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miscellaneous_sectionOh! Also, I did some basic math as well in the manifesto.
Either way, I hope it will be an enjoyable read!
I know one of my interests is Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, but there's something about M.A.S.K. that intrigues me. The basics are decent but there's not much to talk about because of how average it is. It drives me up the wall because it concentrates on the gadgets more than the characters; and said characters don't have super powers, they're just average people with an unique skill set. I barely remember most of the characters as they are because of it. Well, except for one.
It's Floyd Malloy that I remember the most because he's at least above average when compared to the rest of the cast. He has so many interesting personality traits that I went and wrote a whole character manifesto for the guy. I'm incredibly passionate for this one character in particular.
If you would like to read it, here's the AO3 link. You can also read it down below, too.
Y’know when you have that one character you only watch/read because of them. And if it weren’t for them you would just skip it entirely. For me that’s Floyd Malloy from Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (M.A.S.K.). Yes, that guy from that show/comic where they spell command with a “K”. I haven’t talked to my mutual about him in what feels like several years now. They’re scattered on my Tumblr blog, and it seems that the website keeps deleting my stuff. So, I don’t know what has survived and what hasn’t. Anyway, this is my manifesto about Floyd Malloy and why he’s my favorite out of the entire cast. But in order to talk about Floyd and the issues the characters have, we need to talk about what M.A.S.K. is first.
M.A.S.K. is a show and toyline from 1985 created by DIC and Kenner. It’s about the titular team going on globetrotting adventures fighting a terrorist/mercenary organization, and occasional treasure hunting group named VENOM. Do not look up the full acronym because I can tell you with 100% confidence it is on the nose on how evil they are. It has 75 episodes under it’s belt along with two comic series: DC comics in the US and Fleetway/Eagle in the UK. When you think of this era of US animation on TV, M.A.S.K. is the embodiment of 80’s cartoons. It has not aged well. When your show takes place around the world some of it is okay, a few are ignorant in its depictions, and then there's Sacred Rock. I will not elaborate further.
Now picture this, you’re about 19 and you’re into the IDW Transformers comics. You heard news of a shared universe and there are these properties you’ve never heard before. So, you decided to watch these two shows that peaked your interest (M.A.S.K. and Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light). You decided on M.A.S.K. first because why not. You finished watching the first episode and are left thinking, ‘Um? Well, that happened??’. You also can’t stop thinking about how that one bad guy with the sunglasses sounds like an insomniac. You then went ahead and watched the other 74 episodes, hoping that maybe there’s something good in this bore fest. Bored out of your mind and hating the godforsaken robot and twerp because they needed comic relief, but there in the distance! Oh, finally! It’s a good character on the horizon!
Floyd Malloy was first introduced in episode 45, The Specter of Captain Kidd, where he’s disguised as a security guard firing cannon balls so VENOM can steal the gold hidden in them. I know it’s stupid and convoluted, but let’s skip that. Now Malloy is shown as sneaky, careful and poked at for being paranoid, even though he has legitimate concerns and questions. But later in the same episode, he's also shown to be brash, confrontational and gutsy (especially when you have the most hazardous vehicle in the series). Traits that sound like they would clash but, surprisingly, they’re actually balanced out for the most part. He is expanded upon somewhat in the UK comics, but we’ll talk about that later.
His skill sets are actually shown in the cartoon as well. The main one being that he’s a forgery artist. This talent is demonstrated in episode 52, Royal Cape Caper, where VENOM steals ancient Hawaiian royal garments to sell. The catch, Floyd Malloy is tasked to make a couple of fakes. His talents of forgery are so great that he makes two duplicates that are practically identical to the real thing. He manages to fool M.A.S.K. making them believe they had recovered the stolen attire before further inspection proved otherwise. Another attribute added to him, he has a keen eye for detail when creating fakes but also he’ll be the first to point out when there’s something wrong about their treasure/situation. Case in point, episode 53, Patchwork Puzzle, this was near the end of the episode that I liked the most mainly because the treasure wasn’t what they were expecting. That and Floyd Malloy gets away with cursing, unintentionally, maybe. Don’t believe me? Here’s the clip in question. They steal this quilt and wire frame for a fireplace from a museum where Civil War-era artifacts are being displayed, and this is because the items hold the location of buried treasure in Washington D.C. They decipher it and head out in the cover of night. After their little skirmish with M.A.S.K., Floyd is the first to notice there’s something wrong with the money they found. Miles starts to think they’re counterfeit but Floyd explains to him they’re Confederate, meaning it’s absolutely worthless.
Basically, when compared to the other characters, I can describe his talents and personality just fine. But the others I have difficulty remembering anything about them because they’re too basic. I have nothing else to add about these characters other than creating headcanons for maybe a few of them (mostly the villains). I some times wish he was introduced earlier so he got to shine more, but on the other hand I would hate to see him flanderized after Panda Power. So, it's probably for the best but what I just said is important. The early episodes a few of the main bad guys did sort of show off their skills. They also seemed rather competent, but over time they got dumb down. One example being Cliff Dagger where he seemed pretty stoic and was pretty smart. He knew what he was doing, and was really good with demolition equipment and explosives. Later into the series, after Panda Power,he got dumber and his talents were shown less to the point of nonexistence. And in season two, he was written out of the show entirely.
Now with Floyd, in the same season, he was written to be whiny. I did not enjoy watching my favorite character being dumb down because these guys decided to write Cliff out of the picture. I try to pretend that season two didn’t happen, but I did enjoy that they managed to write the good guys with actual personalities with decent dynamics. Oh! And T-bob and Scott are staying in the PSA zone for good. Thank god! Well, what about the comics? I won’t be talking about the DC comics because he barely makes an appearance and doesn’t do much. Let’s just say that Matt Trakker is pretty much a Gary Stu in those comics. The Fleetway/Eagle comics from the UK on the other hand!
The Fleetway comics had way more issues published than DC, in fact they ran for 80 issues with four holiday specials and one winter special. This also includes them being paired with Eagle for an additional 22 issues. Combine all that and that’s exactly 107 issues published in the late 80’s to the early 90's. They were at first bi-weekly but were switched to weekly releases due to their popularity. The comics had a better sense of continuity, the art is fantastic, the characters were pretty solid, and the stories were okay for the most part. They weren’t afraid to get silly with their tales, but they felt like I was reading comics from between the 40’s and 60’s from both companies. Anyway, Floyd Malloy would make a front cover appearance in issue nine, and he would make his official debut in issue 10 with the added bonus of getting the front and back covers to himself. I only read some of them because of him, and I loved how the artists drew him. Mainly some of them went with a pointed ears look for him. My favorite piece would be from a poster with stickers that the reader would collect to complete. I love the sneer he gives, he has some edges but there’s subtle roundness as well, the coloring and shading are nice, and I’m sucker for pointed ears. Overall, a classic in my books. So, enough about me gushing about the art let’s talk about how Floyd was written and what’s new here.
His character is good and they kept the basics (sneaky, cunning, and dangerous), but he doesn’t have his forgery talents in this continuity. A bummer for me, but he does get something that he has over the other characters (aside from Matt Trakker). Floyd gets an inkling of a backstory. His childhood dream was to join the Air Force but due to being "too short" he was rejected. And so, through some unknown series of events, he joins up with VENOM. So now, he has a motorcycle that turns into a jet with a helmet that’s basically a bb-gun with a scatter range. Now the phrase "too short" is somewhat vague. I was thinking of his height, but from wondermanrulez's fanart of Floyd points out here it could be about his temperament. Either way, I still saw it as him sticking it to the Air Force for rejecting him and now he gets to do what he dreamed of all his life since joining VENOM. But, he fully understood that he would become a fugitive (more-so than he already was).
It sounded like he was either trying to get his life back together but relapsed, or his life was struggle after struggle and this was the final straw for him. He tried to keep it together, but it was too much for him in the end. But you can only learn about this in a character poster and in a fan letters page where the writers are answering as Malloy. It’s not integrated into any of the stories for some reason (even though they have stories that span for multiple parts). Which is odd because they managed to present Trakker’s beginnings as a team leader just fine. I have no idea what the reasoning behind these decisions were, but okay. Any who, I did like that he was introduced early into the comic’s run, and he pretty became part of the main cast from here on out. He did sort of have a story to himself entitled The Forever Factor from issues 37 to 44. The story came in several parts and I couldn’t find them all, so I read as much as I could back in 2017 and now.
<img src='https://miscellaneous-section.dreamwidth.org/file/3035.jpg' alt='' title='Mailman Malloy' />
Fun fact: I have them saved in my external hard drive. So just in case anything happened to the website I found them on, I have them copied there.
Our tale opens to Julio and Floyd in an aerial dogfight somewhere in the continent of South America. VENOM were stealing emeralds from the mines, and Floyd was trying to make a break for it but Julio catches up with him. The two are about to collide where the end results are the emeralds are now lost in the forest, and both Julio’s Firefly and Malloy’s Vampire are severely damaged. Julio ends up crashing into the tree tops and lives, and Floyd has to glide to land himself to safety. He gets ambushed by tribesmen and he starting firing. Then a guy in Spanish armor riding on a horse comes in to stop it, and introduces himself as El Supremo- The One Who Lives For Ever. Yes, that is the guy’s name, El Supremo, and no. I’m not rolling with it! For the purposes of this essay, and making sure the readers don’t cringe so hard in their seats, I’m going to call the Spanish conquistador Diego for now on. So, Malloy is gobbed-smacked that this man is centuries old and learns about a spring that grants eternal life. Floyd develops a new idea. He’ll earn the trust of Diego to lead him to the spring and back stab him after learning where it’s located. He let’s Diego call his slaves to prepare the city and have entertainment ready for their guest, and Malloy tries to radio in Miles to inform him what’s going on. Julio has been observing this and puts a stop to the transmission. But, Miles got a little bit of the message and calls for Dagger to bring him Switchblade so they can find Malloy. Diego is startled by the sounds of fighting but only finds Malloy in the pond(?). Floyd reassures him that it was just a foolish enemy of his, nothing to worry about. So, Floyd and Diego set out for the hidden city that Diego rules over while Julio follows far behind. As I said before, I couldn’t find all the parts so this is what I could surmise from the conclusion. Beware though, the ending is a bit fucked up.
Diego is leading Malloy to where the Spring of Eternal Life is located after Floyd “formed” an alliance with him. They are ambushed by M.A.S.K. and Diego realizes that Malloy was just fooling him the whole time. Floyd is begging and trying to explain to him that’s not the case at all, but his words don’t go through to him. Meanwhile in the sky, Miles and Dagger find Malloy and see that Diego is attacking him. Miles orders Dagger to fire one of the laser cannons and the beam instantly vaporizes Diego where he stands. All that’s left of him and his horse are their steaming bones. Ace manages to ward off Miles and Dagger, and the ground team (Matt, Julio, and Jacques) apprehend Malloy to interrogate. Well, it doesn’t matter to him now because he doesn’t know where the spring is at because Diego was the only one who knew where it was located. Sure, he was looking for it for VENOM, and also for himself, but who cares at this point. Julio doesn’t know if they should look for it or leave it be. Matt just wants everyone to forget that this whole thing ever happened, especially Floyd. So, here’s the fucked up part. As they take Malloy away, Matt decides to use a device created by Alex Sector called the Brainwasher. They’re going to use this untested device to make sure that Floyd won’t remember a damn thing today, and dump him at the nearest hotel. That’s basically what they did. Miles and Dagger finally get a hold of Floyd in which he explains that he’s at a hotel but isn’t sure why. Well! If that’s not messed up. I don’t know what is! I have to stop myself, or else I’m going to go into a long tangent. Okay, so M.A.S.K. finally ended and no one has heard much about it since then. Until, the Internet became a household staple and fans were finding more information on the series, and yet. Why does it still feel hollow?
Finally, I have more tidbits about Malloy. There’s a website called Maskforce which was the series’ working name at the time. They have a load of information for the vehicles and figures, and I was curious about the “biker gang leader” thing. I couldn’t find anything online, not even on the site itself, so I was scrolling until I read this. His occupations are as follows: forgery artist, biker gang leader, and (this one threw me for a loop) previous IRS field auditor. Where are you guys getting this information from? I want to know the story of Floyd Malloy and how he got to this point in his life. How did he go from field auditor to biker gang leader to VENOM agent expert on forgery? And another thing, and when you think about it, Malloy technically went to college for economics and accounting for this position, so there’s that to think about. He’s also Australian and is 31 years old, so not even middle-aged and is the only International VENOM agent on the team for god sake! And what makes it crazier with him is when he would have enlisted to be trained.
I've found a paper discussing the changes in measurements of people in the RAAF (1971 and 2005) here. Mainly, I needed to find an age minimum during the late 20th-century for Floyd and found this. So with some basic math his birth year would be 1954, and in 1971 he would have been 17 years old at the time. In the PDF the data for 1971 for the aircrew was between 17 to 55 years old. That means he would have been a cadet at the time until he was either rejected or kicked out for either his temper, height, or both. An that’s why I love him that much! Floyd is such an absolute mess of a human being. I love it! But sadly, most of this information never made into the show or comics. Just some basic character traits for the majority of the cast, and yet Malloy manages to stand out despite it all. It does get me thinking, though.
If you were working at either DIC, Kenner, DC, or Fleetway/Eagle during M.A.S.K.’s run then you would know more about what makes these characters tic than anybody else, but couldn’t find room to put it in. The cartoon, like most shows during this decade, were episodic and it’s not a bad format to go with by any means. But M.A.S.K. uses the format in it’s barest form. Also keep in mind that season one had five new episodes released within five days, and then a three day pause for the final edits and touch-ups for the other five episodes (here). This also adds in that the first season had 28 writers working on this. 28 writers (here)! That is one too many cooks in the kitchen, but also that means they don’t have to bother with continuity, character focused storylines, or stories that are split into X-number of episodes/parts. The first season alone has 65 episodes and they are all one-and-done. So, you won’t get an episode like Caesar's Sword Parts 1 and 2, or In Dutch that’s maybe split into two or three parts. Not even a call back from a previous episode. None of that. The only episode that I actually enjoyed and worked as a single episode was Assault on Liberty, and that was one of the early episodes in the series. On top of this, there's also this red book that was distributed to manufacturers for quality consistency on licensed products as well (here). Even from that little red book, there's not much going on either. Seriously, it's hard to find internal documents to give better insight on any of these characters. And then there are the comics, oh the comics.
You would think that the writers for the comics would have more wiggle room to expand on concepts and characters, right? Well, sort of. As I explained before in the Fleetway/Eagle comics, they are capable of writing about those elements about the characters as mentioned before with Matt Trakker’s backstory. But for some reason they’re not integrated into a storyline, but instead maybe in a character poster or maybe a fan letters page. But even then that’s a shot in a dark because, again, it’s just basic traits; nothing more. Status quo is king and no one dares mess with it. Malloy dares, though. He is the only one with a snippet of backstory in the UK comics, he has some layers in personality and quirks in season one, and that makes him the most special because of that. There was a weird amount of thought put into him compared to the others, and he’s the reason I even bother to remember this show even exist in the first place. And yet, I wish he wasn’t the only one to be a character. The rest should have had a chance to be more than archetypes. This whole presentation bothers me so much because deep down I do enjoy the idea, but it could’ve been better than this.
So that's why Floyd Malloy is my favorite character. He's like a locked chest with a bunch stickers slapped all over it. You get an idea what's he like, but you want to know the whole story with him but can't. He's full of potential to be more and to shake things up, but he's held back from both the business and writing decisions of the era. I have my fair share of headcanons about Floyd, but they revolve around what the series of events would be like for a full backstory. They're not well thought out at all. Anyway, he's an oddly complicated character that's simple in nature. Floyd Malloy gets a smidge of a bio about himself before being a VENOM agent in the Fleetway comics and gets to shine more in the process. He's gutsy and confrontational, but he's also careful, pessimistic and skeptical. Malloy is a character full of contractions that he boggles some people. So, you get some wild interpretations with him where people pick one or the other. Or they just don't write about him at all.
