Fire Giant Archives - Vintage RPG

Dragonne (1984)

Stu Horvath — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Merry Christmas folks!

It seemed appropriate to end this week with a toy I’d have loved to have found under my Christmas tree: the Dragonne from the 1983 Dungeons & Dragons toy line from LJN.

As far as the Dragonne goes as a D&D monster, I’ve never quite vibed with it. It is a cross between a brass dragon and a lion. It has a fierce roar that paralyzes its opponents. I suspect something punny is going on, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.

Anyway, lukewarm on the D&D monster in general, but this toy is red hot. I mean LOOK AT IT. What a great sculpt – the paws, the mouth, the tail. And it is big! A primo toy from the period, far better looking than the Tiamat, and easier to find.

The post Dragonne (1984) appeared first on Vintage RPG.

Ringlerun (1983)

Stu Horvath — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

This is Ringlerun, the good wizard, from the 1983 LJN Dungeons & Dragons toy line and the closest thing I’ve got to a Santa Claus toy. He’s the second bald, bearded action figure in the line, along with the evil sorcerer Kelek.

Ringlerun is one of the handful of LJN toys with cloth clothing. He’s also one of the few that appear regularly in other merchandise like story books and those play-and-read records I posted a while back. And, you might be surprised to learn (I was certainly surprised when I realized) that he’s a pretty famous cover boy, fronting the 1983 orange spine Players Handbook in a painting by Jeff Easley.

The post Ringlerun (1983) appeared first on Vintage RPG.

Bugbear (1984)

Stu Horvath — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

This is the bugbear figure from the 1983 LJN line of molded PVC Dungeons & Dragons toys. I never really took a close look at this figure, mostly because I appreciate the way the curve of his club matches the curve of his arm, and that gives the toy a sense of imminent violence that I appreciate. However, just now, looking at these photos, it struck me that it sure looks like he’s got a massive dong. I sent the photo to four people, all of whom immediately commented to that effect (my wife’s reaction was the best: “lol, big peen.”) Now, if you look at the card, which I dug up on Google, you can see the illustration clearly intends it to be a sword dangling from his belt. But the end result…does not look like a sword. As Darren M. A. Calvert said when I posted this on Twitter, “Making his sword/scabbard the same color as his fur certainly is…a choice they made.” I don’t know what amazes me more: that back in 1983 LJN was like “Eh, no one is gonna notice” or that it took me nearly 40 years to notice.

The post Bugbear (1984) appeared first on Vintage RPG.

Mettaflame (1984)

Stu Horvath — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Christmas is coming, and who doesn’t want to find a toy under the tree? Even if it is a mean old fire giant like Mettaflame here.

Mettaflame is one of the later LJN Dungeons & Dragons action figures, hitting store shelves in 1984. He’s a “battle master,” which means he’s got a switch in his back that swings his arm. He can also shoot the (delicate plastic) emblem off his shield at folks.

He’s pretty obviously modeled off Trampier’s fire giant illustration – the helmet is a dead giveaway – and is maybe the only toy in the entire action figure line that took clear inspiration from an existing piece of D&D art. As with most of the line, he’s got a ridiculous amount of detail. He’s also got a pretty rad color scheme.

The post Mettaflame (1984) appeared first on Vintage RPG.