Strongheart the Paladin, Dungeons and Dragons Original Good Guy

If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, the LJN Advanced Dungeons and Dragons line from the early 1980's is one of the best toy lines ever produced!! I've written about Warduke enough:

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE WARDUKE GET HIS BUTT KICKED

 

Now we have his nemesis: Strongheart the Good Paladin!!! I love how they qualify the Paladin as "Good".....isn't being Lawful Good an automatic qualification?!?! well maybe not in the 4th edition.

 

Anyway here he is:

This is the non Battle-Matic version that came out in the first series (a switch on his back would move his arm up and down in the second series) and the cape he originally came with is long gone but......this is one heck of a great figure! The detail on him is wonderful, as it is with the entire line! I have to say I always thought he should have came with a shield but that doesn't detract from the figure at all.

 

I would have had a picture of Strongheart fighting Warduke but in my previous posts (in the link above) The Dragonriders of the Styx Black Knight keeps Warduke pretty busy.......

Warduke: a Retrospective; How the Mighty warrior fell.....

WARDUKE: A name that struck fear in all plastic warriors. A figure that was the champion of all young children. His record and legend are well known, but one day he fell from grace in a match that most bloggers felt he would be the easy victor.

How can a warrior so feared and seemingly unbeatable be defeated by The Black Knight from Dragonriders of the Styx? See:  dragonriders-of-styx-black-knight.

Many factors led to this tragic tale:

His long time trainer Kelek died unexpectedly. Kelek was the father figure Warduke needed in his life, and when the wizard passed away, Warduke had no grounding influence.

His marriage to Skylla was by most peoples accounts the beginning of the end. Her domineering ways and her penchant for spending his treasure at an alarming rate was weighing down his psyche and forcing him to Dungeon Delve at an alarming rate.

Then enter his new advisor: Ogre King. By most accounts he was only using Warduke for his profit, taking most in fees and high percentages. The people Ogre King surrounded Warduke were only their to prop him up so "The King of all D&D" could reap in the profit. His catchphrase "Only in Blackmoor" summed up this greedy promoter: only an ogre like this could run rampant in a setting like this!

We know what happens next....... see: warduke-vs.-black knight

Warduke fell in a match that should have propelled him to Immortal status. But instead his demons and the people he surrounded himself with drug him down.

We can only hope he doesn't continue to spiral out of control. Maybe "Get back to Basics." See if Ringlerun would take him in and reshape his career. Only time will tell.....

UPDATE: Warduke spotted with a new tribal facial tattoo. This new move doesn't look good for the once mighty champion getting his life back together......

:)

Dungeons and Dragons WARDUKE TSR ...ITS WARDUKE !!!!

This time around its an ICONIC figure from an under appreciated line. In 1983 TSR produced for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons line of figures....WARDUKE!!!!

This figure RULES!!

One look into that helmets Red Glare invited paralysing FEAR!!

How many other figures fell to this Warriors steel blade cannot be determined.

If you had these figures you probably had a Warduke. He was pretty easy to get compared to the rest of the line but he oozes coolness. This entire line is FRIKIN AWESOME!! I was a D&D player and the fact that there were figures to go along was great.....but the fact that they are some the greatest figures ever produced was the reason that I played the heck out these and had almost all of em....even the chase ones, which for some reason the CVS at the COMO Mall would always seem to magically stock....almost like a magical force was behind it !! Across from CVS was the Waldenbooks I would buy my modules from. Hmmmm.........