Ezra Chatterton was the first person to obtain this mount, which was given to him by Tigole during Ezra's Make-A-Wish visit in Blizzard HQ on May 29th, 2007.
On May 31, 2007, the guild Method on Sylvanas-EU saw the first world drop of this item when they successfully brought down Kael'thas, making it the second Phoenix mount in game, next to Ezra's.
In addition to its unique look, the mount is also faster than most epic flying mounts, at 310% increase instead of the normal 280%. This is the same speed as the armored netherdrake mounts and frostwyrm mounts available to the top 0.5% of those participating in Arenas, as well as the proto-dragon achievement rewards from the meta-raiding achievements from Naxxramas and Ulduar, the Onyxian Drake available from Onyxia, and Mimiron's Head available from Yogg-Saron in Ulduar. The achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been also rewards a Violet Proto-Drake, which so far is the only 310% speed mount obtainable without having to do raids or Arenas.