Series: McFarlane's Dragons, 1

Craftsmanship: 8.3

- Very low articulation

- Great paint application and detail

- Crushed rooftop makes a great base

- Bendy tail

Playability: 4.5 / 10

- A bendy tail does not an action figure make!

- Little dude on his back can be ripped off easily

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Like the Twisted Oz figures that shipped with a story on the cardback instead of just ads for other McFarlane Toys action figures, the first run of McFarlane's Dragons also goes that route.  Part three of five comes packed with Eternal Clan Dragon and chronicles Man's acquisition of language from the Dragon race.  It's not a particularly gripping story or that well written but I still like the change-up from the usual.  (An idea for the next series, might be to chronicle how each figure is made, complete with pictures from prototypes to packaged product.)

Eternal Clan Dragon sticks with the theme of the rest of the dragons: highly detailed display pieces with very limited poseability.

There are articulation points at the base of the neck, just below the shoulders, and the right knee.  The tail is bendy but that sure doesn't make him very poseable.  He can be adjusted slightly but the overall effect is under whelming.  This kicks the playability to the curb for the most part, although the little rider on the dragon's back doesn't help either.  The guy can be ripped or torn off pretty easily.  Eternal Clan Dragon should be installed and left as is.

The base is genius!  (Except for one feature that I'll get to in a minute.)  The base is about three inches high and the effect of the crushed roof was done with overlapping "strands" of rubber shingle spirals.  The shingles hide the fact that the tower portion is basically and upside-down cup.  Depending on how confident you are with a dremel tool and small electrical connections, the area under the shingles can be filled with holes.  There's enough room in the tower to accommodate some basic wiring, a small switch, an LED light (or two), and a couple batteries.  Doing this really heightens the display value because lights the 

dragon from below, which makes him look far more menacing.  But there's something that bothers me about the base: the toenails.  Instead of the claws being on the dragon's feet they're actually on the roof.  It's a neat idea, which in theory should make it harder to spot where the figure and base join but with the review figure, the claws and the toes don't quite match up making it look at little funny. (See the photo above.) 

Detail is very high and the paint application is very good, with appropriate shading to "blend" the wings.  The scaling and texturing of the Eternal Clan Dragon's head is very good and if you cock his head at just the right angle,

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he looks like he's mimicking a bird glancing down at some prey below. (In some ways, he reminds me of a really big and angry canary.)  Although I like the headdress and rider's saddle, I'm beginning to wish I could remove them both, for a "wild" and a "tame" look just for something different to look at.

Besides, the deluxe Berserker Clan Dragon, the Eternal Clan Dragon is probably my figure of choice from the first McFarlane's Dragons series.  Issues with claws and low articulation aside, he not only looks cool but presents the opportunity to do some customization to the base.

- Omni

(April 11, 2005)