Strange blue beast of the orient!

[countzackula]

Check this guy out...had him for a while, but never got around to showing him off. Saw it on eBay and won it...only saw one once before on a website somewhere (same one).
Basically a hard rubber "dragon" of generic oriental-looking design. The middle seems to be hollow since you can sorta squeeze him. Simply marked as made in Hong Kong. Anyone else ever see this guy before or have any more versions or like toys?

[countzackula]

Here is a comparison shot with an Imperial Rhino Avenger (meant to go with He-Man style action figures). He's kinda big! Obviously, I got him to go with not only my collection of Imperial, Dor Mei and Chitech style 80s monster toys, but also to serve as a beast mount for my MotU knock offs.
I'm assuming it came loose, maybe with a tag? If it came from a toyline with a specific name, it's be nice to know. I know he may be a dragon in most people's eyes, but I like to entertain the possibility this blue monster may be based off of a taotie, which a believe was some creature ancient Chinese shaman supposedly rode into the spirit world.

[countzackula]

Here he is with a Dragons Knights and Daggers saddle and a warrior to ride him! What wonders a few accessories can do!

[victoryleo19]

that is pretty cool! i've never seen anything like that before

[Ebessan]

That thing is fracking awesome.

The head reminds me of the '79 Imperial Chinese dragon.

[muckmonster87]

i've got this guy too, he's really hard and pretty damn heavy. i know they also made him in red. there was also another similar, but different one. i've seen em for sale in the old archie mcphee catalogs. they were also probably available through oriental trading.

[Ebessan]

I'd love to see that red variant also.

Also is your rhino blue there? That's awesome. I've only found green as far as odd shades, and not even saddled.

[rocklord74]

I found one at the fleamarket here for $5, I didn't buy him though.

[muckmonster87]

i have that blue rhino as well, i almost got rid of him last year, so glad i didn't!

[countzackula]

I may have found an official companion piece to the blue taotie...this guy:



Now how do ya like dem apples?!?! Same deal as the blue monster...hard rubber, no markings ave for the ol' MADE IN HONG KONG routine. Sculpture-wise, very similar in aesthetics. It has to be a "buddy" of the blue guy!

[countzackula]

Here's a comparison shot...dragon and taotie...similar, no?




Of course, if you don't just like it for what it is...you can use the dragon as a ride-on for your 80s fantasy figures like I do!



So, are there more of these guys out there? Other designs? Other color schemes? The mind, quite simply......boggles......

[muckmonster87]

i've been looking for that green dragon for a looong time, there's a picture in a 1990 pee-wee's playhouse calendar i have that shows pee-wee's bedroom covered in toys, and this guy is among them. awesome find! where'd ya dig it up?

[else3573]

The head of the blue one looks like it could've been slightly influenced from the luck dragon, Falkor on Neverending Story

[Ebessan]

Green one's even cooler than the blue. Congrats on the fantastic find.

How does one even search for this stuff?

[muckmonster87]

ebay coincidences and lucky breaks at flea markets, at least that's how i find all mine!

[countzackula]

Eh, just got it off eBay...sadly, my main source of vintage stuff. I spend way too much money on this crap! I'd kill to have a good couple of flea markets or decent thrift stores to root around in.

No secret...just random searches for dragons and such. I usually don't find too much rare or unique stuff. Mainly those darn Imperial two-headers! I almost busted a nut when I saw the green dude on screen! I waited with gritted teeth and crossed fingers for a week, hoping to God no one ended up bidding some insane amount. Won it for thirty bucks. Not too bad for an eBay win, I suppose. Only one other person bid.

[Ghouldrool]

Fantastic friggin' dragons! You really lucked out with these, because they definitely look like they're sculpted by the same person, if not both from the same series altogether. Way to go on finding one more!

Like most collectors here I'm starting to appreciate the unknown brandless toys much more than the oodles of licenced crap.

[skullbooska]

sweet! I was super excited to see that there are more of these out there! here are my two. ive heard rumor of their being a red one as well... my blue one is from my childhood. and ever since a kid ive been calling it Luck Dragon. i remember the box (?) or tag it came with, telling kids that if they wrote a wish or something on a piece of paper and put it in its head, that the wish would come true. but i have no proof of this, except cloudy childhood memories.

[muckmonster87]

there was definitely a red one, i've seen a picture of it in an old archie mcphee catalog

[kylefromdirtnapp]

Man, Jitsu and Ninjor would look so good on those......

[muckmonster87]

thought i'd post some other "asian style" dragons:

here's a great one, made by imperial in 1979



here's an unmarked jiggler style rubber dragon.



here's a similar jiggler, although obviously in much worse condition. he's missing some spines, the tip of his tail, and tons of paint. i still think he looks pretty cool. he's actually a slighty different mold than the one above, and a little heavier.



for comparison:


here's a personal favorite. made of soft rubber, but not a jiggler. he's not as long as the others either. i know this guy was made in a ton of different colors, materials, and sizes, but they all seem a little tougher to find than the guys above.


dig those whiskers!

[victoryleo19]

I swear I think I had that orange one as a kid!

[soren]

Wow this is cool stuff love the eyes on the last one

[bowheadwhale]

Mar 19, 2011 14:18:38 GMT -6 countzackula said:

Here's a comparison shot...dragon and taotie...similar, no?




Of course, if you don't just like it for what it is...you can use the dragon as a ride-on for your 80s fantasy figures like I do!



So, are there more of these guys out there? Other designs? Other color schemes? The mind, quite simply......boggles......

SO COOOOOOOOOLLLLL!!! Yet, they are NOT dragons. They are different.

Ok, I don't know the line, but I sure know what they represent!

The blue one is a PIXIU. Pixius are bue-silver asian beasts that can have either one or two horns. They have paws like lions or tigers. They are strong symbols in Feng-shui, making sure buildings are made following secure directions.

The green one is a QI_LIN. Qi-Lins are powerful symbolic asian creatures as well, even more than pixius. They have hooves and a scaly goat-like body. They represent male-female polarity, as they are said to be hermaphrodite, and they figure the center of the Earth.

[bowheadwhale]

Pixius and Qi-Lins, like Longs (asian dragons) are benevolent creatures. They contribute to the balance of the universe.
Qi-Lins are kings of hooved animals, Longs being kings of scaly animals (fishes and serpents); Tigers are fur-covered pawed animals kings, while Tortoises are kings of shelled critters (like turtles, snails and coleoptera). Each one of them represent a direction: Tiger is West, Dragon is East, Tortoise is North and Fen-Huang (chinese phoenix) is South.
Pixius, if they don't represent any direction, are important in culture also. Along with the three-legged Toad, they are, like I said earlier, directly linked with Feng-Shui. They lead builders so they build houses following the Feng-Shui rules, which are related with the magnetism of the planet.

[muckmonster87]

wow thanks for the awesome info bowheadwhale!!

[bowheadwhale]

You're welcome! It's sad, though, that I have no idea of who created that remarquable toyline. At least, we now all know what exactly they represent.

In the meantime, let me show you a few of my Asian Dragons collection. I also have a 1979 Imperial Asian Dragon, but it is way too big to fit in the scanner... Anyway, here are the rest of them:

1969 IMPERIAL and 2010 SAFARI LTD:




PLASTOY (repainted) and 2010 PAPO:



See the difference of detailing between the 1969 one and the 2010 ones. And compare them to the vintage ones we saw earlier. The more we go back in time, the simplier asian animals were made. The more we go forward to nowadays, the more detailed those animals become. Interesting evolution, really.

[bowheadwhale]

Oh! And here are my "Happy Meal" oriental dragons:

[oneadam12]

I found this cool looking figure in a flea market for 10.00. All it says on it is made in Hong Hong.
Anyone here know anything about these? It's made of hard rubber, very much like the figures made by Imperial.

[waywardmonk]

There's a thread on these here: Strange blue beast of the orient!

No ID, but bowheadwhale shares some great info on what kind of creatures they are.