6043 - Dragon Defender

Rating:
Pros: A neat idea for medieval psychological warfare
Cons: Needs a better latching pin/device
Contents: 151 pieces including 2 mini-figs
Price: About $11.99 - Discontinued
Reviewed: 25-Jun-1996
Reviewed by: Joseph Gonzalez

At one point this evening seemed destined to utter boredom, but such notions have quickly dissipated as the night watch stirs itself to the sound of subtle thunder now more vigorously making itself known throughout the northwest edge of the forest. The royal parapet guards squint and peer to see what moves at the meadow edge as the rumbling becomes constant and grows in intensity. The captain of the guard is awakened and more sentries are dispatched as screeching trees are mowed down by seemingly invisible godlike hands until at last a few sets of fiery eyes are seen through the darkness. Novice guards feel their knees go soft and unsteady as several large dragon head structures roll to the edge of the forest and face the castle walls in a dooming gallery glare!

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This set never really interested me until I took a closer look at it (thank goodness for that Lego maniac drive which makes us buy sets we wouldn't normally buy). It is basically a double catapult (there's a novel idea) upon which a larger-than-a-standing-minifig size dragon head has been mounted. The weight of the dragon head drops one end down which thrusts the catapult basket ends up to let loaded rocks and debris fly (yes, it does seem to be the very same dragon head structure which looms over the path to the 'Fire Breathing Fortress' front door). At first glance, the whole idea looked corny to me; and maybe those fierce toothy animal faces on World War II planes at first looked silly to American pilots, but therein is the key, this oversize bestial head probably makes a great psychological scare tactic! Hey, if it still looks dumb to you, I think you could just pull the head off the catapult and it would make a nifty figurehead on the fore or aft section of a large pirate ship. If nothing else, it gives a builder who can't build their own animal heads (like myself) an idea for head/skull structures.
No particularly unique parts here, but you get a couple of dragon wings, those neat little round single white studs (they make great teeth for other animal heads), and a couple of black (catapult) scoops. Of course there are some wagon wheels for making your own kind of carriage or carrier wagon.
Just two Dragon Master figures (one with the ornate helmet that comes with yellow add-ons of wings on the side and a dragon on top), and two of those cool teardrop-shaped shields with a dragon on the front.
My only complaint was that the catapult is sustained for loading by a single peg attached to a flat single-stud vertical clip clipped onto the base of the catapult. Holding that heavy head up in the air with this little clip is quite a task, and too often when you go to flip the peg down in order to release the catapult, the clip piece just falls right off the base. I try to have a replacement idea for my fault findings, and I'm sorry I don't have one here, but something better could have been set up. I've almost lost my sustaining peg twice already!
Anyway, the set does make a great addition to any castle-razing party (I picture at least two or three of these rolling up to attack while the battering ram is being constructed). And as mentioned above, you can always use the dragon head itself as an addition to another set (like a ship or castle).