The three – five? – Tinysauruses who show glimpses of personality interested me. The valley showing prejudice against these harmless longnecks who probably don’t know the local norms is silly, but well…prejudice usually is irrational, often based on ignorance combined with whatever wrongly put together cobbled information (“These sneaky little longnecks are taking food from us hardworking larger dinosaurs!”).
From how Big Daddy talks, they are used to getting ignored or seen not as important enough to take care of. That’s got to affect how he trusts others. He seemed to have been forced to carry out surviving with just other Tinysauruses for a long time and since he found himself taking care of other youths (Since everyone else seems to be kids), he compensates for his size by having a large authoritative voice. Not to mention that as fond as he likely is of them all, dealing with all of their issues and idiosyncrasies must be trying, which explains his shortness with them. He would rather everyone stick together but foraging for food and trying to remain inconspicuous makes them need to separate. So he seems to check up on them and wants to know where they are or have been as frequently as he can. As for the Tinysauruses’ size being inconsistent with Mussasaurus’ actual size…Big Daddy seems to be the only adult among the group and you can handwave him as a case of dwarfism. That can add another interesting layer to Big Daddy, with how strict and commanding he is, and why he’s so protective. He’s at an even greater disadvantage when dealing with threats much larger than his kind. He can be stern and suspicious because of this, but he can grow to trust others as seen with the gang, and be forgiving as seen with Mr. Threehorn. With how protective he can be, some part of him could understand the motivations for Mr. Threehorn’s actions.
Even after they get accepted into the valley community, I could see him still being protective of his charges. Even if most of the valley doesn’t see them as a threat anymore, not everyone is friendly and there’s the perpetual danger of being stepped on. I assume that’s the Watsonian reason why they’re back to living in caves again as mentioned in the TV series. It’s great and practical not to have to worry about getting stepped on all the time. So he would still be concerned about what the others are getting up to and ask what they’ve doing. I could see him recognizing this might annoy the Tinysaurueses as they grow up (Whether they come to dwarf him in size or not) but after all they have been through, he might have trouble reigning it in.
As for the two to four others who had some focus, there is enough about them that I could tease out. For instance, Skitter struck even me as a bit bland. His most prominent traits are being mildly amiable and easily trusting. Nevertheless, I found two qualities that I teased out that interest me. The first is he seems a bit daring. In order to get a petal from the Tree Sweet Tree, he walks up on an unconscious adolescent longneck stomach and snacks it down. When he gets squished under by Littlefoot and Cera, he seems more mildly annoyed by the sudden intruders to their underground home than alarmed. He is quick and even eager to lead his compatriots in making friends with Littlefoot and the rest of the gang.
When Big Daddy comes along, he orders Littlefoot to hide despite knowing little to nothing about Littlefoot and insists he can be trusted and won’t rat them out. I’m kind of under the impression that he is eager to make friends outside of the group. Though he likely loves and considers them family, he might be longing to meet with other people, other species, and get to know them. Maybe being with the same group you like and trust for so long where the only levels of betrayal are tattle telling and good-natured (and not-so-good-natured) pranks lead him to be very trusting. He doesn’t doubt the gang until they learn about how Littlefoot was the longneck youth he encountered before who also blamed the Tinysauruses for knocking out all the Tree Sweet petals. Even then, he and his fellows remained worried about Littlefoot and the others, and don’t hesitate to rescue him. His trusting nature didn’t do too much damage in the long run but I wonder if that might get him in trouble with hostile or truly nefarious characters in the future.
Lizzie is another character with some notable teased out tidbits. She seems to be only direct child of Big Daddy and might or mightn’t be a bit of a troublemaker. When Littlefoot first comes around, Big Daddy immediately accuses her of having some responsibility and expresses disappointment before she says a word. She might tend to take risks, as shown when she and Skitter attempt to roll a walnut to their hole in broad daylight. Their situation necessitated it, but it’s notable that she and Skitter were the ones to take that risk. She also swings herself out of the hole to find out what was keeping the gang from their food delivery, so the mischief perception mightn’t be entirely unwarranted. I don’t know if this is a response to his protectiveness or that she had always been interested in going places and doing things that aren’t advised but Big Daddy’s response doesn’t appear to deter her. She is clearly fond of him but is exasperated at how protective he can be. It must feel crowding, especially to be with the same kind of people day in and day out.
Which is why she seems pretty open to befriending the gang and later coming to their rescue despite whatever mistakes they made. They expanded the circle of friends the Tinysauruses could have and they were willing to risk sleep deprivation and being caught to help them with their food problem. She is likely very grateful to the gang for allowing the Tinysauruses to live in the open and for Big Daddy to loosen up on some fronts. I wonder if Lizzie would still have some of a contentious relationship with her father as she grows up. Living in the valley means she could get out and explore more, so she might’t care as much for any rules or boundaries Big Daddy would still have. Even if she might understand his concern, she might still buck these rules. She understands the dangers out there but also sees the positives, so she likely has a more realistic view of the world. I don’t see her getting endangered or in too much trouble, since she has a good head on her shoulders but I can see some tension between her and her father as she tries to assert her identity.
As for Rocky and Dusty, there’s even less to work with than the others but there are fragments that give an idea of personality. They seem to be basically more innocent, diet Weasley twins. They seem to like some mischief. When Big Daddy got clunked on the head by a nut in one of the treestar deliveries, the twins looked at one another and giggled. Petrie talked about how he was going to tickle Rocky back and see how he liked it, indicating Rocky was the one who tickled him first. They seem otherwise rather benign though and don’t have the edge of mischief other such characters have. They also get dealt with the twin trope of being confused with one another and finishing each other’s sentences. For the former, they don’t seem at all irritated by the mix up. They might even be used to it. For the latter, I surmise that’s a matter of them thinking very much alike and being able to come up with the next appropriate sentence. They are still two distinct people, even if they get along rather well. Maybe that might change as they grow up, as they might get sick of being seen as similar and attempt to differentiate from one another. It could lead to conflict between themselves. Still, I’m sure they and their friends would make sure they patched things up.
There’s not much, but I wouldn’t mind them popping up and being explored more. With what prejudice they experienced, I wonder how they would have thought and acted when Chomper and Ruby came around and likely got a hostile reception.
