“Forgotten Lore” is my Raven-inspired title for a feature in which I examine some unreleased action figure. Pictures are from Raving Toy Maniac.
One of my favorite PC games ever is Rune, a Viking-themed, 3D 3rd-person action game that came out long before 3rd-person action games like God of War were in vogue. In Rune the player takes on the role of Ragnar, a Viking whose village is slaughtered by Conrack, another Viking who serves the evil Loki.
In the course of the game you go on a tour of the Nordic underworld of legend, encountering trolls, dwarves (who are much truer to their original mythological origins, being small, dark, ugly gnome-creatures) and other beasts.
Naturally, I wanted action figures from the game. And in one of the more frustrating moments in my collecting career, I came very close to getting one. The short-lived toy company “Radioactive Clown” had plans to make a Ragnar figure, and even got to the prototype stage with both Ragnar and Conrack in all his anachronistic plate mail glory.
But Radioactive Clown (whose eponymous mascot’s “wicked awesome” persona prefigured our own Matty) decided to produce Unreal figures first, then went out of business (I assume) and the Rune figures never saw the light of day.
If you have any more suggestions for potential Forgotten Lore features, let me know! Next time: Ra from Stargods.
Ragnar Bhaalspawn
I think Ragnar looks a little bit younger and with less beard. This viking warrior looks awesome too. btw I used the name "Ragnar " everywhere back in the time… awesome character!!!
Poe
@Drunken Fist: I still have a very distinct memory of what it sounded like when you hacked an enemy's head off in Rune. One of my favorite little bits was how you could use a dismembered head, arm, or leg to beat on other enemies.
Drunken Fist
I had forgotten all about this game! I've never been much for playing games on the PC, but one of my friends had this at his house one day when I went over, and I totally took over the game! I wound up going all the way through during the course of a couple of weeks. All the norse mythological elements were right up my alley. I never knew about these figures; it's a shame they were never produced. They look quite good, even by today's standards!
HUSS
You might still be able to get your Ragnar fix, Poe. Are you familiar with the "Dragonriders Of The Styx" line? I believe they were available in the late 70s/early 80s. Anyway, there was an action figure in this series called "Ragnar The
Warrior," who looked kind of like Conan or something, but he was wearing a helmet that looked similar to the one this lost figure is wearing. It would probably be an easy custom to transform him into something that looks more like the character mentioned above.
Dead Man Walking
Wow. Beautiful figure. Note all the sculpting. Shame it was never made.
dayraven
dude, RA is what got me back into toy collecting. DAMMIT that figure looked awesome!!
PrfktTear
Excellent idea for a new feature! This was great, looking forward to more! Ragnar looks great… too bad he was never made!