In part one, we looked at the development and history of the Classic LEGO® Dragon. Go on, read it now. It was posted nearly 18 months ago. Even if you read it back then, you might have forgotten some of the more salient points. The last variation of this appeared in the Adventurers Orient Expedition 7419 Dragon Fortress in 2004. But how did LEGO Dragons develop from here?
If you have ever gone questing for a dragon, you be aware that you must often undertake some type of side quest before you reach your final goal. Here is the first. There might be several others to come..
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.
This year, the Role Playing Game Dungeons and Dragons turns fifty. I was about 5 years old at the time when Gary Gygax rolled out the first version of his tabletop role playing game. I took some interest in the 1980s:I was intrigued by the notion of creating your own world, and the variety characters you could create, and the monsters that could be encountered, but the game didn’t take off with my circle of friends at the time. It probably coincided with entering my LEGO Dark Ages as well. I was therefore surprised when I went to see the movie Dungeons and Dragons: Honour among Thieves last year and I found myself seeing so many character types and monsters that I had read about in a nostalgic haze.
Flash forward to 2022, and LEGO Ideas announced a challenge for fans to design a set to showcase their favourite aspects of the Game. The winner of this challenge was Dutch fan Lucas Bolt. His submission “Dragons Keep: Journey’s End” brought a tavern, a ruined castle with caves and crypts, to say nothing of a couple of brick-built beasties. Today, the final product is revealed: with over 3700 pieces, this set takes Bolt’s original submission and bumps up the level of original detail.
Priced at $AUD499.99/€359.99/£ 314.99/$USD359.99/$CAD469.99, the set will be available on the first of April 2024 (and that’s no joke.) The set is also associated with a free D&D Adventure booklet available as a digital download, or as a paperback book with 2400 LEGO Insiders points
Dungeons and Dragons publishers, Wizards of the Coast, are owned by Hasbro, and this represents the 3rd collaboration with the toy giant/entertainment company, following on from Transformers Optimus Prime released in 2022, as well as Peppa Pig DUPLO sets, also due for release in April.
Last Weekend, our Sydney correspondent Branko took a trip to Haymarket where LEGO Australia were in the process of engaging members of the public to build the world’s longest LEGO Dragon. The head and tail were already built, but the forms of the dragon’s body needed to be covered in scales, and so visitors were offered an 8×8 plate to fill and place on the dragon.
Fencing inadequate for petting zoo in Haymarket
“Last weekend anyone could come to Haymarket to decorate the world’s longest LEGO Dragon. The dragon wound itself through the pavement like a sea serpent with two parts of its back rising out of the floor to be decorated on the sides. Anyone could drop by to decorate a 8×8 plate with Dots and place on the side of the dragon. Staff were cheerful and happy to have a chat, children and adults alike were deeply focused on building their contribution. The dragon was about 20m long (nose to tail) but the majority of the body was hidden under the pavement.”
Baby Dragon Riyu was one of the cutest elements to be released with the first wave of Ninjago Dragons Rising sets. Now, as we approach the launch of the second season, he is starting to grow up. This set, due for release in March 2024, gives us our first take on a fully articulated Young Dragon Riyu. The set comes with 3 minifigures: Sora, Arin, and a wolf mask warrior, and it has 132 pieces. The set has a recommended retail price of $AUD24.99/$USD15.99 /€14.99 /£12.99.
Does this set have anything new to offer us? Or is it more of the same ‘Small Dragon’ models we have seen over the last few waves of Ninjago Core sets?
The Lunar New Year is just around the corner, and to celebrate the year of the Dragon, LEGO Australia are setting out to create the World’s Longest LEGO Dragon. . The build will arrive on the corner of Harbour and Hay Street (Haymarket) from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th February to celebrate Sydney’s Lunar New Year festivities. Create endless play moments for the whole family and make warm, endearing memories that last forever!
The Head and Tail have been created by The Brickman team, and LEGO Australia are calling on the community to come and build up the parts in between.
It’s early November and for the 5th year running, the Chinese International Import Expo has been the place for the LEGO Group to showcase some of the new sets for next year. This is the event where the Spring Festival sets made their debut back in 2019. Now into the 5th year, the LEGO® presence at CIIE has also seen some of the flag ship sets in other themes presented – and while media coverage has not been readily accessible (Thanks to Jays brick blog and Dylan Chow for the heads up), images of some of these sets have made their debut on the LEGO Builder App.
Last year, I started to explore the way in which the LEGO® Castle theme has developed over the years. In our first installment, we looked at some of the ‘Pre-minifigure’ Castle history and continued to look at the way the Castle theme developed during the period of LEGOLAND Branding (1978-1991). In particular, we saw the development of factions, advanced use of landscaping, compared to other themes and the development of multiple animal moulds.
But what happened next? We have previously seen that 1990s were a period of diversification of material in both the LEGO Town and Space themes, with an increased number of factions and sub-themes. I apologize to those who have been waiting patiently for the follow up to last year’s article: Let’s take a look to see what happens in the realms of the Castle themes during the SYSTEM era..
Here’s your first look at the hi resolution images from the long rumoured Gringott’s bank With over 4800 pieces and 14 minifigures, it is designed to fit in to be part of your diagonally display. It will be released on September 1 for VIPs and 4th September: Everyone else. It is priced at AUD629.99/ USD429.99/ £369.99/429.99€
One of the first major releases since Discovery took over Warner Brothers, Wizarding world is now under construction in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products. A somewhat unwieldy name, if I say so myself.
Fun Fact: This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first ever LEGO Dragon being released, as part of the Dragon Knights range in 1993. This year, we have seen lots of dragons appearing in Ninjago Core, as well as the forthcoming Dragons Rising series. However, Ninjago does not have the Monopoly on LEGO Dragons.
Dragons are frequent characters in The Journey to the West, the novel which inspires the Monkie Kid range. We recently looked at the 80049 Dragon of the East Palace – and Mei is descended from the Yu Long, the White Dragon horse, 3rd son of the Dragon of the West – brother of the Dragon of the East, featured in that set. As such, it is quite reasonable for Mei to have a Guardian Dragon, probably sent by her ancestors, to provide protection in times of trouble.
This set was sent to me by the LEGO Group for review purposes, and I’ll admit, there was something intriguing about its appearance from the outset, that I couldn’t initially put my finger on. But we will get to that later.
