Home MMM Astronaut Major MATT MASON

MMM Astronaut Major MATT MASON

Black Strap Major Matt Mason (smaller head)

The Astronaut Major MATT MASON® - Who is he?

The first astronaut of the "Mattel Man in Space" toy line and initially the only figure, Major MATT MASON™ was created to be the "typical" astronaut (based on the Mercury astronauts, a distinctive experimental space suit and contemporary mid-60's theories of space). He's basically the heroic every man, representing the ideal space explorer as is evident in the introduction commercial from 1966:

Note this is the same for all astronauts and included here as a reference:

Mattel's astronaut figures were based on a bendy frame, much like what was previously used for the Gumby figure but with a bit of space age design added - there are hard plastic fins molded onto the wire armature that allow the limbs to keep their relative positions so handheld objects remain upright if needed. Other manufacturing processes used were so unique that patents were awarded:

Mattel Figure Patent:

ADJUSTABLE FIGURE TOY HAVING IMPROVED ARMATURE MEANS (MMM figure)

3,325,939 June 20, 1967 Filed Nov 21, 1966

J. W. Ryan and Ralph Dunn

"A simulated spaceman doll has a soft, pliable body supported by a soft wire armature which is encompassed by rigid stiffeners embedded in the limbs of the doll between its joints and in its body for preventing bending of the limbs and body between the joints. The stiffeners have a non-cylindrical shape and the portions of the wires which are encompassed by the stiffeners are flattened to a non-cylindrical shape for preventing relative rotation between the limbs of the toy and the stiffeners and between the stiffeners and the wires, respectively."

Patent Found by Graeme Walker

John's Notes
It's interesting to note that on the patent document, the figure originally was to have magnets in the boots so the figure could attach to surfaces, like the sled shown (you would pull the sled with a string to have the figure move). Sounds like the beginning of the Space Sled concept to me, and probably predates the Space Station with the boot tabs for holding the figures to the platforms.

Major MATT MASON Prototype:

To date less than 10 prototype figures have surfaced - I'm sure there are others out there. All of these have been test shots (figures molded from whatever materials are at hand, to help identify production problems) and most that I've seen have been molded in gray, light blue or light green. Often there are imperfections in the mold and most of the heads are unpainted and still have flashing (uncut mold creep) from the edges. All that I've seen have the earlier head sculpt and the Patent Pending info on the back scratched into the initial mold (later this is the intaglio raised lettering from the production figures).

Prototype Test Shots Front L-R Painted, Blue and Gray)
Prototype Test Shots Back L-R Painted, Blue and Gray)
Prototype Test Shots Back Patent Detail

Figure Variations:

White Rubber Matt Figure (wrong helmet)
Flight Carded White Rubber Matt Figure (note tissue paper in bellows)

The initial release was molded in white rubber, with silver painted cuffs, blue painted straps, large red dots on the arms and legs, and had its "bellows" joints painted black. Mattel soon dropped the silver cuffs in favor of black ones (the silver paint tended to rub off) so you'll occasionally see one with black paint at the wrist and boot cuffs, although quite rare. Along the way Matt also lost the red "dots" on his forearms.

Flight Carded Black Rubber Matt Figure (small head, blue straps)

Flight Carded Black Rubber Matt Figure (pudgy head, blue straps)

I believe that after Mattel received customer complaints that the black paint in the "bellows" joints quickly rubbed off, Mattel began molding the figure in black rubber, over-painting the white and color areas (primed then painted - you'll occasionally see a figure that's only been primed and the white is very thin, translucent in some areas). 

These initial figures all had "© 1966 MATTEL, INC." and "U.S. PATENT PENDING" molded in tiny letters on their backs, and "HONG KONG" molded on the right calf.

Later Figure Patent

Later figures were changed to "© 1966 MATTEL, INC." and "U.S. AND FOREIGN PATENTS PENDING" in larger type.

Blue Strap Major Matt Mason with v2 Pudgy head

A larger head mold thought to be a late addition has probably been around since the introduction of the figure in 1967 or slightly after (Carded MMM flight cards have been found with the alternate head. I personally believe that Mattel created the different head style to give kids a different face for a "new" astronaut - before creating Sgt. Storm and the others). 

Flight Carded Black Strap Matt Figure with v2 Pudgy head

Later figures went through several changes such as the blue straps changing to black and the loss of the red dots. Variations of both body types with either head exist. The larger head was later molded in a darker flesh color, this variation is usually found on the black strap version only.

White Rubber Matt (WRM) with Small head and Shorter Helmet

The initial release of Matt also had a shorter helmet - I'm not sure why this was changed but the taller helmet frames the face a bit better. I've only seen the shorter helmet on early figures (skinnier head) and almost entirely on WRMs.

Packaging by Catalog Year:

Major MATT MASON could be found in any number of playsets and/or assortments - he's truly the most common of the astronaut figures produced by Mattel. Here's a list of where you might find him by year and the case size (solicitation size from US Mattel Toy Trade Catalogs - Note that the assortments are all one large case of multiple items so the counts are of the contents):

The most common Major MATT MASON packaged figures are the Cat Trac (Lunar Trac) cards as they were produced in the most quantity and for the longest time.

Accessories:

Tall Helmet (taller neck-ring)

All Mattel Man-in-Space Astronauts came with a helmet (as noted above, there are two different versions - the short helmet is only found on the Matt figure). Depending on packaging the figure could come with other items but most fall into one of two categories:

  • Flight Card - only Major MATT MASON and SGT. STORM
    • Helmet w/visor
    • Jet Propulsion Pak
    • Space Sled with Control Column
    • Space Labels
  • Cat Trac (Lunar Trac) Card Note that there are Fakes in the market.
    • Helmet w/visor
    • Red Cat Trac (or Lunar Trac depending on packaging - same item with two different names)
  • Non-US-Issued Cat Trac Card
    • As above only packaged in a different language and usually supplied by Mattel GmbH Spielzeug
  • Boxed Astronaut produced for US Space Centers and some limited overseas markets. Note that there are Fakes in the market.

John's Notes:

I noticed that in Mattel materials Major MATT MASON is initially Trademarked but by 1968 had become Registered. Storm was the same converting to Registered in 1969 with Doug following in 1970. No evidence of Jeff being registered after the initial Trademark in 1969. So about a year after release each figure except Jeff went from a Trademark to being Registered.

I tried to be as thorough as possible with this information but as always, if you see something that's inaccurate, want to have the information updated for some reason or want to contribute, contact John Eaton.

All Mattel images and captions are copyright Mattel and used without permission. All other content, including images and editorial, is Copyright © 1997-2024 John Eaton and/or contributors unless otherwise stated. If there are any comments or objections, please contact John Eaton.


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