6056 - Dragon Wagon

Rating:
Pros: A dragon and a good assortment of pieces
Cons: I couldn't see any
Contents: 103 pieces including 2 mini-figs and 2 horses
Price: About $19.99 - Discontinued
Reviewed: 16-Jul-1996
Reviewed by: Joseph Gonzalez

The whole situation is disgusting. I go out for my morning constitutional, stop to help out a young lady that seems to be having some trouble getting across the street and the next thing I know it's dog-pile on the new kid by a bunch of screaming yokels. Right after that, I'm shoved into some ridiculous cage while a bunch of babbling morons decide what to do with me (there ought to be a law). My cousin Reggie talked me into coming out here in the first place. "Come and stay with me!" he says. "The climate will do you good!" he says. He didn't say anything about the locals going absolutely ballistic because a little sneeze accidentally torches their church to the ground. And that is the last time I fall for that "damsel in distress" bit, believe me, there is no such thing as an easy meal!

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When I got the 1996 Summer Shop at Home catalog and saw that the Dragon Wagon is still available, I was very excited. I've been to a lot of stores in the past couple of months and nobody has it anywhere. When I finally got a hold of the set I was even more pleased.
This is a great little set. It only consists of the dragon, two figures and a cart but there are a good number of pieces for the cart and I would have paid $10 for the dragon alone.
The set comes with two Dragon Master soldiers and two horses. Not a lot of unique pieces because the dragon guys have been around for quite a while, but you do get a little cloth dragon banner that stands almost 3 bricks high and a strange red brick I haven't seen before that is 2x2 flat then raises up a brick then extends 2x3 more flat (looks kind of like a z). I bet this kind of brick comes with some of the town sets, it looks like something that might go with a wheel base assembly like a seat or something.
My favorite thing about the set (besides the dragon) is that despite the fact that there are four beam bricks (which can only limit building capabilities) there are plenty of flat pieces (mixture of black and red) to be able to do a lot variations with the wagon. It sounds corny, but I also liked getting another brown horse because my stables are crammed with blacks and whites (come on Lego, when do we get some pintos?). I also got an interesting 1994 catalog with the set, it is different from the regular '94 catalog in that it has theme descriptions in English and Japanese, and different names for almost all of the sets . Also, some of the page layouts are different (no alternate not-available-in-U.S. sets though).
I have one question about play. If these Dragon Masters are foes of the dragon and they have him all locked up, what's to stop him from torching them in the back of the head? On the other hand, if they're friends of the dragon and they need to lock him up to take him to the vet for shots (or that painful animal-control operation...you know the one I'm thinking of), what's to stop him from frying them where they sit? Maybe they give him "dragon downers" before they load him in, I don't know. It's worth thinking about.
Anyway, if you're looking to add another dragon to your collection or you don't have any dragons at all (but don't want to plunk your money down for a large set), this is the one to get because you're getting what you want and there are enough extra pieces to make it worth your while.
There's reason to suspect they'll discontinue this soon (if they haven't already), so buy one now. I'm going to try to save up enough to buy two or three more.