Major Matt Mason
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| Toys | |
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| Manufacturer(s) | Mattel |
| Era | 1960s |
| Category | Action Figures |
| Web address | http://www.mattel.com |
Major Matt Mason was an action figure created by Mattel, an astronaut who lived and worked on the moon. When introduced in 1966, the figures were initially based on design information found in 'Life Magazine, Air Force Magazine, Jane's, and other aviation- and space-interest periodicals. Later, fans would attempt to transition into the realm of science fiction.
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[edit] Toyline description
[edit] Mason's crew (The "Men in Space")
The toy system included four astronaut action figures, sharing a common body molded of a rubber-like material over a wire armature, with a separately-attached head and a removable space helmet based on early NASA helmets. Each figure was also painted differently and had a separate head for each character. Mason had a dark brown crew cut and a white suit; Sgt. Storm had blond hair and a red suit; civilian astronaut Doug Davis had a yellow suit and brown hair; Lt. Jeff Long was African-American, with a blue suit (a decade before Guion Bluford became the first American black man to orbit the Earth).
[edit] Aliens
The primary alien of the sci-fi period, Captain Lazer, was a giant who towered over the astronauts. The character was originally depicted as a mysterious and possibly hostile entity, but later appeared to be the astronauts' ally against other, more hostile extraterrestrials. The figure had glowing red eyes, a glowing breastplate, and a permanently attached laser pistol in his hand. Transparent purple plastic attachments came with the figure that could alter the size and appearance of the weapon. The visual design included a Caucasian flesh tones with dark brown hair styled to resemble the Vulcan hairstyles from Star Trek. The figure's "costume" was dark blue metalflake with silver accessories and trim. Although the head, arms and legs could rotate, it was not as poseable as the astronaut figures, and was made out of hard plastic. It has been suggested that the figure was either intended for a different toy series, or may have been purchased from a Japanese toy line. The tooling for the Captain Laser body was later used to make larg-size Battlestar Galactica action figures.
Callisto was a Jovian with a transparent green head, the same size as the astronauts, while Scorpio was a battery powered, purple and pink coloured, insect-like alien with a glowing head. There was also another insect-like alien called Or, who came with an "Orbitor" flying vehicle but did not make it beyond the prototype stage.
[edit] Accessories
Also in the toy-line were a three-story "space station" (actually a moon base), various lunar surface and flying vehicles, mostly battery powered; and various accessories, variously powered by springs, pneumatics, strings, or batteries. What made the early run of the accessories appealing was that the designs were based directly on concepts promoted and demonstrated by NASA and the various contractors involved in America's "Race to the Moon" in the 1960s. The "Moon Suit" and the "Space Station", as well as the "Jet Pack" were actually seen as concept drawings in such magazines as Look and Life. The laser weapons were copied from designs of science fiction shows of the time.
Mattel dropped the line in the early 1970s as interest in the space program declined; however the figure is still fondly remembered, and the collector's market for this line of toys can demand top dollar for figures and accessories in as mint condition as possible. One such mint figure of the Major has reportedly accompanied several US Space Shuttle flights as an "unofficial crewman", and it has been confirmed that the figure did fly on John Glenn's Shuttle flight in 1998.
[edit] The Once & Future Toy
In 1985, Mattel Videogame Designer & Licensing Art Director, Joe Ferreira began an internal campaign to bring the Major back into production. After several years of disinterest from upper management he was allegedly encouraged to strike out on his own to pursue it further. His graphic novel, "MEN FROM EARTH" debuted to world-wide distribution at the 1991 San Diego Comi-Con. The fictional account of the mysterious disappearance of the Major was based on now-declassified black-ops activity by the U.S. Air Force on the dark side of the Moon during the Cuban Missle Crisis. Mr. Ferreira has made a disputed claim that he may have full, written permission of Mattel's legal dept. in return for first right of refusal, and allegedly that Mattel asked Joe to secure a viable entertainment project to insure marketing's support of a rebirth to the toy line. Six years later Ferreira was successful in putting together an 80 million dollar package at Paramount Pictures with production company Adventuress Productions. It only took the money men six months to unravel the deal and send the Major back into deep space limbo.
Production design already completed and many new licensing deals in place, "MEN FROM EARTH" was poised for a first-ever honor when the United Nations Childrens Fund, UNICEF, asked permission to use THE NEW MAJOR and Ferreira's "PROJECT UNGUN" as a cartoon spokesperson in their Children At War program bearing the slogan: "The children of the world are OUR children."
With the project abandoned by its main financiers, Mattel revoked its prior blessing claiming copyright and intellectual property infringement of the toy name only.
Since Mattel still owns the underlying property, there is confusion from some claiming that all new characters, story lines, toy prototypes, packaging designs and logo work remain the property of Joe Ferreira King. This would be akin to saying that someone who wrote Star Wars fan fiction owned it.
[While I am very flattered by the back-handed reference to Star Wars, the repeated use of the word "allegedly" should be the tip-off to readers of this article that Mattel Legal still continues to obfuscate the facts and historical documents of this project. These are the same people that told George Lucas to go away when he brought them his vision first. We all know Kenner had the last laugh.
"Star Wars" as any geek worth his grok knows is a completely realized universe of fiction. The original Mattel Toy line had no story line until I wrote one 25 YEARS LATER. As original packaging copy confesses, the beautiful toys were mere adaptations of NASA hardware. It is the same practical plagerism at work today in the Barbie brand where Paris couture is miniturized in the name of the Pink One.
This would be akin to saying that someone who ripped off Paris fashion "designed" it.
It was my original fiction that brought renewed interest and investors and finally Mattel management to the same table.
It is a sad fact that they did not know what to do once they were there. - Joe Ferreira King]
