Subject:
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Review of MB 9848: Argentum Silver Armor Dragon
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands
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Date:
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Mon, 20 Jun 2005 14:26:38 GMT
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Viewed:
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2537 times
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This is from the Dragons: Metal Ages series, continuing the line of “Dragon
Eggs” that we’ve seen before (but now better, IMO). In brief, each set is a
large egg containing a single dragon figurine in ten pieces.
I haven’t previously been thrilled with the designs of the Dragons; the first
batch seemed a little too cartoonish for my tastes, and I didn’t really take
another hard look after that. I’ve liked the Vorgan demon-monsters, but the
conventional dragons were just a little off, to me.
Well, not anymore. The Argentum dragon abandons the cartoonish format for
something far darker and impressive. The body is a deep green, the claws,
teeth, and spines are an earthy tan, the eyes are orange, and the armor elements
are dull silver. The entire body-surface is dry-brushed to highlight the
sculpted musculature.
The ten aforementioned pieces are as follows:
1 Body element
2 Left foreleg
3 Right foreleg
4 Left hind leg
5 Right hind leg
6 Tail
7 Left wing
8 Right wing
9 Lower jaw/neck
10 Upper jaw/face
Overall, this Dragon sort of resembles the reptilian dog-monster things from
Ghostbusters with wings and a longer tail. The back legs are bent in a squat as
if the Dragon is about to pounce, and the wings fold neatly along the back to
give a sleek, streamlined look. The paws/claws do not have magnets in them, as
earlier Dragons did. This isn’t a big loss, IMO, because it was a cool novelty
but not essential (and I like being able to pose the Dragon atop my monitor at
work!)
There’s a good deal of joint articulation; the jaw opens, the neck swivels and
elevates, the wings turn in two axes, the tail swivels, the shoulders move in
two axes, the forelegs bend at the elbow, and the hindlegs move at the hips.
That’s one minor downside—the hindlegs each have only a single articulation
point; certainly not a fatal flaw, but a moving ankle would have been swell.
Still, the figure as a whole is very cool and menacing.
I should make a comment about the Egg itself, while I’m at it. It comes in two
snap-together pieces with a translucent “membrane” about two inches across. The
Egg is dark blue with a few “metal” patches “riveted” in place. At the time of
purchase, the Dragon is disassembled (which, you know, means to lie), and one
claw juts from a small hole in the egg as if it’s trying to break free. This is
a nice touch and adds a bit of character to the set—it’s a small detail, but I
like that someone thought to do it.
A few shortcomings, none of which is major:
I already mentioned the hind legs, so take them for what they’re worth. I’d add
that there’s no place on the Dragon where a brick can attach, which might be a
problem for some people. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest, and a stud-hole
on the sole of the foot would look, frankly, odd to me, but such a feature might
be attractive to some.
This forum has a particular fan of the MB Dragons (you know who you are), and
I’m confident that he’ll like this set. But even if the Dragons haven’t
previously wowed you, you might enjoy this one. It’s a good addition to the
series, and it would even work well with other fantasy miniatures.
On the whole this is a good set. You’ll probably see it retail for between
$7.99 and $9.99 and it’s a reasonably good value in that price range. The
piece:price ratio isn’t great as compared to brick-based sets, but compared to
other action figures with similar articulation, this set holds up very well. A
coworker who watched me assemble the Dragon commented that her 11-year-old son
would really like the set, and she’s likely to purchase at least a few for him.
Though I haven’t been a great admirer of the Dragon Eggs before this, I’m now
interested to see the other new offerings in this line.
Dave!
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