Monday, March 22, 2021

Disney Heroes - MALEFICENT DRAGON!

Disney Heroes - 9" Maleficent Dragon (w/ Sound) - Disney Store Exclusive 2005

Back in 2005, I was very excited about this new Disney Heroes line of highly-articulated action figures. Previous the Disney Heroes brand had been small Kenner-esque figures featuring the casts of Peter Pan, Robin Hood, and Sword in the Stone (possible Euro-only releases). Then I saw the announcement for a wave of these large, stylized, highly-articulated figures of Peter Pan and Prince Phillip (with a note saying Captain Hook, Hercules, and Maleficent were also coming - to US Disney Stores). I was very excited. I had always wanted a Maleficent action figure. As one of the most visually striking Disney characters, I was surprised we only had PVC figurines and dolls. But when I finally saw an image of the toy I was crestfallen to see it was her dragon form. While it looked great, I was hoping for the mistress herself. But then years later I got the DST figure and immediately wanted to pair her with this dragon. It took a few years to finally hunt her down and display them together. Let's check out Maleficent below!





For those unfamiliar, at the end of Sleeping Beauty (1959), the fairy witch Maleficent transforms into this large dragon. Some interpret this as being her true form, others as a final show of power. The new live-action Maleficent movies dive deeper into the dragon mythology tied to her powers.








If I had to guess, I would say that Maleficent was the victim of a budget cut in the production stage. Looking at her, it seems that her eyes and tongue should light up. They are translucent yellow and her head and neck appear completely hollow to accommodate a little LED light. But the only feature is an odd tinny roaring sound (when you press the panel between her wings). I took her apart to investigate and it seems like there could easily be a light feature installed. I might consider just painting her tongue and eyes a bright yellowy-green to match her mouth and nostrils so her overall features don't look so lifeless.




Maleficent's right side has all the screw ports. The left side is smooth and better for display.






Maleficent has 14 points of articulation. Her jaw is articulated. Her head is attached to her neck with a ball joint. Her neck is attached to her body with a swivel joint. Her ankles have hinge joints. And then her legs, wings, and base of her tail all have swivel joints. Ball joints on the wings would have made this figure infinitely more dynamic. As is, the box pose is the only real option.



























Time for some Comparison Pics!


Here is Maleficent Dragon with her human/fairy form from the 2019 DST Kingdom Hearts line.
Forgive the excessive pics of this pairing. I've been wanting to see these two together for a while now so I wanted to experiment with their poses.
 











Cheers!





2 comments:

  1. I definitely like the pairing of those two. I really like them both. The joint for the wing seems like a no brainer but still I like what I see. Great review and post.

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  2. Cool looking dragon. That was my favorite part of the movie. I remember those Disney toys. Yep - pretty sure they were mostly European distributed. Remember seeing them on Ebay. Can't remember seeing them stateside.

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