Tofungus

Tofungus (French: Cubitus) is a Roman legionary who appears in the animated films Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods (2014) and Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (2018). He serves under centurion Somniferus and sometimes argues with him. Humerus, a Roman in the same legion, seems to be his best friend.

## Appearance

Tofungus is slim, with a large rounded nose, a small chin and thin eyebrows. His upper lip goes further than the lower. He's brown-haired, with the top of his head being bald.

## Animated Films

### Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods

Tofungus first appears in the background having a chat with Humerus, in the scene where the architect Squareonthehypothenus is ranting about the indomitable Gauls.

While the Romans are preparing to order the slaves to uproot the first tree, the architect and the centurion raise a bit of noise. Tofungus approaches them and tells them it’s dangerous. This annoys the centurion and he yells at him to get back in the formation, but the slave driver takes it as a sign, and the tree gets uprooted without an actual order.

The next day the Romans find the uprooted tree back on its place. The architect begins to scream, and Tofungus tells Somniferus about him making too much noise again. The centurion himself raises his voice at one of the slaves, and the legionary tells him he’s noisy as well, then being told to shut up.

A few days pass where the slaves uproot trees and the Gauls plant new ones using Getafix’s magic acorns. Somniferus pokes fun at the “construction site”, which makes Humerus and Tofungus chuckle as they’re carrying the exhausted architect. But when the centurion tells the architect to quit the project, he insists to keep going even if the slaves have to die. Asterix and Obelix, who have been eavesdropping, return to the village, share the news with Vitalstatistix and Getafix, and decide to free the slaves.

Asterix and Obelix attack the Roman camp where the slaves are staying. Among the Romans sent flying, Tofungus can be seen posing like a ballet dancer, lifting the bottom of his tunic like a tutu.

The plan of freeing the slaves using the magic potion backfires, as they start building the Mansions of the Gods at a high speed. Somniferus and the architect are watching the construction process when Tofungus suddenly approaches them. The centurion asks him why he’s here. The legionary explains that his comrades want to discuss the slaves’ payment which is the same as their own, and suggests that the slaves should protect Rome against the Gauls. The three get interrupted by Asterix and Obelix chasing a boar and run away.

When Asterix, Obelix, Getafix and Cacofonix ask for a flat in the Mansions, several legionaries, including Tofungus, free one of the flats by throwing Anonymus’ family out.

While the potion-fueled Cacofonix is screaming, causing the Mansions’ habitants to run out, Somniferus and some legionaries are inside, including Humerus and Tofungus. The centurion orders the legionaries to shut the bard up, but they’re closing their ears and can’t hear him. Tofungus is the only one who cares to ask him to repeat himself, but still can’t hear him and shrugs it off.

In the sequence where the Gauls are shown moving in to the Mansions of the Gods and adopting the Roman lifestyle, Tofungus can be seen sitting with a tablet in front of the mosaic with the architect and getting sleepy, while there’s an excursion going on. Later he actually falls asleep, and gets woken up by a piece of the mosaic falling on his head.

Somniferus prepares to attack the village, but the army disobeys him. Tofungus and Humerus announce that the legion is on a strike, and another legionary says that attacking the village is too dangerous. Tofungus demands Getafix to be neutralized and the centurion to be polite. When the Romans surround Getafix, Dogmatix and Mischiefus, Tofungus reminds that they’re not done talking about free housing in the Mansions. The centurion yells at the two legionaries to capture them, and Tofungus leads the druid and the Roman child while pointing his pilum at them. The prisoners are locked up in a cage, brought to the Mansions, and Tofungus shows where to move it. The architect asks him why they keep the cage here, to which he replies it’s an order so that the other Gauls don’t catch them off-guard.

The following night Tofungus goes to sleep in a flat in the Mansions. He’s shown wearing underpants which match the legionary tunic. He removes his helmet, revealing the bald top of his head.

On the next day Somniferus attacks the village, where Asterix is the only person left. The centurion actually started being polite when giving orders. But when Asterix pretends to drink the magic potion from his gourd, the legion abruptly stops approaching. Tofungus exclaims that if the Gauls have the potion, they can’t fight them. Somniferus reminds that Getafix and Obelix are locked up in the Mansions of the Gods. Humerus and Tofungus then argue with him about the gourd’s contents. Asterix reunites with the villagers and they put on an act where he pretends to hurt them. Tofungus asks if they do have the magic potion, and Somniferus can’t decide with the answer. The villagers then distract the Romans by pretending to drink the magic potion, while Asterix escapes on their catapult. Tofungus asks what to do, but the centurion doesn’t know.

Sometime later Humerus, Tofungus and one more legionary whisper between themselves, as the legion can’t decide whether to run from the Gauls or attack them. Tofungus starts a vote, and everyone raises their hand for retreat. The Romans run and hide in the Mansions, but then realize the Gauls don’t have any potion and give chase. As Cacofonix hides from the Romans, a tortoise formation runs past him with Tofungus in front grinning evilly.

Asterix drinks the incomplete magic potion and rushes to save the villagers, but before he can hit a single Roman, he gets hiccups and starts floating around backwards without control. The Romans watch him. Senator Prospectus whispers to Tofungus, who goes with a few other legionariers to find the flat with Getafix.

When Obelix escapes the dungeon and the Gauls start fighting back, Getafix is still brewing the potion. Tofungus and the other Romans knock on the door, while Anonymus’ family blocks it. Right after the potion gets completed, the legionaries break the door. Tofungus walks towards the cauldron and pushes Getafix out of the way. He’s about to have a taste of the potion, but gets interrupted by Obelix, who throws him and his comrades into the corridor.

After the Gauls drink the magic potion, Tofungus is still in the Mansions of the Gods. He gets chased by Asterix and Obelix, and picks up Humerus on the way, but the two Romans separate off-screen. Tofungus hides in a flat where he gets ambushed by Fulliautomatix, Unhygienix and Cacofonix. The bard prepares to scream while the other two Gauls have their ears plugged. Tofungus runs out and blocks the door, but the power of Cacofonix’s potion-fueled voice slams the door down on him.

### Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion

Humerus and Tofungus are much less prominent in this film. Tofungus first appears during the intro credits, doing physical exercises with the other legionaries.

By the middle of the film, the Romans prepare their first attack on the Gaulish village. Tofungus asks Somniferus if the plan is to keep attacking until the habitants spend all the magic potion (which the centurion explained many times apparently). After the legion gets defeated, Tofungus hears that the Gaulish women used all their potion (which is false), pops out from behind a few of his comrades and says they did a good job.

When the Romans approach the village for the second time, Tofungus isn’t sure that the habitants ran out of potion, and asks Somniferus about it, who doesn’t know.

When the Gaulish women run out of potion, Tofungus and Humerus cheer with the centurion.

Demonix the druid drinks the potion that gives him the power to shoot fireballs from his hands, and attacks the village. Tofungus and Humerus comment that as long as the fireballs don’t hit them, their origin doesn’t matter, and they can even help. However the crazed druid starts shooting at the Romans, they break into the village and escape to the shore, where they idle as they don’t know what to do next.

Demonix drinks another potion which makes him grow to a giant size and turns his skin hard and burning hot. The villagers start drinking the magic potion brewed by Pectine and running to attack Demonix. The Romans stand back and watch, but the druids make them drink the potion and send them to fight as well. Tofungus watches as Humerus and a few other legionaries drink the potion before his turn would come.

The Gauls and the Romans attack Demonix together, but can’t do anything to him. Tofungus and some legionaries hide behind a hill, where Getafix approaches them, asking if they’ve drunk the potion. Tofungus says they had just a little and hiccups. Getafix blows his magic powder onto the Romans, making them float, and rearranges them into a centaur large enough to counter Demonix.

Tofungus is placed in the head of the centaur, which is first controlled by Getafix, then he takes over by moving another legionary’s legs like joysticks. He becomes excited with a power rush, but gets replaced by Obelix, who punches Demonix into outer space.

The Romans come down on the ground. Tofungus, who’s still excited, asks if the potion’s effect lasts long, to which Getafix replies that it’s already passing. The legionary punches one of his comrades into the air, then approaches Obelix and taunts him, but when he punches him, nothing happens. He apologizes and promptly gets bashed on the head.

## Videogames

The common legionaries in Asterix & Obelix XXL 3: The Crystal Menhir and those in Asterix & Obelix XXXL: The Ram From Hibernia look identical to Tofungus, except they have hair on the top of their heads.

Legionary mob in Asterix & Obelix XXL 3Legionary mob in Asterix & Obelix XXXLShielded legionary mob in Asterix & Obelix XXXLLegionary mob in UE Viewer

## Trivia

* In the Russian dub of The Mansions of the Gods, while he argues with his centurion he says “War is good, risking life is bad”.
* In the Russian dub of The Mansions of the Gods, when he pushes Getafix he jokingly calls him Gandalf, a character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s novels.