild CATs, and WMAC Masters all having toys; but I'm really not sure about Skysurfer Strike force.
MASK was awesome! Me and my brother had the whole toy line. Remember the sick semi that turned into a mini base?
Rhino. The first vehicle that came with *2* figures.
I was trying to recall the name of this series and I googled "Vore-tech"... guys... I wish I had found this video sooner.
Great video. Definitely subscribed.
Funny the show was made by what was left of Exosquad. after Exosquad creator Jeff Segal was fired, I guess the animators tried one more time with Vor-Tech. Oddly like Exosquad, this show had no coproducer helping them. We all know Universal Animated Studios created Exosquad, but years later they did Vor-Tech the same way Exosquad without Jeff Segal, as well as Wing Commander Academy and a short-lived Woody Woodpecker show "The New Woody Woodpecker Show." Every other show Universal Animated Studios was co-produced with another production company. It literally makes no sense. Jeff Segal was the head of Universal Animated Studios when he created Exosquad. But after his firing several months before canceling Exosquad. Universal got weird with their shows. Like Vor-Tech.
Had the corvette Sonic Stinger. Loved that thing.
I remember Vor-Tech as part of a programming block that included Beast Wars. (Spoiler: It wasn't very good. They should have just stuck with Beast Wars.)
I'm kind of surprised the animated series hasn't been covered by any lost media fanatics, might be because of how little information there is about it, though.
the show was on Fox in the mornings back in the 90s as for as I know some of the episodes were released on VHS I am pretty sure the pilot as an example was launched as a movie title which you could rent at Places like Blockbuster. I don't know if anybody actually has a copy of the series I think it was something between 22 and 36 episodes they never actually completed the storyline unfortunately the Toy sales did horribly which pretty much killed the series. Ironically here in Canada the toys were pretty uncommon a few of them briefly turned up at places like the bay but most more common toy of let's never carried them. The boys I'm sure are pretty rare to find these days.
I had two of these! The red flying car and green truck.
I had the red car and the bike toys. Memories.
Sweet baby Hera. I remember this show, not so much the toys. I’m chalking that up to being in high school by that time (other than, er, all the other toy lines I was still into). Hot damn, is there ANY ‘obscure’ show we didn’t know about in our house...? Apparently we were super lame.🤓
What music are you using for your title card? Sounds very retro and cool.
Should be noted in the video description.
Doesn't seem to be there for the Oddities videos. I'd appreciate if you had the name or anything.
Shazam seems to think it's Animal (Original Mix) by Pryda, but if so, I can't pick out where in the song it was from. I second the call for IDing the song, even 3 years late. RUclips makes everything contemporaneous.
My God, Thank you! I've been trying to figure out the name of these toys, but couldn't find anything. I had the car, the jet, and the monster truck.
Isn’t Vor Tech exhaust related parts for vehicles?
Ahhh, VOR-TECH! While I've never owned any of the vehicles from this line (huge M.A.S.K. fan right here, currently (re)establishing his collection of vehicles as we speak), I've gotta say a couple of the VOR-TECH vehicles were pretty stellar, mainly the Sonic Stinger and Desert Striker -- the latter one of my favs 'cause it's basically Firefly from M.A.S.K. with a different paint job.
I definitely owned a few back in the day because I, like you, was a big MASK fan. Unfortunately my excitement for "new" MASK stuff was immediately diminished by the quality of the actual pieces.
Since I've gotten back into M.A.S.K. and started re-collecting some of them, I've also been looking around for some VOR-TECH stuff, but it's hard to find 'em with the masks. I would've loved to collect these back in the day. (A.T.O.M., not so much.)
found an episode online that dealt with a nuclear reactor issue. In 1996 there were two incidents in america....is that related to it's demise?
I love dancing to Technovirus
Can you do an episode on battle tech
the one interesting thing about ATOM was the mid series twist that the teams bennifactor turned out to be the villian
I have looked off and on for a long time to find anything out about vor-tech. I thought like mask although not as good the toys were pretty cool. I would love to see the cartoon , I don't really remember seeing much other than bots and pieces of it.
ATOM fans, you there?
Its my favorite series for sure, i like it so much i bought all 4 main action figures new sealed this year.
Had to order them all the way from the UK and Poland.
+LVC I had never even heard of ATOM until we wrote this video.
it was popular in Europe, not so much in the US.
I found this russian website that has lots of pictures vk.com/atomworld
A couple years ago i stated working on a Lego version of Action Man ATOM and i was surprised by how little information and pictures there are. You really have to know what you are looking for if you want to find good pictures.
Also great job as usual with the video, ATOM shout out was a pleasant surprise :)