eBay Today: The Great Playset Caper Posted by Rich on May 7, 2007 at 12:00 AM CST: Hasbro's U.S.S. Flagg is an immersive and feature-rich playset that gives you all the intricate details you'd expect to find on an aircraft carrier. Joes could man the gun deck, take refuge on a lifeboat, gas up a Skystriker with the fuel truck or take helm of the ship from the admiral’s chair. Oh, and it measures in at a whopping 7-feet long! There are a few snakes out there who'd argue the Terror Drome is a better playset, but those Cobras just haven’t learned that the good guys always win. The visuals on Mego's Batcave are so authentic; you'd think the artwork was lifted directly from the television series. As a result, Batman's crime fighting routine could be reenacted from start to finish. When criminal activity looms, the Batsignal alerts Batman to the imminent danger. A slide down the Batpole, a jump into the Batmobile and a speedy exit through the Batcave's hidden entrance has our caped crusader on his way! A playset often overlooked -- possibly because of the moderate obscurity of the toy line -- is Voltron's Castle of Lions. As command center for the lion force you’d expect the Castle to be large, but in this instance size doesn't matter. It's the small touches like the hidden gun towers, landing platforms for the lions, working elevator and tomb of King Alfor that make this playset innovative. Not to mention, the playset could also act as a carry case though not a very reliable one. Though many of us never had the fortune of owning it, the Masters of the Universe Eternia playset maybe the titan of them all. When combined with the already grand Castle Grayskull and Snake-Mountain playsets, the triumvirate creates the ultimate He-Man environment. And you thought the monorail at Disney World was cool? So what is it about these playsets that makes them great? For starters, they are all feature-rich and create immersive environments. More specifically, they are true to the theme or franchise they portray. What's a Batcave without a Batpole or Batcomputer; right? It's this authenticity that allows you to recreate specific moments or scenes through the playset's innovative play features and creative gimmicks. And of course, the playset has to "play nice" with other toys from the line -- if you make an aircraft carrier playset, it’s got to be able to land a jet on the deck. In the end, it all comes down to personal preference. When you look at a playset and think, "that's fun," you can usually tell it's a great playset. MOTU ETERNIA PLAYSET IN ORIGINAL BOX 1986 WOW! RARE! 008