I... love... LOVE, I say... LJN's 1983 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons figures, and have waxed poetically time and time again about the sheer frightening awesomeness of Warduke, or the gleaming righteousness of Strongheart, but I have never really talked about any of the other figures in the line, and as I was looking over my AD&D collection the other day, I decided that it was fine time to give a little spotlight to my favorite Good Female Cleric, Mercion.
I scored this Mercion figure after almost two years of trolling eBay for a decent and affordable one (to no success) in a deal made on an action figure forum. Mercion is one of those figures that I never had, but was always aware of, thanks to seeing her on the backs of the cards and once in real life on the shelf of a childhood friend who took far better care of his toys that me.
Now, not to be a total pig here, but let's be honest, she's pretty cute. And there's something to be said about courageous women in full armor.
Okay, now I'm being a total pig. Woot! Woot! Booty shot!
Actually, the main reason I stripped her down was because it was pointed out to me on my Flickr page account that her tunic and cloak appeared to be inside out. But once I got those off (carefully, due to the almost ancient strings holding the cloak on), I was astonished by the killer sculpting of her armor, especially for 1983. I mean, you can see every little strap and buckle, every fold in her glove, every row of woven chainmail. Even her hair seems to be artfully sculpted, far beyond the usual fare served up in the early '80s.
Which brings us to her clothing. Again, I'm a sucker for realistic cloth clothing on figures (I know some people hate it), so you know that I'm simply over the moon that this little figure (she's one of the shortest figures in the line) came with a cloth tunic, tied with a small length of black ribbon for a belt, covered by a silver, sparkling cloak (the sparkle didn't really come through in the picture, but trust me, it's pretty badass looking).
Here she is in her Cleric's tunic...
And now with her cloak and mighty staff of head-bonkingness...
Which it looks like she's going to need, since there seems to be trouble in this part of the forest. PRepare yourself, Mercion!
Anyway, to sum up, despite the fact that I never had this figure (thus lessening my nostalgic ties to it a bit) and the fact that my AD&D collection is made op of frightening foes and larger than life heroes, this little, gentle-faced, sun-haired Cleric somehow manages to stand out of the crowd. A capable young woman in a dangerous world.
But, I think I'm going to call in Strongheart just the same. I mean, that is Warduke approaching.
