Dragon Flyz is an animated television series produced by Gaumont
in 1996. It ran a total of 26 episodes, and was based on the action figure line by the same name by Galoob Toys. (The Spear Counterpart to the infamous Sky Dancers)
The basic premise; an all but world-ending event known as the Cataclysm strips the Earth's surface of most lifeforms and leaves it a poisonous, volcanic wasteland. Humanity escapes complete extinction by fleeing to the upper atmosphere in a flying ark named Airlandis. This city in the sky is powered by orbs of a purple crystal referred to as 'Amber', generally found near lakes or rivers of molten rock. The Dragon Flyz are members of a paramilitary body not unlike the United States Coast Guard, in which they scour the wastelands of Old Earth to collect Amber and defend against the endless attempts at conquest at the hands of Dreadwing and his forces.
Main Characters:
- Aaron: An older man, the Dragon Flyz' father.
- Apex: The token female of the team, possessed of Psychic Powers and a diplomatic personality. Apex wears white armor with sky blue elements and a dark purple bodysuit underneath.
- Blackheart: Dreadwing's dragon steed.
- Councilor Joshua: The well-intentioned but exceedingly vocal member of the Airlandis government.
- Dram: A Dramen warrior who fights alongside the Dragon Flyz, Dram pops up periodically in the series. His outward appearance is much less harsh than his fellow Dramen and he is predominantly brown. His sense of ethics is far more refined than others.
- Dreadwing: The villain. Tends to muscle around his flunkies, but also seems to favor a poetic touch.
- Fryte: A hunchbacked monster in the service of Dreadwing, Fryte lacks a solid grasp of the English language. His grammar resembles a slaughterhouse.
- Gangrene: The tech-savvy mutant, whose inventions generally fail due to Dreadwing's absolute lack of patience.
- Nocturna: She-mutant fighting alongside Dreadwing, Nocturna is conniving and temperamental.
- Orac: The silver-haired technician of Airlandis' power systems.
- Peak: Youngest of the team, sports a typical reckless, youthful demeanor. Wears purple & orange armor.
- Summit: Second oldest Dragon Fly, possessed of a sharp wit and short temper. His armor is light and dark green with red accents.
- Z'neth: Leader of the Dragon Flyz, and the oldest of the four. He is intelligent and courageous. His armor color is blue and white.
Dragon Tropez:
- After the End: As noted above, the Cataclysm, which nearly destroyed humanity, is part of the series' Back Story.
- Arm Cannon: Used by Nocturna and the Mooks. The heroes use wrist lasers.
- Atlantis: Airlandis has this as a basic theme — the Punny Name/Meaningful Name makes it quite clear.
- Badbutt: Dreadwing's most violent moment is probably when he backhands Orac in "The Defector".
- Berserk Button: Never call Dram a traitor.
- Big Red Devil: Dreadwing, though he isn't actually a demon.
- Chekhov's Volcano: The premise of one episode was that Airlandis had to be flown safely past a very active volcano called Hell's Gate. Given the status of the rest of the world, it should be no surprise that it erupts.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The protagonists are all brightly colored.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Exaggerated. The Earth's surface has constant volcanic activity and lava flows everywhere, but still manages to have a bioshpere that includes entire forests that never seem to burn.
- Death World: After the Cataclysm, Earth becomes one pretty much everywhere except Airlandis.
- Distaff Counterpart: The Sky Dancers toy line and accompanying series is this to Dragon Flyz, though Sky Dancers was actually created first.
- Dragon Rider: The main gimmick of the show: the heroes and the villains use dragons as their mounts.
- Easily Forgiven: Nocturna is still working for Dreadwing after her failed assassination attempt.
- Floating Continent: Airlandis is a floating city. The major source of conflict in the series is the fact that they need to keep going back to the surface for the fuel to keep it aloft.
- Hulk Speak: Fryte, the Dark Dramen, and even Dram, to a lesser extent.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Dreadwing kind of has a point that the humans are constantly invading his domain and stealing resources from him like bandits.
- Large Ham: Dreadwing lives and breathes this trope.
- Lethal Lava Land: As explicited elsewhere on this page, Earth's surface has becomes a hotspot (pun intended) for volcanic activity all around the globe.
- Merchandise-Driven: As is the case for all shows with accompanying toylines.
- My Little Panzer: The toys (like the Distaff Counterpart Sky Dancers) are basically flying, spinning, helicopter-dolls that leave their base at high speed when a string is pulled - perfect for use as weapons. Seriously, people lost teeth and eyeballs to these things.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: With names like Grangrene, Blackheart and Dreadwing, it is quite easy to spot the villains of the show.
- Noble Savage: Dram and Kreigor, each nurturing a sense of honor in their own way.
- Non-Action Guy: Orac, who's closest encounter with actual combat occurred in 'Warnado Rising' upon completing the warp cannon.
- Not Bad: Nocturna doesn't seem to find Z'neth too bad looking, commenting to herself that he's quite attractive "for a human" at the end of one episode.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Airlandis's dragons are wyverns. The villains' dragons Winged Tetrapod have the standard pair of wings and four legs instead of two.
- Punny Name: Mostly having to do with height or air.
- The Smurfette Principle: Apex for the Dragon Flyz, Nocturna for the villains.
- Spear Counterpart: The toyline was similar to Sky Dancers (which also had an animated series).
- The Starscream: Nocturna, although a more patient, thoughtful one than normal. It helped that Dreadwing had promised to let her have Old Earth to rule once he conquered Airlandis. Didn't stop her from once making an alliance with the Dragon Flyz to try and assassinate Dreadwing.
- Super-Strength: Dreadwing is strong enough to lift boulders.
- Theme Naming: The Dragon Flyz all have names that refer to the highest point of something; Z'Neth (pronounced 'zenith'), Summit, Peak, and Apex.
- Unexplained Recovery: The end of Ground Zero sees the characters dropping a nuclear missile on the silo Dreadwing, Gangrene and Nocturna are currently holed up in, with the blast engulfing them. They're completely unharmed in the next episode, without comment.
- Wasteland Elder: Played with in Aaron, who serves as a community leader without clearly being part of the governing body. (Also, the humans don't live in a wasteland, but they do live over it.)
- What Measure Is a Mook?: Dark Dramen have been dropped into lava more than once.
- Winged Humanoid: All Dramen, as well as the villains.
