Dragon Booster

"RELEASE THE DRAGON!"

Dragon Booster (2004-2006) was a Canadian-created show that aired on the Toon Disney network in the U.S. about a Farm Boy named Artha Penn who becomes the legendary Dragon Booster, a hero who stopped a war between dragons and humans 3000 years before the present, and Artha must stop another from occurring by riding a dragon against other dragon riders in a series of Twisted Metal-style racing combat events. In the way of his quest is the evil Word Paynn, who seeks to cause a new dragon-human war, then dominate whatever happens to be left of the world afterwards.

The show was originally planned for five seasons, but did not get beyond the three that were commissioned due to no more being ordered (probably due to lack of viewership). The company that made this series went on to do the marginally more successful Storm Hawks.

The show does have a surprisingly resilient fanbase although it helps that this was made by former Mainframe workers.

Tropes used in Dragon Booster include:
  • Abusive Parents: Word, who sends his son on dangerous missions (and lets his crew take the bad image generated by those missions that involve stealing gear/dragons or threatening people). He shows no regard to what happens to his loyal son during Writh Booster, or the "Return of Drakkus" two-parter where he attacked the Penn team only slightly more than Moordryd and Cain.
    • Arguably Connor, since he abandoned his sons in the pilot, and was only found out during the Return of Drakkus to be Stealth Mentor-ing them through the guise of Mortis. One of his kids is ten, and as Mortis he knew what they were getting into. It seemed like a bit of the whole "sacrifices must be made for the greater good" thing.
  • All There in the Manual: A lot of Word of God went into the forums when cancellation became imminent, but even before then a lot of stuff about the first war was told since it might not have made it in anyways:
    • All the different colored crews were different empires 5000 years ago. The Black Empire started the war, but then turned around to help the Dragon Booster end it (Foreshadowing Moordryd's clear eventual Heel Face Turn).
    • The name of the Blue Booster was never mentioned in-series, and was usually called the Lighting Booster by fans. It was later said to actually be the "Energy Booster" by Word of God
    • Everything we know about Artha and Lance's mom and a bit about Zulay (Moordryd's mom) was in an un-aired flashback called "Episode Zero" by the creators.
  • Anti-Villain: Moordryd Paynn
  • Beam-O-War: What happens when two opposing mag streams meet.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Release The Dragon!" for Artha Penn/Dragon Booster, "Unleash The Shadow!" for Moordryd Paynn/Shadow Booster.
  • Cash Cow Franchise: Subverted. It was intended to be one, judging by how much merchandise was put up on the website. However, almost none of it was ever actually released, and the DS game was a commercial failure.
    • But also Screwed by the Network, since after the thirteenth episode, Jetix never aired what was happening in newer ones in commercials outside of "new episode at day/time." It instead showed generic commercials that really didn't get across any of the show's plot points and seemed more oriented towards the 7-10 crowd, instead of the 11-15 who liked it. It didn't come across as a show with any sort of plot-arc form the commercials, many of which did not even feature Artha in-armor (making it seem like it was just a racing show).
  • The Chosen One: Artha Penn
    • After it is revealed that there are four more Boosters (Shadow, Energy, Power, and Fire), it seems that this extends to Moordryd, Lance (or some new guy if Lance was deemed "too young"), Parm, and Kitt. They're just...slightly less chosen than Artha. see We Are Team Cannon Fodder
  • Conflict Ball: Typically avoided by the fact that the 12 Down-City crews are implied to have power struggles despite the governing body of The Council of Twelve. However, a lot of them seem weirdly eager to fight even when it's obviously a trap (the only time a semi-convincing argument was made was in Cain's Mutiny and even then it seemed weird that the Dragon Flares and Army of the Dragon joined the Shadow Booster within a one-minute speech).
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Sort of. In the episode it happens, yeah, but some crews, especially the above mentioned Flares and Army, seem to forget it. This was especially jarring since Wulph made one hell of a speech about how his crew values teamwork above all else and Word clearly doesn't protect his own and therefore they cannot work together any more.
    • this is later lampshaded by Kitt who notes that they switch sides all the time m(no reason was given for the Dragon Flares, though).
  • Designated Hero: While no one will argue Artha's intentions, it's a bad sign when his most heroic episodes usually required one of his friends or someone in authority to hold a massive Idiot Ball to set it up.
  • Dragon Rider: Not the winged kind.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Moordryd (due to his Anti-Villain, White-Haired Pretty Boy, Whip It Good tendencies), Beau (for being just so funny) and arguably Pyyrah (first and main female crew leader, fun to imagine a personality for, since she really exited to swap alliances as the plot demanded).
    • Rivett tended to have a high rating among fans, due to being "cute," cunning, and Badass.
  • Fantastic Racism: This crops up between humans and dragons sometimes, one episode even worked to reveal and remedy the human heroes' own racism towards dragons.
  • Faux Action Girl: Kitt, touted as being the best racer in Dragon City, falls by the wayside as the series goes on.
    • Pyyrah was never really touted as this, but as the first female crew leader viewers me, something was to be expected. She just was there as a convenient Heel Face Revolving Door (mostly heel by the third season).
    • Chute and Marianis only really avoided this because they were only important in one episode each and ignored after.
    • Marianis showed up to fight in the background, and seemed to do a good job with it.
  • Follow the Leader
  • Foreshadowing: In The Horn of Libris" Beau draws Red, Blue, Green, and Black energy (aka the four empires that helped the original Dragon Booster end the first war) from Kitt, Lance, Parm, and Moordryd. As soon as people knew there was a Black amulet, the existence of extra Boosters was a given (even though the names were only confirmed later and only Moordryd became one per-cancelation).
  • Freaky Friday Flip: Happens to Artha and Beau in the episode "Changelings". Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny.
    • Especially since Beau never talked as Artha, resulting in some great miming. Thought it might have been awesome, since Beau usually took every opportunity to embarrass Artha and could have really done some damage.
  • Fridge Logic: Okay, most of the times the wraith dragons attacked Artha during the game in the finale could have been explained away as accidents or Artha messing up himself due to his injury. Moordryd then, fed up with his father's cheating, plants himself (no dragon, just himself) directly between a wraith and a crawling Artha (he somehow knew where the wraith was). He is knocked to the ground. Reiteration: a healthy, six-foot-ta;; teenager is standing on open ground and is somehow flung ten feet away. How did the officials not realize something was going on? Are the Academy Officials Too Dumb to Live? Wraiths are an accepted part of city life by now. Sure, not everyone knows Word is the guy controlling them, but it's clear that something is not right in the tournament final.
    • Some people, after reading the fan book and official info, theorize that only Down City and maybe Mid City have dealt with wraiths, and people from Sun City, like the Academy Officials, might not know about them. That doesn't mean it wasn't obvious that something was wrong, though. I mean, it hit wallbanger when Moordryd was knocked down by an invisible force and no one did anything.
  • Future Slang: A little. "Drac" mean cool and "scales" seemed to be a stand in for most swear words. Also, money was "drakkals" and distance was measured in "drakometers".
  • Heel Face Revolving Door: Pyyrah. She was introduced as nice and friendly (face) and was mind-controlled into being aggressive and mean (heel via Mind Control). While sometimes shown to be reasonable and support the protagonists, she still tricked Kitt to get the Furox (season 1), was always swayed by Word's promises, and in every major Conflict Ball fight within the Down City Council, she was always one the "wrong" side (thought by her last appearance in Cain's Mutiny she and the council all made nice...somehow).
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Most of the main cast had previously appeared on Mega Man NT Warrior, with the exception of Gary Chalk (Connor/Mortis) who had appeared on both Transformers Armada and Captain N: The Game Master, and Kathleen Barr (Lance) who had previously appeared on Dragon Tales and Liberty's Kids.
  • Idiot Ball / Idiot Plot: Sadly common, usually so artha can look more heroic and less This Loser Is You. Memorable ones are Three Times a Hero (scheduling conflict), The Stand (taking free gear from a shady new corporation when your Big Bad is a gear maker), and The Mouth That Roared (was there seriously that little reason to trust Lance?)
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Moordryd, which is why he's the Ensemble Darkhorse...it's just that the heart of gold part only comes out when he doesn't need to be the episode's villain.
  • Just a Kid: With Lance it's usually averted unless it's needed for the plot, despite the fact that in all the other episodes he's going around with the group. Ironically the best known use of this phrase in regards to Lance came from Moordryd.
  • Lovable Coward: Cain flits between this and Dirty Coward. He's not very brave, but allows Moordryd to drag him into danger out of loyalty (by episode 27, it's confirmed that they are best friends, and both acknowledge it). He is often the last person to abandon Moordryd, and usually only does so in situations that show the entire crew outside of Moordryd running or for a gag.
    • Made even funnier since he's the most physically intimidating member of the Dragon Eyes, especially in comparison to Moordryd, who almost pushes Waif Fu when he fights.
  • Mook Lieutenant: Cain (he answers to Moordyrd, who answers to Word).
  • My God, What Have I Done?? :While it did not happen in show due to cancellation, fans on the official forum all agreed that they explicitly did not want Moordryd's obviously-going-to-happen Heel Face Turn to include a situation where he said "What have I done" in any way shape or form. Since the series was Screwed by the Network, we'll never know, but he seemed to be shaping up to be able to do without it.
  • My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: Artha and Mordred are learning the mag claw techniques and use them to compete against each other
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: What are Artha's powers again?
    • Winning, mainly.
    • Gets lessened once Artha begins to release the human, training in mag claw.
    • But then he and Moordryd are overpowered, and they just pull mag claw techniques out of nowhere instead or random ones.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Oh where do we even begin with Artha?
  • Odd Name Out: Of the five main characters, we have Artha, Kitt, Parmon, Moordryd, and...Lance.
    • It fits with the Theme Naming with artha and Moordryd, but just the fcat that it's spelled normall can be considered weird.
  • One-Scene Wonder: Most due to the efforts of fans making them memetric, since no one got more than an episode as anything other than a Living Prop, but:
    • Vociferous: set up as a rival to Moordryd, but it was never followed up on. Fans tended to make plots out of that dropped idea.
    • Chute: became a Memetic Badass after her only episode
    • Marianis: either because unlike Pyyrah she had a personality, or because the fans liked pairing her with Moordryd.
    • Rivett: got an episode and short scene in another, becoming the main Ensemble Darkhorse out of sheer awesome and cunning.
  • Our Dragons Are Different
  • Out of Focus: Essentially everyone in the third season who isn't Artha or Moordryd.
  • Parental Abandonment: Only Artha, Lance and Moordryd have on-screen parents, and Parm is the only other character who mentioned them. Kitt was apparently abandoned, though, according to Word of God.
    • Not quite. The creator revealed that she sometimes sneaks out to see them, and that they really do love her.
  • Periphery Demographic: A big one--most of the fans on the forums were girls older than 12. They were mostly brought in becuase of Moordryd, and later Rivett.
  • Plot Tailored to the Party: Thanks to Artha, this is required to make the other crew members plot-relevant.
    • Was the most noticeable with Lance, who was relevant (but not the hero) of Wraith Booster because the rest of the team was Brainwashed/frozen, the "hero" of another episode ripped off of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" (except he's telling the truth the whole time, and the rest of the time just insulted Artha. Since so much of the fanbase kept getting annoyed with Artha, the last was considered a good thing. Od course, he was just 10, so it was a bit justified (YMMV).
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Going by the end of Faster than Fear, it seems that Armageddon was sealed in the Shadow Track, most likely how his spirit is still around 5000 years later.
  • Season Finale: The Return of Drakkus, which incidentally was the last episode of season 2 and the first of season 3 thanks to being a 2-parter.
  • Sequel Hook: Not so much a hook as a blatant announcement in the last episode of a new series... which never eventuated.
  • Shock and Awe: Dragons can control and generate mag energy. Humans can only wield it once they train in the old ways.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Kitt, and probably most of the other female characters.
  • Timm Style
  • Tournament Arc: The whole third (and final) season was essentially a series of events to see who got into the prestigious racing academy.
  • Trading Card Lame: There was a Dragon Booster card game. like nearly everything else, it was poorly distributed.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Word Payyn plays with this:
    • On the one hand, people buy gear from him, and clearly nothing has been successfully brought against him, since he's not in jail and has apparently never been arrested. Kwake trusted him simply because he had no PROOF of Word being evil, despite several people stating that he was.
    • But on the other, a lot of Down City (or at least the people we see) distrust him, though some just seem to distrust him due to his son Moordryd heading the thieving Dragon Eyes (unaware that Word tells them to do a lot of that). Essentially, the Dragon Eyes take the PR fall so Word remains just trustworthy enough.
    • And again, that's only Down and Mid City. We're unsure of how Sun City and most of the Academy view him. He might play the trope straight there.
  • Wacky Racing
  • Weapon of Choice: A lot of characters were known for using certain weapons or gear (and a lot of it comes in stock footage):
  • We Are Team Cannon Fodder: Everyone on Penn Racing Team except Artha and Beau. In the third season, it extended to essentially all the racing crews as well, whose only roles were to be mind-controlled and be beaten up by Artha and Moordryd on the track.
    • While the latter made sense with Wulph, as the Army of the Dragon crew was shown to work best in teamwork-oriented plans and fell apart when on their own, Khatah supposedly had graduated from the Academy (but of Fridge Logic as to why he'd want to go again) and built up as great (if stoic) and Phistus was the leader of the Down City Council (if a frequent Worf Effect sufferer).
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Moordryd, to the point where it's actually the main reason he's a villain--to please his Big Bad father.
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Say "Artha Penn" and "Moordryd" out loud a few times and see if anything clicks.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Artha is called out rather often, but a lot of times it's subverted because he was actually right despite being so for the wrong reasons, such as in Pride of the Hero (he was right that Moordryd was tricking everyone, but he mostly thought that because he was jealous of Moordryd) and Misjudged (he was right that Word was using Kwake, but had previously proven himself to be bad at judging things to the same person).
    • Played straight in Artha the Drac where he actually apologizes for his ego after it gets him in huge trouble.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The Furox/Samurox bonemarks, which not only cause the user and his/her dragon to become possessed by the spirits of ancient dragons, but can also draw certain people to them via Mind Control.
  • The Worf Effect: Phistus: Leader of Down City Council. Big, hulking, muscly Badass-looking guy. Shown to be very intelligent and not just Dumb Muscle...and gets his butt handed too him ALL. THE. TIME.
    • Extended to every non Penn-Crew racer not named Moordryd by the third season (except for spotlight episodes).
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