Dr. Wu Energy Dragon

Prelude: I have often complained that Third Party companies seem stuck producing only Masterpiece- and Legends-scaled figures these days, seeing as I am mostly a C.H.U.G. collector. And then Dr. Wu started producing Micro Master scaled figures? Well, nothing in it for me. Then, however, I saw this tiny little terror here, the Energy Dragon, and I was hooked. Who’s the cutest little city bot? Why, it’s you, Energy Dragon, of course. Come here and be reviewed, you little cutie!

Robot Mode: Energy Dragon is, of course, meant to be G1 Trypticon, only at a much smaller scale. He is about the size of a present-day small Deluxe-Class figure, roughly the same height as Energon Cruellock. Technically you’d have to call him a super-deformed figure, a style I do not usually like, but in Energy Dragon’s case it’s not really that noticeable. Sure, his head is a bit larger proportionally speaking than it was on G1 Trypticon, but not really that much. He still looks like he should, a huge robotic dinosaur with guns on his back, just… you know… tiny and cute.

Apart from slightly different proportions and the much, much smaller scale, this figure here is Trypticon as we know and love him. A robotic dinosaur vaguely resembling a T-Rex, big tail, big boxy gun pods on his shoulders, and a car for a bra. The shoulder guns are separate pieces that can detach and swivel to lie flat against his back with the guns drawn back inside. There are two additional gun barrels inside Energy Dragon’s mouth and a gun on top of his head, too, hidden under an orange canopy. For some reason the canopy only folds up about 45 degrees, not 90 degrees like it did on the original toy, but that’s still enough to bring the gun into play.

Energy Dragon is very nicely articulated, more so than the original toy. The feet are ball-jointed and include those purple things that Trypticon always had on the insides of his feet. I forgot to unfold them for the pictures, I must admit, as they are really tough to unfold, but they are present if you have attached nostalgic value to them. The tiny arms are ball-jointed as well and have opening claws. There is even some limited tail movement, mostly for transformation reasons, but still. The mouth can open and close and the head can look up or down, but sadly not sideways.

So bottom line: this here is Trypticon in miniature, no doubt about it. Apart from not being able to do a battery-powered walk and being better articulated, there is practically no difference to the original Trypticon. Very nice and two thumbs up.

Alternate Modes: Trypticon is (usually) a triple changer, having a city mode and a battle platform / space cruiser mode on top of his primary dinosaur mode. Energy Dragon features all these modes and one extra, but let’s start with the familiar ones.

Energy Dragon’s city mode is nearly identical to that of his larger predecessor, just a whole lot smaller, of course. The transformation is basically the same, as Energy Dragon lies down on his back, spreads his legs, which split open to extend further outwards. Instead of the central tower being made from extra pieces taken from Brunt, it unfolds from Dragon’s chest. The guns / towers that sat on Dragon’s shoulders in dino mode need to be plugged into his dinosaur arms now and the green ramp on the tail folds down, done. The result is pretty much the city mode we know from the original toy and cartoon, just a lot smaller, and you even have Full-Tilt to (awkwardly) drive down the central ramp, too. Very nicely done.

Energy Dragon’s space cruiser / battle platform mode is more or less identical to the city mode, just with the legs folded back in alongside the main body, the central ramp folded in, and the three “towers” now pointing forwards as guns. To be honest, this is the mode I like least on this figure. It does look pretty cool on G1 Trypticon (from certain angles), but here it really just feels like a contorted dinosaur.

Finally, Energy Dragon has another mode that the original toy did not have, probably inspired by the currently popular “Beast Box” figures from 52Toys. Energy Dragon can fold together into a box or cube, though that is not something mentioned in the instruction sheets. The cube is roughly 5cm on each side (or two inches for those still stuck with Imperial measurements) and not just a jumble of folded together parts, either, as everything plugs in tightly and holds together very well. So start on your fanfiction of Trypticon scanning a Borg cube as his alternate mode, because the toy version of that is already here. Very nice.

Partner: While Energy Dragon does not feature Brunt, the tank, from the original Trypticon’s support crew, he does include Full-Tilt, the car that becomes Trypticon’s bra. Now granted, this thumbnail sized version of Full-Tilt isn’t much of a robot and his transformation basically consists of standing the car upright, but still: a very nice and fun detail.

Remarks: Despite G1 Trypticon being my second-favorite city bot, I never did get the Titan Class version of the Decepticons biggest dinosaur. But when I saw this tiny little guy here, I simply could not resist, despite not usually being a fan of the deformed style. Dr. Wu’s Energy Dragon, however, is just fabulous. There are actually multiple different versions of this figure, including one with battle damage, a metallic one, and several limited editions in different colors, but I am more than happy with the standard cartoon deco one. Oh, and there will be another one inspired by Beast Wars II Gigastorm, too.

Now I do not intend to start collecting Micromaster scaled figures anytime soon, but Dr. Wu’s versions of the Titans might just make it into my collection, simply for the expediency of being much smaller than their larger cousins and – at least in the case of Energy Dragon – still being amazingly good toys despite the small size. Okay, the cruiser mode isn’t that great, but everything else works just fine and I even like the cube mode.

So if you are a Trypticon fan or simply want to get a taste of what’s possible in this scale, I can fully recommend Energy Dragon (or any of its repaints). Now I just hope that Dr. Wu eventually gets around to my all-time favorite city bot, as I’d really like a Fortress Maximus in this scale.

Rating: A-