ICYMI – Mark Maher Shares Behind-The-Scenes Look At Haslab Skystriker

Wow, check this out!

Mark Maher took to instagram to share a fantastic behind-the-scenes look at the Haslab Skystriker!

To give you a bit of background from the Transformers Wiki, Mark Maher is the current lead designer on the Generations mega-brand at Hasbro. A lifelong fan of Transformers, Maher began working at Hasbro as a model artist in 2010, handling some figures for Revenge of the Fallen before moving to G.I.

Now that you have the scoop on Mark, let’s check out the design notes behind this iconic jet fighter!

Since the pulse livestream today featured the amazing GIJOE brand, I’d figured I’d share somthing I worked very hard on, when I was a designer on the Joe team. The SkyStriker and the O-ring Joes meant alot to me and my brother as kids. When I had the privelage to come on the GIJOE line, I did get to work on characters like the “retro” Stalker and Grunt. But also, I got to work on some deco for other figures, but the line was already set up before me. I was really pushing for 3 3/4 O ring figures as those original toys really meant the world to me. After alot of pitches the team finally got to a Haslab Skystriker with some original figures. I was SOOO EXCITED!

I dove in head first. It was probably one of the most enjoyable projects I can say I worked on. Old me was telling my younger me “Can YOU believe it, you’re remaking the SkyStriker 😵!

Lets hit off some deets! I thought it was essential to keep all the customizable decals and added new licensed ones! It was challenging to figure out the switch for the wings and landing gear, but I think we nailed it. Its always tough in Joe land to figure out how much real is to real, and how much toy is to toy. I really tried to pay homage to alot of details that I watched with extreme joy in the cartoon series. The gunners on each side, getting the variable cockpit going, adding in that ladder, keeping the cool removable panels, adding in some flavor in all areas just felt so good!

The parachutes were obviously a must but coming up with a way to store them and then even adding the blast effects for the manual ejector 💺’s NOW I was really cooking! Imagine the fun and excitement of getting in there, cutting up some original figures and making new O-ring product like the co-pilot Scarlette fig. I had a blast working on this vehicle, it was the last project I worked on for Joe, a very short lived moment in my toy design career but a very treasured one. I hope you all were able to get your hands on this Haslab treat!

What a time to be a fan now a days.

Be sure to peep my main man @thegreattonino for some more Joe love! Soon I’ll be back to the bots, dont you worry, I know those wfc figures got you all turbo revved!!

I absolutely love when folks like Mark give us a look at our favorite brands from a designer’s standpoint. Just so dang cool! Make sure to give his @markclonus instagram account a follow for more awesomeness just like this!