Dragon Masters was one of the subthemes of LEGO's Castle theme and was introduced in 1993. It was phased out in 1995.
Details
The Fire Breathing Fortress on the top of a peculiar mountain in a catalog from 1993.
In contrast to previous factions of Castle which were more or less accurate renditions of medieval life, Dragon Masters ventured into more fictional realms by introducing classical fantasy elements such as dragons or wizards. An eerie level of fantasy first made its presence known in medieval times, for the Dragon Master army was led by a wizard named Majisto, noteworthy for his pointed hat, his glow-in-the-dark magic wand, and his long white beard, all new elements this year. Majisto is also on record as the first Castle theme minifigure to have a proper name. Majisto commanded a small regiment of knights and guards, whose shields bore a recolored (green) variant of the Black Knights' crest. More importantly, Majisto commanded fire-breathing dragons! These bright green and black flying reptiles featured articulation at the jaw, both shoulders, both wings, and the tail, and also had studs on their backs to carry a seated rider into battle.
Most of the sets were released in 1993 and those were the only ones included in the catalogue (except the Crossbow Cart). The following year saw the release of two further sets. In 1995 only one other small set was released, albeit in two versions.
Castles and equipment
With only one castle, Dragon Masters was not one of the larger Castle factions, but their complement of various carts, siege engines and smaller buildings made it one of the more interesting medium sized themes. 6048 Majisto's Magical Workshop was the only house released in Castle during the 1990s. Three sets of the theme were including the new dragon figures: 6056 Dragon Wagon, 6076 Dark Dragon's Den and 6082 Fire Breathing Fortress.
New or exclusive pieces
Dragon Masters brought a whole array of new minifigures. The wizard Majisto, with his pointed hat and the new beard piece, was completely new and all of the knights and soldiers had new heads and torso pieces that were never seen before. In total, there were three newly introduced torso pieces with three different dragon heads printed on them, as well as three new heads with different beard patterns, which never appeared outside of Castle and were only in use during the 1990s.
New additions to the equipment included the large grey halberd and the dragon helmets with side plumes, both pieces would constantly reappear again in later themes. The horses were also given a new piece, the head armour.
This was also one of the first themes to introduce cloth pieces as flags or capes. In this case both were yellow and printed with a green dragon and were not reused in other themes.
Dragon Masters also marked the first appearance of the later ubiquitous flame piece 6126.
Sets
- 1712 Crossbow Cart (1993), same as 1732 Crossbow Cart
- 6020 Magic Shop (1993)
- 6043 Dragon Defender (1993)
- 6048 Majisto's Magical Workshop (1993)
- 6056 Dragon Wagon (1993)
- 6076 Dark Dragon's Den (1993)
- 6082 Fire Breathing Fortress (1993)
- 1794 Dragon Master Chariot (1994, part of Bonus pack 1723)
- 1906 Majisto's Tower (1994)
- 1736 Wizard's Cart (1995), same as 1746 Wizard's Cart
- 9404 Majisto the Wizard Key Chain (1998)
- Bonus packs
- 1960 Dragon Masters Adventure Pack (1993), included 6020 Magic Shop and 6043 Dragon Defender
- Other appearances
- 6105 Medieval Knights (1994) contained three Dragon Masters minifigures
A knight in 6078 Royal Drawbridge from 1995 resembled a Dragon Masters knight but was carrying an oval Black Knights shield. However, the oval Dragon Masters shield with the green dragon reappeared on a cart in 6079 Dark Forest Fortress from 1996.
Gallery
