Just What Were Those Bullies Thinking?

[The Friendly Sharptooth]

Time for another one of The Friendly Sharptooth’s rants. Enjoy!

Oh my gosh! What on Earth were the bullies from movie three thinking? Okay, so the kids find some extra water and decide to tell their families so that there would be less worrying about the water situation. Then along comes the bullies who tell the kids not to tell. Well, being the goody children they are, they decide to do it anyway. So the bullies give chase to, get this: prevent the kids from telling. Does anyone else see how ridiculous of a plan that is?

What could they have possible done to have kept the kids from never telling? Cut out their tongues so they can’t talk? Hold them prisoner for life? Kill them? I mean, the entire premise of the bullies trying to keep the kids from talking makes no sense. In fact, if the bullies had caught up with them, I’d wager even Hyp would be all like, “Duh, now what do we do with ëem?” I just cannot comprehend what that scene could possibly hold if the bullies caught up with them and tried carrying out their desire of keeping the kids from telling about the water.

This is seriously beyond a plot hole. This is going way over the line of making zero sense. In fact, this is so stupid, that I hereby declare that it makes a negative amount of sense. Yeah, even less than zero! This would be like me trying to snuff out the sun, so I build a rocket ship and fly into space. As I get close to the brilliant star, I suffer a heart attack and die. The ONLY reason that that scene worked out is because the kids got away. I cannot see ANY possible way of making the bullies carry out their plan. Sure, if they caught up, the kids might have been able to reason with them about how important it is that they tell, but that is not the point! My point is that the story created a dead-end destiny. The bullies really had no logical method to carry out their plan, so it was just silly for them to even attempt it.

So, folks, any thoughts? Am I crazy, or am I making sense? If anyone can think of a possible way the bullies could have gotten their wish, I’m all ears. But seriously, I won’t hold my breath.

[Almaron]

Don't they mean it in a sort of a "school bully threat" kind of sense - sort of like going up to them and saying, "If you tell anybody about this water, we'll beat the crap out of you"? The kind of threat that only ends up working because the victims are afraid of the potential response from the bullies?

[The Friendly Sharptooth]

I don't think so. Hyp told the gang that if they tell, they'll be very sorry. If that was all, I would agree with you. But after Littlefoot and company took off, Hyp told his companions, "Get 'em! We can't let 'em tell!" So this, I believe, proves that they really intended to keep them from talking and was not just an empty threat to scare them.

[Cancerian Tiger]

Well, earlier in the film, Hyp did say to the fellow bullies: "First, we chase them!  Then, we catch them!  Third, we hurt them!"

That last part, at least to me and other peers I watched the film with when it had come out, could be interpreted as intending physical harm to the extent of homicide :!.  Some may say LBT would not touch the subject of non-predatory homicide, but it is a darker series than it may appear to be so that wouldn't surprise me.

[WeirdRaptor]

Well, Cera does point out the bullies are dumb on several occasions.

And being a bully is being a big, threatening jerk to someone else for the sole sake of it.

[Malte279]

Now (mercifully) I don't have too much experience with bullies in real live but I suppose that there are several options that they might have short of "dinocide"
Intimidation is the bullies worst weapon I guess. Making people comply with their will by threatening them. Assume for example that after the waterhole thing the had cought up with the group. There is the chance that (as you guessed Michael) there might have been an awkward moment of: "Okay now what?"
But also imagine the bullies forcing the kids to promise not to tell by hurting them. Now I don't see Cera being intimidated by Hyp threatening to hit her, but I do see everyone in the groub being rather likely to succumb to a threat against one of the others. Bullies are likely to pick on the weakest so Ducky and Petrie would likely be the victims of choice. At the threat of "Breaking every bone of this swimmer" or "Tearing this flyer's wings" if the kids tell the grownups I don't see any of the others say "Fine, we'll tell anyway". Little would it matter that the bullies are not likely to actually fullfil such a martial threat, but I don't see any of the others taking any chances if Hyp had grapped Ducky or Petrie. Oddly enough even the idealism of a character like Littlefoot might make him feel bound by a promise not to tell, even if that promise was a forced one (with the fate of the Great Valley at stake this would of course be a terrible dilemma (and I feel strangely reminded of the reaction of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin after watching a murder and swearing an oath never to tell)).
I also could imagine the bullies to use moderate violence (something on the level we have seen from Cera and Littlefoot when they got in a fight). There is yet another thing that is not quite as likely but still possible to play a role in the minds of the kids, namely the reactions of the grownups. In case of Cera I think she would be extremely embarassed to ask her daddy for help in one of "her" fights. In case of most of the others I wonder if they would end up worried making the permanent quarreling among the grownups worse if they set them against each other on behalf of their kids. I guess in the end if they ended up in such a "mustn't tell the grownups situation" either Ducky or Petrie might blurt things out unintentionally or else Littlefoot might intentionally or subtly (as in case of his questions about babies in LBT 2 or about what would happen if Saurus Rock broke in LBT 6) talk to his grandparents about it.

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

What also shocks me is that none of the Gang of Five agreed with Hyp.  I mean, this might be a way to get back at Topps for dissing Littlefoot.  

Also, it wouldn't be the only time the Gang of Five had been hoarding.  As your recall, in Hidden Canyon, they hoard the Tree Sweets and Ducky was hoarding Sky Color Stones later in another episode.  It's not like they aren't capable of hoarding.  

(Also, they're on nasty water rations.  If they tell, you know Topps is gonna put rations on it.  That may have been Hyp's motivation too.  He may have been like "No, I want the water!  I'm sick of rations!" and hence been more vicious than normal.  

I mean, Topps went all psycho on that one guy for drinking out of turn.  Hyp actually wanting to do nasty bodily harm to the Gang of Five, while still nasty, would be understandable here, as tempers are so high that everyone pretty much is acting irrationaliy.  

Maybe Littlefoot told as he hoped it would help him get back in good graces with Topps (who, I thought, had banned Cera from being around Littlefoot, though maybe Topps realized he was being dumb and had relented, as I never saw him whine about them being together in that film later after his first blowout where he banned Cera from being with Littlefoot.)

The others had consented perhaps for the same reason.  Also, considering that Hyp's dad also appears to be a bully, maybe Hyp feared his dad would jump to conclusions and be mad that he didn't tell sooner, thinking they were hoarding it for some time (tempers had to have been thin in the Great Valley during the drought.)  

[DarkHououmon]

Considering there is a water shortage, hoarding it just to "get back at Topsy" would not have been a very smart move. They're in a real crisis here. Revenge and getting back aren't things that are important right now.

Yeah, Topsy may have put rations on it, but this is normal when things run low. If the water isn't rationed, it is going to run out much faster.

Had the children been discovered hoarding the water (if they had decided to keep it a secret), I imagine the reactions would be more negative considering their dire situation. They would be seen as selfish and inconsiderate, considering that there are plenty of other valley residents who were getting dehydrated.

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

yeah, well eating all them Tree Sweets in Hidden Canyon put the Valley in danger so it's not like they can't be hoarders.  Maybe not to get back at Topsy, but because they want the water too and might fear Hyp anyway.  

[Malte279]

What also shocks me is that none of the Gang of Five agreed with Hyp. I mean, this might be a way to get back at Topps for dissing Littlefoot.

Also, it wouldn't be the only time the Gang of Five had been hoarding. As your recall, in Hidden Canyon, they hoard the Tree Sweets and Ducky was hoarding Sky Color Stones later in another episode. It's not like they aren't capable of hoarding.

yeah, well eating all them Tree Sweets in Hidden Canyon put the Valley in danger so it's not like they can't be hoarders. Maybe not to get back at Topsy, but because they want the water too and might fear Hyp anyway.

I think these are two totally different pair of shoes.
I would have been shocked had Littlefoot and the others in LBT 3 decided NOT to tell the grown up for the sake of petty revenge on one of them (who also happens to be the father whom Cera loves though she may not always agree with him). It would have been totally out of character.
The crucial difference between the water in LBT 3 and the sky color stones respectively tree sweets in hidden canyon are, that in the first case we are talking of a mater of survival!
Had the blockade of the Thundering Falls lasted the valley might have become uninhabitable even without a fire speeding up the process and dinosaurs might have died. We do see some tongues hanging out for painful dehydration in the movie and I see absolutely no way how Littlefoot or any of the others would allow for this to continue for the sake of seeing Tops suffer (who would probably be the last of the grownups to let on on his personal suffering).
The sky color stones and the tree sweets on the other hand are mere luxuries. Looking nice respectively tasting nice but being no (obvious) matter of dear survival (they don't figure out the live saving effect the twee sweets' smell has until the very end). Had either of the two items been needed to save anybody's live or even just to make anyone feel better beyond a mere moment of being aesthetically impressed or enjoying a rare taste, I don't think the gang's priorities would have been so twisted as to keep what is needed from the ones who need it.
You have a good point about them being capable of hoarding, but there is a strong difference between hoarding something you like and crossing the line of withholding what you hoard from others who are suffering for the lack of what you are hoarding.