Power Team Elite Battle Command Post
Available as always through G.I. Joe HQ
As a dio-story maker and all around dio enthusiast, I quickly found that one of the toughest things about being one was locating to-scale buildings and intricate realistic props to support the suspension of disbelief required when someone is viewing a story containing 1:18 scale action figures.
One of my first tasks as a dio-ist was to build some small chairs that served their purpose, but looked ultimately rediculous. I also went through the trouble of constructing a pair of brick buildings that worked okay, but still, in the grand scheme of things, did not look quite right. These buildings took me several hours of very hard work, and were still only about 50-60% effective in my opinion...not a very good trade off.
So when I first caught glimpse of the Power Team Elite Battle Command Post, I was quite excited. Here we had a pretty realistic looking building, plus it was opened in the back for easy play and interaction. The outside of the building could work very well in a background shot, while the inside doubles as a command center. Not bad...not bad at all.
So I wanted one of these to try out, but just could never find one locally. But, as with all my other PTE items, G.I. Joe HQ was able to help me out.
Once I finally got the Command Center in my hands, I found that it was actually much, much more than I bargained for...and the items I didn't know about were actually more valuable to me than the building itself!
First of all, we'll take a look at the building itself. I'm not really sure what style building it's supposed to be, but it works in several different facets. The front side of it is very basic, with twin columns on each side of the double doors (that really open!) and two fairly normal style windows. Shingles dot the roof and very simply sculpted, but work well enough.
What I find really cool about the building is the bombed out look about it. Merely with the application of some lightly ghosted black paint here and there you really get the feeling that this concrete building is in the middle of warzone. It looks beat up and abused, even though there's no actual damage sculpted to it or pieces missing. Simple paint apps go a long way.
The inside of the Command Center serves many purposes as well. The entire back of the center is opened and there is a ton of room for troops to gather and commanders to give their orders. There's a small platform on the right hand side with a ladder leading to the roof and stairs down into the main meeting area itself. From there, it's just a large, open room, able to serve many different purposes.
My only complaint about this set up is that both side walls are almost completely open, which would make realistic picture taking inside quite tricky. There's a small lip where the walls come around, but then just open space.
Back to the outside of the building, we take a look at some of the scores and scores of accessories that this set comes with. First of all, there are two sandbag sides that fit together to make a pretty neat gunnest. The heavy weapon seen here comes with the set as well, of course, mounted on a tripod, with a gunbelt and everything.
Crates of different sizes, a gas tank, motorcycle and ATV all come with this set as well...even though I already have them, it's always good to get a small stockpile of civilian vehicles...you never know when you might need them.
Of course this large set also comes with the requisite small fighting force of PTE Marines, ready to go. A whopping SIX troopers come with this set, giving you an instant squad for your COBRA Vipers to gun down and G.I. Joe to rescue. These troopers are kind of an amalgamation of other troops found in other sets, with some different faces, heads, etc...
In all honesty, the troop figures themselves aren't really a big draw to me of this set...yeah, it's definitely nice to get them, but there are other things that catch my eye.
You can expect all six troopers to come pretty well equipped, too, with a small arsenal of machine guns and backpacks. I keep hoping that M&C will do something about the rubberized nature of their weapons, but so far no dice. These guns are excellent, but unfortunately they tend to bend and warp. The weapons featured in this set actually look very nice and are not overly bent, which is cool.
Now here is where this Command Center set really, really shines...the accessories included with the Command Center portion itself. I can't get enough of 'em!
Everything you see in the above picture comes WITH this set. The planning board, the table, the laptop, the ammo box, binoculars, and...two folding chairs!! It may seem silly, and maybe you have to be a dio-storiest to appreciate it, but Joescale folding chairs are an absolute Godsend in this set, and I am very, very thrilled to have them here! The table is absolutely awesome as well, not to mention the laptop and the planning board. All of this stuff seems like such a no-brainer...you have a command center, you need a place for troops to sit, a map, a table...makes perfect sense! Yet M&C are really the first guys I've seen to put it all together so perfectly. With only a few well placed, well made accessories, this set instantly goes from pretty neat to extremely desirable.
If it were for only the building itself, I'll admit...I'd think twice about trying to pick up more of these sets. But look at all these accessories! Six troops, fully equipped...two small vehicles...table, map, two chairs and a plethora of crates, sandbags and other things makes this Command Center playset a fantastic buy. These accessories can be mixed and matched to near perfection with anything you buy from Hasbro, and the building almost just seems like a terrific added bonus.
Definitely do not hesitate in picking up a couple of these, especially if you're a dio-story enthusiast, or even if you just want a neat place to store some figures. This set is terrific in many different applications and will not disappoint!
