As a side note about this list, if a particular figure doesn't make it in, that's not necessarily because the figure is bad or not noteworthy, it's just because I don't have anything to say about that figure or that I genuinely forgot to include them. I'm not trying to skip anyone's favourites!
Anyway, on with the show:
#20: Here There Be Dragons
WARNING: This entry will use a fairly broad and vague definition of "dragon" to encompass general reptilian otherworldly beasts. To see if the potential inaccuracy of this definition is likely to upset you, please see how enraged the following test claims make you:
A) Beast Machines was superior to Beast Wars.
B) Every figure produced since G1 is crap.
C) Every figure produced before Armada is crap.
D) Size does matter.
E) "I remember Masterpiece Optimus Prime! I had him when I was a kid back in the eighties!"
F) The 2007 movie should have concentrated more on the human characters.
If any of the above claims caused you to turn green, rip your shirt, and start eating your keyboard, you may wish to listen to some relaxing music and take a warm bath before continuing with this entry.
This was a test of the Diem Offence Causing System. If this were a real situation, you would be offended and possibly flabbergasted. Knowing is half the battle.
For the first year of Transformers, that whole Robots In Disguise subtitle was pretty solid. Everyone turned into some kind of automobile, jet or device, and only the minibots looked unrealistic. Year 2 brought robot dinosaurs and insects, a giant raygun, and a futuristic jet, but was otherwise pretty realistic still.
Then it all went a bit weird. Hasbro let their licenses slide and jumped the franchise into the farflung future world of 2005.
![Image](http://dbowman.com/photos/london05/img/title_img.gif)
Pictured: The farflung future world of 2005.
Suddenly, the Porsches and F-15s were being replaced with future cars and spaceships. The idea of the Alt Modes being realistic had pretty much gone out of the window.
Unless you count Sky Lynx, the first dragons in the line came in 1987:
![Image](http://www.seibertron.com/images/toys/files/04/r_snapdragon044.jpg)
No witty caption can do this guy justice.
Snapdragon was part of the elite Horrorcon unit of the Decepticons, a unit consisting only of two members (that's still two more members than the Wheelie fan club). The Horrorcons were both triple-changers and Headmasters. They're like the lovechildren of Chromedome and Astrotrain (and if that concept doesn't weird you out, you've been reading too much fan-fiction.)
I hate to gush, but this figure was and is a minor masterpiece. The robot mode is tremendously articulated for the time with hips, shoulders, elbows and knees, the jet mode is unbelievably sexy, and his...other mode is cool too. I say "other" because despite his name he looked far less like a dragon and more like an iguanadon. Even his tech specs describe him as a reptile.
That said, he combines the fearsome beast mode of a Decepticon Headmaster, the super-cool jet mode of a Decepticon Targetmaster, the cool twin guns of an Autobot Headmaster, the triple-changing of a...Triple-changer, and the refreshing wit of Stephen Fry.
![Image](http://www.seibertron.com/images/toys/files/04/r_snapdragon050.jpg)
"Back off, Snapdragon!"
"NO!"
- actual dialogue from the show.
Last entry, I gushed about the Technobot Afterburner. Well, I'm sure you're sick of my gushing. And I'm sure you're sick of me using the word "gushing" while you're trying to eat. But anyway, the Technobots cemented the age of regular Earth modes becoming a thing of the past, along with their rivals, the Terrorcons.
Yep, Horrorcons and Terrorcons. Man, the eighties were classy.
Anyway, I plan to consider two of the Terrorcons "dragons" for the purposes of this entry: Hun-Grrr and Sinnertwin.
Sadly there are no images of these guys in the Seibertron Galleries, so I'm forced to substitute my own:
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/shinusagi/683fb0a9.jpg)
"BAD MOJO! BAD DOG!"
Yep, Hun-Grrr (or however the kids are spelling it nowadays) and Sinnertwin both fit in the category of two-headed dragon beast things (although Hun looks more like some kind of stegosaurus and Sinner looks more like a dog). Also, they both have awesome names. Haters might point out that none of the Terrorcons except maybe Cutthroat have alt modes that look like anything in human history, real, mythological, or otherwise. Which is a good point until you realise that at this stage in the mythos the Transformers were battling on many a wacky planet with freaky inhabitants, so maybe the Terrorcons had incredibly convincing alien modes. On the planet of the two-headed beasties, Hun-Grrr is king.
![Image](http://www.seibertron.com/images/toys/files/04/r_doublecross025.jpg)
"Get up on the Hydra's back!"
Doublecross was the best of the Monsterbots (an accolade akin to being the least douchey cast member of Jersey Shore) with fire-breathing action (wonder why they didn't reissue this guy) and again, two heads. In true comedy fashion, his two heads would argue with one another. He was also one of the progenitors of Beast Wars' seriously over-used beast-mode-head-as-robot-mode-hand habit.
![Image](http://www.seibertron.com/images/toys/files/05/r_cindersaur002.jpg)
I have a soft spot the size of yo' momma when it comes to the Firecons. Sure their robot modes are weak and their transformations are crappy but their beast modes were so cuuuute. Plus if you wanted them to breathe sparks you had to make them roll along on their bellies. Hilarious. Also, Cindersaur looks a bit like Baragon or Anguiras, so that's a plus.
![Image](http://www.seibertron.com/images/toys/files/06/r_deszaras037.jpg)
Fingerchompin' good.
Speaking of Kaiju, I was going to discount him on the grounds of clearly being a giant chicken but according to his Japanese tech specs he's a dragon. Fair enough.
It was Beast Wars where the toy designers really fell off the dragon...er, wagon. There were a whole bunch of sinister reptiles, but the first true dragon was Megatron, Transmetal 2.
![Image](http://www.seibertron.com/images/toys/files/20/r_transmetal2megatron024.jpg)
"Hey, did you hear that Puff the Magic Dragon was supposedly about drugs? I can't stand the prejudice against dragons."
*snooooort* "Doesn't bother me, I'm a helicopter."
Yep, the Beast Wars line had finsihed doing real animals, mechanical animals and mutations of real animals mixed together and went outright mythical. Megatron was now a big ol' shiny dragon, as was his repaint, Cryotek. Sadly in the show he didn't get to keep this form for long before getting shipped back to Cybertron.
![Image](http://www.seibertron.com/images/toys/files/10/r_megatron021.jpg)
"I wish for the most comfortable underwear in the world!"
![Image](http://www.seibertron.com/images/toys/files/10/r_savagenoble045.jpg)
"You must spawn more Overlords!"
For some reason, Megatron decided that he hated being a dragon, and decided to discard his bio bits. This led to the creation of Savage/Noble, who in the show was an interesting and sympathetic figure and in the toyline was a thing that turned from a crappy werewolf into the creature above.
Let's move on...
![Image](http://www.seibertron.com/images/toys/files/11/r_megatron017.jpg)
"Heh heh...lemon sour poop..."
Blurrz already waxed lyrical about the awesomeness of RiD Megatron's jet and car mode but I wanna have a look here at the dragon mode. This is where Megatron's ostentatious purple, black and gold really shine. This dragon Megatron, with his ornate, vivid colours, his long neck and big wings branching from a small body and his dramatic crests, looks brilliantly like a Chinese decoration or parade dragon. Excellent.
![Image](http://www.seibertron.com/images/toys/files/32/r_scourge049.jpg)
"You wanna see my sweater puppies?"
Scourge (and his repaints) may well be the last non-minicon Dragon that we'll see for a while in Transformers. The movie line has been eschewing beast modes for the most part, no Dragonformers are really iconic enough to be must-sees in Universe 3.0, and War For Cybertron probably won't include any characters that weren't introduced in 1984-1985. But if Scourge is the last dragon we'll see, we're going out on a high. This guy is huge, imposing and fierce-looking. In the storyline he was the ruler of a planet where authority was decided by physical strength and he sure looks the part. With his huge axe, his fangs and his extra heads, he ensures that the legend..will never die.
That's it for dragons. Next time, we'll be taking to the skies. See you then!