Chomper

[jansenov]

To vonboy: I think that knowing the leafeater's tongue will make hunting emotionally much more difficult for Chomper. It will be much harder for him to treat his prey as a non-person. His situation will no longer resemble that of a human hunter, but rather that of a soldier. We all know how killing people affects soldiers, if they're not psychopats already. My guess would be that Chomper would suffer from some form of PTSD. Put simply, when Chomper grows up his life will be miserable.

[The Friendly Sharptooth]

My view on Chomper hunting is opposite to what has been said so far. I am not saying, “I am right, and you are wrong.” All I am doing is expressing my own opinion, which could be a big mistake. My stance is that Chomper, knowing the leaf-eater tongue, will have no emotional problem with hunting leaf-eaters. Don’t worry, though. I’m not just saying this. I’m also going to explain why I feel this way.

In movie V, it is clear that Chomper learned to speak leaf-eater before meeting the kids again. I mean, he didn’t just look at that them and suddenly know how to talk to them. So this means that Chomper was hunting leaf-eaters while knowing how to talk to them. Look at his eyes during the hunt. They had no hesitation in them. They were full of bloodlust. He had no problem with the fact that he was hunting creatures he could understand. He didn’t stop until he recognized that the kids were his friends.

So my guess is that when Chomper must eat more than just a few bugs to survive, he won’t have any problem hunting leaf-eaters he does not know. But put a friend in his path, and I am sure that he’ll screech to a halt.

[jansenov]

^That's creepy if you think about it, but it makes sense nonetheless. It would make the sequels even darker than the first movie, not by what is shown, but by what is NOT shown. I always thought that the little sharptooth could survive on bugs and maybe small vertebrates. But then again, how could he have learned the language? Since the other (purely carnivorous) sharpteeth learned no such thing (Thud being a weak exception) it would make Chomper either very smart or very emphatic. Since symphatising too much with your pray is self-defeating, and Chomper obviously doesn't show any emotional problems, but still protects his friends I would say that he is a very smart sharptooth (emphasis on sharptooth).

He could simply have a different psychology from his leafeater friends. After all, Littlefoot said they were from two different worlds. And though these worlds will always be against each other, they are similar enough that once in many years certain individuals befriend each other for at least some time. In fact, the creation of the Gang in the first place was an unlikely event, as stated by the narrator in the first movie.

So, if you're right (and it seems you are), Chomper will have to leave the Great Valley, either because he'll start hunting leafeaters he isn't very close with (he can't be close friends with everyone) or if he is indeed close friends with everyone, he will leave because he has to eat. Either way, he will have to leave the Gang.

But wait, I thought of another explanation. Maybe he did eat only bugs after all, but since he is too small and too weak to hunt leafeaters on his own (even the children are in most cases protected by their parents) he could have learned the leafeater's tongue simply by watching his parents hunt. Or since he is a child with not much to do, he could have stalked leafeaters out of boredom.

His attack on the Gang when he first saw them in the fifth movie was an outburst of sharpteeth instinct, soon defeated by Chomper's reason (remember, he still is an intellect among sharpteeth for learning Leafeater). He may not have hunted any leafeaters at all, nor with his knowledge feel an overpowering desire to do so. Until savage hunger kicks in, of course.

[Malte279]

As for Chomper's ability to speak leafeater language without any explanation in LBT 5 I have an own theory that would explain where his ability came from as well as the origin of the link between him and Ruby.
As for his diet, I am pretty sure that Chomper did eat dinosaur meat (if nothing else his excuse for the smell of longneck in LBT V should be evidence). I'm not quite as sure about the degree to which he himself had been the hunter of the prey he devoured or if it was still mostly his parents feeding him. I daresay he would be physically capable to kill or mortally wound very young dinosaurs, but I also see him as no match in a physical fight to a threehorn of Cera's age or size. I also think that however much it might disgust his friends Chomper is more likely than not to have scavenged on corpses found rather than created throughout his life.
There is a series of LBT audio plays in Germany that are not based on the stories of the movies. Chomper does not appear in any of them, but that may be the much the better as two of the episodes involve a talking caterpillar named Harry that would surely be difficult to bring to terms with Chomper's "Valley diet".

[LBTLover1]

Chomper is one of those characters that still has an immature mind, but still can follow the lead with the other characters.  Like previously said, he is comical when it comes to other characters.

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

There is another source of food for Chomper that he could pick.  Tickle Fuzzies.  Though some like the ones in Stranger from the Mysterious Above, others like Tickles are mute.  Chomper could probably bring himself to eat the mute ones as he wouldn't understand them.

Also, he can eat fish no doubt.  (Spinosaurus and Baryonyx did after all.)

Another thing that so few mention is why Chomper would want to live away from his parents if Red Claw, Screech, and Thud were to no longer pose a threat to him.  I mean, if they died, or were driven out of power, then he and Ruby could just go back home.

Now, Ruby could go back home and come back to the Great Valley as an adult no problem.  As for Chomper, everyone forgets another thing about carnivores, they, in reality, don't give a rip whether you eat meat or plants, they might still eat you.  

Chomper can eat Belly Draggers and Fast Biters which are smaller than his likely adult form.  Trust me, there are ways around the Leaf Eater problem.  

What is more problematic is how, if he ever came back to the Great Valley as an adult, how the residents would treat him.  We know Littlefoot and the others would treat him good and maybe Mama Flyer too (he did save her life) but I can see others like Topps and Mama Iganuadon being wary still.  And likely others may join in that didn't before.

And, the biggest problem of them all isn't even how Leaf Eaters will react to him, it's what he'll do when he wants to get a mate.  I mean, what are the odds of him finding a girl who will agree not to hunt Flatteeth?  I mean, what if she likes him but cannot get herself to see the Gang of Five as anything other than food?  

That situation could put him in a real dilemma, especially if he really loves her.  That actually could create loads of conflicts.  I mean, what does poor Chomper do if a Sharptooth he loves is attacking Littlefoot and the only way to intervene personally might mean to attack her?  Worse yet, what if Littlefoot is about to harm her?  Would he turn on his best friend to save her?

Also, even if he gets a female to go along with him and gets to live in the Great Valley, well, what if his kids don't like Flatteeth as friends?  

Of course, another problem would be how Littlefoot would view him as he got older.  I mean, what if Littlefoot was considering getting married (likely to Ali as there's no other female longnecks his age in LBT) himself?  He might recall how his dad lost his mate.

And, it probably won't help if Chomper looks a little like:

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

I wonder what Chomper's reaction was when he first saw his parents hunting other dinosaurs.  We he like "OMG, what are you doing?!  Don't hurt the poor critters!" or was he like "I guess this is normal.  OK, am I supposed to do that too?".  If it's the latter, I worry about his future.  If it's the former, I think he'll never hunt Flatteeth.  (Sharpteeth maybe, Flatteeth no.)

[Daddytops2009]

I love Chomper too.

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

I love Chomper too.

                     

[Simba King Of Pride Rock]

Trying to get in on the LBT talk a bit more...

Anyway, Chomper is my favorite character in the whole series. Tyrannosaurs are my favorite type of dinosaur.

[chomperrules1993]

As some of you may know Chomper is my favorite lbt character  

[Dracorider19]

I've long considered about how I feel about Chomper, him being a carnivorous dinosaur. While I agree it's interesting to have a friend that is of a predatory species, to be honest, Chomper never really grew on me.
I don't dislike Chomper, in fact I do think he is kind of cute. It's just that I never saw a lot of appeal in him, and I just like the original five gang members better. I don't think they need to add another member to the gang.
I did sort of enjoy him as a recurring character, and it would be great to see how Chomper handles being a predator when he grows up. Maybe he could scavenge, or eat fish from water to avoid being tempted to eat Littlefoot and co.
I'm also glad they showed a sharptooth character as more than just a generic "eating machine".

[Sovereign]

Chomper is one of my favorite characters because of his naive and friendly personality. He has a nice a role in the Gang and I see him as a well-executed character who single-handedly opened a whole new frontier for fanfiction with the fact that there was more to sharpteeth than killing. I can see that there are people who would like to see the Gang stay as the original five but to be honest, I'm not one of them. Chomper and Ruby as members of the Gang were the best thing out of the series for me. However, I can see what you mean. And yes, there are many people out here who are interested about Chomper's future.  

[Cloud5001]

Chomper as a character is both extremely cute and has some interesting potential if the series continues. I disagree on the notion that Chomper will have to leave the Valley when he grows up. I think that would only happen if Chomper had continued to be treated just like every other Sharptooth and not as a kid who has so far grown to being different from the rest.  Most of the adults in the valley seem to be ok with him. The only one who's still cold to him is Threehorn but that guy has his own issues.

[Gentle Sharptooth]

Chomper is my favorite character outside the Gang of Five. My namesake, Gentle Sharptooth is nickname I came up with to describe Chomper. I really think Chomper was a major turning pont for TLBT and so soon after Bluth’s LBT; in the first sequel we go from Original Sharptooth is a demonic monster who kills Little Foot’s mom to Chomper who is raised by Littlefoot and Gang, and we learn the two sharpteeth (Chomper’s parents) are merely looking for their baby, and are not mindless meat eating machines. Chomper is an example of don’t judge a species or race by one encounter. But open your heart and the unthinkable can happen, your enemy becomes your friend.