Dragons At Large: ReedPOP's Favorite Dragons

The Year of The Dragon officially began on Monday. To celebrate the end of the first week of this most ferocious year (or is it the start of the second week), we're proud to present a survey of some of ReedPOP's favorite dragons. Roar! Growl! Chomp! The dragon a symbol of power and fortune in China, the Year of the Dragon is probably the coolest year in the Chinese Zodiac, and those born in the Year of the Dragon are considered to be domination, ambitious, and successful. They're lucky, too, unlike those poor fools born in lamer years like the Year of the Pig or the Year of the Rat.

None of this really matters, though, as this is just an excuse to talk about dragons. Compiled by @MKatLovesYou, @h_e_e_l_s, @henchling, and @PeterTatara, here we go...

Megellan. Nickelodeon's answer to Sesame Street was the puppetastic Eureeka's Castle. It centered on a sorceress in training, the titular Eureeka, and the other inhabitants of her home. Chief among these was Magellan. A baby dragon, he had a propensity for Hawaiian shirts and giant sneezes. The Magellan puppet was operated by Noel MacNeal, a gent who was also Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, Bear in Bear in The Big Blue House, and Mommy Snuffleupagus in Sesame Street.

Shenron. Dragon Ball Z introduced a generation to anime and got me out of bed at 5 AM on Saturday mornings. Shenron's the Dragon in Dragon Ball. He's a big, green genie. If you gather his seven balls, Shenron is summoned and grants you one wish. Now, this doesn't make that much sense, it didn't stop the Dragon Ball saga from spanning 500 episodes. There are actually a number of dragons in Dragon Ball, with Shenron just the dragon looking over the Earth. There are alien dragons, evil dragons, and cosmic dragons, too.

Savage Dragon. I first met the Savage Dragon through the pages of Shadow Hawk. A brutal cop keeping the streets of Chicago free of super criminals, he's the creation of Image co-founder Erik Larsen. Savage Dragon debuted in 1992, both written and illustrated by Larsen. He continues to write and draw the comic today. The Savage Dragon was surprisingly the subject of a kid friendly cartoon on USA Network in 1995. Even more surprisingly, an episode featured a crossover with the Wing Commander Academy animated series.

Smaug. Smaug's a rich old dragon in Tolkien's The Hobbit. He's spent hundreds of years collecting gold and jewels and gets royally pissed when Bilbo Baggins steals a cup from him. Smaug's a tough beastie to kill, too, as in addition to his generally-scaly hide, his centuries atop his treasure hoard have embedding a number of his riches into his flesh, creating a layer of gold armor over his scales. He's being voiced by Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch in the upcoming Hobbit flicks, hence the image to the left.

Space Godzilla. Now, Godzilla may not technically be a dragon (which begs me to ask myself what, technically, is a dragon), but he's close enough. A living fossil irradiated and risen from the bottom of the sea, he's big, mean, green, and deserving a spot on this list. But we're not shining a spotlight on plain old Godzilla. Oh, no. Our favorite incarnation of Godzilla is Space Godzilla from 1994's Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla. After some of Godzilla's DNA was gobbled up into a black hole, cosmic forces created a new Godzilla with the magic space crystals on its back. He's like Godzilla but -- umm -- sparkly.

Draco. Remember Dragonheart? Is it socially-acceptable to like this movie? I can't recall if nerd culture is currently pro or con Dragonheart. I also can't recall much about the film. All I really remember is that ILM did the effects and there was an interview a few years back about how they had some digital artists who kept updating the Draco model long after the movie came out with new advances in CG just in case there would be a big screen Dragonheart II.

Paildramon. The DNA Digivolution of ExVeemon and Stingmon, Paildramon is an Ultimate-Level Digimon from the Digimon cartoon. According to the card game, Paildramon combines the power of a dragon-type digital monster and the defense of an inspect-type one. In the show, Paildramon was a formidable warrior, fending off baddies including Arukenimon and Black WarGreymon single-handedly. I've not seen Digimon in a while, but one of Paildramon's attacks was "Desperado Blaster", and I seem to recall he talked like a cowboy.

Paarthurnax. Paarthurnax is the leader of the Greybeards and brother of Alduin. He helps the Dragonborn and is called the Old One by other dragons. Paarthurnax was Alduin's general during the First Dragon War. During this war, he ultimately betrayed Alduin and sided with the humans. He taught mankind to use the Thu'um. Now, he dwells in the Throat of The World. Did any that make sense? If not, you've not played Skyrim, and there's not really much I can say to offer up an explanation.

Dragonzord. There's no toy I wanted more growing up than the Dragonzord. We'll drop any pretense about Power Rangers not being cool or not being the thing every kid ran home to watch in the '90s. The Dragonzord, a robot with a drill for a tail and rocket hands (and controlled by a magic flute) was piloted by Tommy, the evil Green Ranger, in the original Power Rangers. In the US version, Tommy became a good guy. In Japan, the Green Ranger died. Also, in Japan, the Dragonzord went by the fantastic name of Dragon Caesar.

Toothless. One a quiet day in the office, you may start to hear the How To Train Your Dragon soundtrack. In honor of the Year of The Dragon, my laptop's go-to MP3s are now this movie's score. Toothless is the lead dragon in the HTTYD books and film. Hiccup's pet, he's a Garden Dragon in the books -- the most common dragon species -- while he's a rare Night Fury in the movie. Despite being a legendary terror, Toothless is pretty much a salamander puppy. He's adorable, goofy, and loyal. And, missing part of his tail, he's reliant on Hiccup to help him fly, assuring a co-dependent relationship for life.

And there you have it, ReedPOP's favorite dragons. They're not in any order, nor is this a comprehensive list. I'm sure if I involved @lsett or @armstrongmike in this, they'd have thrown out more names. Or, more likely, told me I was an idiot.