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LEGO Dragons


Aanchir

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LEGO has made a LOT of sets containing dragons, especially in recent years. Brickset counts around 70 sets containing dragons, more than half of which were released in just the past five years.

 

So out of curiosity, how many LEGO dragons do you have, and which ones are your favorites? Do you prefer molded dragons like the ones in LEGO Castle, or more brick-built ones like the ones from LEGO Ninjago and LEGO Elves?

 

I'm not sure how many dragons I have from 90s Castle sets, but my twin brother and I have about 25 dragons from the past decade: the Kardas Dragon from LEGO Bionicle, Dragon Bolt from LEGO Hero Factory, twelve dragons from LEGO Ninjago, and eleven dragons from LEGO Elves.

 

My overall favorites are Elandra the Queen Dragon from LEGO Elves and the Master Wu Dragon from LEGO Ninjago. I have a hard time choosing between them. Elandra is bigger and more lifelike, while Master Wu Dragon is more posable.

 

Generally I prefer brick-built dragons over molded ones. A decade ago I might've had a different answer, but today there are lots of great hinge and curved slope pieces for building lifelike, posable LEGO creatures.

 

Feel free to share your thoughts on LEGO dragons!

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I have no Dragon sets, though I did try building an oriental style dragon from Throwbot torsos when I picked up a Throwbot Superset out of noastalgia Earlier this year. Sadly, I forgot there were two types of Throwbot torso, and five of the kind that can be joined into a geared chain isn't enough for a really good serpentine body.

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Just so you know, I'm blinad

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I have no Dragon sets, though I did try building an oriental style dragon from Throwbot torsos when I picked up a Throwbot Superset out of noastalgia Earlier this year. Sadly, I forgot there were two types of Throwbot torso, and five of the kind that can be joined into a geared chain isn't enough for a really good serpentine body.

That was actually a really clever idea though! I wonder if anybody has ever done that…

 

I'm partial to the Vikings dragons from yesteryear. The Nidhogg and Fafnir dragons look great.

The dragons and monsters from the Vikings theme had an interesting aesthetic. Because of using a fair number of Bionicle parts, they had a pretty stylized, almost mechanical look, even though they mostly stuck with parts that had smoother textures and curvier shapes. To me, that stylization almost made them feel like some sort of illustration come to life.

 

I get a sort of similar feeling from many of Nuju Metru's "Dragon Lands" creations, even though those generally don't use Bionicle or constraction parts as extensively, and have a lot more care put into their proportions.

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 I'm partial to the Vikings dragons from yesteryear. The Nidhogg and Fafnir dragons look great.

The dragons and monsters from the Vikings theme had an interesting aesthetic. Because of using a fair number of Bionicle parts, they had a pretty stylized, almost mechanical look, even though they mostly stuck with parts that had smoother textures and curvier shapes. To me, that stylization almost made them feel like some sort of illustration come to life.

 

I get a sort of similar feeling from many of Nuju Metru's "Dragon Lands" creations, even though those generally don't use Bionicle or constraction parts as extensively, and have a lot more care put into their proportions.

 

Actually, the Viking beasts being biomechanical would be a fun twist on things.

Hand-drawn, bespoke avatar by none other than Mushy the Mushroom.

 

a body adrift in water, salt, and sky

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My favorite one would be Dragon Pod /hipster glasses

 

Granted, I owned very few sets with dragons in them over the years, mainly due to my main period of being interested in any kind of Lego that ain't Bionicle was during the years of the dragon drought. That being said, I did actually really like the x-pod line, and the Dragon Pod was pretty cool for a kid back in the day.

 

Other than that, I guess the small purple dragon from that medium sized Vikings set is neat. Definitely has an interesting solution for a head, and hey, purple parts! Purple! Back then that was a big thing.

 

:kakama:

:kakama: Stone rocks :kakama:

Model Designer at The LEGO Group. Former contributor at New Elementary. My MOCs can be found on Flickr and Instagram

:smilepohatunu: :smilehuki:

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@Aanchir: Personally, a throwDragon strikes me as "too obvious" for no one to have ever done, especially since Robotops puts forth chaining type-a Throwbot Torsos as an official building technique and the bog standard head, throwing arm, and leg builds seem to fit the long muzzle and stubby legs of oriental dragons perfectly. If Money was an object, it would be so tempting to go on eBay and buy up like a dozen each of Torch, Ski, Turbo, Scuba, and Amazon to build one in each of their color schemes. Based on the shortcomings of the one I built with five body segments, I'm thinking at least a dozen body segments is needed to have enough serpentineness and give it enough legs to be stable(the five segment version only had a single pair of legs and was constantly falling over, especially if the throw arms were pointed forward, making me think a six limbed version would work better if you want it's foremost limbs as throwing arms).

 

Hope talk of MOC Dragons isn't too far off topic.

Just so you know, I'm blinad

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I can safely say I have about 2 dozen Lego dragons. I have molded Lego minifig dragon from the earlier Castle sets like the Dragon Knights. The Dragon pod from x-pod, Ofnir, Nidhogg and the Wyvern from Vikings; the Ice Dragon from Ninjago's first year and the Earth dragon from Ninjago's latest. I had a couple of the Lego Elves dragons, but my daughter took them and I'm not going to fight a kid playing with Lego. 

 

My favorites: 

Nidhogg from the Viking series.  The little red dragon endured a lot. Only his lower jaw ever became a problem. 

Ice Dragon from Ninjago: I loved the wings and the head. I remember wanting to MOC dragons for the other Ninjas using this design.

Earth Dragon from Ninjago Skybound: It was a short build, but a fun one. 

Water Dragon from Lego Elves: Another fun one to build especially with the Mixel/Brick like constraction pieces. 

 

Ones I wish I had: 

The ghost dragons from Ninjago: Possession - I liked the scremers and the ghost warriors, but loved the dragons and wyverns that came with the larger sets. 

Dragon Bolt: Money was tight so I never got a Dragon Bolt or Lloyd's golden dragon. 

A year or two back someone made an ice dragon from just Kopaka and Protector of Ice parts. I would have paid money for a set like that. 

 

Ones that never appealed to me: 

The Titanium Dragon and the Mechanized Dragon from Ninjago: Rebooted. I liked the way their heads were put together, but the bodies looked unappealing, wide and boxy. 

"Honor those the dragons heed, in thought and favor, word and deed"

"Worlds are lost and worlds are saved, from those dangers dragons brave"

 

qs3174.jpg

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Why isn't a Lego Dragons theme an idea yet I mean cmon they could make a theme of just dragons with the Ninjago Dragon build that I consider the best and if they do get to do that I only ask one thing DONT LET IT BE Dreamworks Dragons.

I think the main reason for that is that themes that allow for a diverse range of set types tend to perform better than themes that focus almost entirely on one type of set. For instance, the popularity of the Ninjago theme, which features dragons, mechs, temples, ruins, and plenty of other ground and air vehicles, is probably due in no small part to having something that appeals to pretty much everyone. Elves, which focused its second year on dragons, still offered plenty of sets based on castles, villages, and other sorts of settings. Conversely, Exo-Force, which had a few bases and ground vehicles but otherwise focused predominantly on humanoid mechs, seems to have been less successful, possibly because its appeal was largely limited to mech fans. A theme focused exclusively on dragons might run into similar issues.

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Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

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Why isn't a Lego Dragons theme an idea yet I mean cmon they could make a theme of just dragons with the Ninjago Dragon build that I consider the best and if they do get to do that I only ask one thing DONT LET IT BE Dreamworks Dragons.

 

I think the main reason for that is that themes that allow for a diverse range of set types tend to perform better than themes that focus almost entirely on one type of set. For instance, the popularity of the Ninjago theme, which features dragons, mechs, temples, ruins, and plenty of other ground and air vehicles, is probably due in no small part to having something that appeals to pretty much everyone. Elves, which focused its second year on dragons, still offered plenty of sets based on castles, villages, and other sorts of settings. Conversely, Exo-Force, which had a few bases and ground vehicles but otherwise focused predominantly on humanoid mechs, seems to have been less successful, possibly because its appeal was largely limited to mech fans. A theme focused exclusively on dragons might run into similar issues.

Youre right that's a good point thanks for you're opinion.

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While I agree a Dragon theme might be a bit too narrow, a general Mythical Beasts line featuring Mythological creatures from around the world without being confined to the aesthetics of a specific fantasy setting might do well. Think about it, Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Hindu, Oriental, Norse, Native American, Celtic and probably other mythologies I can't think of, each of which might be individually difficult to build a theme around, but combined into a single pool of inspiration for new sets. There would likely be plenty of dragons, but imagine all the other awesome creatures we might get along side them.

Just so you know, I'm blinad

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I'm ok without a Dragon theme.  Ninjago, Elves and I'm sure Nexo Knight one day have plenty of variety of builds. I don't think I need one exclusive theme.  What I would like is a variety of dragon parts leaving it up to the builder to fill in the body.  Like a number of heads and wings and you use the parts to build a dragon out of that.  It may be infeasible, but a guy can dream. 

 

I don't think you have to worry about How to Train Your Dragon.  They tried a theme set in Mega Blocks and it didn't do well. They also had an original dragon theme and it also failed to catch on. That one had eggs and dragon parts you assembled. 

"Honor those the dragons heed, in thought and favor, word and deed"

"Worlds are lost and worlds are saved, from those dangers dragons brave"

 

qs3174.jpg

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I'm ok without a Dragon theme.  Ninjago, Elves and I'm sure Nexo Knight one day have plenty of variety of builds. I don't think I need one exclusive theme.  What I would like is a variety of dragon parts leaving it up to the builder to fill in the body.  Like a number of heads and wings and you use the parts to build a dragon out of that.  It may be infeasible, but a guy can dream. 

 

I don't think you have to worry about How to Train Your Dragon.  They tried a theme set in Mega Blocks and it didn't do well. They also had an original dragon theme and it also failed to catch on. That one had eggs and dragon parts you assembled. 

The Elves dragons do have a bit of that sort of variety, with two standard wing sizes (in addition to the brick-built wings of the queen dragon) and two standard head sizes (the smaller head used for most of the dragons as well as a larger one for the queen dragon). I'm sure that the wings in particular might continue to find use in future dragons, even ones in other themes.

 

Speaking of those dragons, one interesting fact that's not well-known is that they also share a standardized jaw connection with a few of the Legends of Chima constraction figures! Obviously not all combinations of those look great due to the varying jaw sizes and shapes, but they can be mixed and matched nonetheless.

Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

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Ninjago has made some good Dragon sets ever since they stopped using the big rubber heads.

At some point you realize that you are but a speck in the Universe.


That you time in this worlds is but a blink.


You see the whole of reality as it unfolds before you.


You try to see how far you can reach, and it’s not that far past your face.


But then you come back from the brink.


You hold them in your arms again.


And you know that you are where their world begins.


You are their rock.

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