Entry 030: Curse of Dragon Collection

FUCK

Now here's one I've definitely been looking forward to since I started! Curse of Dragon was up there as one of my favorites as a kid, because I mean look at it! Yu-Gi-Oh may also have its own dedicated Dragon type, but the dragons in it can vary so wildly and be really out there, and not even necessarily in an "Alolan Exeggutor" kinda way, more like a "Duraludon" kind of way. If that makes any sense.

Anyway, Curse of Dragon is really cool as an "evil dragon" sort of design, or at least a "dark dragon". So many of those in fiction can just be black and red and black and red and edgy and blargh, but Curse here takes the route of simply appearing even more monstrous than your usual dragon, with a big beak-like face while still having a toothed mouth inside of it. Covered in spikes, but not so extra about it that it looks visually overwhelming.

Then comes the patches in its skin. I don't think they're supposed to be exposed muscle tendons or anything like that, but it still adds a splash of violence without looking excessively gory. There's perhaps criticism to be had in that it's not very clear what's going on there, but I think it's a decent way to break up the solid gold body. And yeah, with the color scheme being gold and red, I'm down for that as well.

All of that is of course helped by having a pretty dang iconic silhouette. The combination of violent shapes, bird-like face, and a serpentine body with no limbs other than a pair of wings most certainly makes it stand out quite a bit, especially among some more "typical" dragons. As an appreciator of unconventional dragons, I approve!

Personal Score: 10/10

Name a more iconic duo, I'll wait.

And of course, being an iconic monster of Yugi's means you get remade into a bunch of other different cards, including another with ol' Gaia riding on its back. It's surprisingly not that often that a Fusion monster actually looks like a merging of two monster concepts into one, this one, of course, introducing Gaia as a dragon-riding knight. It heightens Gaia just by proxy, but I don't really feel the need to rate this one since it's just Curse of Dragon with a dude on its back.

What're those

And then they go and clutter my boy with a bunch of nonsense armor that looks a little too busy and clashes with Curse's look quite a bit. ): Maybe if this had been an upgraded Gaia the Dragon Champion I'd be more fine on it because the armor looks more in-line with his bizarre aesthetic, but eh. Not a fan of your fashion sense, Curse.

Personal Score: 6/10

This Fire/Dragon Centiskroch retype is looking pretty cool

And I THINK this version is meant to be some sort of fire-breathing, mecha version of Curse of Dragon? It certainly looks mechanical, with the glowing spots and much more geometric design. As a machine Curse of Dragon, it's pretty sick though! Curse looks pretty cool in red, and incorporating those odd slits in its skin as "heat vents" is a genuinely neat idea! Doesn't top the original to me, but a respectable alternate take!