Christmas Morning, 1985: The U.S.S. Flagg

chrsitmas morning u.s.s. flagg

That’s right, suckers. There it is. Definitely the biggest playset ever made, and one of the baddest. Reader Don Allen sent this in just after Christmas last year. I’ve been waiting a long time to show it off. Don says:

Yeah, I was THAT kid. As you can see I also got the G.I. Joe Rattler and looks like some other small vehicle… My dad spent the night putting this thing together and putting the decals on, and I was pretty damn surprised in the morning. Wish I still had it!

When this photo was taken we lived in Bristol, Tennessee, so not sure where my parents picked it up from. Possibly Sears. I remember my dad saying they had a hard time finding one. As far as I remember, I don’t recall actually asking for the Flagg. I know they knew I wanted it as I loved G.I. Joe and real life aircraft carriers, so I’m sure when my dad saw it he knew I’d love it. So yeah, it was a complete surprise to get it! Sadly, I ended up selling this at a garage sale around 1994 or so. Wish I still had it. It was still 100% complete and in good condition, as this was always the centerpiece of my toy collection!

To get a better idea of just how big it is, here’s the Flagg in a brilliant Joe display in the 1985 Montgomery Ward Catalog.

MW Catalog Flagg 1985

Thanks for the awesome pic, Don.

Happy Holidays to All!

11 Responses to “Christmas Morning, 1985: The U.S.S. Flagg”


  1. 1 Don Gates December 23, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    Holy crap, that thing was a monster. Most kids knew someone who owned the aircraft carrier, but I didn’t even know someone who KNEW someone who had it. It was the Loch Ness Monster of toys: it was out there somewhere, but nobody’d ever actually laid eyes on it…

    Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!

  2. 2 leftylimbo December 24, 2013 at 5:52 am

    Agreed. In ’85 I was a couple years removed from my GI Joe stage, but if I’d received that anytime in ’83 I think I would’ve just exploded. Lol you can’t even put that thing away! It’d be like a permanent fixture in your bedroom haha =D

  3. 3 Jason December 24, 2013 at 2:09 pm

    That thing made even the AT-AT look like a mouse…

  4. 5 lithicbee December 25, 2013 at 3:42 am

    I had a friend who got this. Truly epic.

  5. 6 Ed February 13, 2014 at 2:56 pm

    That is a massive hunk of plastic!

  6. 7 Mr.O March 15, 2014 at 9:54 pm

    Seeing this makes me want to hit up eBay and repurchase all the old “GREAT” toys that didn’t fall apart when you played with them. Everything is junk now. The 80’s were really the best decade, and Saturday morning cartoons were top notch.

  7. 8 huhaw April 23, 2014 at 9:31 pm

    Ahh I got this for xmas ’86… was blown away…. also that little vehicle he can’t identify is DeepSixs underwater sub thing.

  8. 11 westvirginiarebel December 17, 2019 at 6:15 am

    It was either this thing or a He Man playset. He Man was big in our house. BTW I think we had that exact same chair in the picture…


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