Today I want to get on my hobby horse and talk about LEGO Dragons.

It is now more than 30 years since the LEGO Dragon first appeared back in 1993 and in the 2024, the Year of the Dragon, they seem to be everywhere. Not just the Seasonal Asian Festival sets and Ninjago, but also in Creator, Disney Princess, Ideas, and Minecraft, for a start.

Introduction

In this series, I will look at the way that Dragons have been depicted in LEGO sets over the years.

Along the way we shall see how the LEGO System has evolved to allow us to create the organic looking dynamic shapes we have today. 

In short, How did we get from the classic Green Dragon, released in 1993, to some of the wonderful, yet complex,  creatures we have to assemble today, such as Ninjago’s Source Dragon of Motion

In this instalment, we shall look at the life and times of the Classic Dragon mould. Next time, we shall look at the ways in which the LEGO System has evolved to allow the models that we have today.Of course, as any seasoned campaigner who has gone searching for a dragon will tell you, there are bound to be a couple of side quests along the way.

The Birth of the Dragon.

Let us consider the early gestation and arrival of the LEGO Dragon. 

It was 1989 and the arrival of LEGO Pirates was shaking up the nature of LEGO Playsets: we now had some clearly competitive factions, new colours had arrived as well as new creatures: the parrot, shark, the monkey and the crocodile.

But wait.

The crocodile did not actually appear until 1994, when King Kahuka and the Islanders were revealed. 

However, the crocodile’s design had been finalised at the same time as the other fauna of the pirates range. It was merely waiting to see the light of the retail sets.

According to legendary designer Niels Milan Pedersen, the Castle sets had been unexpectedly popular, and release of the Pirates range was delayed a few years. In the meantime, There was a desire to create a dragon, to go with the Castle theme as well, and there was a drive to reuse some of the elements from the Crocodile in the Dragon: It is, after all, one big System in play.

And so, the dragon incorporated the snout and tail that had been created for the (as yet unreleased) crocodile, adding wings and forearms.

There had been plans to include a play feature with the dragon involving the hole that exists on its base, between the legs: using it to squirt water using a hydraulic pump under development by the Technic team, or to house a fiber-optic light channel, so that by placing the dragon on a light brick, it would provide some simulated fire breathing. Unfortunately, the channel was closed at the back of the dragon’s mouth, and such features were left unexplored. Possibly for the best. If you could squirt water through, it would not be long before someone tried to squirt lighter fluid or methylated spirits through it, for a more realistic effect.

Has anyone looked at a LEGO® Dragon like this before?

Now, the original dragon is now a discontinued creature, and I had no desire to pry one open just to investigate this, so I thought I would exploit the resources at hand for some non-destructive testing.

First up, I set out to use an ultrasound (GE VScan Air, 2-5 MHz curvilinear probe). I placed the dragon upside-down in a bucket of water and waited for the air bubbles to clear (air does not allow much in the way of ultrasound transmission). I then attached the dragon to a plate in the base. The outline of the dragon showed up nicely, but did not give me a good view of the channel.

And so, we move onto X-Ray. I was surprised that I was unable to find an existing X-Ray image of the Classic Dragon online, so I visited a radiology clinic, and asked for a little assistance. This is what we saw.

In this X-ray, we can see where the channel passes from the dragon’s abdomen, up to the back of the mouth. As you can see at the top of the channel (circled) the channel does not go through to the back of the mouth.

The Dragon Knights: 1993-1994

The green dragon first appeared in 1993, as part of the Dragon Knights range. Also referred to as the Dragon Masters in some markets, Majisto and the Dragon Masters had learned to harness the power of the Dragons, without excessive singeing.

Now any good dragon from a European storytelling tradition should have a lair, along with a horde of treasure.

The Dragon Knights exploited the available tools for building a dark dragon’s lair, bringing some quality POOP, that is Pieces that could be made Out of Other Pieces, to the exercise. The Big and the Large Ugly Rock pieces, or as we might think of them today, the BURP and the LURP, had debuted in 1992 in the Wolf Pack sets and allowed a mountainside to be thrown up in next to no time.

 The Dragon Knights were released as a major wave in 1993, with a few more sets released in 1994.

A solitary small set released in 1995 suggested that Majisto was heading out on the road. Was this after a disaster affecting the Dragon Masters? A falling out between the wizard and the knights? Or a prequel, telling the story of Majisto making his way to the world of the Dragon Knights? This set was initially marketed as Wizard’s Cart, then Wiz the Wizard, and eventually Wizard Trader. The Graphics never changed, but Majisto was clearly undergoing significant personal growth.

In their appearance in the Timebuster comic, part of the European ‘Klick’ magazine from the 1990s, Merlin (as he was named in the European catalogs) and the Dragon Knights appeared to be far more malevolent than their minifigure forms might suggest.

Royal Knights (1995) and the Dark Forest (1996)

The dragons remained hidden during the reign of the Royal Knights and, as they favour mountainous terrain, ignored during the appearance of the dark Forestmen. 

Perhaps it is also the result of King Lionheart wielding the Lionsword – totally effective in the battle against dragons – again, found in the Timebuster comic. Fun fact: this was the final storyline before the comic was Transformed to Time Cruisers.

Fright Knights (1997-98)

As the decade progressed, the Fright Knights arrived.

With their mountain castle and the witch’s mansion, the dragons were seen as a means of transport as well as castle defence.

Willa utilised green dragons, while the Bat Lord favoured black – now with transparent neon orange wings.

Did different coloured dragons have different roles? It is not clearly seen in the sets. in the Time Cruisers comic published at the time, the Bat Lord was pretty friendly, and the witch certainly comes across as a far more malevolent character than she does as a minifigure. Indeed, in the comics, she appears to be in control of all of the Dragons.

[Fun fact: at this point in the Time Cruisers comic, the witch is busy summoning the Zotaxian forces from UFO]

Knights Kingdom: End of an Era?

The final appearance of the dragon as we knew it was in 4818 Dragon rider. Released in 2000 as part of the Knights Kingdom range, the dragon was in the service of Cedric the Bull, the Robber Chief, with his chromed helmet! This was the final appearance of the classic moulded dragon, in a castle set.

Going on an Adventure?

The dragon body made a final appearance in 7419 Dragon Fortress. Released in 2003, the set was part of the Adventurers: Oriental Expedition sub-theme.

This black dragon had golden ink on the side, while a more extravagant new tail mould is similarly decorated. The Snout is a chromed element with jewels in the eye sockets. It appeared in the final episode of the Orient Expedition comic, which was featured in LEGO Magazine throughout 2003.

The appearance of this dragon marked the end of 2003’s Adventure’s range and the last appearance of the classic dragon mould.

[when I presented this talk at the Skaerbaek Fan Weekend in 2024, I was excited to find this set at one of the vendors. For me, the best sets to find have been opened, so that it can be played with!]

And here is the dragon from that set, along with the Palace Guardian

After this set, they were never seen again.

Next time, we might take an unexpected side-quest and follow the next generation of molded dragons.

Were these moulded dragons a part of your childhood? A part of your current LEGO Castle play? Or do you prefer brick build dragons of your own? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

If you have enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with your friends, families and communities. You can also keep up to date with us by following The Rambling Brick on our socials: Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, Tumblr (or just sign up for our mailing list) and find some extra content on Instagram and TikTok.

We really value your feedback: please let us know what you think about the sets we review, and the articles we post. And if you wish to support the Rambling Brick, consider clicking on our affiliate links before going shopping at LEGO.com. The Rambling Brick receives a small commission, and it costs you nothing extra.

Until Next Time,

Play Well!

This series is based on a talk presented at Paredes De Coura LEGO Fan Weekend in 2023, and then revised for Skaerbark Fan Weekend in 2024. Some sets incorporated in this article (80122; 71822) were provided by the LEGO Group for review and research purposes. Others were purchased at my own expense.