Why did merging with the dragon pup transform Lagi back into the Solo Wing dragon? On the surface it seemed as though it was because Lagi had “completed” itself, but that wouldn’t make much sense because Lagi was in Solo Wing form in PD1, whilst the dragon pup was still sealed in the crest in Shellcoof.
Is there some kind of explanation for the transformation?
Lagi turns into the Blue Dragon in PD Zwei as well. You just have to get an S rank or whatever, I don’t remember anymore. However the Blue Dragon ending is what’s considered the one “real” ending of PDZ. People believe that for some reason his new base wing form of PDS was not able to turn in the PDZ forms but that the Heresy Dragon left the data of those inside the crest which the baby dragon spawned from when Lagi went into hybernation at the end of PDZ. So they think that cos of that, after the merge Lagi is able to turn into the Solo Wing Dragon which is a combination of the PDZ forms (not just the Blue Dragon but also other previous forms depending on how you set up the stats in the dragon morphing menu).
On the other hand I (and possibly other ppl) believe that the baby dragon and Solo Wing form were just a game bonus for the old fans of the series. After all what’s a PD game without the ability to play as the Blue Dragon? Even Orta allows that in it’s box game if I’m not mistaken. Anyway I believe it’s a bonus because the Solo wing is not depicted in any FMV cut scene after the transformation apart from when the Heresy Dragon talks to Edge. The reason for that, IMO, is NOT to show us that Lagi did indeed transform into the Solo Wing in PDS but to make the connection between the previous games’ dragons and prove that it’s indeed the same dragon in all of them. To back this up a little more, Lagi was not able to morph into the Dark Dragon in any other game and yet as the Solo Wing he can. And in the ending sequence the Dark Dragon is not one of the forms the Heresy Dragon shows so that FMV can’t be to show that he morphed to the Solo Wing but only to make the connection with the previous games dragons as explained above.
Anyway this isn’t a tjread to start the war on wether Lagi morphed into Solo wing in PDS for real or if it was just a game bonus, I’m just providing you with both explanations that exist so far.
Basically there are three theories regarding the baby dragon:
It’s Lagi’s offspring or his clone left behind in Shelcoof by the dragon for any number of reasons.
The baby dragon is an in-game bonus. The final FMV sequence before entering Sestren always depicts the Arm Wing dragon regardless of what dragon you’re riding at that time.
The baby dragon is Lagi.
Until we can find the interview with Smilebit in which they confirmed that all the dragons seen in each game thus far were the same dragon (i.e. Lagi), then anything goes.
If the data was left behind in the crest at the end of Zwei, then why was Lagi still the blue dragon in PD1?
It might not have been Lagi.
If Lagi was the same dragon throughout all the games, then how would you answer your own question?
I agree, though on a related note there’s something that many people might have overlooked.
In the scene where Edge and the black dragon program part company (where the previous dragon heads come out of the black dragon program’s body), the Light Wing’s head is also shown… even though the Light Wing can never be seen in the previous “entering Sestren” FMV. However, the Light Wing’s genetic code only existed in the D Units, so the final FMV is implying that Lagi did indeed collect all twelve D Units and became the Light Wing, even if the “entering Sestren” FMV only ever showed the Arm Wing. Essentially, the contradiction exists not only between the FMVs and the game but between the FMVs themselves.
So in the same way that we can’t really hold the final FMV as evidence that Lagi did become the Solo Wing in Saga, I don’t think that we can hold the “entering Sestren” FMV as evidence that he didn’t become either the Light Wing (or the Solo Wing) either, because those FMVs do mildly contradict one another.
All the discussion about Orta’s gun and the FMVs in that game got me thinking about this example, too. The FMVs for Saga were almost certainly created before the rest of the game was even remotely finished; probably before they’d decided that they were going to include the Solo Wing and the (rather convoluted) hidden method of getting it in the game. There are certainly many discrepancies and odd differences between the FMVs and the main game, just like in PDO, so this would make sense.
It might logically explain why there are no FMV sequences for the Solo Wing, anyway, though I agree that all three main theories that Alex and Geoff pointed out are certainly possible.
[quote=“Crazy Penguin”]Why did merging with the dragon pup transform Lagi back into the Solo Wing dragon? On the surface it seemed as though it was because Lagi had “completed” itself, but that wouldn’t make much sense because Lagi was in Solo Wing form in PD1, whilst the dragon pup was still sealed in the crest in Shellcoof.
Is there some kind of explanation for the transformation?[/quote]
As Geoff sort-of mentioned above, there’s a possibility that the dragon in Panzer Dragoon Saga isn’t actually Lagi, and that the dragon pup (from Shelcoof) is an essence / clone / offspring / reincarnation of Lagi that was left there at the end of Panzer Dragoon Zwei (in the Dragon Crest).
The theory goes that the PD Saga dragon - which we’re assuming for the moment isn’t Lagi - goes through the course of the game evolving in its own unique way, but when it finally fuses with the Lagi pup it is able to take on Lagi’s old ultimate form (the Solo Wing).
If you’ve got some time on you hands and you’d like to know the reasoning behind all this, this theory that I wrote up a while ago covers pretty much all the ideas regarding how the Panzer Dragoon Saga dragon might not be Lagi. (And how the Dragon Crest and dragon pup might fit into the storyline through this idea.)
But alternatively the other theories mentioned above could equally be true. There’s surprisingly little evidence to go on, or at least little evidence that isn’t contradicted in some way.
Lance, can we get a good pic of the part of the sequence that shows the lightwing? Maybe it’s another form that looks similar… I’d like to see it anyway, I don’t have Saga anymore. Still I think the part of my reply that you quoted applies anyway…
Thank you. 
That clears up a whole lot.
There’s only one little bit I disagree with…
Personally, I feel that in terms of story, the Sky Rider’s dragon would be able to use beserkers, but that it could not be used in-game simply because the developers hadn’t thought of it yet.
But that’s only a tiny little niggle in what I find to be an otherwise flawless theory.
So, in accordance to your theory, should it be assumed that the the Sky Rider’s dragon may or may not have originated as a Coolia, but that Edge’s dragon definitely did not originate as a Coolia but instead a different creature (thus explaining the drastically different transformations leading up to Solo Wing)?
Could it even be that Coolias were the only/best subject for the Impurity to transform into Solo Wing? This would mean that the Sky Riders’ dragon started life as a Coolia, but that Edge’s dragon did not, and that merging with Lagi was the only way to become Solo Wing.
Or is it more likely that Edge’s dragon always had the potential to become the Solo Wing (just as the Sky Rider’s dragon did) and that the dragon pup Lagi’s spirit/mind/memory INITIATED the transformation, but was not NECESSARY for the transformation?
Or Team Andromeda ran out of CD space. The only reason Panzer Dragoon Saga spans four CDs is due to the insane memory consumption of FMV footage not mention the Japanese voice acting.
http://www.panzerdragoon.net/theories/divine_visitor_theory_06.jpg
This is definitely the Light Wing.
As Geoff’s shot shows, it’s almost undoubtedly the Light Wing… it’s even the distinctive blue colur (which no other dragon forms were).
Oh I agree, I was just bringing up that related point (i.e. that the previous FMV similarly can’t be taken as “evidence” for anything, because the FMVs essentially contradict one another).
Yeah, in retrospect I was probably being a bit overly pedantic there - I do accept that not all gameplay elements will ever be reconciled to a game’s plot, and this is likely the case here.
That’s a reasonable way of looking at it. However, if the original type of creature was what determined the subsequent evolutions, that would bring up the question: why didn’t the program look for another Coolia?
That’s quite a good theory, and it would actually make sense. To be honest I’ve never thought so much about why these (potentially) different dragons had these different forms specifically, only why they might have had different forms in general.
One idea I had a while back was that “Edge’s Dragon” might have been an actual Ancient Age dragon that was “stored” in the Dragon Crest we see in the excavation site, at the beginning of Panzer Dragoon Saga (in the same way that Lagi potentially stored his essence inside the Crest in Shelcoof). My theory was that Dragon Crests must have been created by the Ancients for something, and that storing the form of a dragon - the only thing we ever see a Dragon Crest literally “do” - might be their intended function.
But really, that’s just a pleasant theory: there’s no actual evidence to back it up. And the whole idea that these creatures are different dragons is only a theoretical one too (I completely acknowledge that).