Personally, I consider “He-Man® and the Masters of the Universe®” to be the greatest toy line ever created. This however, does not mean that toy manufacturers didn’t release other fantastic  pieces of plastic goodness.

On this page you will be able to see some of the rarest toys (call them icons of the toy industry if you will) on the planet. It has cost me blood, sweat and tears (mainly tears…caused by headaches that kept popping up while I was figuring out how in the name of hell I would be able to pay for yet another valuable and therefore expensive toy) to acquire some of these items.

If someone would ask me what I consider to be the most impressive playset of all time I would instantly reply: “Eternia®” (this playset was created by Mattel,Inc. in 1985 as well).

But rest assured…the U.S.S. Flagg™ comes in a close second. This (in)famous aircraft carrier was produced on a smaller scale (compared to other toys from the ARAH series). The smaller production run (making it HTF in Europe even back in 1985!) combined with the fact that the original retail price was out of the price range of the average parent caused the Flagg to be unobtainable for most children.

Back in 1985 – ’86 most boys  begged their parents/grandparents for a Flagg (if they were able to locate one) but people were reluctant to purchase this behemoth of a toy. If the original price tag didn’t stop them from buying it the mere thought of moving/storing the gigantic item usually did the trick. However, the children that were lucky enough to get a hold of a specimen (I wasn’t one of them) didn’t know what hit them when they first opened the box.

U.S.S. Flagg™ (box front)

U.S.S. Flagg™ (box back)

The Flagg was so jam-packed with accessories that it must have been impossible to ever get tired of playing with the carrier and its commanding officer : “Admiral Keel-Haul ™”.

The set was equipped with an electronic sound system, a towing vehicle, a fuel trailer and dozens of other accessories. The fact that the Flagg was released with so many small and fragile parts is another reason why it is so difficult to obtain a mint/complete version today. Children have the tendency to lose/break fragile toys (who can blame them – they are after all toys). This leads to the fact that collectors are currently willing to pay astronomically high amounts of money to add a mint/complete specimen to their collection.

U.S.S. Flagg™ (front details)

U.S.S. Flagg™ (launch details)

Since the U.S.S. Flagg™ was produced in Asia (destined to be sold on the US market) it was originally released with an English instruction sheet. The Flagg was eventually also exported to a select group of European countries. Since the factory sealed boxes contained English only instruction sheets Hasbro, Inc. had to find a way to replace the original sheets with a translated version. Their solution was simple.  Every box (the boxes from the US and Europe were identical) was opened in these warehouses and the Hasbro/MB employees replaced the original instruction sheets with nearly identical sheets* . In some cases the original sheet wasn’t even removed.

*The European instruction sheets were printed in black instead of blue.

U.S.S. Flagg™ (instruction sheet / Dutch side)

U.S.S. Flagg™ (Belgian instruction sheet / close-up)

After replacing the instructions the employees resealed the boxes using transparent tape (this is the reason why every European edition of the Flagg known today is resealed on one side) and they placed two different stickers on each box.

- Sticker 1 advertised that the set was provided with instructions in the native language(s) of the country where it was sold.

- Sticker 2 contained codes and info about the particular store where each individual specimen was going to be sold.

U.S.S. Flagg™ (Belgian import sticker)

NOTE: the Flagg from my personal collection still contains his original price tag from the Christiaensen toy store (a store in the City 2 mall - this shopping centre still exists today) which was located in the Rue Neuve in Brussels.

The original retail price: 10.995 BEF (approximately 275 EUR / 386,55 US$).

(click on the image for full size view)

U.S.S. Flagg - Price Tag

The U.S.S. Flagg™ was sold throughout Belgium and France (It might have been available in Germany  and The Netherlands as well but I am currently unable to confirm this rumour).

This toy is a true work of art. Most GI Joe® collectors consider it to be the crown jewel of every ARAH collection. It is the result of a cooperation between brilliant engineers and gifted concept artists.

Yo Joe!

U.S.S. Flagg™ + box + instruction sheet (Ninjor1 collection)