Unboxing my Childhood! Tower of the Night/ Dragonriders of the Styx!

Oh man... talk about a nostalgia overload. I loved these plastic playsets as a kid.
In fact, you could draw a direct correlation behind my infatuation with monthly patreon bundles to this. It's almost one and the same. Figures, scenery, accessories... it's all there.
Much like the Marx playsets of my dad's childhood, these sets sprung up after Dungeons and Dragons had made its mark on popular culture. I can recall seeing all sorts of similar generic fantasy sets of plastic toys out there as a young one- AND I LOVED IT ALL.
You guys have any names or memories of similar toys? By all means let me know!

[@thepardoner2059]

Beautiful set! Those pig-faced orcs are wonderful!

[@MonsterPainter]

Super nostalgia overload!

[@elfbait3774]

MEMORIES! I had so many of these sets. These were my introduction to miniatures before I started buying them in metal. I am pretty sure these toys go back to the late seventies because I have distinct pre-D&D memories of these and I started playing D&D in '79. I'm sure they stuck around with me into my early D&D games because that's what we did in the day.

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

I'm sure some of this stuff was out there earlier than when I first encountered it. I've long wondered about a game/hobby shop that once existed where my current doctor's office is. It must have been back around the time the D&D show was on TV, so probably '82 or '83? I remember getting some puffy D&D stickers that day, but being mesmerized by the SHELVES of painted miniatures as well as all the unpainted stuff. Naturally by the time I went back they were closed. What were all those figures? Where did they come from? Was there really that large of minis market that early on?

[@joeld9038]

One does not simply pick up the wizard without doing a wizard impression! Fantastic video!

[@OsoBlanco17]

I subbed just for the fact you busted that bad boy open for us to see! Very cool video. I got a lot of cool hand me down toys when I was little from my older cousins. Always wondered where the plastic demons that fought my green army men came from. The best part was the terrain which was actually a wooden briefcase that once held several wine bottles securely. So the curved wood inside provided cover for my troops and was a make shift play set for my imagination.

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

That's the best kind of play! On very rare and special days at school I often open my cabinet of curiosities for my students to enjoy for the last 30 minutes or so of the day. It's filled with all sorts of random toys just like that, and I refuse to ever explain anything about what any of it is to the kids, and it is so unbelievably interesting watching them come up with their own complicated and convoluted plots to what they're doing, completely unattached to any preconceived IP or brand. Like I said, it's the best kind of play. Especially for kids who are so digitally dependent.

[@JC-fd9zt]

Yes! We collected the Dragonriders of the Styx action figures too 🙂 And we had the Dragonriders of the Styx giant 1/32 scale playset too… so influenced by D&D, you’re right 👏🏼

[@bromide01]

I loved these! I had the original Dragonriders big box set, Fires of Shandar, and Forest of Doom.

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

I wish this style of toys existed when my kids were little. They totally would've been into it!

[@smoothbrush4722]

Nice childhood memories

[@chaosincarna]

At a very early age I worked in my father's upholstery business. And he was a strong believer in if you work, you get paid (not much, but you get paid lol). I was the only kid by age 10 who could afford whatever I wanted on a whim. And I got hooked on the miniatures with Heroquest. And I spiraled in to Warhammer Quest, Dark World, etc etc. I feel ya on your nostalgia kick. Been recollecting all of those games again now. It's great getting my loved ones to try these games for the first time and watching how much they enjoy it too.

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

I can see a very real connection between these and picking up games like Heroquest. I too went down that pipeline and owned all those games.

[@mightyeroc7284]

Had the Fires of Shandaar and the creepy Forest one. Never able to find Tower of Night! That's a great find!!

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

While I have no recollection of what happened to the volcano and fire people, I can remember many blissful afternoons using the playmat from the forest set for years after all the figures disappeared.

[@charlesentrekin140]

Airfix had two sets Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham sets. They were in 172nd and I love the hell out of those.

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

The 1/72 sets always tempted me, but my dad hated the rubbery material they often used (often resulting in not being able to get a decent paint job on them, which was what he enjoyed), so we never really had any. They certainly gave you a lot of value for your money though!

[@TheEr910]

I remember those. Never bought any. I was more into WWII army men. I used to pay about $3.40 for a G I Joe figure.

[@ivane5110]

I didn't have this playset, but one made by these people. Think they even used the same figures. Loved all the vynil matt playsets we had. And even though this objectively doesn't compare to Grayskull or all the other iconic 80s playsets, the beauty of its simplistic decorations was that it inspired kids to draw or cut out their own from magazines. And if your crazy for wanting to paint these then so was I; painted some knights and wizards and I think a "titan" or two a Frost Giants and as a redbearded Thor. Not my finest work (paint would stay on), but fun all the same.

[@scockery]

These can go for good money now. I had Fires of Shandar, Dungeons of Castlelon and the big Dragonriders of the Styx set, and a few header bags, which were 20 figures each (Heroes and villains had different bags, but the heroes bag had some giants/titans/vikings who were depicted on package art as villains). The cheesy artwork is a large part of the appeal to me. It's a basic old school story book quality. This was before fantasy got over-detailed with spikey armor and elves with 7 inch tall ears. Apparently some versions of Tower of the Night have red ogres instead of Orcs. What ruined DFC was getting sued by TSR for stealing AD&D designs, for the Orcs, Worm-Men and Flaming Men (Lava Men, who looked like AD&D's shambling mounds). DFC lost and they literally cut the faces off the Orcs and Worm-Men molds, and issued them like that, then later some molds disappeared entirely as the last items were just variants of the header bags with decreasing quality released by either a different company or DFC changed their name. The final releases had degraded so much the weapons of figures were remade, pikes became pitchforks, long sword a scimitar, magic wand had a ball on the end.

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

Always fun to hear what happened with some of this stuff. I adored these sets as a kid, and probably are why I'm still so fond of the fantasy stuff.

[@anderwood6005]

I'm 45 and I remember having a bunch of these toys when I was a kid.

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

I'm not that far off in age, so let's not both start pretending that was ancient history or anything!

[@Napolitano24]

Sick!!!

[@kingwiku9735]

I remember those dragon riders figures, though I don't recall having any of them as a kid. I think I won an auction for a bunch of random 80's toys YEARS ago, that had a few in it though. I got a lot of D&D figures, and Crystar stuff though. I am a lover of pig faced orks the original d&d toy monopose 'Orcs of the Broken Bone' two pack was my first introduction to orcs of any type, and that line as a whole cemented what I base most monster archetypes on, like Trolls, ogres, minotaurs, etc. I never had this set as a kid, but would have gone nuts with it, if I had. I have fond memories of $5 heman figures, and of course the $1.29 MUSCLE man 4-packs!!

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

You're preaching to the choir! I had a substantial set of the monopose guys as well, often led by Warduke in disposing of those boring good guys!

[@B__C__]

I had The Tower of Night, The Forest of Shadow and all of the WWII ones as well. I may have had the Fires of Shandaar. I recall that some of the fantasy ones were slimy even back then, I think it was mold release agent. Huge G.I.Joe fan too, in part due to Larry Hama's Marvel Comics run.

[@rustedbeetle]

My brother and I had Crossbows and Catapults. Not nearly as many figures, but it did have rubber band powered... well, crossbows and catapults, along with a miniature castle to fire at.

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

We had a basic set of Crossbows & Catapults too. I always wanted the expansions but never found them in person as a kid, like the trojan horse or the giants. One year my Aunt who always got random gifts for us at the holidays ended up getting us an Immortals of Change box. We didn't ask for it, but we certainly appreciated it!

[@rustedbeetle]

@@ObscuritiesinMiniature about 12-15 years ago, I found a stack of a similar game at Toys-R-Us on clearance, and I bought two copies. I don't remember the name, but it was a similar type of disc launching medieval siege tabletop game. My brother lost them in a move, but it was a lot of fun playing it as adults, flinging discs at each other's castles.

[@salahal-din7564]

Nice box. You sould paint, at least a ork just to feel de Nice detail of mini. Thanks 😜👍

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

I agree. I think it needs to happen!

[@beam72]

I had this play set . Got mine at Kay-bee toys

[@vnv125]

Who did the art work for the box?

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

I'd love to know. I don't think I've ever come across that info, which there isn't a while lot of out there on the internet, unfortunately.

[@LonlyYeti0312]

How can we find them? Are they available?

[@christianmonturanoii6539]

My parents had these they show them to me when I was little. I don't know what happened to them are they dungeons and dragons or what ? I used to throw the green snakes 🐍 in the fireplace 🔥 and watch them melt to a liquid lol I had alot of them so I through a few in their not all of them don't know where any of them are now I think we had all of these the pig the dragon wizard

[@justgarrett0]

If you like the monsters from Tome of Beasts and want minis of them, then now is your chance. Effincool Miniatures has a Kickstarter for Kobold Press licensed miniatures. There are animal-folk, dragons, giants, fey, undead, kobolds (including the Swolbold), and more. Check out Kobold Press Bestiary Miniatures: Iconic Races II Catfolk on Kickstarter. ONLY THREE HOURS LEFT TO PLEDGE!!

[@christianmonturanoii6539]

Where the snakes 🐍 aren't they with it

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

I don't recall any snakes in this set, and by snakes I'm assuming you mean the big Naga- like ones with the human faces, right? I think those were included in a different set. The cave one I think. It's been a while, I could be wrong.

[@christianmonturanoii6539]

And the grey ogre with the sword ur missing them

[@ObscuritiesinMiniature]

Ogres were from a different set as well I believe. I know I had some as a kid!