[As promised, I’m back today with a wee bit of content. I still have no idea whether I’ll be here for the weekend or not, but if I’m still kicking around at home, I’ll probably get some time to do some posting. If not, I’ll be back on Monday to try to wrangle things back to normal at the FigureFan Ranch. -FF]

Its Friday, and that means its time for some more 1980’s AD&D action figure goodness from LJN. Today we’re going to check out our first creature from the line, and no, Strongheart’s Destrier didn’t count! Most of LJN’s AD&D creatures were the non-poseable PVC kind, but there were a couple bonafide action figures based on the beastiary of Gary Gygax’s Monster Manuals. The Dragonne is one of those, so let’s see what he’s all about…

No package shot, but the Dragonne came in a large window box with a backflap on the top. My familiarity with AD&D is a bit rusty, so I had to consult the ratty, dog-eared Monster Manual. Ahem… according to the all-knowing Gygax, the Dragonne is a Neutral Aligned, desert dwelling, magical beast that looks like a cross between a Brass Dragon and a Lion. When I was a young’un I always thought this thing was supposed to be a Griffin, but I guess that’s different. He has wings, but apparently they’re only good for short trips. He can also let out a terrifying roar that renders all creatures fatigued or exhausted unless they can win a saving throw. All in all, this guy probably isn’t the worst thing you could come across while on a campaign, but you probably wouldn’t want to meet it when it was pissed off.

There’s a fair amount of differences between LJN’s toy and many of TSR’s concept drawings, but that having been said, I think LJN really did the Dragonne proud and I really can’t say enough great things about the sculpt here. The head is amazing, both ferocious and majestic with plenty of detail in the mane, the teeth, and even his little beard. Each individual scale is sculpted on the body as well as the segmented plates in his chest. His toes, claws, and even the pads on his feet are all here. The wings, sculpted in separate and detachable pieces have sculpted veins running through them. Clearly a lot of thought and love went into this toy.

As amazing as the sculpt is, the coloring on thsi figure is equally fantastic. The toy is cast in a beige plastic with loads of paint applied all around. The coppery color used for his wings and scales is just perfect. It makes the figure really stand out on the shelf and it holds up so incredibly well. Even after 30 years, this figure still looks so bright and vibrant. There’s plenty of detailed paintwork on the head, both white and copper on his fur and great crimson eyes. The coloring is finished off with a rich orange for his belly, brown for his footpads, and white for his claws.

The Dragonne isn’t one of the most articulated figures out there, but when compared to LJN’s bendy PVC statues, we’ll take what we can get. There are a whopping four points of articulation here. The head turns from side to side, the front arms (legs?) rotate at the shoulders, and the tail rotates at the base. The wings don’t move, but they are removable.

With all the iconic critters to choose from, I can’t quite understand why LJN chose the Dragonne as one of the deluxe, poseable monsters, but in retorspect I’m glad they did. Its hard to deny that this turned out to be one great looking toy. What’s more, while he often turns up for sale missing his wings, it only takes a wee bit of dedication to track down a nice, complete example. He’s a pretty rugged toy so there isn’t much breakage or wear to worry about, and its not uncommon to be able to pick up good examples at toy shows or on Ebay for under $20. There may have been a lot of creatures I would have rather seen produced in this format, but in the absence of any real evil dragons to fight (I never did own Tiamat), this is usually the beast that my noble adventurers had to slay in order to get at the treasure. Thirty years later, he’s still a great looking figure, and I’m proud to have him on my shelf.

While the dungeons and the dragons may have received top billing in TSR’s roleplaying game, AD&D was just as much about wizards and their crazy magics. Contrary to popular belief at the time, you didn’t have to be an old bearded fart in robes to be a spell-slinger, but it didn’t hurt either and LJN did their best to uphold the stereotype with their wizard figures. There were two wizards released in the 4-inch scale AD&D action figure line, one from each alignment. So you got the Good Wizard Ringlerun and the Evil Wizard Kelek. Actually, to be precise Kelek was termed a Sorcerer and Ringlerun a Wizard. They were available packaged separately, each on their own card back, but today we’re going to take a gander at the pair of them. Suffice it to say, the packaging on this pair is long gone.

Let’s start off with Kelek because, well hot damn, I love this figure. Talk about iconic? I know he made a cameo in the Saturday morning D&D cartoon, but I’d swear this figure is based on cover art from one of the TSR books, I just can’t find the proof. Anyway, much like Strongheart was the epitome of righeous knighthood, if you look up evil wizard bastard in a dictionary, this is probably what you’d see. He looks like he’d be right at home at Alestair Crowley’s Christmas party.

As far as sculpting goes, you don’t see a lot of it on Kelek, because he’s wearing a set of black softgoods robes that covers everything but his head, hands and little upturned feet. It’s a great garment for a figure in this scale, complete with a stitched red border and a high collar behind his head that looks like flames and I’m shocked that it survived the near 30 years in such great condition. I know there’s sculpting underneith the robes, but they’re stitched on good, and quite frankly, I’m not sure I want to go peeking under there.

Nonetheless, what little sculpting you can see, particularly his head, is really amazing. Stare into this guy’s crazy fucking eyes long enough at your own peril, because it just might drive you mad. The contrast between his shiny bald pate and his flowing white beard and mustache is classic, but its those friggin eyes that just creep me out and really make this figure something special. Any figure released today would be proud to have a head sculpt this expressive.

Kelek has only four points of articulation, because his bearded head is sculpted as part his body. He does have ball joints in his shoulders and hips, as is standard for all LJN’s AD&D figures.

Evil Sorcerers need their gear, and Kelek comes with two accessories. You get a long staff and a short wand. Both are molded in this delightfully ethereal neon green plastic that I immediately associate with the slime we used to get in buckets. The sculpt on both pieces is very nice, with snakes coiled around the shafts. The staff has a dragon spreading its wings and a tormented face at the top. Kelek is meant to be able to hold each accessory in each hand. Mine holds the wand just fine, but he tends to drop the staff a lot. Thankfully, I have plenty of blue tack handy.

And then there’s Ringlerun, who is the Yin to Kelek’s Yang. Or vice-versa. The two of these guys could be brothers who at some point went on their separate ways. Ringlerun has the same bald head and flowing beard, but a kinder face that doesn’t give me nightmares if I stare into his eyes. My Ringlerun’s beard has yellowed, which I presume is age and not by design because his bushy eyebrows are white. Nonetheless, the headsculpt is just as good as Kelek’s, particularly for such an old figure. Ringlerun features the same four points of articulation as Kelek. You get ball joints in the shoulers and hips. His head is sculpted as part of his body.

Much like Kelek, Ringlerun sports the softgoods robes. Ringlerun’s are predominantly white with glitter, giving them something of an ethereal quality. Unlike Kelek, Ringlerun’s robes have proper sleeves, but still cover everything except his head, hands, and feet. He has a red sash with black border running down the front and a high collar behind his head. Ringlerun also features the same upturned wizard shoes as his nemesis, Kelek.

Ringlerun gets by with just one accessory. Its a simple staff with a spherical top. Its the quinticential combination of magic staff and walking stick. I actually like the simple, understated quality of this piece a lot, and RInglerun looks great holding it.                         

Kelek and Ringlerun are both great figures, representing the two opposing sides of what is basically the same character class. If I had to choose between the pair of them, I’d say I like Kelek a little more, mainly because he just looks so thoroughly evil, but Ringlerun is no slouch either. The pair of them are still pretty easy to find without breaking the bank, but their predominant softgoods robes make them a little tougher to find in good condition. Case in point, my Kelek looks like he just came out of the package, while my Ringlerun’s robes are a bit on the shabby side.

Its time for more AD&D figure fun on Vintage Vault. Last time we looked at one of the giants, so this time we’ll check out one of the more normal sized figures, Strongheart, along with his trusty steed. In keeping with the theme of the AD&D license, LJN often assigned classes and alignments to their figures and the aptly named Strongheart was a Good Paladin. And as was often the case, Strongheart here made a cameo on the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. The packages for these toys are long gone, but Strongheart came carded and Destrier came in a window box. While they were each sold separately, they were intended to go together, as we’ll soon see.

Strongheart was a pretty iconic figure for me as a kid. At the time of his release in 1983, I was still a little young to grasp all the fineries of the AD&D game, but I had some of the books and I was starting to dabble. While Strongheart probably wasn’t one for pillaging dungeons for loot, he still became the face of the common adventurer for me whenever I dabbled with the game.

And iconic indeed! Strongheart is the quinticential brave night in shining armor. He has a noble headsculpt with a bold mustache and high cheekbones. You can practically hear him spouting off words like “blaggard!” and “knave!” while pwning dragon fools and rescuing princesses. His helmet, with visor sculpted in the raised position, angled steel antlers, and a swirling white plume is the height of majesty. The sculpting on the rest of the figure’s body is equally impressive, particularly the scalloped kneeguards and the embossed discs on his chest plate. He even has a flowing, glittery blue softgoods cape to finish off the ensemble. The figure manages to pull off the iconic knightly look without being generic. Even almost 30 years later, this figure still looks great.

Strongheart has the basic five points of articulation: Head, shoulders and hips. His head rotates side to side, but his shoulders and hips all have ball joints to give his limbs a little more of a varied field of motion. He comes only with his sword, which is a standard no-nonsense implement of justice. I always thought it odd that he didn’t come with a shield as well, since many of the other figures came with at least two accessories.

Of course, every brave knight needs his trusty steed. There were only three ride-on beasts released by LJN for the AD&D figures and Strongheart got two of them. Wait, can’t the figures share? Not really. The way the ride-ons work is similar to Kenner’s old Tauntaun and Dewback mounts from the Star Wars line. The figure’s legs go into a trap door on the beast’s back and there are a set of Strongheart’s fake legs sculpted on the sides of the saddle to make it look like he’s riding it. As a result, Strongheart is the only figure that looks right on him.

Destrier is a mighty big, brown war horse with a set of intricate multipiece soft plastic armor. One piece covers his head and mane with ornamental reigns coming off of his mouth. Another piece covers his breast and is adorned with a beaked bird head with feathered wings spreading out to each side. The body armor and saddle makes up the third piece, complete with the above mentioned fake Strongheart legs and a scabbard that can hold Stronghearts sword. All the pieces fasten together with slots and straps and hold onto the horse really well.

Truth be told, Destrier isn’t much of an action figure, he’s really just a statue. The only articulation is a swivel cut in his neck which allows it to turn side to side. His legs are sculpted with one front leg up, and he can stand perfectly on his own. He makes for a really majestic display with Strongheart sitting on top of him.

These days, neither Strongheart or Destrier are particularly difficult to find, nor are they terribly expensive, if you’re content with loose examples. Strongheart even holds up pretty well, although you often find chipping on the paint of his plume and his hip joints tend to go loose. The armor’s silver paint often loses its lustre but even that tends to add to the character of the figure. Probably the biggest problem is finding him with his cape still attached. Destrier sometimes suffers some rot to the rubber straps, but otherwise, he’s a pretty hearty toy that usually just needs to be cleaned up. Either way, this pair makes a great centerpiece to any AD&D collection.

Dungeons & Dragons cartoon image borrowed from The Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon Encyclopedia. Your one-stop source for everything and anything related to the classic Saturday morning cartoon.

I really wanted to limit Vintage Vault to once a week, but truth be told I don’t have much new stuff coming in right now, and the show must go on, so I had no choice but sneak another one in this week. Rather than let MASK monopolize it the whole time, today at FigureFan we’re going to take our first look at LJN’s vintage series of action figures based on TSR’s ridiculously popular Advanced Dungeons & Dragons license.

The year was 1983 and while video games were as addictive as all hell, the graphics were primitive and most games were designed to be played for short snippets of time. We kids had to look to the power of imagination and the great Gary Gygax's in order to entertain ourselves with dice-based role playing games.

Naturally AD&D was the forerunner of the time and with a vast universe of heroes, villains, and monsters, well why wouldn’t TSR license it out for action figures and toys? Of course they did, LJN got the license, and the result was a solid, albeit meandering, collection of action figures, PVC bendies, steeds, and even a playset. The figures came in many sizes, but were based (more or less) on the 4-inch scale. The figure we’re checking out today is actually closer to 6-inches. Some may believe it was a special deluxe size class, but these larger figures were actually meant to be giants. Today we’re looking at one of those giants… The Northlord Barbarian!

Northlord and the rest of the giants came carded just like the smaller figures, but they did tend to come with a lot more gear. The average AD&D figure came with a couple of accessories, but these guys came with two weapons, a shield, a removable belt and a removable helmet. They’re also amazingly cool figures for their day… and really they still are. While the figures weren’t based on the Saturday morning AD&D cartoon, many of these figures crossed over into it and had cameos. I don’t actually remember seeing the Northlord in it, but I wouldn’t doubt that showed up at some point.

Its probably been a twenty years since I last laid eyes on this figure, but even now I’m immediately impressed. He was always one of my favorites from this line, and its still easy to see why. Northlord is delightfully colorful and a pretty amazing sculpt too. The head sculpt is expressive and while the paint apps are just simple black to define his eyes and eyebrows, it still works very well, and his long blonde hair and brown headband give him some real character. Northlord’s brown tunic has sculpted scales and the reliefwork in his shoulder armor and sash is wonderfully detailed. His arm bracers have tiny scaling sculpted into them, his boots have sculpted fur and leather wrappings. Even the details on his soft, removable belt are all there. LJN poured the love into this figure in spades and nearly thirty years later it still shows.

Northlord comes with a removable helmet, which is a very nice piece all on its own. The blue, brown and yellow deco matches his armor and the sculpt is brimming with detail, from the scrollwork on the cheeks to the feathered pattern on the prominent wings. It fits right onto his head and stays in place… more or less.

Weapons, you say? Oh yes. Northlord comes with a battle axe, a broadsword, and a shield. He can hold any of the accessories in either hand quite well, and he has a loop on his belt to store whatever weapon he isn’t using at the moment. The axe has a sculpted leather wrapped handle and raised scrollwork sculpted into the axe heads. The sword is inscribed with TSR in runic style lettering, and has a very detailed yellow hilt. The shield has a raised eagle relief scupted onto the front, slong with the tiny faux rivets holding it together.

How’s about articulation? On paper, Northlord only has the standard five points we’re used to seeing in vintage figures: Shoulders, hips, and neck. But in execution, both the shoulders and the hips are all ball jointed, and that gives him a lot more movement than many figures released around his time. In fact, you can get him into some nice poses while wielding his weapons.

As we’ll see in future editions of Vintage Vault, LJN’s AD&D line wasn’t all gold. It had some flubs along the way, but the line mostly produced some very cool and very fun figures. Northlord is certainly one of the high points of the collection. He’s an absolutely beautiful display piece and a fine example of vintage action figure craftsmanship that put many other toy companies to shame. He’s a fantastic display piece and one that can hang on any of my figure shelves any day of the week.

Nice examples of Northlord are still pretty easy to find and you won’t have to raid dungeons for gold in order to afford them. In fact, so long as you don’t care about packaging, you can probably find a fairly minty and complete example for around $20-25. And that’s not bad for a 30 year old figure.