Chomper
| The Land Before Time character | |
| Chomper | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Color | Blue, with a lighter shade of blue running from mouth to tail (dark blue in the TV series) |
| Colored eyes | Red |
| Species | Tyrannosaurus |
| First appearance | The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure |
| Portrayer | Rob Paulsen (II) Cannon Young (V) Max Burkholder (TV series) Ikue Ōtani (II, V, TV series, Japanese versions) |
Chomper is a fictional character in the Land Before Time films and TV series. He is a Tyrannosaurus, which is one of many species of carnivorous dinosaurs called a sharptooth in The Land Before Time films. He is bilingual, being able to speak both the herbivore language of Littlefoot and his friends (heard as English to the viewer), and the "Sharptooth" language of Tyrannosaurus, which seems to consist of grunts, roars, and clicks. [1]
Character history
Littlefoot and his friends originally found Chomper as an egg and took care of him as surrogate parents until he was found by his real parents. He left the Great Valley with them and was not seen again until The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, where he was living on an island with his parents. Now that the landbridge which connected the island to the mainland has been destroyed, he and his parents cannot get off the island.
In the TV series, Chomper has been accepted into the Great Valley and currently lives with Ruby in a cave. The adults are aware of Chomper but have no objection to him living in the valley or playing with their children, in spite of his carnivorous nature. It is unknown how Chomper escaped the island when the land bridge was destroyed in The Mysterious Island, though it was revealed that Chomper's parents gave Ruby the responsibility to take care of him. A flashback in The Star Day Celebration tells us that Chomper and Ruby initially went to the Great Valley together when pursued by Red Claw[2].
Changes and popularity
Although he has been previously known as a supporting character, his debut in the TV series has shown that he will likely be accepted as one of the main characters, along with Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike. He is one of the fourteen guest characters to reappear in a full supporting role so far. The other characters were Tria, Tricia, Ali, Bron, Shorty, Mr. Thicknose, Doc, Mo, Guido, Tippy, Hyp, Mutt, and Nod. However, Chomper seems the most proficient, and one of the most popular, so it is very likely he will soon become a full time character. He is very popular with fans, which increases his chances even more. There has been a rumor present that Chomper may be in the upcoming fourteenth movie, but nothing is known for sure.
Chomper's form has also been slightly modified in the TV series. He is now more of a darker shade of blue than his original bluish color in the movies The Great Valley Adventure and The Mysterious Island). His teeth are also positioned differently. Viewers may also notice that in The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, and the TV series, Chomper has noticeable chest muscles, which were not visible in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure.
Indifference
Chomper is perhaps most notable as the gang member who is a carnivore; Ruby is an omnivore, and the original five are all herbivores. Chomper, like most carnivores, has and excellent sense of smell. Because of his sensitive nose (Which he affectionately calls his "sniffer"), he is often called upon for tracking lost friends and finding missing items in the TV series.
He is the only Sharptooth who has eaten prey on screen, though the prey are insects. He is also the only Sharptooth who has directly injured one of the original five main characters; he bites Cera in his first appearance. However, he is a baby in this film, and is likely only following his instincts. After being informed by Littlefoot and Ducky that this behaviour is bad, and not accepted in the Great Valley, he is never seen doing it again.
He is shown to often forget that his friends are leaf-eaters, as a running gag in the TV series shows Chomper trying to offer his friends insects to eat. In Search for the Sky Color Stones, he offers Littlefoot and Petrie a hive of bees (called "stinging buzzers" in dino talk and his favorite food), and does not understand why they are not pleased at this.
Even though most of the adults are tolerant of Chomper, a few show prejudiced feeling toward him due to the fact he is a Sharptooth, with Topsy being a notable example.
Personality
Chomper is a has a very outgoing personality, always willing to go on an adventure with his friends. Because he is a sharptooth, he often has unpleasant, and sometimes even violent, clashes with the gang's other friends, Ali's herd and Doc being notable examples. He tries to please his friends as much as possible, and there for is prone to being taken advantage of. He shows fierce loyalty to his friends, and he often openly exclaims his friendship to even those who intimidate him, like Doc, The Lone Dinosaur Returns, and Thud, Escape from the Mystrious Beyond[3]. He is also quite naive, (although not quite to the extent of some of his other friends, like Ducky and Petrie), and easily believes what he is told, such as in The Mysterious Tooth Crisis, where he believed Cera's father's lie about him going to fall apart to bones. He is also known to panic easily, especially when it comes to the thought of someone seeking to harm him, as seen in The Lone Dinosaur Returns, where in the entire episode he tries desperately to stay away from Doc, fearing that he will kill him because he is a sharptooth. He has been known to be sensitive about his size, as in Escape from the Mysterious Beyond and The Missing Fast-Water Adventure[4]. He has a very kind heart, and the song he is seen singing most in the TV series is Feel So Happy, reflecting his good nature.
Chomper is closer to Littlefoot than with his other six friends, due to Littlefoot always standing by him. Littlefoot never wavers in his friendship with Chomper, despite Chomper being the same kind of Sharptooth that killed Littlefoot's mother. Indeed, the two have a relationship that is so strong that it is almost brother-like. He shares Littlefoot's belief that dinosaurs of all species can be friends, whether they be sharptooth or flatooth.
Notes
- In 1995, Don Glut, wrote the book Chomper, a book in a series of Dinotopia junior novels. It concerns an infant Giganotosaurus named Chomper that was separated from its parents and was raised by a human boy. However, it ends with the boy realizing that he can no longer take care of Chomper and returning him to the wilds of the Rainy Basin where other meat eating dinosaurs live. Whether this is just a coincidence or if Glut intentionally copied The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure--which he has stated that he hates[citation needed] --is unknown.
- Chomper and Ruby do not appear in The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends, due to the fact that it takes place before the TV series.
- The video game Land Before Time: Into the Mysterious Beyond, the five original characters must look for Chomper.
- His nickname out of the series is "Eager Chomper"[5].
