The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => General Land Before Time => Topic started by: Noname on September 13, 2009, 11:17:02 PM
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If you had to list the groups of characters from strongest to weakest per group, what would you order them as?
My idea of the seven main characters is this, from strongest to weakest: Spike, Littlefoot, Cera, Chomper, Ruby, Ducky, Petrie.
Other groups of characters could be things like... longnecks, adults, children, quadrupeds, bipeds, leafeaters, meateaters etc.
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I'd flip Cera and Littlefoot, but otherwise I agree.
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Yeah I'd flip Cera and Littlefoot too. I've always viewed Cera as being stronger than Littlefoot, especially since she is strong enough to crack open boulders just by charging into them, and in 2 of of the 3 fights I remember them being in, she wins both of them (in the second fight, Littlefoot was thinking clearly, since Cera hadn't made him angry by bad mouthing his mother this time around). The third fight ended in a stall, with their other friends separating them.
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Perhaps... but by the time of the TV series, Littlefoot was clearly drawn to be much larger than Cera... although she might have been able to win earlier...
How about the adult Longnecks? I usually rank it: Mate that Sue found, Doc, Bron, Sue, Littlefoot's Grandfather, Pat, Littlefoot's mother, Littlefoot's grandmother, and the old one, going from strongest to weakest. I left out Doc's girlfriend, the mother longneck from movie 9, and Ali's mother, as we see so little of them, but I assume they were stronger than Pat, weaker than Littlefoot's grandfather.
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Umm...no offense, but in that last ranking, I don't think you're giving Littlefoot's mother enough credit. If you recall, she single-handedly (tailededly? :p) sent THE Sharptooth airborne to imprint his cranium on the surrounding geology no less than three times in the span of a few minutes, managing to do so on the third occasion even with a mortal wound on her back. Neither Bron nor Littlefoot's grandfather managed anything like that on any of the occasions we've seen them fighting sharpteeth.
Also, I'm convinced that Cera's the strongest of the gang, even if she's not as large as Littlefoot (I haven't noticed much difference myself :p). Actually, Littlefoot looked bigger than Cera in the first movie, too, and yet he still lost the fight with her.
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It is worth noting that Littlefoot's mother failed to kill the first sharptooth, but he sure killed her! :lol
I know, that isn't so funny.
Bron managed to knock a tyrannosaurus down a hill in one kick... I don't think any female weaker than Sue could have pulled that off.
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Noname, I really disagree with the whole "You're bigger and stronger, therefore you will win every fight." thing. I know you did not say it, but just seeing your responses on the combat game and looking at this, I KNOW that's where your mind set is right now, and don't tell me I'm wrong, we both know you would be lying.
Size and strength doesn't mean it's going to win every single physical fight all the time. And just because Little Foot looked bigger and he is male, it doesn't mean he would automatically win against Cera.
Can you prove that Little Foot was "distracted" in the fight between Cera and him? As you said in the combat game?
Anyway, as far as physical strength goes anyway, it would go like this for me:
Spike
Cera
Little Foot
Chomper
Ruby
Ducky
Petrie
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I don't disagree. Generally, that is how it works in nature. Generally. There are some exceptions.
No need to get all defensive (or offensive) about it, Rat Lady. I'm really quite surprised at you. You might want to edit that post.
"we both know you would be lying. " :blink: Where did that one come from?
And since when did being male enter my calculations? I even estimated that Sue was stronger than most of the males there.
And yes, Littlefoot wasn't thinking straight when he attacked Cera after she had insulted his dead mother.
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Size and strength doesn't mean it's going to win every single physical fight all the time.
Yeah, I agree. Being bigger doesn't automatically win fights. Another key factor to winning a fight is experience. For instance, in this one show that pitted animal against animal (all CGI, but with as much fact into it as possible), they had a lion and a tiger fight against each other, and the lion won not because of size (the tiger is bigger) but because of fighting experience. And in the wild, a female bear can drive away a male bear if her cubs are in danger, and she is, what, half the size of the male?
The reason I think Littlefoot stands no chance against Cera is because, well, just how much fighting experience has he had? Cera had siblings and thus likely roughhoused with them and learned some fighting skills that way, and that experience may have helped her beat Littlefoot (it also helped she was likely more headstrong than Littlefoot). Littlefoot, however, has no siblings and thus likely never had anyone to roughhouse with, thus never learned much fighting.
Even if Littlefoot was physically stronger than Cera, that wouldn't do him much good if he has little experience in fighting. Cera likely has a lot more experience in fighting and experience can outweigh strength at times.
Umm...no offense, but in that last ranking, I don't think you're giving Littlefoot's mother enough credit. If you recall, she single-handedly (tailededly? ) sent THE Sharptooth airborne to imprint his cranium on the surrounding geology no less than three times in the span of a few minutes, managing to do so on the third occasion even with a mortal wound on her back. Neither Bron nor Littlefoot's grandfather managed anything like that on any of the occasions we've seen them fighting sharpteeth.
Yeah, Littlefoot's mother was one heck of a fighter. From what I understand, females can be more tenacious than males, especially when it comes to defending their young. They can have more fighting experience on their side since they have to defend not only themselves, but the lives of their young. I would say that females can often be even more dangerous than the males, even if the males of that species is bigger.
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Just because something HAS happened before doesn't mean it will happen every time. On average, if two animals want the same piece of meat, the larger one will likely get it. I am going by probability and most common occurrences here, not certainty. I don't have to PROVE anything.
Can we get back on topic here? If you have an issue with something, you can bring it up in a PM or on a thread of its own.
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On average, if two animals want the same piece of meat, the larger one will likely get it.
Hmm, not necessarily true. You are leaving cunning out of the equation. Cunning, even(or, more likely, 'especially') in the animal kingdom, plays a monumental role in survival and competition.
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It does, but not to the extent it does with humans. Few of the characters have a lot of "cunning" in the films anyway.
I see now that this isn't really about animals anymore; Rat Lady is upset because she thinks I am equating female with weaker, when this is not automatically the case.
Can we please get back on topic?
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From what I understand, females can be more tenacious than males, especially when it comes to defending their young. They can have more fighting experience on their side since they have to defend not only themselves, but the lives of their young. I would say that females can often be even more dangerous than the males, even if the males of that species is bigger.
Ah, Kacie, your sentiment reminded me of a Rudyard Kipling poem that my grandmother read to me quite some time ago.
http://www.online-literature.com/kipling/916/ (http://www.online-literature.com/kipling/916/)
It touches on iffy subjects, and has an air of sexism about it, but nonetheless it's quite fun to read.
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I'm just going on with the topic. I welcome you to do the same.
I will say one thing first: with the exception of hyenas and some lizards, terrestrial vertebrate males are usually larger than the female of the same species, and are more dangerous. I didn't make this to be a thread for vain rationalizations of how female animals can match males, because most cannot.
Now, back on the issue at hand.
How about the Sharpteeth?
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Bron managed to knock a tyrannosaurus down a hill in one kick... I don't think any female weaker than Sue could have pulled that off.
They were on an incline, and the sharpteeth in that movie demonstrated questionable equilibrium, slipping on pebbles and tripping over a juvenile Brachiosaurus. :p Besides, I don't think strength had much to do with it. I would expect a kick from any adult longneck to be enough to topple just about anything.
Also, just something I was curious about (I'm not challenging anyone here; it's just a question): why does Spike keep getting rated as being stronger than Cera? :confused To my knowledge, we have yet to see him shatter rocks with his skull, or defoliate a tree by ramming into it just once. Granted, he's shown himself to be very capable at pushing and lifting large objects, but no more so than Cera, from what I can recall. I'd just like to hear people's reasons for placing Spike before Cera.
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I apologize for that outburst. I was simply having one of my supreme feminist moments.
I am a feminist, so this thread and with other threads that have content such as males being better and whatnot it really gets on my nerves. It's the same old story over and over.
I just want to make it clear with you Noname that everything you said about women, I 1000 and infinity% disagree with you.
And that's all I will say on this topic.
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Bron managed to knock a tyrannosaurus down a hill in one kick... I don't think any female weaker than Sue could have pulled that off.
They were on an incline, and the sharpteeth in that movie demonstrated questionable equilibrium, slipping on pebbles and tripping over a juvenile Brachiosaurus. :p Besides, I don't think strength had much to do with it. I would expect a kick from any adult longneck to be enough to topple just about anything.
Makes sense, yeah. The only reason Bron could knock the sharptooth down the hill was because of the incline. Gravity did most of the work. Any adult longneck, female or male, could have performed such a stunt.
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First, whoever is trying to hijack this thread and turn it into a sort of "dinosaur feminism" thread... just stop. That line of thought is ruining the thread, taking it WAY off course.
Spike was mentioned to be strongest on the TV series. A kind of a "word-of-god" sort of thing.
I never said anything about women... or females. All I did was to rank them according to my estimation. You are free to disagree. This is about a group of characters on a children's movie series (where half of the females are colored pink.) If you feel moved to discuss this further, please do it on another thread. I don't really care about this ism or that ism, I will post what I have reason to believe to be true. How one reacts to it is one's own business. I don't let "isms" cloud my judgment.
And, given how larger a sauropod is, that incline is probably not needed to kick down a tyrannosaurs. As you said. It was also not the most realistic of fights, especially that Shorty part.
I would rank the large, bipedal sharpteeth:
Original one
Red Claw
Third one from fifth movie
Chomper's father
Chomper's mother
That allosaurus from movie six.
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If there are any more outbursts, I may have to make a new thread about this.
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Spike was mentioned to be strongest on the TV series. A kind of a "word-of-god" sort of thing.
Which episode was that? (I apologize; I haven't seen many of them in a while, so I have forgotten many details.) Littlefoot indicated in "The Bright Circle Celebration" that Spike was stronger than him, but I don't remember when Spike was described as being the strongest of the whole gang.
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Spike was shown to be of such greater strength from Littlefoot that even if Cera were close to Littlefoot, above or below him, that he would be stronger than her as well.
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:huh: Uh...could you be more specific? :confused What exactly did Spike do that showed he was stronger than both Cera and Littlefoot? Did he manage to pull off some feat of strength that Cera showed herself to not be capable of? I believe an example like that (or a quote from one of the LBT characters directly stating that Spike is the strongest) would qualify as sufficient evidence that Spike is stronger than Cera. As it is, I am still not convinced.
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I think he moved a really big log... and he didn't just roll it either; I think he lifted it and moved it.
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Personally, I think that cracking big rocks is a better show of strength than lifting up a big log, especially since big rocks tend to be harder and heavier than a big log, which is usually hollow and composed of wood, and wood is lighter than rocks. It's one thing to move a heavy object; it's another thing to be able to crack it, break pieces off. When it comes to strength, I'm more impressed with Cera's ability to smash solid rock just by ramming into them than I am with Spike lifting a hollow log made of much lighter material (wood).
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The log was far larger than any rock we have seen Cera break... and Spike manages to crush a rock back in movie three, after all.
You also have to consider just how small some of these rocks are... Cera, especially in the first film, is not really that big. She rarely, if ever breaks anything larger than her, whereas the log Spike moved, while not as heavy as a rock per unit of volume, was almost certainly far heavier overall. We also see Cera is unable to move a similar (but larger) piece of wood in movie nine.
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I do believe Cera is indeed the strongest.
In LBT 4, she managed to cause a rather large rockslide by herself. Also in LBT 4, Spike was shown using his tail to sweep away large rocks while Cera was shown pulverizing similar sized rocks.
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I always thought that scene was exaggerated... and that she simply knocked loose some rocks, and gravity did the rest of the work for her.
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Knocking loose several rocks (which probably weigh a few hundred pounds), when several tons of pressure is applied on them due to the weight of all the rocks on top of it still requires substantial strength.
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Although the rocks on top of them might have been loose too. And it might not take as much force as you say; keep in mind that a typical door that we open is actually quite heavy, but it takes minimal effort to swing it. While not a perfect analogy, the point is quite similar.
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The point seems quite different to me. A heavy object on a hinge would not move similarly to a sedentary heavy object with other heavy objects on top of it.
We could argue that the rocks underneath were loose, but judging by the previous efforts of Littlefoot and the others, they certainly weren't that loose.
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I think it's a close call between Cera and Spike, but I think Cera is the strongest based on a scene from LBT 12. When Littlefoot is unable to pull himself over the cliff's edge, Cera manages to pull him up with what seems like little effort. Ducky tried to help, but that did not help Cera. We saw Spike help Cera walk in "The Great Logrunning Game", so some would probably use that in Spike's favor, but Cera was actually bearing her weight, which made the job easier on Spike. Littlefoot, in the scene mentioned above, was unable to bear any of his weight. Considering Littlefoot would weigh a lot more than Spike, Cera had to lift a lot more weight than Spike had to. This makes it seem like Cera is stronger than Spike.
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I also think that Cera is stronger than Spike. In addition to the very good points that have aleady been made in favor of that view, it seems to me that Cera has a very dense(muscular) build, and knows how to apply force dynamically. Spike's strength, from what I can tell, is a trifle more ambling and incidental, largely attributed to his size. Even if he had a greater capcity for strength than Cera(which he may), I don't think he could effectively reach his full potential. He's a very peaceful, distractable creature.
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The log was far larger than any rock we have seen Cera break... and Spike manages to crush a rock back in movie three, after all.
Breaking that rock didn't really tell us anything about how strong Spike is; it gives us an idea of how HEAVY he is! :lol
On a side note, it also makes you wonder what it must have been like for Petrie to be sat on by Spike in movie VI...twice. :o
You also have to consider just how small some of these rocks are... Cera, especially in the first film, is not really that big. She rarely, if ever breaks anything larger than her, whereas the log Spike moved, while not as heavy as a rock per unit of volume, was almost certainly far heavier overall. We also see Cera is unable to move a similar (but larger) piece of wood in movie nine.
Even a small rock isn't an easy thing to break, and most of the ones we see Cera shattering are at least the size of her own head. Admittedly, the rocks in LBT seem to break more easily than real-world stone (otherwise one would have expected the original Sharptooth and Chomper's mother to have suffered brain damage :p), and I can't remember any examples of Spike attempting to smash rocks with his head, so we can’t really compare Cera’s strength to Spike’s in this regard anyway. However, in LBT IV, Cera managed to knock most of the leaves off a tree in a single charge (even the adult spiketail seen attempting the same in LBT VIII during Mr. Thicknose’s lecture wasn’t anywhere near as successful), whereas in movie V Spike had to ram a tree multiple times to dislodge a single treestar (which may have ultimately been accomplished by Petrie’s simultaneous attempts to pluck it himself.).
Also, if you're talking about the log that she was helping her father move, that was a freshly fallen TREE; very different from a hollow log. The tree also still had all its branches on; something like that doesn't roll very easily, and is even harder to push.
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The thing Spike was lifting in that TV episode may actually have been a TREE as well! I have to go back and look. Also, Spike's jump on the Rock in the Third Movie is an example of strength AND weight, as he didn't fall on it, he jumped on it.
They also never emphasize Cera as being strong in the gang, but they DO mention Spike's strength... the closest thing we get is Cera embarrassing herself in front of the others when she fails to break a large rock in movie 10.
On another note, the strength levels seem to be inconsistent from movie to movie...
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On another note, the strength levels seem to be inconsistent from movie to movie...
I totally agree on that :yes
My list:
1. Cera for being able to crash almost every stone and for her being very brave. She also has a useful weapon: her horn.
2. Spike for being the biggest and heaviest dinosaur of the Gang.
3. Chomper because he is a Sharptooth after all. Although other dinosaurs are stronger he has the weapons(his teeth and claws) to handle them.
4. Littlefoot. He's weaker than Cera although he is bigger than her, but since he lost every fight with Cera I consider him weaker than Cera. The arguments for Spike being stronger than Littlefoot can be found in the older posts. Chomper is stronger than Littlefoot because he 'could' hurt him pretty badly by biting him.
5. Ruby. I haven't seen any noticable strength so I'll place her after Littlefoot. She has some
brain strength' though ...
6. Petrie because he's able to keep Ducky in the air for a short time which is much more difficult for him than carrying Petrie around would be for Ducky.
7. Therefore Ducky is the weakest in my list(I hope she won't be mad at me :unsure: )