Dragon Masters

Discussion of official LEGO Castle Theme sets and products
The Dragon Master

Dragon Masters

Post by The Dragon Master »

As you can tell from my name, or at least I hope you can. I like the Dragon Masters line. A lot of people don't. They think the knights are hideous and the castles are poorly designed. I'll admit, Firebreathing fortress is way to much like Dark Dragon's Den. But I love Dragon Masters. Majisto is the man. And the Knights are real cool.

Please post your comments here on the subject. Thanks.
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Glencaer
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Post by Glencaer »

heya DM,

I actually liked the minifigs from the DM line - they were very.. strange. They always reminded me of the barbarians at the edges of Europe (like the Golden Hoard in Russian; Magyars in Central Europe).

I was never a fan of Majisto - dunno why, i guess he conflicted with what i thought a wizard should look like.

I think part of it is that people generally feel attachment to the first line of LEGOs that they get exposed to. Most of us here at Classic-Castle feel an affinity with the Classic Castle (6080, etc) sets because its what we played with growing up.

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Jojo
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Post by Jojo »

Hello!


In retrospective the Dragon Masters ain't that bad. However, this line definitelly breaks up with the "traditional" Legoland Castle series[1]. And that's the reason why I don't like this line very much.

I also disliked the way they released the line: All at once, without any major additions. (Sets like Majisto's Tower don't count since they weren't released outside the US. And they are not part of the regular number range 60xx.)

[1] I still count the sets from 1992 as "Legoland Castle" because they just continue old lines under the new "System" label.


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Red Bean
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Post by Red Bean »

Hi there!

Although I must say the buildings are indeed hideous in the Dragon Master series, I think it is sometimes easy to overlook all the useful (and nowadays, indispensible) minifig parts that this theme has brought us, such as the beard, wizard hat, dragon helmut, and halberd (if I remember correctly); and not to mention the fantasy element introduced by which into the Lego castle world which I'm a big fan of. So in this regard, I still cherish many of my Dragon Master sets to this date. Although I do wish that they had given Majisto a better torso; or that the dragons could've been bigger and more fearsome looking. :roll:

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Post by Stephen »

I like the Dragon Masters too, and when I play I always think of them as "my" guys. The Dragon Crest helmets and the oval shields are great pieces, in my opinion. And I always think that the "correct" way to build castles is with black walls and grey parapets.

Maybe that's because I started to get serious about LEGO during that era and that's what was available then.

But I also agree that the Dragon Masters line was the beginning of a downward slide for the LEGO Castle theme. They began to shift from history to fantasy, which ultimately led to the Fright Knights. I think Majesto is OK, but I never use the Dragons at all. (Except once when I did some projects based on the Dragonriders of Pern novels.)

Stephen
The Dragon Master

Post by The Dragon Master »

True thery're not as Fantastical as Frightnigts. And Harry Potter takes the cake. I don't agree with the History to Fantasy thing hower. For one the "Crusaders" had no one to fight. And I don't rember there being a real life Black Knights of Black Falcon Faction. Also I consider The Dragon Masters the Tranistion line between Classic and well, not classic I suppose. Don't forget that FireBeathing Fortress included a wolf Packian knight.[/i]
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Post by wlister »

We have much to be thankful for when considering the Dragon Masters line, the roman helm, the halberd, the cloth flag, the dragon printed arch and wall panel, the corner turret, and the figs (minus their ugly faces). These parts were excellent additions to the castle line. However, the line itself was the doorway to the production of some of the ugliest sets ever produced. Remember the Dragon Defender? My god that set alone could have caused many a dark age. I am a fan of the figs, but I must admit I prefer to use the Black Knight shields with the Dragon Master torso.
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Post by The Dragon Master »

Ugly faces? Even though I like the faces (mostly the Red-haired man) but thats better than te previous "smiley" faces that were used in everything, save for a few black knights. I also have always agreed with Glencaer that those black helmets were more like Mongol helmets. The Dragon Masters remind me of the Mongols, except for Majisto.
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Post by Jojo »

Hello!
wlister wrote:We have much to be thankful for when considering the Dragon Masters line, the roman helm, the halberd, the cloth flag, the dragon printed arch and wall panel, the corner turret. [...] These parts were excellent additions to the castle line.
Hehe, That's exactly the parts I almost never use in my MOCs :-) The most useful parts they are coming with are the brown arches and foliage parts.
Remember the Dragon Defender? My god that set alone could have caused many a dark age.
Boy, we seem to be unable to find a common denominator regarding Dragon Masters... (Smilie again) Though I don't think 6043 is a great set (in fact I thought it was ugly and useless in 1993, so I didn't buy it then), now I think it's a fun set. It's looking grotesque and not the least realistic but its function is quite well designed and it's great to play with.
The Dragon Wagon 6056 is worse: The coachman will get roast from behind while driving the cart...


As I said before: In retrospective those DM sets aren't too bad. However, compared with what has been before they ARE bad.
When TLC replaced the "Legoland" logo with the "System" logo the system got more and more lost.


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Post by The Wolfpack Boss »

I always like the Dragon Master line. Majisto wasn't a perfect wizard, but nowadays, throw his hat on an Emperor Palpatine face with a Dumbledore beard and a brown Jedi cape with the grey peasent body, and grey legs, give him a chrome long sword and a brown stick and you have Gandalf in the minifig flesh. The knights were unique enough, their helmets rock because of how specific they are, and their faces are grim and cruel. The dragon-wing axe is a great addition to the line that came around the time of the Dragon Masters. The red horse helms also did. The Dragon Masters were a pretty powerful little lot, to say the least.

But they still got robbed blind by the Wolfpack just like everyone else. . .
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Post by kajo163 »

The DM-line was my favorite in 1993, and (since that´s the theme I own the most of) it still is!

The wizard, in Sweden he never got a name, and his dragon is a masterpiece in LEGO design.

Never figured out how the DMs got the dragons thoug...
any ideas??

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Post by Jojo »

Hej!
kajo163 wrote:Never figured out how the DMs got the dragons thoug... any ideas??
Maybe they just found them sleeping in their dens when they (the knights) climbed up the mountains to build their castles? Luckily Cerlin the Sorcerer (how Majisto is called in German) was sage enough to know the old and long forgotten spells that can master the dragons.


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Post by Jedipawn »

I have both liked and disliked the DM line. When it first came out, I thought it was alot of fun to play with. The figs were great, new weapons, torsos, and helms! I actualy liked the Dragons, probably because they were the first I had seen. It would have been nice to have them a bit larger, but.. what do you do?
Stephen wrote:
But I also agree that the Dragon Masters line was the beginning of a downward slide for the LEGO Castle theme.
I totaly agree, from here on out the sets got worse and worse, (with the occational good set thrown in). However looking back, I do relialize that the pieces that were introduced have become integrated with every creation I make. That has to count for something! A little modification to the sets, and I could find great uses for them in my legoland castle world.

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Post by coyote »

Never figured out how the DMs got the dragons thoug...
any ideas??
The Black Monarchs and the Dragon Masters were both called Dragon Knights here in Germany. Just seemed to be a logical step for the Black Monarchs to have their shields' animals support their soldiers ...

For me, the DM were a great addition when they came first out. But they didn't fit into the old school castles any more. Well, a little bit ambivalent at all.

Poor, they didn't get a whole own storyline by TLC; nor somebody ever thougt of the Fright Knight's black dragons as their enemies?!
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Post by Van Helsing »

The Dragon Masters was the first castle line I was old enough to collect and I still have everyone. I love these little guys, they just look very grim. Off topic, anyone have any figs they wanna sell me? Im looking for the dragon master, the one with the red hair and cape, but any will do.
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