LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Toys
I think it’s safe to say that the Dungeons & Dragons game has never been as popular as it was in the early to mid-eighties. Besides all of the game books, including “Choose Your Own Adventure”-style books that even kids who weren’t playing the AD&D game could enjoy, the game was getting mentions in movies, mentions in the news, candy (mentioned here), a cartoon on CBS (currently very cheap on Amazon*), and even a series of toys by LJN. And based on what I’ve found online and in a few books it was a much larger line of toys than I ever realized. I remember seeing these in stores when I was young, but how I didn’t wind up with at least a few of the monsters is a mystery that I’ll never unravel.
Turning to the Books
And I’m not talking about the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game books. There are two toy reference books in my collection that have decent photos and information on the LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons toys — Action Figures of the 1980s* by John Marshall and Totally Tubular ’80s Toys* by Mark Bellomo (reading post here) — and both of them are worth tracking down if you’re at all interested in toys of the eighties.
- Action Figures of the 1980s* – A dozen decent-sized photos — including some packaged shots — that give you an okay look at some of the standard and bendy action figures in the line. The text is light (just a few paragraphs) but gives enough information to make searching for info on the line online a little easier.
- Totally Tubular ’80s Toys* – A much better look at the toys, with three pages devoted to the line and roughly five times as much type as in Marshall’s book. That Fortress of Fangs playset always looks cool and Bellomo gives a decent description of the playset in boxed text; overall, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Bellomo is a fan of this line. He says some great things and closes with:
Although short-lived, LJN’s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons action figure line is worthy to stand alongside any other action figure line of the 1980s with fierce pride. Compare these toys with Hasbro’s G.I. Joe, Transformers, or Kenner’s Star Wars, and you’ll find they hold up quite well.
Turning to the LJN Catalog
As much fun as it is to look at toy books that give an overview and a few opinions on an older toy line it’s even more fun to leap back thirty years and look at the toy catalog. And that’s where Plaid Stallions comes in with the 1983 LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons toy catalog. What appears to be a ten page saddle-stitched catalog shows us action figures, single-piece toys, mounts for the figures to ride, concept art for monster toys, the Fortress of Fangs playset, and even “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Puffy Stickers.” How could any child of the eighties resist all of this awesome fun?
Turning to the Web
After that fabulous catalog it’s time to return to the digital age. LJN’s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons toys actually get some good coverage online, with everything from collections of photos to reviews to fond looks back spread across sites, blogs, and forums. Run a search for “ljn advanced dungeons & dragons toys” and you’ll find a ton of info; I’m gonna take a few moments to single out three of the pages I think you should review if you’ve got any interest at all in these toys.
- Toy Archive – The best collection of photos and information on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons toys that I’ve managed to find online, the page at toyarchive.com breaks down into separate pages covering action figures, monsters, PVC and bendy toys, knock offs, and even info on prototypes. The prototype page even has an unreleased playset . . . as if one awesome playset wasn’t enough for the line.
- Action Figure Insider – Written by Cantina-Dan and posted in late 2009 this page shares one collector’s love for the LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons toys. I could have sworn I linked to this post before but searches here at battlegrip.com aren’t revealing any links. Great pics — including one of the author with the Fortress of Fangs playset when he was a kid — round out the post and you’ve gotta read this post if only for the comments.
- Toys You Had – This site mirrors images from the toyarchive.com AD&D pages but is worth scanning because it lumps several images together on a single page. This is definitely the weaker of the three pages I’m sharing with you and appears on the list last for a reason.
Turning to the Future
The Dungeons & Dragons brand is now owned by one of the largest toy companies in the world, Hasbro, and there’s no sign of new Dungeons & Dragons toys. Just imagine how awesome it would be if Hasbro sunk their resources — including their TV network, The Hub — into a new line of Dungeons & Dragons toys and a new cartoon. Taking everything they’ve learned about 3.75-inch action figures with the G.I. Joe toys of the last five or six years I’m confident that Hasbro could blow us all away with new toys.
But such a line appears unlikely to happen. Wizards of the Coast, the Hasbro subsidiary that publishes the Dungeons & Dragons game, is focused on a new edition of the game and unless there’s some secretive plans for an animated series or a movie toys don’t look to be part of anyone’s current plans. And that’s unfortunate. Fantasy adventuring can be a popular genre, and I suspect that an animated series — or even a well-crafted animated film — would appeal to kids and could help make a Dungeons & Dragons line quite popular.
Turning Back to the Past
So that sends us back thirty years to the LJN line if we want any Dungeons & Dragons toys. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons series was quite impressive — find more photos of the line at Virtual Toy Chest — and today the toys demand a bit higher price than I would have ever expected. The selection at Big Island Toys, a site I’ve never ordered from and cannot speak on, is extensive and gives you some idea of what you may have to spend to buy some of the older toys. eBay is very likely the best place to search for the toys if you want them.
Turning to the End
LJN produced several Advanced Dungeons & Dragons toys and if the links I’ve shared here are not enough to entertain you then there’s always the Dungeons & Dragons Toys group at Flickr, reviews at FigureFan Zero (tagged at the site), and as many sites as you wish to search for “LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Toys.” Good luck, and don’t fall so deeply under the spell that you start chasing down too many of the toys for your collection.
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Wow! I am surprised In all my years of RPG I have never heard of these before. I would have loved having these.
@Glen – It’s kinda one of those “forgotten” lines that many people either never heard of or lost years ago. But enough people do remember the toys that some of the demand some high dollars. I hope you clicked through and checked some of the archive pics.
Hey, thanks for the shout out. As always, I really enjoyed your article.
As a kid, I was obsessed with all things Gary Gygax. I used to sit in the back of class and design new dungeons and modules. Naturally I loved these figures. I still think the Dragonne is one of the most beautiful toys produced in the 80’s.
Nearly all the AD&D figures in my collection now are replacements because my originals got beat to hell in the sandbox or backyard. I’m still hunting for a new Fortress of Fangs, some of the PVC monsters, and better, more complete, versions of some of my figures like Grimsword, Elkhorn and Zorgar.
This is a fun toy line to collect because a lot of it is very accessible, even for people without big budgets and so long as you aren’t a completest. One of the crazy things about it is how many of what I would consider the best figures (Northlord Barbarian, Warduke, Kelek, Strongheart) are all easily obtainable and affordable on the second hand market, whereas the crazier and more goofy designs (Metaflame) go for mad cash. And don’t get me started on Tiamat… I will own him again one day!!!
I had the Fortress of Fangs playset. It was MUCH cooler than Castle Greyskull (treasure and a lava moat!). Unfortunately, in high school, my mother insisted it go to the curb because it “looked ugly”. I convinced her to keep it and in my frosh year at college she sold it at a garage sale for what she assured me was a “couple of bucks”. She always hated that thing.
FoF now goes for hundreds of dollars.
D and D got murdered by the other lines that were giant at the time.
I have to ask a contact of mine why they didn’t do the kids from the toon. That seems like the most logical thing they missed.
I still have warduke, strongheart, hook horror, and griffon. They still look good. Fun, quality toys. Way better than powerlords. 🙂
Oh wow, by griffon I mean dragone. I also had but lost the first version of ogre king. He was my invid/zentradi stand in. I forgot where he came from. 😀
@FigureFan Zero – Happy to share the links! I figured anyone interested in this line would want a peek at your reviews. Please post more as you get time.
@Jay – Ouch! That’s one hell of a playset and it’s gotta be painful to have owned it and lost it.
The smart parents store all that stuff away and then eBay it! “Sorry, dear, but I threw those away years ago. No, don’t mind these boxes I’m shipping.”
@John K – If you uncover anything about the cartoons kids/toys I’d love to hear it.
@Openchallenge – John K was just saying on Twitter yesterday how he’d like to see this line come back with Glyos joints. I suspect the AD&D license would be a hell of a lot more than Powerlords.
I have the PVC Shambling Mound… I got it when I was a kid at a second hand toy shop. I never knew what it was but he fought everyone from He-Man to Turtles.
@prfkttear – Sounds like the perfect way to use toys to me!
Hi Philip,
I agree, a new D&D toy line would be cool…Hasbro currently owns the rights to it, yet they haven’t done anything with it.
@John K. I’m looking forward to hearing what your buddy says–I always wondered why the cartoon and toys didn’t match up either. A few figures of the show WERE produced, but for some reason only in Europe (I have a few of them). They were PVC and non-articulated though.
I could be mis-remembering, but I thought I heard that Gygax had left TSR offices to work on the show in California and so there could have been two distinctly different efforts going on simultaneously–GG working on the show and someone back in WI working on the toys. A few characters from the LJN line did make it on to the show (Strongheart, Warduke and Kelek for sure). The LJN characters also made it into a few kids books and one adventure module “Quest for the Heartstone”.
@Phil, INDEED. And you better bet I bring it up everytime I go home! 😉
@Dana – There are days I think Hasbro doesn’t know they own Dungeons & Dragons.