I worked at a company called Jones Plastics in Louisville Kentucky right out of high school. My first day on the job was operating a mold injection machine that was making Castle Grayskull.
@@g8kpr3000 A lot of toys in the 80’s and before the 80’s were made in Hong Kong. Certain pieces are more valuable than others specifically if they were made in Hong Kong. Like army men that are little pieces of insignificant plastic can be good if you had a whole lot of the old ones, made in Hong Kong.
My cousin had all of it. All the playsets. It was a basement of playing tables set into rows of playsets with the figures to fill them and he would never let me play with them. But one night during a stay over, I snuck out. I clung to the shadows and down to the basement I went, while everyone was asleep. When I turned on the light... I swear to god I heard angel's. I played all night long. In the end I put everything back the way it was and he was none the wiser.
How could you forget the best playset of all, Dan? Your bed! It was everything from the strange surface of a mysterious new planet to the bottom of the ocean to a cliff overlooking the battlefield (aka the floor). I'll stay subscribed, for now, but just know that you are on thin ice, mister!
i would have said my room because in the end i used any thing as a playset whether it be my bed has a mountain range the floor as a city or even old shoe boxes as houses being a kid was great back then
Mine was an nappy pile of tree branches that had fallen over to make a little cage fort... yeah my dad had to run all over the neighborhood thinking I was kidnapped... They ended up removing those trees.
10- Bedroom 09- Living room 08-Styrofoam packing material 07- Wooden blocks 06- Legos/Megablocks 05- Construx 04- Erector 03- Cardboard boxes 02- Picnic table & benches 01- Front porch with driveway Lets be honest, most of these sorts of things got far more use than store bought playsets. We may have set up our GI Joe Command Center on the front porch, but you can't fit all those action figures, vehicles and weapons emplacements inside the Command Center. Plus, everybody's Skystrikers, X-Wings and Starbird Intruders looked awesome lined up on the driveway (if nobody was parked there).
Dan, this list made me nostalgic for my favorite action figure playset growing up , the staircase. Serviceable as a cliff side or a underground fortress with many levels below ground, it entertained me and my brother for hours.
Dude, come on. Styrofoam. It's often found in the very cardboard boxes you speak of. Sometimes it has multiple compartments that serve as various rooms and hallways throughout the "base" that your imagination makes it out to be. And then when the other side attacks you get ultra-realistic battle damage!
I must say, of all the playsets that I had the privilege of owning and playing with back in the day, my all-time favorite is the LJN WWF wrestling ring!! I can't even begin to express how much fun my buddies and I had with this thing, and of course, the WWF figures. Very, very powerful memories right there!!
And where is cement blocks?! You can't have trees without acknowledging the coolest outside playset! They're just as versatile as cardboard boxes, but weatherproof!
As a one-time USS Flagg owner when I was a kid in the 80s, everyone knows that this is the all-time #1 playset (and holy grail of toys) back in the 80s.
My favorite as a kid was the Panosh Place Voltron Castle of Lions. It was big, came with two vehicles (one of which made the center tower), covered with guns and had a bunch of neat features for the action figures straight from the cartoon.
There's a retro toy store near me that had a USS Flagg in the front display window for a while. Not sure how complete it was, but it was definitely impressive. In its place now are multiple Castle Greyskulls. *Multiple* There's an entire neighborhood of Castle Greyskulls where one USS Flagg was.
I wish my parents could've afforded any of the playsets I wanted when I was a kid. The Technodrome, the Kenner Death Star, the Ghostbusters Firehouse, and the Batcave were all on my wishlist. My preschool class had a Castle Greyskull in its toy collection, and everyone raced to be the first to play with it during playtime. And I actually recall a few different Batcaves over the years, but the most elaborate one I remember was the Batman Forever Batcave, which had three or four separate platforms all connected by a zipline.
dark6soldier I had that! The base (the eyes) of the lair lit up like search lights for security and opened a trap door that captured enemies. Shit was official ❤️😩
@@steveschweichler9794 no, there wasn't enough space to fit... but it DID come with an 'attack sled', for the mutants, which interacted with the 'laser-system' and the head of the set fired; the sled itself could blow-open the front doors, if it landed enough hits. COOLEST thing EVER when i was a kid. It woulda been SUCH a good fit, that I'm kinda surprised the GI-Joe line never used that kinda tech, especially considering how elaborate & expensive a lot of their stuff was ALREADY
Often, especially with my Star Wars action figures, the front or back yard was the greatest playset imaginable. As a kid I was able to reproduce Dagobah, Endor and (in the winter) Hoth.
wildsmiley Yeah, I agree with this also!! Not so much my backyard but, one of my best friends backyard. There were trees, stairs, grass, dirt, a water hose, landscaping with water... I could go on and on. So much fun, growing up in the '80s!!
@@dennislogan6781 Agreed, backyards were the best environment for GI Joes. Joe and Cobra were having a massive firefight one day, and this garter snake happened to slither up by the Cobras, so I pretended it was a giant snake sent by Serpentor. Tunnel Rat bravely sacrificed himself destroying the garter snake.
Where I grew up, here in Virginia Beach, VA, snow (a decent snow) was a rare thing. It was great when we actually got a good amount of snow so I could play with my Hoth action figures and vehicles without having to pretend. Dagobah was easier because any wet, rainy day would work. Fun times. We had toys, but without imagination to go with them, they weren't quite as entertaining.
Totally with Dan on this one... The sofa, the rug, the staircase, the bed (rappeling my GI Joes from the top of my bunk bed!), cardboard boxes, styrofoam packaging, my sister's Fisher-Price house (great for urban warfare scenarios, more so if you made barricades out of Lego bricks), my dad's studio (forbidden land)... Best playsets ever!
When I saw the first bloody photo I thought he was just being absurd and suggesting that maybe his playtime included murder... I guess. But then not referring to the blood in the photos is really annoying and distracting.
As a kid i had a 4 sided castle in the corner of my room for several years. The Cat's Lair was in front, Castle GraySkull was on the right, Snake Mountain was on the left (so i couldn't see it at night when i was in bed, don't judge) & Boulder Hill from MASK in the back, but i called it Mount St. Hilary because that's where the Transformers base was. i had a few others along the way (TechnoDrome, Ewok Village, Fort Kerium, that big ass GI Joe Shuttle) but those main 4 stayed there for years before i finally moved them. And whenever i'd go to my mom's during the weekend i'd pack up my figures & transformers & literally evict my sister's Barbies from her dollhouse & use that as my figure's vacation house.
Castle Greyskull is a good choice for number one. It was more attainable. I and a lot of my friends had Greyskull. I only knew one kid who had the USS Flagg, and I knew a lot of kids.
Me too man. The USS Flag was so large he had to store it in the box for years under his bed. If you didnt have room to have it set out then it was out of sight out of mind. When we did actually play with it it was very difficult to take back apart and put it back under the bed. So maybe twice a year we played with it. He still has it though but its missing a lot of parts.
@TonyT2796 The kid I knew that had the Flagg actually had his dad rig it so it would float and he played with it in his backyard pool. It was pretty cool. He had a lot of Joes and vehicles and was not shy about sharing or having friends over to play.
My grandma’s living room decorative shelf...it served as Skeletor’s tower for a couple of years 😂 My favorite base that didn’t make the list is Cap Power’s Mountain Base, love that base
Glad to see the Ghostbusters HQ got the shout-out it deserved. One of my favorite toys ever. As a bonus, since it's supposed to be in New York, you could make it work reasonably well while playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Great crossover potential--who doesn't want to watch Egon Spengler and Donatello invent a way to recapture the spirit of dead samurai master summoned by General Krang from Dimension X?
No Snake Mountain, no Thundercat's Lair, no Voltron Castle of Lions, no Sectaurs, no She-Ra castle, no Black Star, no Fortress Maximus, no Jurassic Park Command Compound, no Millennium Falcon...
The ghostbusters firehouse is still my favorite. The amount of hours and years I got out of that thing…still have it too. I also had and loved the 89 batcave.
The Fortress of Fangs. I had a few playsets, including numbers 1 & 2 on this list but the Dungeons & Dragons: Fortress of Fangs was always my favourite.
Cardboard boxes are amazing. My brother and I filled an entire huge basement room with cardboard boxes that we painstakingly assembled to make a cardboard Manhattan (completle with Empire State Building) for our TMNT figures.
I can honestly say that as a little girl, anything and everything became a playset for my dolls. A small suitcase that used to belong to my grandmother became either a bathroom, walk- in closet, or a backstage dressing room. I had a child size rocking chair that if I laid it on the side, it became the front door to a house, if I laid it on it's back, it became a food stand. My Barbie Dreamhouse rarely got used and if it did, the middle part of the house often used to be either a spaceship as I imagined my dolls traveling through space or duplex apartments. When I've told my husband about all this, he just looks at me strangely and I just laugh, but he appreciates the fact that I was a kid with a vivid imagination.
Thunderbirds Tracey Island was the playset I always wished I could have as a kid! Instead I just used the space under my bed as a hangar to house my Thunderbirds.
One of the best playsets I ever had was a blue rocking chair in my grandmother's living room. I have vivid memories of playing with my older sister's Star Wars figures there in the late 80s/early 90s. A close second were wooden blocks in the play room at that house. I like the spirit of your list, Dan.
Wow. Fortress Maximus got shafted. It's a playset that changed into a character that also could be set on display in a corner. FM could easily replace almost any set on this list.
While perhaps not as big as the others I always had a soft spot for the 90s X-Men Headquarters Playset. The whole thing would close in such a way it would become a caring case for your other figures.
I actually had that big GI Joe base set. I inherited it from my cousin when he got too old for GI Joe. I used that thing for years with all my various action figures. Absolutely loved that playset.
I with the furniture as playsets though, when I was a kid my nan had one of those old desks with loads of shelves and pull out sections. But to me it was a sick mission control for my Action man figures, turned that sucker into a fortress in my mind and I still think about it today. This channel has got me really nostalgic since I've found it, it's great
these lists make me sad cause I never got playsets as a kid, only figures and occasionally a small vehicle, nearly all of my play was theatre of the mind.
The USS Flag is the holy grail for me. I had lots of G.I.JOES and vehicles, but this one was always out of reach. A local vintage toy shop/museum has one it it was the first one I actually saw in person and it's as glorious as I always imagined.
I always found the stairs to be the best playset. Nothing was quite as satisfying as ending a long battle with throwing all the bad guys over the edge.
Antarctic Vortex wow someone who actually knows what they're talking about. I said the same thing. There's no reason for them to have multiple play sets from three different toy lines and leave that out. Also the filmation Ghostbusters haunted house. It's beautiful and huge
I enjoyed the video, but I also have this urge to contact the authorities after seeing some of the pictures of your playset picks. Oh well, I'm sure it's fine. Great video!
My grandmother had these fake plants that made an awesome secret base on top of her coffee table. That green foam was great for sticking weapons in to create the ultimate playset!
A decent list. I'd also add Starriors base, and Gobots Command Center. And not quite Play sets but the WW2 Stomper Tanks set with the movable track and blocks was a great set as was Crossbows and Catapults. Make your own bases with that stuff or combine. Like Starriors base at the end of the Stomper track and missile support from that GI Joe boardgame where you shot foam missiles at cardboard spring loaded targets. (Though we mostly just whipped the missiles at each other because it was fun.)
What I want in best of video is having zero clear shots of what is being listed and instead having them described to me in between the same joke being repeated non stop. What a great video.
My brother had that castle greyskull when we were kids and all the figures to go with it lol. He’d bring it over in the weekends my dad had custody and we’d play with that thing for hours. Now I’m 20 years old working my life away lol. Good times
Can’t believe there was only one Star Wars. I loved my Dagobah set. Awesome. Also, loved MASK! Those toys were so well-made and so innovative. Can’t tell you how many lawns I mowed to collect those vehicles!
It was nice, but the crawler was awkward to move around and the wheel axles were trying to collapse under it's massive weight. Plus trying to hide it from older teenage friends was futile.
bigevilworldwide1 the Flagg was more an enabler, without vehicles (air vehicles) its not so exiting to play. The Defiant is a large play set and vehicle (a 2 in 1) with tons of weaponry and placement for figures, how does that sound boring?
Recoil GI Joe the Defiant was more of a half-playset, half-vehicle. Unlike the Terror Drome which was 90% play set and 10% vehicle making it count more. And the launch complex is kinda hard to work with at times, its really heavy making it a little hard to roll around at times and the blue panels are prone to breaking during shipping the most.
I built my own out of cardboard, hot glue and packing tape. Had castles, space outposts, hangars and others. My Grandfather built me a castle with a draw bridge, trap door and a dungeon. Closest thing to Castle Greyskull I ever had.
Woke up to some Christmas mornings to the sound of my mom breaking race tracks trying to put them together. Lol. My Castle Greyskull trapdoor was broken too😢😂
When I was a kid my stepdad worked in a coal mine. One day he brought home a case of standard size bars of "Lisa" branded soap. No idea how many bars, at least several dozen. I could build the best forts and walls out of that stuff. Combines with a green flannel sheet the possibilities for landscaping battlefields were endless. No joke on the books too, I still have the set of encyclopedias i used as kid.
Dude I feel your pain. Though I had about half of the playsets I usually had to play with your choices. Ahh the fond memories of those massive bookshelves and all those boxes lol
Totally. I would construct hi-tech Cobra forts out of Lego (which would be a square with 1 or 2 computer slope pieces built in) and then run the MOBAT through them.
So many play sets that where not mention but you brought back memories. And styrofoam!!! When I was a kid I remember now , that my parents got a ceiling fan and I used the styrofoam to make a Star Wars Hoth play set from one of my moms magazines during the holiday. I thank you so much for getting my thoughts back to that time , it was truly priceless!!!!!
I remember my best friend ever had that ORIGINAL he-man castle.. his words exactly were "this will knock your socks off!".. i haven't thought of that in 30years.. he died a few years back. Best friend ever. damn
Im a playset collector and the only one I dont have on that list is the Classic MOTU Eternia set. I still hunt for it but cant substantiate it's price tag. I remember it sitting on KMarts shelf...and I passed on it to buy an entire wave of MOTU figs and vehicles. Surprised the the GIJoe Defiant playset isnt on here...its enormous and heavy! Another fave, the GIJoe Mobile Command Center and Wheel Warriors Battle Base was pretty sweet too. Another excellent video.
I played with the G.I.Joe Mobile Command Center. Or I would make a play set outside. With sticks,rocks,dirt,nails and string. I even dug some little fox holes for my Joes. I had everything a little runway for my Sky Strikers and my Tomahawks and a vehicle depot for all my ground assets. You talk about some fun times. I would spend hours and hours outside building and playing wars. Man those were great times.
My brother and I built so many elaborate cardboard playsets to make up for ones our parents wouldn't buy us, and honestly that was half the fun of our action figures
We had zero playsets too, despite having everything else lol. As an adult I finally bought my vintage Ewok playset. Always dreamed of having it and finally got it!
That's crazy, I had the castle gray skull got from a yard sale in the mid 90s. I have to admit though, I always had the most fun with my makeshift cardboard sets and my sister's doll house for some reason.
I know Dan's playsets are a joke played up for fun, but as a poor kid... most of what Dan was touting there WERE my playsets, so I kinda appreciate them being listed here. I did have the Playmates sewer lair though!
I loved the ESB Hoth Playset with the collapsing corridor, and the Dagobah playset with the quicksand. but my favorite was He-Mans Snake Mountain - because I got one for Christmas. I loved that Castle Greyskull commercial... I wanted one so bad.
Great List and another great video. This really brought back some good memories of actual and improvised play sets I had as a child - including the legs of the dining room table and chairs as the Endor forest for my speeder bike. By the Power of Cardboard Box!
I worked at a company called Jones Plastics in Louisville Kentucky right out of high school. My first day on the job was operating a mold injection machine that was making Castle Grayskull.
I'm surprised that they weren't all made in China
That’s so cool.
@@g8kpr3000 A lot of toys in the 80’s and before the 80’s were made in Hong Kong. Certain pieces are more valuable than others specifically if they were made in Hong Kong. Like army men that are little pieces of insignificant plastic can be good if you had a whole lot of the old ones, made in Hong Kong.
Thank you for my childhood
Making history still requires a piss break or two
My cousin had all of it. All the playsets. It was a basement of playing tables set into rows of playsets with the figures to fill them and he would never let me play with them. But one night during a stay over, I snuck out. I clung to the shadows and down to the basement I went, while everyone was asleep. When I turned on the light... I swear to god I heard angel's. I played all night long. In the end I put everything back the way it was and he was none the wiser.
Your cousin is lame not letting you play with his toys back in the day.. a selfish personality
lucky fucker
You little son of a ..... Gun! ...hahahaha!
How could you forget the best playset of all, Dan? Your bed! It was everything from the strange surface of a mysterious new planet to the bottom of the ocean to a cliff overlooking the battlefield (aka the floor).
I'll stay subscribed, for now, but just know that you are on thin ice, mister!
Totally agree with this. In my case, throw a night light at it and it'll turn into a magical glowing landscape!
Also, no dog house? I felt that one was really lacking
i would have said my room because in the end i used any thing as a playset whether it be my bed has a mountain range the floor as a city or even old shoe boxes as houses being a kid was great back then
I know others have said it but : Totally agree!!!
Lol cant believe there was no bed in this list
I almost want to say it was disappointing, but cardboard boxes isnt bad for dans number one
My first action figure fortress was a cardboard house my mom made for me when I was 2.....I'm 42 and still own it....lol
I had a cardboard box painted to look like a cooker. I turned it upside down and it was a submarine! :)
That is very nice
Mine was an nappy pile of tree branches that had fallen over to make a little cage fort...
yeah my dad had to run all over the neighborhood thinking I was kidnapped...
They ended up removing those trees.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one, I had tmnt turtle lair made from cardboard and boxes! Loved it
Cool Mom! The fact that you still have it is awesome.
10- Bedroom
09- Living room
08-Styrofoam packing material
07- Wooden blocks
06- Legos/Megablocks
05- Construx
04- Erector
03- Cardboard boxes
02- Picnic table & benches
01- Front porch with driveway
Lets be honest, most of these sorts of things got far more use than store bought playsets. We may have set up our GI Joe Command Center on the front porch, but you can't fit all those action figures, vehicles and weapons emplacements inside the Command Center. Plus, everybody's Skystrikers, X-Wings and Starbird Intruders looked awesome lined up on the driveway (if nobody was parked there).
I made Joes bases out of little Golden books
Dan, this list made me nostalgic for my favorite action figure playset growing up , the staircase. Serviceable as a cliff side or a underground fortress with many levels below ground, it entertained me and my brother for hours.
Yep. Many hours spent on the stairs.
Dude, come on. Styrofoam. It's often found in the very cardboard boxes you speak of. Sometimes it has multiple compartments that serve as various rooms and hallways throughout the "base" that your imagination makes it out to be. And then when the other side attacks you get ultra-realistic battle damage!
I was 5 when empire strikes back came out. Styrofoam inserts were the material of choice for Hoth bases.
I must say, of all the playsets that I had the privilege of owning and playing with back in the day, my all-time favorite is the LJN WWF wrestling ring!! I can't even begin to express how much fun my buddies and I had with this thing, and of course, the WWF figures. Very, very powerful memories right there!!
As I child, I was never really in to playsets. As an adult, I regret everything.
Nick Ferrazza time to make up for it brother get involved ; )
Matiu Hensley I agree!
It's never too late ;)
I weep for you
Nick Ferrazza , the only difference between an adult and a child is you now have the money to buy your own playsets.
Tree wasn't number one? Grandma's bookshelf coming in behind dirt?! No room on the list for stairs? I'm confused and angry!
Let the anger flow through you. Strike Dan down, take his place as the host, and your journey to the Dark Side will be complete!
TheLordUrban And floats!
I had a 90°turn in my stair case that wen directly in my room. Had wood slat banister. It was the best place to play He-Man.
STAIRS !!!
And where is cement blocks?! You can't have trees without acknowledging the coolest outside playset! They're just as versatile as cardboard boxes, but weatherproof!
I used to bunch my comforter up to make mountains and bases, don't feel bad about your picks dan
I did that too!
As a one-time USS Flagg owner when I was a kid in the 80s, everyone knows that this is the all-time #1 playset (and holy grail of toys) back in the 80s.
My favorite as a kid was the Panosh Place Voltron Castle of Lions. It was big, came with two vehicles (one of which made the center tower), covered with guns and had a bunch of neat features for the action figures straight from the cartoon.
No Transformers? Fortress Maximus? Metroplex???
Agreed! Where's Fort Max?
Dion Miller Don't forget Trypticon
Or how about the Transformers Activity Center?
Omega Supreme
How bout Scorponok?
There's a retro toy store near me that had a USS Flagg in the front display window for a while. Not sure how complete it was, but it was definitely impressive. In its place now are multiple Castle Greyskulls. *Multiple* There's an entire neighborhood of Castle Greyskulls where one USS Flagg was.
I wish my parents could've afforded any of the playsets I wanted when I was a kid. The Technodrome, the Kenner Death Star, the Ghostbusters Firehouse, and the Batcave were all on my wishlist. My preschool class had a Castle Greyskull in its toy collection, and everyone raced to be the first to play with it during playtime. And I actually recall a few different Batcaves over the years, but the most elaborate one I remember was the Batman Forever Batcave, which had three or four separate platforms all connected by a zipline.
Thundercats cats lair
dark6soldier I had that! The base (the eyes) of the lair lit up like search lights for security and opened a trap door that captured enemies. Shit was official ❤️😩
Absolutely.
ThunderCats, Cats Lair, hands DOWN, drop the mike, best play set EVER MADE!
Only one I had as a kid. My brother hid his weed in it.
Couldn’t panthros tank fit in it?
@@steveschweichler9794 no, there wasn't enough space to fit... but it DID come with an 'attack sled', for the mutants, which interacted with the 'laser-system' and the head of the set fired;
the sled itself could blow-open the front doors, if it landed enough hits. COOLEST thing EVER when i was a kid.
It woulda been SUCH a good fit, that I'm kinda surprised the GI-Joe line never used that kinda tech, especially considering how elaborate & expensive a lot of their stuff was ALREADY
You could never go wrong with cardboard boxes
Often, especially with my Star Wars action figures, the front or back yard was the greatest playset imaginable. As a kid I was able to reproduce Dagobah, Endor and (in the winter) Hoth.
wildsmiley Yeah, I agree with this also!! Not so much my backyard but, one of my best friends backyard. There were trees, stairs, grass, dirt, a water hose, landscaping with water... I could go on and on. So much fun, growing up in the '80s!!
Grass in your backyard made great jungles for my GI Joe's.
@@dennislogan6781 Agreed, backyards were the best environment for GI Joes. Joe and Cobra were having a massive firefight one day, and this garter snake happened to slither up by the Cobras, so I pretended it was a giant snake sent by Serpentor. Tunnel Rat bravely sacrificed himself destroying the garter snake.
I dug a replica of the mines from Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom into the side of the hill across from our yard.
Where I grew up, here in Virginia Beach, VA, snow (a decent snow) was a rare thing. It was great when we actually got a good amount of snow so I could play with my Hoth action figures and vehicles without having to pretend. Dagobah was easier because any wet, rainy day would work. Fun times. We had toys, but without imagination to go with them, they weren't quite as entertaining.
Fort Kerrium from BraveStarr was a pretty decent playset as it was the entire place when unfolded and a fortress when neatly tucked away. Good times.
One of my favorites was my mom and dads grow room in the basement. The weed made a great jungle.
8:03 Is that his younger brother. Or a young Bruce Campbell.
Yeah, that is what I was thinking.
That's Bruce Campbell
You're not foolin' anyone you know!
i was thinking the same thing dude
Totally with Dan on this one... The sofa, the rug, the staircase, the bed (rappeling my GI Joes from the top of my bunk bed!), cardboard boxes, styrofoam packaging, my sister's Fisher-Price house (great for urban warfare scenarios, more so if you made barricades out of Lego bricks), my dad's studio (forbidden land)... Best playsets ever!
Why is everything bloody? WHY DAMN IT? WHY?
Why not they're action figures there will be blood.
Disturbing :(
Blood? When is it suppose to be funny? Débile mental!
You should have seen the other guy... Oh wait...
When I saw the first bloody photo I thought he was just being absurd and suggesting that maybe his playtime included murder... I guess. But then not referring to the blood in the photos is really annoying and distracting.
I love playsets. I miss them. I mean now some toy companies sell diorama and diorama pieces. Playsets are dioramas you play with anyway.
As a kid i had a 4 sided castle in the corner of my room for several years. The Cat's Lair was in front, Castle GraySkull was on the right, Snake Mountain was on the left (so i couldn't see it at night when i was in bed, don't judge) & Boulder Hill from MASK in the back, but i called it Mount St. Hilary because that's where the Transformers base was. i had a few others along the way (TechnoDrome, Ewok Village, Fort Kerium, that big ass GI Joe Shuttle) but those main 4 stayed there for years before i finally moved them. And whenever i'd go to my mom's during the weekend i'd pack up my figures & transformers & literally evict my sister's Barbies from her dollhouse & use that as my figure's vacation house.
The full garage for M.A.S.K was pretty bad ass. It was one that I was really proud of having as a kid.
Come on?!?!?!? where is the batcave love?!?!?!
I kept waiting for that and the Power Rangers headquarters. Also a bit surprised they would mention the Sewer of two eras but not both Grayskulls.
Castle Greyskull is a good choice for number one. It was more attainable. I and a lot of my friends had Greyskull. I only knew one kid who had the USS Flagg, and I knew a lot of kids.
Same here. No one I knew as kid ever had the USS Flagg.
Me too man. The USS Flag was so large he had to store it in the box for years under his bed. If you didnt have room to have it set out then it was out of sight out of mind. When we did actually play with it it was very difficult to take back apart and put it back under the bed. So maybe twice a year we played with it. He still has it though but its missing a lot of parts.
@TonyT2796 The kid I knew that had the Flagg actually had his dad rig it so it would float and he played with it in his backyard pool. It was pretty cool. He had a lot of Joes and vehicles and was not shy about sharing or having friends over to play.
One kid I knew had the aircraft carrier. I brought my cobra rattler...ahhh the mid 80s... toy heaven!
One kid I knew had the U.S.S. Flag. Oh, how envious I was!
My grandma’s living room decorative shelf...it served as Skeletor’s tower for a couple of years 😂
My favorite base that didn’t make the list is Cap Power’s Mountain Base, love that base
i used to envy the kids in those toy commercials because they got to play in those detailed toy sets.
Got the USS Flagg for Christmas '85 - still my greatest present ever.
Me too. I always hated losing those stupid little gray pegs. But it was awesome.
Glad to see the Ghostbusters HQ got the shout-out it deserved. One of my favorite toys ever. As a bonus, since it's supposed to be in New York, you could make it work reasonably well while playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Great crossover potential--who doesn't want to watch Egon Spengler and Donatello invent a way to recapture the spirit of dead samurai master summoned by General Krang from Dimension X?
No Snake Mountain, no Thundercat's Lair, no Voltron Castle of Lions, no Sectaurs, no She-Ra castle, no Black Star, no Fortress Maximus, no Jurassic Park Command Compound, no Millennium Falcon...
@@The_Bad_Guy. That's not what your mom told me.
@@The_Bad_Guy. Dammit! I told her not to tell anyone my dark secrets...
I've never seen a fun list show devolve into existential dread so quickly. SO MUCH BLOOD!
the figures just battled extensively, til less than 20% were left ... missing some limbs and most accessories, of course ...
The ghostbusters firehouse is still my favorite. The amount of hours and years I got out of that thing…still have it too. I also had and loved the 89 batcave.
i allways wanted the Command Compound from kenner Jurassic Park
I had it... you didn't miss out on much.
Dungeons and Dragons had an awesome playset!
Trtle Dave same here I waited through the entire video thinking it would be on there
The Fortress of Fangs. I had a few playsets, including numbers 1 & 2 on this list but the Dungeons & Dragons: Fortress of Fangs was always my favourite.
Cardboard boxes are amazing.
My brother and I filled an entire huge basement room with cardboard boxes that we painstakingly assembled to make a cardboard Manhattan (completle with Empire State Building) for our TMNT figures.
I can honestly say that as a little girl, anything and everything became a playset for my dolls. A small suitcase that used to belong to my grandmother became either a bathroom, walk- in closet, or a backstage dressing room. I had a child size rocking chair that if I laid it on the side, it became the front door to a house, if I laid it on it's back, it became a food stand. My Barbie Dreamhouse rarely got used and if it did, the middle part of the house often used to be either a spaceship as I imagined my dolls traveling through space or duplex apartments.
When I've told my husband about all this, he just looks at me strangely and I just laugh, but he appreciates the fact that I was a kid with a vivid imagination.
i feel that. i was same way as a kid. parents wouldlnt of bought me these huge playsets so i had to use imagination.
Thunderbirds Tracey Island was the playset I always wished I could have as a kid! Instead I just used the space under my bed as a hangar to house my Thunderbirds.
The coffee table was a more than serviceable Cloud City.
Behind the Scenes Photos ME TOO WOW
One of the best playsets I ever had was a blue rocking chair in my grandmother's living room. I have vivid memories of playing with my older sister's Star Wars figures there in the late 80s/early 90s. A close second were wooden blocks in the play room at that house. I like the spirit of your list, Dan.
Wow. Fortress Maximus got shafted. It's a playset that changed into a character that also could be set on display in a corner. FM could easily replace almost any set on this list.
While perhaps not as big as the others I always had a soft spot for the 90s X-Men Headquarters Playset. The whole thing would close in such a way it would become a caring case for your other figures.
Caped-Joel I loved that thing. Had a danger room and everything.
How is G1 Fortress Maximus not on the list? He was a playset with a ton of play features
AND THEN YOU STAND HIM UP
he was considered a transformer, thus doesn’t count…same for Metroplex, Omega Supreme, and Tryptocon
Aww
I actually had that big GI Joe base set. I inherited it from my cousin when he got too old for GI Joe. I used that thing for years with all my various action figures. Absolutely loved that playset.
I with the furniture as playsets though, when I was a kid my nan had one of those old desks with loads of shelves and pull out sections. But to me it was a sick mission control for my Action man figures, turned that sucker into a fortress in my mind and I still think about it today. This channel has got me really nostalgic since I've found it, it's great
I had Snake Mountain. And it's still up in the attic somewhere :)
these lists make me sad cause I never got playsets as a kid, only figures and occasionally a small vehicle, nearly all of my play was theatre of the mind.
The USS Flag is the holy grail for me. I had lots of G.I.JOES and vehicles, but this one was always out of reach. A local vintage toy shop/museum has one it it was the first one I actually saw in person and it's as glorious as I always imagined.
I always found the stairs to be the best playset. Nothing was quite as satisfying as ending a long battle with throwing all the bad guys over the edge.
No Hyve??? It had a giant puppet SPIDER!!!
Antarctic Vortex wow someone who actually knows what they're talking about. I said the same thing. There's no reason for them to have multiple play sets from three different toy lines and leave that out. Also the filmation Ghostbusters haunted house. It's beautiful and huge
ELSE ONER yeah I kept saying another GI Joe?
I enjoyed the video, but I also have this urge to contact the authorities after seeing some of the pictures of your playset picks. Oh well, I'm sure it's fine. Great video!
after 2 or 3 i was like, "what kind of crime scenes are these?!" haha guess the action figures really went to war there!
My grandmother had these fake plants that made an awesome secret base on top of her coffee table. That green foam was great for sticking weapons in to create the ultimate playset!
your videos have always had such high production value! and they’ve gotten even better lately! love these videos
Can someone tell me why everything is covered in blood or ransacked?
Tarantino´s childhood
His childhood must really be warped!
A decent list. I'd also add Starriors base, and Gobots Command Center. And not quite Play sets but the WW2 Stomper Tanks set with the movable track and blocks was a great set as was Crossbows and Catapults. Make your own bases with that stuff or combine. Like Starriors base at the end of the Stomper track and missile support from that GI Joe boardgame where you shot foam missiles at cardboard spring loaded targets. (Though we mostly just whipped the missiles at each other because it was fun.)
CaptainRufus my brother and I had stomper tracks and we played crossbows and catapults for hours!
That Starriors Base was awesome. It's something I still wish I had to this day.
_Dusturn _ I have one I got in the box. With stickers still on the sheet. Sadly the stickers no longer stick.
The Captain Power: Power Base is by far one of the most innovative play sets of the 80s!
What I want in best of video is having zero clear shots of what is being listed and instead having them described to me in between the same joke being repeated non stop. What a great video.
No Fortress of Fangs? I am disappoint community
Caboose 92m first one that popped in my mind
Absolutely. Pound for pound, Fortress of Fangs was an incredible set. Easy top five for play value.
The Ewok village would have made my top ten.
Loved it fun fact about the Ewok village. The same player was repackaged as Robin Prince if Thieves playset lol
My brother had that castle greyskull when we were kids and all the figures to go with it lol. He’d bring it over in the weekends my dad had custody and we’d play with that thing for hours. Now I’m 20 years old working my life away lol. Good times
Can’t believe there was only one Star Wars. I loved my Dagobah set. Awesome. Also, loved MASK! Those toys were so well-made and so innovative. Can’t tell you how many lawns I mowed to collect those vehicles!
Sorry, but where is the *GI.joe Defiant playset?* For me, it's the beast!!!! Ever made!! 😀
It was nice, but the crawler was awkward to move around and the wheel axles were trying to collapse under it's massive weight. Plus trying to hide it from older teenage friends was futile.
bigevilworldwide1 there were kids that enjoyed the Flagg and the Defiant, not everyone shares your opinion.
bigevilworldwide1 the Flagg was more an enabler, without vehicles (air vehicles) its not so exiting to play. The Defiant is a large play set and vehicle (a 2 in 1) with tons of weaponry and placement for figures, how does that sound boring?
Recoil GI Joe the Defiant was more of a half-playset, half-vehicle. Unlike the Terror Drome which was 90% play set and 10% vehicle making it count more. And the launch complex is kinda hard to work with at times, its really heavy making it a little hard to roll around at times and the blue panels are prone to breaking during shipping the most.
Recoil GI Joe they had plenty of GI Joe on the list.
no batcave sad that was my first playset and only for a long time would use it all the time and would bild a city for the my storys to take place
I built my own out of cardboard, hot glue and packing tape. Had castles, space outposts, hangars and others. My Grandfather built me a castle with a draw bridge, trap door and a dungeon. Closest thing to Castle Greyskull I ever had.
Woke up to some Christmas mornings to the sound of my mom breaking race tracks trying to put them together. Lol. My Castle Greyskull trapdoor was broken too😢😂
Mighty Max!!
Hey cardboard is good it was the multipurpose playset for any tight budgeted dirt poor individual, just ask Nintendo and its overpriced Labo game set.
When I was a kid my stepdad worked in a coal mine. One day he brought home a case of standard size bars of "Lisa" branded soap. No idea how many bars, at least several dozen. I could build the best forts and walls out of that stuff. Combines with a green flannel sheet the possibilities for landscaping battlefields were endless. No joke on the books too, I still have the set of encyclopedias i used as kid.
Dude I feel your pain. Though I had about half of the playsets I usually had to play with your choices. Ahh the fond memories of those massive bookshelves and all those boxes lol
Best play set - Lego
Totally. I would construct hi-tech Cobra forts out of Lego (which would be a square with 1 or 2 computer slope pieces built in) and then run the MOBAT through them.
No "Hall of Justice" this sucks
So many play sets that where not mention but you brought back memories. And styrofoam!!! When I was a kid I remember now , that my parents got a ceiling fan and I used the styrofoam to make a Star Wars Hoth play set from one of my moms magazines during the holiday.
I thank you so much for getting my thoughts back to that time , it was truly priceless!!!!!
I still have my 1982 castle greyskull. I was a birthday gift and I just kept it. Still in great shape.
This "my pick was" is idiotic if they asked for sets.. just inflates the vid length...
Some Channel CZcams likes it when your video is longer than 10 minutes.
He is nt as funny as he thinks
I disagree. I think I'm as funny as I think I am.
Molly Friedrich What a twist!
Toy Galaxy Ive watched enough of your lists to see that you are regularly incorrect. So no surprise you are wrong again
Molly Friedrich what if he's not.
Nobody cares. This changes nothing.
I had all those He Man things. I got it for Christmas and played with it everyday. The had such cool toys back in the 80s.
As a young kid in the '80s I think a place that should have been on this list was voltron's castle of lions
Existence is pain. LOL Dan was telegraphing his Maximum Gothness all along
I love how it all just winds down like Too Many Cooks.
I remember my best friend ever had that ORIGINAL he-man castle.. his words exactly were "this will knock your socks off!".. i haven't thought of that in 30years.. he died a few years back. Best friend ever. damn
Im a playset collector and the only one I dont have on that list is the Classic MOTU Eternia set. I still hunt for it but cant substantiate it's price tag. I remember it sitting on KMarts shelf...and I passed on it to buy an entire wave of MOTU figs and vehicles. Surprised the the GIJoe Defiant playset isnt on here...its enormous and heavy! Another fave, the GIJoe Mobile Command Center and Wheel Warriors Battle Base was pretty sweet too. Another excellent video.
I played with the G.I.Joe Mobile Command Center. Or I would make a play set outside. With sticks,rocks,dirt,nails and string. I even dug some little fox holes for my Joes. I had everything a little runway for my Sky Strikers and my Tomahawks and a vehicle depot for all my ground assets. You talk about some fun times. I would spend hours and hours outside building and playing wars. Man those were great times.
My brother and I built so many elaborate cardboard playsets to make up for ones our parents wouldn't buy us, and honestly that was half the fun of our action figures
I once made a "fortress" for my GI Joes out of the Styrofoam shell from a VHS box and some construction paper. So, yeah...Dan's list is on point.
Styrofoam was where it was at for sure. Still great today.
Well, this is awesome, and now I feel 8 again.
Great vid, Dan!
I go to the toy store in Vegas every year just to look at the box of the GI Joe air craft Carrier. That thing is massive.
We had zero playsets too, despite having everything else lol. As an adult I finally bought my vintage Ewok playset. Always dreamed of having it and finally got it!
That's crazy, I had the castle gray skull got from a yard sale in the mid 90s. I have to admit though, I always had the most fun with my makeshift cardboard sets and my sister's doll house for some reason.
I can still remember having the Death Star on Christmas morning. What a beautiful day.
I think Playmates Enterprise bridge deserves an honorable mention
Nothing better than Castle Grayskull and in this era Classics Castle Grayskull is a dream come true..
Any outdoor rock formation - granite, coral, volcanic or sandstone = free and fantastic action figure playset. Excellent installment Dan!
I know Dan's playsets are a joke played up for fun, but as a poor kid... most of what Dan was touting there WERE my playsets, so I kinda appreciate them being listed here.
I did have the Playmates sewer lair though!
I loved the ESB Hoth Playset with the collapsing corridor, and the Dagobah playset with the quicksand. but my favorite was He-Mans Snake Mountain - because I got one for Christmas. I loved that Castle Greyskull commercial... I wanted one so bad.
The Palitoy Action force Headquarters was THE GREATEST playset ever....A thing of beauty
Judging by the blood, there were some epic battles on Dan's playsets.
Cardboard boxes. Build a clubhouse, build a fortress, build a massive Labyrinth that extends the length of HORSES.
Great List and another great video. This really brought back some good memories of actual and improvised play sets I had as a child - including the legs of the dining room table and chairs as the Endor forest for my speeder bike.
By the Power of Cardboard Box!