In 1983 toy company, LJN, released a line of action figures inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. The toys weren’t directly from any particular version of the role playing game. They were more like archetypes of characters you could find in the game.
There was the heroic paladin Strongheart, a Dwarf named Elkhorn, a good and an evil wizard, an elf warrior, and a half-orc. They were all very cool 3.5” articulated figures with good detail. But of them all there was one that stood out as possibly the coolest action figure ever released, possibly even cooler than Kenner’s Boba Fett.
His name was Warduke.
Warduke looked to be straight out of a Frank Frazetta illustration, like his famous Death Dealer. With a dark blue helmet that had dragon like wings sprouting from the sides, a single arm and leg covered in some kind of matching blue chain mail, and iron gauntlet on one hand, and both a skull on his girded loins and a bigger skull making up the entire front of his shield, as a kid we knew Warduke wasn’t fucking around!
I loved this figure, and still do. I was lucky enough to have owned him and the now rare Fortress of Fangs. The fortress was a large two level playset that appears to be a snake’s head. The first floor is made up of a lake of lava surrounding a treasure chest. There are stalagmites and stalactites that add to the fangs part of the name.
A set of stairs leads up to the second floor where there are trap doors, a falling axe, a wall of spikes to crush intruders and a large winged demon guarding it all. I posed Warduke in front of one of the eyes for this painting.
Below is the time lapse video from painting g Warduke.