Thunderclap

Thunderclap, is a minor antagonist that appeared in Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and the main antagonist of the 2015 Disney/Pixar animated feature film The Good Dinosaur. He is a Nyctosaurus who serves as the leader of a gang of other pterosaurs and Arlo's arch-nemesis.
== Personality ==
According to his introduction to Arlo, Thunderclap used to be frightful of the world around him. This changed when he was caught in a storm which no longer made him afraid. Following this, Thunderclap had a "relevation", realizing that the storm saved his life, therefore he must follow it. The experience made him obsessed with the storm's power, turning him into a sadistic scavenger as he relied more on the animals caught in the storm, gleefully devouring them every time. While he may come across as affable toward dinosaurs at first, Thunderclap is unforgiving toward dinosaurs who help his prey escape, with no qualms toward harming them afterward. Despite being in a group, he does not consider the other pterodactyls as his friends, despite that they all follow his lead, but rather fellow followers. This is also shown when he does not hesitate to fight his own scavengers over any meal found. Thunderclap is quite relentless and savage when it comes to prey that manages to escape, going as far as to pursue them until they are his to devour.
== Biography ==
=== Background ===
Like the other members of his flock, Thunderclap is a scavenger who follows storms to prey on trapped critters. He seems to be slightly deranged, having a sort of fascination and veneration for storms. He claims that he used to be scared and shy until he had a "relevation" when he saw "the Eye" of a storm. He believes that the storm freed him of fear. Thus, he renamed himself "Thunderclap", going by the motto that "the storm provides."
=== Dawn of the Dinosaurs ===
That night, while several Sinosauropteryx escaped in The Sinosauropteryx Camp that Thunderclap was hunting them, Hallo, the fast talking Eoraptor, hides behind the rocks to avoid getting spotted. Trying hard as he could to capture and eat Hallo, unaware that the section of geysers that they were standing on, causing the shoot both flying. Only when Thunderclap hits the statue and fell to the ground, causing Hallo to only graze the lava below and be launched upward, straight into the nose of the Fire King effigy, causing it to jar loose and bring the entire rock collection down as the statue nose bounced off, Hallo inside it.
=== The Good Dinosaur ===
Following a violent storm, Arlo and Spot are found by the Pterosaur flock. At first, Thunderclap pretended to be friendly to Arlo; recounting to him his story of how he overcame his fears. However, his true motives become apparent when he eats a small fox whole that Arlo helped to free. Thunderclap and the others then set their sights on Spot.
Arlo and Spot flee and are saved when two young Tyrannosaurus rex named Nash and Ramsey come to the rescue and scare the pterosaurs away. Sometime later, Arlo and Spot are stuck in yet another storm. Thunderclap and his gang find them again and they succeed in separating Spot from Arlo this time. They trap Spot into an old stump by a river and try to claw him out. With newly found courage, Arlo faces off the pterosaurs and easily defeats them by knocking them into the river.
Arlo lets out a vicious roar, which terrifies Thunderclap, causing him to regain his sense of fear. Spot then tears a hole in a scared Thunderclap's left wing and as he tries to fly away, Arlo throws a stick at him and Thunderclap is rendered flightless as he crashes into the river and is swept downstream.
It is unknown what happens to him after this. However, Peter Sohn, the director of the film, confirmed on his Twitter that Thunderclap survived and continues to hunt little critters, but now he'll think twice about attacking young Dinos and his friends.
== Trivia ==
* The other four members of Thunderclap's gang are each a different species: Caulkicephalus, Guidraco, and two Ludodactylus.
* Real Nyctosaurus did not have teeth or wing claws like Thunderclap does, nor were their feet strong enough to grasp. One of the toys based on Thunderclap didn't have teeth possibly for this reason, though it could've been a mistake.
* He shares his name with a monster of the week from Sailor Moon.
* He shares his name with a moose named Thunderclap, who appears as the main antagonist in the 1950 Disney short Morris the Midget Moose. It is possible that the Thunderclap from The Good Dinosaur was based on this character.
* Despite being the foremost villain, he doesn't appear until the final quarter, as the film focuses on nature itself being the main antagonist.
* He mentions that he renamed himself "Thunderclap", but what his original name was is unknown.
* Thunderclap pronounces the word "revelation" wrong, as he instead uses the term "relevation". This is shown when Arlo asks him if he means "revelation", and Thunderclap lashes out and says that it was a "relevation".
* A deleted scene features Thunderclap (having survived and redeemed himself), Nash, Ramsey, their father Butch, and Forrest Woodbush gathered around to see Arlo say goodbye to Spot in the film's ending.