Hey guys, its Friday and that means Vintage Vault. I know, I know. I promised something other than AD&D this week, but I’m going to have to beg your indulgence for just one more week as when I pulled the Sectaurs figure I was originally planning on looking at, I found I needed to do some additional tote hunting for his accessories. So, let’s extend the Friday AD&D marathon just one more week and check out this figure. And holy hell, its even still carded!

Ah, yeah, the card has seen much better days, but that’s ok. We still get the point and I don’t feel so bad about tearing it open. The card proclaims Mercion as a Good Cleric Female, which gives her the distinction of being the only girly-girl in the poseable figure line. Check out the price tag… Bradlees! Holy shit, I remember Bradlees! For you young’uns, it was basically a forerunner to the big box stores like Target. You could buy all sorts of stuff there and they usually had some pretty good selections of toys and action figures. Mercion was originally ticketed at $2.97!

As we saw when we looked at the cardback for Melf, Mercion has a little bio about her race and class under her character art. I really dig the character art, even if it is a bit at odds with the actual action figure. What does disappoint me a little is that the blurb points out that the clerics’ main weapon was the mace or hammer, and Mercion comes with a staff. No biggie. At least they didn’t give her something as uncharacteristic as a sword. The back of the card is identical to Melf’s with some artwork displaying some of the other characters on top and some rather poorly composed photos of some of the PVC monsters on the bottom. Ok, let’s tear this baby open and bask in the funk of pure, unspoiled 80’s air.

The bubble may have yellowed, but the figure inside is minty fresh and that’s doubly cool because she has so much in the way of softgoods garb. Much like the wizards, Kelek and Ringlerun, you don’t get to see a lot of the sculpting on Mercion’s body because she has an actual belted tunic and a hooded cloak. You can see her boots and her plate armor covered arms and gauntleted hands. Her head sculpt is pretty solid, especially for a line where hardened, ugly faces are the norm. Mercion’s fairly attractive and has long sculpted blonde hair. If you peek under her tunic, she actually has a full set of sculpted armor. When I was a kid, I actually did a little custom work on my worn version by painting her hair and removing the rest of her tattered tunic. The result worked pretty well for a completely different figure.

I really can’t say enough great things about the softgoods outfit. The tunic is perfectly shaped and neatly belted at her waist and tied at the back. It looks better than it should on a figure in this small scale. The sparkly cloak hangs around her neck with a tiny piece of silver thread and is easily removed for when she needs room to move and put the smackdown on some evil.

Articulation? If you’ve been reading these AD&D figure features for the past couple of months, then you should know what to expect, but Mercion throws us a little of a curve. Her head and hair are all sculpted in one piece with her body, so there’s no head movement. You do still get ball joints at the shoulders, and the legs are ball jointed at the hips.

As previously mentioned, Mercion comes with a staff. In fairness, it does have a mace head giving it some potential as a bashing weapon. But based on the character art on the card, I think its intended to be more of a magical piece. She can comfortably hold it in either hand, but not really both at the same time.

  

Mercion may not be a major stand out figure in this line. She’s pretty normal looking, doesn’t come with a flash assortment of weapons, she’s just generally low key. I think the expertly crafted and fitted softgoods are definitely her strongest point and she does look great standing on the shelf with the rest of her good adventurer chums. She can be tough to find with her tunic and cloak in good condition, but even if you need to get her without any of her softgoods, the sculpted armor still makes for a decent figure or variant.

Its Friday, and that means its time for a look at another action figure from LJN’s AD&D line. This update will be the last time I devote Friday’s to strictly AD&D as next week Friday becomes the only day of the week for Vintage Vault and it will feature a rotating lineup of toylines. AD&D will continue to be featured heavily on VV, I’ve got lots more figures to look at, but it just won’t be every week. We’re ending the Friday AD&D Marathon today with another one of the Giants in the line. Its the Evil Ogre King!

As with the Northlord Barbarian, The Ogre King is a larger and more deluxe assortment of figure, but he’s still meant to be scaled with the rest of the figures and hence he’s a Giant! While pitting the Northlord Barbarian against this guy may have seemed like a fair fight, I used to love having to send a whole party of adventurers against him, and he usually wound up hurling Melf or Elkhorn before one of the more substantial adventurers did him in. Good times!

As an Ogre, you would expect this guy to look mean and green. Well, he’s certainly green, but the head sculpt could use a little more mean. There’s a lot of attention to detail in the head, and he’s certainly a whole bucketload of ugly, but I think he could have done with a fiercer expression. He sort of looks like he’s smiling and possibly about to invite you to tea.

The Ogre King also features some rather peculiar armor choices. He has a gladiatorial style ensemble for his right arm, which is accompanied by various belts sculpted across his chest. He’s also got what looks like a segmented plate armor tube top that comes up just under his chest. Its capped off with a removable soft plastic belt and “skirt” that is made to look like an extension of his stomach armor. His legs have knee guards and he has armor for his calves, but his feet are left bare. Its a bit of an odd choice of coverings. I would think an Ogre King could afford better protection. You could pretty much just stomp on his toes and then stab him in the heart.

The paintwork on this figure is solid enough, but once again its a bit odd. The aqua colored armor is peculiar, but certainly makes for a distinctive looking figure. I do really like the dark green used for his skin. There is a variant, which uses a much lighter skintone, that I don’t think works as well.

The accessories for the Giants all follow the same pattern, so just like with the Northlord Barbarian, Ogre King comes with a helmet, a removable soft plastic belt, a sword, a shield, and a spare weapon, in this case a spiked mace. The belt features a loop so you can store the spare weapon, although this figure can only store his mace there as the sword blade is too big to fit. Indeed, the sword is a pretty wild shaped piece with a blade that bellows out and features a notch in the edge. The hilt is nicely sculpted and painted yellow. The shield is long with an embossed dragon motif and the yellow, black, and aqua coloring matches the rest of the figure’s motif. The helmet is a simple cap that balances procariously on his head. I help it stay in place with a dot of bluetack.

Ogre King’s articulation is identical to that of the Northlord Barbarian. The head turns, the arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, and his legs are ball jointed at the hips. Not exactly super articulated, but it gets the job done.

There’s no bones about it, The Ogre King is a strange figure. I have to confess that I really dig it, but I think a lot of that love comes mostly from nostalgia. If I hadn’t owned this figure as a kid and spent tons of time playing with it, I don’t think I would be nearly attached to it. Even now, its pretty far down on my list of AD&D figures. One thing that is pretty cool about him is that you can army build him and mix up his accessories to get a pretty convincing little band of Ogres together to fight. As with the Northlord Barbarian, he’s pretty easy to find with all his goodies and minimal paintwear for around the $25 range. if you’re looking for extras to fill in your ranks, you can probably find incomplete versions for a little less.

Its Friday, Its Vintage Vault, and its time for some more 80’s AD&D goodness from LJN. This time we’re checking out the Evil Fighter, Warduke.

It may surprise some to learn that I place him up there as one of the most iconic action figures of the 80’s.  It helps that I was really into the AD&D game at the time and there’s no better way to say it: For me, Warduke was the Boba Fett of the AD&D universe. I didn’t know much about who he was, but he was a mysterious masked guy and in my mind, he was an utterly evil badass. And I clearly wasn’t the only one, because Warduke enjoyed his own little line of merchandise at the time, which included everything from pencil sharpeners, stickers, and even a Halloween Costume. He even appeared in the Saturday morning cartoon and in the official TSR game canonicity.

And there he is in all his badassery. Despite being classified as a human, Warduke’s head suggests otherwise. He wears a blue helmet with a crystal in the top center and those iconic antlers on the sides. His face is blacked out, all except for his glowing red eyes that peer out menacingly from the helmet’s cutout. You know he’s a tough dude, because he fights with very little armor. His chest is mostly bare, except for some criss crossing straps, and his right leg and right arm are bare as well. He has a little magical bling around his neck and a cool demon skull motif on his gold belt. His right leg and arm feature blue textured chainmail, a silver gauntlet on his hand, and a spiked leg brace just above his boot. Its a great sculpt and like I said, totally iconic for me. The paintwork is very clean and makes for a really colorful figure.

While Warduke was originally released in a regular version, LJN re-released many of the figures with a couple different kinds of play gimmicks. You could get some with shields that shot their spring-loaded fronts, and then you could get the Battle Mattic (also sometimes known as Battle Masters) versions, like Warduke here. The only real difference between the two versions was that this guy has a lever on his back that works his sword arm, moving it in an up and down slashing motion. It doesn’t really impose on the figure much and its a cool little gimmick. One of my favorite things about the Battle Matic version is it confirmed the idea that Warduke was left handed. I’ve often seen him posed with his shield an his left hand and sword in his right, which makes no sense given his left side is armored and his right side is bare. Logically, his right side should be protected by his shield, and by putting the sword slashing gimmick in his left arm, I was vindicated in many a schoolyard debates, even if his appearance on the cartoon had it the other way around.

Despite his action feature, Warduke still has the same level of articulation as most of the LJN poseable figures. You get ball joints in the shoulders and hips and a head that turns 360-degrees. The action gimmick includes a ratcheting joint in his sword arm’s shoulder, but it doesn’t inhibit the articulation in any way.

Warduke comes wtih two accessories. You get his iconic skull shield and his magical sword, Nightwind. The shield is a very cool piece and has a handle for him to hold it. I remember my original Warduke’s shield lost the handle and so I had to put a piece of modeling clay in there and stick it onto his hand. I’ve since replaced that figure with this fresh minty, like-new Battle Mattic one. Nightwind is also a cool little accesory. The hilt is slightly ornate with a yellow paintjob and the blade is slightly leaf shaped.

If you can’t tell by now, I absolutely adore this figure. The design is great and the attention paid to the sculpt and paintwork really reflect the love that LJN often vested into this line of action figures. Its somewhat uncommon when a mere action figure becomes so popular that he creates his own lore, but that’s exactly what happened when LJN created this guy and he eventually found his way into the cartoon, and thus the rich fiction of TSR’s official canon. If you happen to just want one figure that represents this line so well, be sure to pick up Warduke. He’s surprisingly easy to find in great condition and even with his weapons, he shouldn’t set you back that much treasure.

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.

Yes, its Friday and thank God for that, because if it weren’t for Vintage Vault, I’d be shit out of content. The stores’ toy shelves are still bare of anything new or interesting and we’re hovering in the Summer duldrums, waiting for new product to launch. So, today we’re checking out another AD&D figure by LJN and for the first time I actually have a cardback to show off!

And there it is! Today we’re looking at the Good Fighter Elf, who just so happens to be named Melf. Yes, Melf the Elf. Its unfortunate. The front of the cardback has a stripe on the top corner declaring him to be one of the good guys. There’s a nice piece of artwork showing off the character beside the bubble, and under that, there’s an informative blurb about the Elf Fighter. Its not so much a bio of the character, but more details about the race and class, which I always thought was cool. As a tie-in line, LJN really worked hard to keep these toys authentically linked to the AD&D lore, and I always appreciated that.

The back panel of the card shows a pretty cool illustration of some of the figures and beasts in action. You can see the Northlord Barbarian and Strongheart the Paladin, both figures we’ve already looked at. You can also see some guys we haven’t gotten to yet. The bottom shows some rather poor quality photos of some of the PVC monsters, although oddly enough doesn’t tell you who they are!

Moving on to the figure itself, Melf has always been a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, he is a very cool figure, with some exceptional detail for such a little guy and some very cool gear. On the other hand, his head sculpt always bothered me, because it just doesn’t seem like an Elf to me, and that’s why I always used him as a Half-Elf. His noggin is just too big and meaty and he looks like there’s some human mixed in there. Apart from that the head sculpt is very nicely detailed. You can clearly make out his pointed ears, flowing blonde hair and his headband. Unfortunately, it just looks like he got punched in the face a bunch of times. He certainly looks nothing like the face illustrated on the cardback.

The rest of the figure, on the other hand, looks pretty close to the artwork. The most important thing to know about this guy is that he is tiny. Nonetheless, LJN spared no expense on the sculpt. The chainmail on his arms and legs is all textured with a nice criss-cross pattern. His tunic features armor discs and he has a little belt with a pouch sculpted on it. Even his tiny boots feature some loving details. The paintwork is equally impressive, with light blue for the chainmail, brown for the tunic and boots, and yellow for his armor accents. The whole ensemble is finished off with a softgoods cape and high collar that attaches around his neck with a little silver string.

In addition to great detail, Melf comes with some cool weapons. He has a bow and quiver of arrows, a sword, and a shield. The sword is pretty standard with a yellow hilt and a leaf-shaped blade, all of which is as long as Melf is tall. [So, obviously, my alcohol addled mind missed it, but as an astute reader has correctly pointed out, I shot this with Warduke’s sword. I’ll have to dig through some baggies of parts to find Melf’s original sword, but I’ll get to it eventually. As always, folks, thanks for keeping me on my toes! -FF] The shield is very well done with a sculpted wood pattern on the front face, sculpted rivets, a sculpted emblem, and a yellow border. The bow and quiver are sculpted in one piece, and while he really can’t hold them in an action pose you can sling it on his shoulder or have him leaning on it.

Despite his size, Melf features the same basic articulation as nearly all the AD&D figures. You get ball joints in the shoulders and hips, and a head that turns left and right.

Melf is by no means a perfect figure. It should be really hard to get past that head of his. But everything else about this figure is executed so well, that I can be pretty forgiving. He’s always been an iconic looking figure and one that looks like he jumped right out of the pages of one of Gygax’s player manuals. His gear is well thought out and fun, and he looks great when displayed in an adventuring party with the other good guys of the bunch.

[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.