Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (toys)

In 1974, the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons was released by TSR. Over the next few years, with the game growing in popularity and receiving numerous awards, the franchise would expand into other mediums, such as a popular children’s cartoon and an action-figure toy-line created by LJN.

The Dungeons and Dragons action figures, which went by the name ‘Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons’, were first released to the public in 1983. Despite the fairly strong toy sales, when the cartoon arrived later that year they were entirely different characters. The action-figure characters were replaced by kids who found themselves in the D&D world after going through a carnival funhouse.

Over the three seasons of the show, some characters from the toy-line did make cameo appearances, but this just wasn’t the same. By now, when you thought of Dungeons and Dragons, you imagined the lost children from the show, not the toy characters Northlord and Warduke. Unsurprisingly in 1984, after just two series, the Official Advanced Dungeons and Dragons toys were cancelled.

Full list: Strongheart, Peralay, Northlord, Mercion, Elkhorn, Ringlerun, Young Male Titan, Bronze Dragon, Destrier

Full list: Kelek, Ogre King, Warduke, Zarak, Nightmare

Full list: Hook Horror, Dragonne

As with most toy-lines in the 1980s, there was always one playset everyone wanted, but very few got. Fortress of Fangs was a fairly small playset in comparison with other toy-lines, however, it did have a lot of cool features.

Decked out with trap doors, a slide, and a “flying” evil creature throne, Fortress of Fangs seemed like a great first playset for the series.

Unfortunately, Fortress of Fangs would be both the first, and last, of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons playsets. The second wave of toys featured a fair amount of new and updated characters, but nothing in terms of playsets.

The second wave of Advanced Dungeon and Dragon toys were released by LJN in 1984. LJN added many functions to the new figures while revisiting some of the first wave characters and updating them. Many of the first wave characters were fitted with a lever on their backs which gave them a chopping action or in the case of Zarak, a spring load waist for a sideways attack.

These figures were renamed ‘Battle Mattic’. Dwarf Fighter Elkhorn, Good Paladin Strongheart, Evil Fighter Warduke, and Evil Half-Orc Assassin Zarak all got the ‘Battle Mattic’ treatment.

Another action feature LJN used was spring-loaded, launching shield emblems. These figures were known as ‘Shield Shooters’. With the Shield Shooter line, Northlord, Young Male Titan, and the evil Orge King all got updates with new shield designs and missile firing action.

Along with the new Battle Mattic and Shield Shooters versions of old characters, some entirely new characters were also released. The monster Tiamat, being the highlight of the entire series.

Full list: Bowmarc, Deeth, Elkhorn ‘Battle Mattic’, Hawkler, Mandoom Shield Shooter, Northold Shield Shooter, Strongheart ‘Battle Mattic’, Young Male Titan Shield Shooter

Full list: Drex, Grimsword, Metta Flame Shield Shooter, Zorgar, Ogre King Shield Shooter, Warduke ‘Battle Mattic’ , Zarak ‘Battle Mattic’

Finally, we have the five-headed dragon ‘Tiamat’. Tiamat featured heavily in the TV show, which is rare as most of the toys either never appeared or only had small cameos. Tiamat was feared by both the good heroes and the series villain, Verger. The largest of all the monsters that were released, it featured actions like opening and closing jaws, bendy necks, and moveable front legs.

Between the release of the first and second wave of action figures, LJN released a number of different lines. This included PVC, bendy and wind-up toys that brought more variety to the Dungeons and Dragons world.

The biggest of these series were the PVC toys. These toys were sold as a set of either two creatures or a creature and an item like treasure or spell tome.

The PVC toys had 18 different sets that ranged from Elves to Umber Hulks and Men-at-Arms. The packaging for the PVC figures resembled the AD&D boxed set and game modules at the time and even had the same letter and number codes that the books had. The idea behind the PVC toys was for them to appeal to the gamers as well as the children.

Sharing the same module-style packaging were the bendy figures. The bendy monster figures were pretty much the same as the PVC figures just with a metal armature encased inside, making them posable.

The strangest of these additional lines of Advanced Dungeons and Dragon toys were the “wind-up” toys.

All of these lines were released between series 1 and series 2 of the main action-figure line.