Happy Chinese New Year from TOY HAVEN and Bandai Power Rangers Red Dragon Thunderzord

According to the Chinese calendar, this Chinese New Year is the Year of the Dragon and so the dragon does feature prominently in all Chinese New Year decorations everywhere, in the malls, in Chinatown etc. Hence I thought it would be timely to wish all readers / viewers / visitors to my TOY HAVEN toy blog a very Happy Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year (also can) with this post on the Red Dragon Thunderzord, a blast from the past!

According to folklore, to create the most powerful creature, the Chinese combined the horns of a deer, the head of a camel, eyes of a rabbit (have you seen the blood RED eyes of white rabbit?), ears of an ox, neck of a lizard, belly of a turtle, scales of a fish, paws of a tiger and claws of an eagle. The dragon is the only creature in the Chinese zodiac that is not a natural animal i.e. it is a legendary figure compared to the rest of the other animals, making it superior to the other 11 zodiac signs.


This is the Bandai Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Deluxe Red Dragon Thunderzord toy released in 1994. This was Jared's first toy which we bought him and he really treasured it and played with it a lot when he first got this Red Dragon Thunderzord 17 years ago. He has obviously outgrown these toys but they are still kept around because it was a part of his childhood. How appropriate that this Red Dragon Thunderzord would be welcoming us to the new Dragon year on the Chinese calendar!

The Red Dragon Thunderzord comes from Series 2 of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV show, which was aired in Singapore from 1995-1996 (I think?). The Bandai Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Red Dragon Thunderzord came with the Red Dragon body, Staff, Tail, Head, Power Crystal, Small figurine, Instruction sheet and Sticker sheet.

The Red Dragon is pretty neat and still looks GOOD after all these years :) No doubt it has been played with quite a bit but it's still all there, including the stickers. Scroll down to see more of this Bandai Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Red Dragon Thunderzord. Click on the pictures to get BIGGER and BETTER views.

Click for a BIGGER & BETTER view :)

The Red Dragon Thunderzord was the second Zord of the Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger (Jason Lee Scott and Rocky DeSantos) and the successor to the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord. It first appeared in The Mutiny, after Lord Zedd's monster Pirantishead managed to take control of the Tyrannosaurus and the Dragonzord. After freeing the Tyrannosaurus from Pirantishead's control, the Power Rangers used the "power of thunder" to upgrade the Dinozords into the Thunderzords. [source: power rangers wiki]

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The Thunderzords are the second set of Zords for the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. They succeed the Dinozords and were larger than their previous counterparts, with much greater strength. The Red Dragon was the first Zord in the series to possess two battle modes: Dragon and Warrior.

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In Dragon mode, it could breathe flame and attack with its claws mid-flight. In Chinese history, the five-clawed dragon was a symbol of the emperor's power, and everyone else could only display the dragon with four claws (for nobles) or less (commoners were given the three-clawed dragon). The five claws represent the five elements of metal, earth, fire, water and wood.

The Bandai Red Dragon Thunderzord can transform from Dragon mode to Warrior mode. In Dragon mode, the Red Dragon Thunderzord has articulated claws, jaw, neck and tail.

Check out the NEXT POST to see the Bandai Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Red Dragon Thunderzord in Warrior mode!

A little trivia: In Malaysia, as part of its campaign against drugs, the word "Morphin" is censored, by substituting or muting footage where the word is spoken (the phrase "It's morphin' time") or displayed onscreen, for fear that it could encourage children to become addicted with the uses of morphine. When it was broadcast on RTM (along with its toy commercials), it was called Mighty Power Rangers, or simply Power Rangers or Power Ranger.