5. 1983 Imperial Toys Catalog (and bootleg D&D toys)
Just about everybody likes at least one of the 57 varieties of Dungeons & Dragons. So do I! But as with other ubiquitous classics, I’m not really sure it is worth anyone’s time to spill more ink over the first RPG. The game’s ubiquity made for some interesting, D&D-flavored pop cultural detritus in the 80s though, and that’s a constant topic of fascination for me. Because of a variety of tidal currents – the popularity of the game itself, the controversies surrounding the game, and a broader moment of popularity for the fantasy genre thanks to films like Conan The Barbarian – D&D products were a ripe target for knock-offs. The most notable is the Dragonriders Of The Styx line of toys, produced by a Hong Kong company called Dimensions for Children (DFC). Two of their little plastic monsters – a pig-faced orc, and a human-headed serpent called a naga – were exact reproductions of illustrations from the Monster Manual (1977) and TSR, the publisher of D&D, took exception to this. Eager to avoid a lawsuit, DFC appeased TSR by altering the toys so their faces were entirely, creepily featureless.
Imperial Toys was less obvious in their IP theft. Another Hong Kong manufacturer, they supplied American five-and-dimes with cheap toys. They had a number of fantasy-themed toys – swords, sliding puzzles, monster toys – that were clearly meant to confuse kids into thinking they were buying a Masters Of The Universe, Clash Of The Titans or Dungeons & Dragons toy. I fell for this by buying a two-headed dragon that I nevertheless cherished. This 1983 distro catalog has several pages dedicated to their Dragons & Daggers line – truly a rare delicacy. Even better, that cover features dragons lifted from the same Monster Manual. The bad paste job of the second head on the red dragon is just divine schlock. It took me years to find this stupid catalog (sometimes the rarest things are the ones people care the least about) and it remains one of my all-time favorites in my collection.
