Spotlight: Box Dragon

The Box Dimension is a fairly frequent topic on this blog. The confusing room is full of mysteries and strange happenings that are brilliant to delve into, but one thing I’ve never discussed is whether it’s possible for life to exist within it.

The answer to this question isn’t hard to find: Captain Rockhopper’s growing plants were hoarded there after the Adventure Party of 2009 and Plok the orange puffle can be found there too. But although the plants and Plok were sustained by the dimension, they did not originate from it.

There are only a handful of creatures that actually come from the Box Dimension—the most notable being the Box Dragon. The Box Dragon (as its name suggests) is a dragon made entirely of boxes that was somehow formed in the Box Dimension.

The dragon didn’t make many appearances in game, only appearing twice. The first time was at the April Fools’ Party of 2009 where it could be spotted sleeping in the Forest. The dragon was clearly alive as it was visibly breathing. Alongside this detail, the dragon would shake its tail if the player moused over it and open its eyes and flare its nostrils if its head was moused over.

After this initial appearance, the Box Dragon didn’t reappear until Puffle Launch was released in two years’ time. Much like the Mullet in Ice Fishing, the Box Dragon makes three appearances, getting closer each time. It appears firstly on level 34 as part of the background at the very beginning of the level.

At the end of the next level, the player has to actually bounce on the Box Dragon to complete the level. The dragon remains completely unfazed by this making it seem more like a part of the environment than a living creature, though it can still be seen breathing heavily.

On level 36 (the final level of the game), the Box Dragon plays a very significant role. After finally destroying Klepto’s rebuilt Aqua Grabber, Klepto ejects and accidentally falls into the box directly behind the dragon’s head.

This wakes up the sleeping dragon, and its eyes turn a fiery orange as Klepto begins to control it. The crab makes the Box Dragon fly backwards while spitting out flaming boxes that burst into flames when touched or explode if left untouched.

When Klepto is defeated by the player, forcing him to eject from the dragon, it immediately closes its eyes and goes back into its docile state, allowing you to jump across its body to complete the level again.

One of the things that I find most interesting about the dragon is that it always seems to be in some form of hibernation or deep sleep. We only see it wake up when being controlled by Klepto, or briefly when it escaped from the Box Dimension in 2009 and was disturbed by the player. Perhaps this is more evidence towards my early theory that the Box Dimension is outside of time.

but what do you think? Why is the Box Dragon always sleeping? Where did it come from? Leave your thoughts and theories down in the comments below, and until next time,