With a cartoon series based on Dungeons & Dragons launching the same year as the toys it seemed like a solid choice – until you realize that none of the main characters in the cartoon show were figures in the action toy line and that the characters from the toy line that did show up in the series were minor characters.Įven with such a glaring misstep TSR, Inc tried their best to develop a host of cross promotional products to help with sales.

Joe line, and Mattel, with it’s Masters of the Universe line, had long proved that doing so could be incredibly lucrative. This wasn’t an unprecedented move in the toy industry as larger toy companies like Hasbro, with it’s G.I. Here we were presented with Bowmarc the Crusader, Deeth the Fighter, Drex the evil Warrior, Grimsword the evil Knight, Hawkler the Ranger, Zorgar the evil Barbarian, Mandoom the good Warrior, and Mettaflame the Fire Giant.Īll of these characters were original for the line. These would be followed up the following year with the truncated series two.

In 1983 LJN Toys, Ltd came out with series one of their D&D “action toys.” In this series the world was introduced to the following characters: Northlord Great Barbarian, the Ogre King, Warduke the Evil Fighter, a Young Male Titan, Elkhorn the Dwarf, Kelek the Wizard, Mercion the Cleric, (Melf) Peralay the Elf Fighter, Ringlerun the Magic-User, Strongheart the Fighter, and Zarak the Half-Orc Assassin/Thief. Which reminds me of the old LJN Toys that came out in the early 80s. It’s been a long time since we saw Dungeons & Dragons books inside a store like Walmart.

Dungeons and dragon races