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| Nagas with and without a face--creepy both ways! |
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| Ogre figures: The perfect touch to any baby shower |
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| Wizards in a few different colors |
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| Light red and dark red lava men |
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| I think these are giants. Or vikings. Or maybe giant vikings. |
As I blogged about
before, a company called DFC (Dimensions for Children) released a number of fantasy-themed playsets in the early 1980s, with names such as "Dragonriders of the Styx," "Fires of Shandarr" and "The Forest of Doom." Each playset came with an assortment of monster and knight mini figures so kids could pass the time staging epic battles on their living room floors (because, you know, the internet didn't exist yet).
In my time collecting many of these figures, one of the most interesting things I've noticed is the color and sculpt variations of the different characters. Whether the original playset figures or bootlegs released later, these figures came in a lot of different, and often very random, colors. Take, for example, the two ogres pictured above. Apparently someone thought it would make sense to release them in baby pink and baby blue, as if they were party favors for a baby shower or something. Of course it makes no sense, but I do love that it happened!
Another interesting variation is with the naga sculpt (first picture above). Aside from the color differences, certain releases of this figure had no face. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
DFC figures are often pretty cheap-looking, but in my opinion they are appealing and collectible in large part due to these unique variations. Hopefully I'll continue to add more DFC oddities to my collection.
