1983 LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons catalog

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In 1982, LJN toys beat out rival toymake Mego for the rights to produce toys based on the popular TSR role play game "Dungeons and Dragons" and a great underrated series of toys was born. The LJN D&D line was sort of a grown up version of Masters of the Universe with it's Elves, Wizards and Orcs populated a fun middle earth environment. Sadly, the line didn't fare well, most likely due to then strong opposition to the game itself and it's themes.


Despite being kicked out of my sole D&D game when I was 12 (I didn't really "get" role playing and decided to instead be an ***) I really dug these toys and bought much of the first wave of figures. Click on the images below to see larger pages with descriptions:







Click Here for the 1983 LJN Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Catalog

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[Werewolf]

Love the game and the toys. It irks me to no end that Hasbro sits on the rights to this and doesn't make new action figures.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I had all of those. they were so cool

[Falstaff13]

I remember liking the idea of the smaller figurines but never got any of them. I got a few when they first came out and then got Zarak and Northlord on clearance at a Super Dollar that was going out of business. I never found the playset but wanted it.
Were all of these made, or are some just concept art?

[samurainoir]

I was always kind of baffled why there wasn't more ties from the toyline to the cartoon show... that's what the kids watching that show would have wanted, since they would be too young to play the RPG where much of the toyline came from.

[Janson]

These toys are awesome. Love the Warduke and Strongheart toys, used Northlord as Thor from the Incredible Hulk TV movie as a kid. Battlematc action was born in this line and then used for the Thundercats.
Samurainoir, totally agree. Never understood why they didn't make any of the make characters from the cartoon besides Tiamat. As kids, everyone in the neighborhood freaked out when the Warduke episode aired.

[BOTZWANA]

What do you mean Hasbro sits on the rights to these? I thought wizkids or some other company made really cool D&D miniatures in the past few years.

[Werewolf]

What do you mean Hasbro sits on the rights to these? I thought wizkids or some other company made really cool D&D miniatures in the past few years.

Hasbro owns Wizards of the Coast. Warduke did make it into the D&D miniatures game but none of the other characters.

[ctc]

>I was always kind of baffled why there wasn't more ties from the toyline to the cartoon show

The cartoon came at a weird time. The game wasn't considered kid stuff yet, and the protests about how evil it was were still in full swing so there was a bit of a stigma attached. Fans of the game were turned off by the show, which really didn't capture the spirit of things. (So.... only HALF the party has weapons?)

>Warduke did make it into the D&D miniatures game

....and the 3rd edition RPG. He's also the head of the 8" Gang of Ultimate Evil:

I think we all saw this coming.... - Mego Talk

Don C.

[samurainoir]

The cartoon came at a weird time. The game wasn't considered kid stuff yet, and the protests about how evil it was were still in full swing so there was a bit of a stigma attached. Fans of the game were turned off by the show, which really didn't capture the spirit of things. (So.... only HALF the party has weapons?)

Yeah, it seems as if the Toyline didn't really service either the teen/college demographic that played the game, or the kid's market very well.

As cool as the line was looking back, this is prior to the Nerd Hummel/Collectible market of the nineties so you didn't have the actual D&D players buying them to put on the shelf for the most part... although I guess they really were big into the metal miniatures right? But they were more like tokens in the game weren't they?

As a kid, I would have loved the characters in the tv show represented as toys... as lame as they were looking back, I do think they did it right in that they created a metaphor for the game by having a bunch of regular kids cross over from the "real" world and take on the attributes of RPG characters. About all they could have really gotten away with on Saturday morning back then.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I had a friend who had some of these. I recall liking how colorful they were. The paint-ops on these were way ahead of their time.

The same friend had some of the "Other World" and "Dragonriders of the Styx" figures too. I guess he just gravitated more to that, and I stuck with more traditional fare, like He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers, and of course, Super Heroes.

Chris

[Falstaff13]

I was 8-10 when these toys were made, but I had an older friend who did play the game. I remember his getting both the plastic miniatures (do I remember rightly that Kelek was made with a cloth robe for the small version?) to use in the game and the figures, which he and his brother played with. I can remember him talking in terms of there being three lines--miniatures to use with the games, 3 3/4" on scale with GI Joe (which his brother collected), and 5" on scale with He-Man. I don't know that they really worked quite like that, but I always merged my toys anyway.

So were the steeds actually made?

[acrovader]

A few years ago, I bought the first series from some kid on ebay who was selling his MOM's collection. The figures were complete and in excellent condition. I had some of these as a kid.. Warduke being my favorite along with the Orc King. I remember when these hit Kay-bee. Warduke really caught my eye, with his blue helmet, no face, red eyes. There was also some rubber monsters I got (and still have). I always wanted the Fortress of Fangs (I might pick up one this summer). I remember wanting the FoF one Christmas, and asking for it, but never got it.

[acrovader]

I had a friend who had some of these. I recall liking how colorful they were. The paint-ops on these were way ahead of their time.

The same friend had some of the "Other World" and "Dragonriders of the Styx" figures too. I guess he just gravitated more to that, and I stuck with more traditional fare, like He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers, and of course, Super Heroes.

Chris

Yeah, these were really colorful toys. The colors really made a difference.

[ctc]

>it seems as if the Toyline didn't really service either the teen/college demographic that played the game, or the kid's market very well.

Yeah. I can remember a number of angry letters and editorials in White Dwarf magazine at the time complaining about how the toys and cartoon cheapened the game. The cartoon I can understand; the toys were a little different 'cos they were VERY accurate to the game. AND they were very well done, although some of the later ones started getting gimmicky.

>although I guess they really were big into the metal miniatures right? But they were more like tokens in the game weren't they?

You... don't know? That's it! Hand in your nerd permit.

The metal minis came first: people had been playing wargames for centuries wherein each piece represented a troop in your army, and there were rules for moving them and how they'd fight.... D&D came from this hobby; first as "Chainmail," which was a wargame with fantasy elements. It was later turned into the first RPG when the idea shifted from fielding an army to running a single character.

>I do think they did it right in that they created a metaphor for the game by having a bunch of regular kids cross over from the "real" world and take on the attributes of RPG characters.

Well.... as a kid I was horrified by the cartoon 'cos it was so far removed from the game. I was surprised they did the show this way though; considering the idea that players of the game would lose their sense of reality and end up playingt the game "for real" was a serious concern at the time. (Thank you Tom Hanks....) For example:

Dark Dungeons

If anything, the cartoon encapsulated a lot of PARENTS fears over the game. (I smell a dark, gritty reboot....)

Don C.