Conan the Barbarian Action Figures Identification Tool with Pictures

The early years of Conan the Barbarian stories

While only 17 of his stories had been published before his passing away, L. Sprague de Camp set out to bring the entirety of his stories to publication when he began managing the license in 1967. With the backing of Lancer Books, Conan the Barbarian had a new wave of popularity beginning in 1966. De Camp touched up and edited the older stories and introduced brand-new tales to the franchise. With the help of Lin Carter and others, he unearthed previously unpublished stories and completed many of Howard’s incomplete stories.

At the height of Connan’s revived popularity, Marvel Comics began creating a brand new set of adventures in their comic books. With art from Barry Windsor-Smith and a story from Roy Thomas, the first comic launched a long line of series that lasted for years. This series continued strong for decades, ending in 1993 after 275 issues.

Mego Conan the Barbarian action figure

With Connan’s comic book series running strong, Mego saw it fit to add him to their World’s Greatest Super Heroes toy line. Thus, they created an 8-inch-tall action figure depicting the muscled barbarian. This figure featured both a wild mane of black hair and a faux fur loincloth. Otherwise, this toy came with an axe accessory and a sword in a scabbard on his belt.

The 1982 theatrical movie

All of this built up to one of Connan’s greatest moments to shine in the public eye. In 1982, Arnold Schwarzenegger cemented his place as a leading man when he took on the titular role of Conan the Barbarian. This former Mr. Universe made it look like the comics and stories came to life in the film. The success of this film, directed by John Millius, launched both Connan and Schwarzenegger into stardom.

Thus, Connan quickly returned to theaters in 1984 with the sequel film, Conan the Destroyer. Even though Schwarzenegger reprised his role again, the film did not receive the same fanfare as the original. Still, this sequel film, directed by Richard Fleischer, was successful enough to prompt a spin-off movie, Red Sojna, in 1985.

Remco Conan the Barbarian action figure toy line

In the wake of this movie, Remco created a single action figure of the muscle-bound warrior. This toy seemed to mix the movie’s aesthetics with the Marvel Comics character. It also strongly resembled another barbarian-type character that had been making waves in the toy aisle, He-Man.

Conan in the 1990s

With the final Conan book being published in 1986, the comics concluding in 1993, and the movie series stopping in its tracks after the spin-off, Conan only remained in the public eye through a few television shows in the 90s. During this time, a cartoon series named Conan the Adventurer was produced by Jetlag Productions along with Sunbow. This series ran for two seasons from 1992 to 1993. By the end of its run, it had aired 65 episodes.

Hasbro Conan the Adventurer

Along with this cartoon series, Hasbro took on the license to create their brand of Conan the Adventurer toys. This toy line only had one series that popped up in 1992. There were eight around 7-inch-tall action figures of various characters from the series. These figures included Conan the Adventurer, Conan the Explorer, Conan the Warrior, Greywolf, Ninja Conan, Skulkur, Wrath-Amon, and Zula. Each of these action figures featured special action gimmicks and weapon accessories. Hasbro also produced three horses that Connan could ride. These ridable horses were Demon Hunter, Demon Hunter Battle Stallion, and Thunder Battle Stallion.

Dark Horse comics leads to McFarlane Toys Conan the Barbarian action figures

A new era started when Dark Horse picked up the license and began producing their take on the character in 2003. This era harkened back to Howard’s original stories’ bloody and violent tone. By the time Dark Horse stopped creating Conan comics in 2018, there were 240 issues full of barbarian action.

Dark Horse’s new comic book series inspired McFarlane Toys to create a new generation of toy collectibles. This new toy line had two series. The first series only carried the name Conan the Barbarian, while the second gained the Hour of the Dragon subtitle.

The first series of toys included six six-inch-scale action figures. This series featured Belit, Conan of Cimmeria, Conan the Indomitable, the Fire Dragon, Skifell, and Svadun. McFarlane also produced six action figures for the Hour of the Dragon series. This series featured Conan the Warrior, King Conan of Aquilonia, the Man-Eating Hunter of the Pits, Pallantides of the Black Dragons, Xaltotun the Undead, and Zenobia.

Conan returns to the movie theaters

Conan the Barbarian also returned to movie theaters with this new wave of popularity. This new take on Conan was directed by Marcus Nispel and produced by Millenium Films. This time, Jason Momoa, who later gained even greater fame in Game of Thrones and Aquaman, played the part of the muscle-bound barbarian. Despite the high production value of this film, it did not meet expectations when it came out in 2011.

Even though no new toy lines appeared along with the 2011 movie, Conan would not stay away from the toy aisle forever. In recent years, two companies have produced new waves of Conan toys.

The modern Conan the Barbarian toy lines

Super 7 has produced a series of Conan toys in their Ultimates line, averaging around 7 inches tall. Complimenting these action figures are a few accessories like the Throne of Aquilonia set. Super 7 was also the first company to bring fans of the 1982 film toys of their favorite characters. They have made action figures of various versions of Schwarzenegger’s Conan and Thulsa Doom. They plan to release a 4^th wave of these action figures, featuring King Conan, by winter 2023.

Then, Mezco Toys has also produced a collector-tier 1/12th-scale Conan the Barbarian action figure. This toy set out to reflect the art of one of the most famous artists who has focused on Conan: Frank Franzetta. They have also produced a 1/12th-scale figure of Conan the Conqueror.