Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (Astérix: Le Secret de la Potion Magique) is a 2018 French animated film based on the Asterix comic books. Like Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods, it was directed by Alexandre Astier and Louis Clichy, and is made in CGI. Therefore, this film can be viewed as a sequel to it. However, the plots are unrelated and nothing tells you whether things happen before or after the plot in The Mansions of the Gods. The film also marks the first time that Asterix is not voiced in French by Roger Carel, who did it since 1967 — Christian Clavier, who played the character in the first two live-action Asterix films, takes over the role from him. Carel then passed away in 2020.
Unlike the previous film (adapted from a specific Asterix book), this one tells an original story. After an unfortunate fall from a tree, Getafix breaks his foot. Feeling that he's getting too old, and that he can't risk disappearing without transmitting the secret of the Magic Potion first, he starts the search for a young druid who can become his successor.
Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Getafix does very cool things before the plot actually starts. Druids in general are much more badass than usual, including a much wider range of magical powers.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Boars are much smarter than usual. They're used by the druids to transmit messages.
- Amazon Brigade: The womenfolk are perfectly up to defending the village, as long as they have Magic Potion.
- Amplifier Artifact: The incomplete Magic Potion made by Teleferix, that Sulfurix later messes up completely by mixing ingredients at random. It comes nowhere close to Getafix's usual recipe, but when Sulfurix drinks it, it boosts his fire powers to dangerous, Fireballs-tossing levels.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: The Romans' strategy relies on endurance with the Gaulish village, simply waiting for the druid to be absent and then besieging it till their reserves of potion are worn out.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Sulfurix at the end of the film, thanks to a discarded potion of growth.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Getafix has a spell that controls cairns to stack them up however you want. His initial assessment of the spell was "beautiful but useless." He later uses it to form a giant Roman centaur from his rival legionnaires, which is impractical but no less awesome.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Asterix sees how Sulfurix breaks his victims out of their hypnotic trance (a sequence of slaps followed by a long "Aaaaaaah" and a nose boop) and uses it to bring Obelix back (although it takes him a few tries).
- Behemoth Battle: Between a magically-enlarged Sulfurix and a centaur-shaped golem made up of legionaries and created by Getafix.
- Berserk Button: Curiously downplayed for Obelix. When Cubitus, thinking he's still under the influence of the Magic Potion, hurls a series of fat-related epithets at him, Obelix merely looks annoyed before wordlessly swatting him aside (which is what he eventually does to any legionary coming too close to him anyway).
- Big Ball of Violence: Fights in the film are rendered like this. One of them includes a Continuity Nod to the previous Asterix film, The Mansions of the Gods, in which Obelix jumps into the dust cloud, turning it mushroom-shaped.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Asterix and Obelix show up just in time to punch away Sulfurix when he's about to kill Getafix.
- Roman legionaires-as-giant centaur golem beating the absolute shit out of giant Sulfurix in the movie's climax.
- Boring, but Practical: Most of the young druids are shown to have useful powers. However, Getafix is looking for something else.
- Britain Is Only London: Averted (about France and Paris) in the choice of voice actors, who seem to play their regional accents straight. Most notable with Teleferix, an extremely Swiss druid.
- Broken-System Dogmatist: Any attempt to modernize druidism (such as using writing or modifying the traditional setup for practical reasons) is vilified and punished by the movie - except for maybe, the possibility that Pectine, a girl, might follow in Getafix's footsteps someday. Of course, druidism did eventually die out.
- Butt-Monkey: The pirates, as always. They get sunk no less than four times during the course of the film (including during a Travel Montage where the Gauls specifically go out of their way to chase them).
- Call-Back: Getafix using an ingredient stored in his sickle handle in the recipe of the Magic Potion was already seen during The Mansions of the Gods, although it had no relevance to the plot then.
- Canon Foreigner:
- Pectine, a little girl who admires Getafix, tags along with the heroes.
- The villain Sulfurix is introduced too, as an old rival of Getafix.
- Character Development: Unhygienix the fishmonger is shown as messing around with potions in the hopes that Getafix will give him the secret of the potion rather than an outsider, when he's usually half of Those Two Guys with Fulliautomatix.
- Chekhov's Gun: Several.
- Getafix's particular attention to his cairn comes into play when he notices that Teleferix does not seem to mind when he accidentally knocks one out.
- The growth potion thrown away is swallowed by Sulfurix.
- Sulfurix's fire powder's tendency to light up his coat is shown early in the film while chased by Asterix and Obelix. It eventually is the cause of the destruction of the druids' sacred forest.
- Getafix's original spell ("beautiful, but useless") proves quite useful to build the centaur-shaped golem used to defeat Sulfurix.
- Clingy Aquatic Life: Getafix still has a starfish hanging onto him when he emerges from the sea.
- Combining Mecha: Very much parodied, despite the complete anachronism of it. Getafix builds a giant centaur-shaped golem out of Roman legionaries and their shields to fight Sulfurix. The way they assemble and deploy bit by bit is clearly meant to invoke the trope, straight out of an anime or Tokusatsu series.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Asterix snaps and leaves everyone, Obelix gets angry at him because he handed over the role of first warrior of the village to Geriatrix and not him.
- Continuity Nod: A few to the previous animated Asterix film by the same director:
- Obelix eagerly jumps into a Big Ball of Violence when the villagers fight among themselves, like he did in The Mansions of the Gods, where he caused the ball to turn into a mushroom cloud. This time, we can only hear the result, but it is no less impressive.
- A magic-potion-enhanced chicken being able to carry a human flying appeared as a Brick Joke at the end of the film.
- The entire scene where the Helvetian shepherd tries to free Asterix is very similar to the door-opening scene from Mansions of the Gods.
- Crown of Horns: Sulfurix is wearing the skull of a deer as headgear, complete with horns, and the latter are quite emphasized, notably to give him a sinister shadow.
- Cue the Sun: Giant Sulfurix attacks the village late at night... but as Getafix assembles the centaur-golem to fight him, the sun begins to rise. By the time the golem is delivering the Curb-Stomp Battle, the sun is well up.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Sulfurix is on the receiving end of this in the final conflict once Getafix uses the Roman legionaries to form a giant centaur-shaped golem. The one single hit he manages, his magic fire attack is bounced back at him, while the golem proceeds to punch, slap and ragdoll him all over the place. Once Obelix takes control of the golem, he delivers a coup de grace by punching him so hard he's sent flying into outer space.
- A Day in the Limelight: Getafix is the unquestioned main character of this movie. He has more screentime and plot relevance than pretty much anyone else, with the possible exception of Pectine.
- Double Standard: The forest of the Carnutes is forbidden to non-druids — and women, obviously. The sign reading "Forbidden to non-druids" is then shown to have "and women, obviously" hidden by a bush.
- Dub Name Change:
- Sulfurix is called "Demonix" in the English dub, if his name was too subtle before. Teleferix, meanwhile, is renamed Cholerix.
- In the Italian dub Sulfurix is aptly named "Rancorix", while Teleferix becomes Emmentalix, to make his Helvetian origins clear.
- In Hungary, he's "Perzselix", meaning "Burn-ix" or "Singe-ix".
- Ejection Seat: An accidental feature of Pectine's wheelchair. Getafix tries to catapult himself over the village wall, but ends up flying into the sea instead.
- Enemy Mine: The Roman legionaries end up fighting a giant Sulfurix with fire powers along with the Gauls. They are even allowed to drink some of the Magic Potion.
- Evil Former Friend: Sulfurix and Getafix used to be friends as young druids, until the former grew jealous of the latter's success.
- Evil Laugh: We hear Sulfurix's laugh before seeing him for the first time.
- Evil Overlooker: The movie's poster shows a sinister Sulfurix/Demonix towering over the Gaulish villagers.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The title is dropped so many times it might not count as Title Drop. Just don't expect to be able to make a magic potion after watching this film.
- Failure Montage: Combined with a Travel Montage, showing across the map all the reject druids of Gaul.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Sulfurix's last job is basically making kebabs.
- Fling a Light into the Future: What Panoramix means to do by transmitting the secret: so the children of the village and their children after them can keep resisting the Roman Empire even after he's inevitably gone.
- Fridge Logic: In-Universe; Sulfurix notes that druids transmit everything orally — so why is there a big written sign at the entrance of the forest reading "No Entry for Non-Druids (and Women, Obviously)"?
- Friend to All Living Things: Getafix. The injury he receives at the beginning of the film and that kicks up the plot occurs while he is rescuing a small bird chick fallen from its nest.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Pectine seems to be shaping up to be this, although her creations don't always work as intended.
- Gilligan Cut: Sulfurix asks Caesar for a discreet method of transport to the eastern mountains. Cut to a massive wheeled dais worthy of Cleopatra's travel sphinx, outfitted with cushions and gold coins, and preceded by soldiers.
- Godzilla Threshold: In the climax, the druids give Magic Potion to everybody, including the Romans, to fight the giant Sulfurix.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Getafix "beautiful but useless" spell that allowed him to build a gigantic cairn in his youth is put to frighteningly efficient use to build a giant centaur-shaped golem out of Roman legionaries and their shields.
- Horns of Villainy: Sulfurix wears a headpiece made from a deer skull complete with antlers, giving him a menacing look.
- Idiot Ball: Asterix of all people grabs it when he gives Geriatrix his helmet, sword, and Magic Potion out of pique at the fruitless search for a successor. Meaning he's entirely helpless when he gets caught spying on the Romans.
- Improvised Golems: Getafix builds a centaur-shaped golem out of Roman legionaries and their shields to fight a giant Sulfurix.
- Inept Mage: The majority of the druids are less-than-brilliant. Such as a potion that makes fertilizer or a spell that automatically plucks mistletoe berries.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Ceramix, the chief of a village visited by the Armorican Gauls, after several faux pas from his men and their druid showing they've been adopting lots of Roman habits, swears by Jupiter — ahem — by Belenos that nobody is more Gaulish than them... then just on cue, his fake mustache falls off.
- Instant Messenger Pigeon: How druids use wild boars, to send messages to each other. Interestingly, not usual as Getafix was never shown before to care for boars. The message ends up truncated, though, because the receiving druid's "boar language is rusty", and one piglet got lost during the trip.
- Interrupted Bath: Caesar is taking a bath when he's first told that all the men have left the Gaul village, and then when Sulfurix comes to him with his suggestion. Quite unusually for the trope, Caesar isn't even a little embarrassed or put off by having people barge in on him while he's naked in the tub; while his guards are immediately there to defend him against potential assassins, Caesar himself barely even seems annoyed.
- Lampshade Hanging: Pectine asks who Sulfurix is. One of the druids says he's glad she asked, as it'll allow him to tell a long and disjointed story with different voices. When Asterix returns and asks the same question, the druid says exactly the same thing.
- Little Stowaway: Pectine stows away in... Getafix's cauldron, being small enough to fit in, as the druid travels to the Forest of the Carnutes with Asterix and Obelix. Well, Obelix did know she was there, but she made him promise not to tell.
- Looks Like Jesus: One of the young druids looks like Jesus and replicates bread. The Gauls are not terribly impressed (although Obelix appreciates the food, he wants to find one who can do the same trick with boars). In one shot the druid also gets a Background Halo in the form of a wagon wheel.
- Made of Incendium: The forest of the Carnutes burns surprisingly easily after Sulfurix tosses his ablaze fur cape into it. One may wonder why it didn't burn before.
- Meaningful Name:
- "Sulfurix" isn't just another name ending in "-ix"; it's very fitting for a druid using mainly fire-based magic, as well as just screaming "evil".
- And just in case that wasn't sinister enough already, the English dub renamed him "Demonix".
- Ditto for the Italian name, Rancorix, which doesn't have much to do with fire but still refers to his status as The Resenter.
- Medium Blending: This is a CGI-animated film, but several scenes (flashback, ellipsis, credits) switch to 2D animation.
- Megaton Punch: Par for the course in an Asterix film, of course, but a particularly epic one occurs near the end, when Obelix takes control of Getafix's Improvised Golem to deliver one that knocks Sulfurix into orbit (and no, that's Not Hyperbole).
- Metronomic Man Mashing: In the climactic fight, the Improvised Golem centaur gives one to Sulfurix, grabbing him by the leg and smashing him repeatedly into the ground.
- Mickey Mousing: The opening theme tune
— "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive — is set in rhythm with the inhabitants of the village (including the chickens pecking, Fulliautomatix hammering, etc.), the Romans and the pirates moving. The song returns during the climactic fight scene, which syncs up some of its action with it too. - Mythology Gag: The movie contains several references to other Asterix books or films:
- Pectine stowing away in the druid's cauldron with Obelix's knowledge brings to mind the few times Obelix smuggled Dogmatix into an adventure behind Asterix's back.
- Looks-wise, Sulfurix is reminiscent of Prolix from Asterix and the Soothsayer. Sulfurix is a much more serious villain, with real magic powers, than the fake seer ever was, though.
- Asterix resisting hypnosis already happened in The Twelve Tasks of Asterix. At least Sulfurix fares better than Iris the Egyptian hypnotist did there.
- It deconstructs the situation from Asterix at the Olympic Games, when all the men leave the village to women and children (plus Cacofonix in this film) while at war against Rome.
- Ceramix, the chief of a village who is a bit too fond of Roman culture, is the same character as the main antagonist in Asterix and the Big Fight.
- Unhygienix attempts at creating the Magic Potion, only to have them blow up in his face, are similar to what happens in Asterix and the Big Fight with an amnesiac Getafix. It even involves the eventual accidental creation of a potion of weightlessness.
- The village being set on fire and almost razed occurred in Asterix and Son. It is however not as much Played for Drama here.
- A possible example from the English dub: one of the druids visited during the Travel Montage is named Tunnabrix, which was one of the early alternate English names for Vitalstatistix.
- Naked People Are Funny: When the Helvetian shepherd finally manages to free Asterix from the tree he's chained at, it rips all his clothes in the process (and his shoes were eaten by sheep earlier), resulting in an entirely naked hero, who reflexively hides in some bushes. When we see Asterix later, he's wearing a wool vest that preserves his modesty.
- National Animal Stereotypes: Played with. One of the national emblems of France is the rooster, and the Gauls rely on their magically empowered chicken to bring them home.
- Nature Is Boring: Beatnix, the first young druid Getafix meets, is a very uncharismatic one. His best skill consists in making fertilizer that looks (and is suggested to smell) like poop. He even lampshades that, saying that if you wait for long enough, you can make fertilizer with whatever ingredients.
- New Media Are Evil: Parodied with the druids considering that writing should not be used and all knowledge should be transmitted orally instead. Getafix looks quite shocked to discover that the druids have been using small notes to keep track of the youngest druids, although it's proven to be quite justified when Sulfurix scatters all the notes and steals one...
- No-Sell: Sulfurix put people in a hypnotic trance by creating a small flame flowing in a circle above his palm. However, it only works on the Weak-Willed, and when he attempts it on Asterix, the hero just blows on the flame. Sulfurix wasn't really expecting anything else.
- Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: A staple of Alexandre Astier's stories. The druid assembly waste most of their time arguing with each other rather than doing anything constructive. Even when gathered to defend Asterix's village, they just can't agree on what magic to use. Despite some of them having potions that could be very powerful if used intelligently, they have no clue how to use them efficiently, as demonstrated with the potion of growth. They also decided to forgo the druidic tradition of transmitting all knowledge orally and kept track of the young druids on sheets of papers ordered by competence, which causes a lot of trouble to Getafix when Sulfurix mixes up all their notes.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Zig-zagged with Sulfurix. He does make a point about the Druids' failures at protecting all of the Celtic nations from Roman control — a point invalidated by his cooperation with the Romans for estate. However, once he gets the power he wants he goes on a tirade about "stopping all wars" and turns on the Romans, though it is unclear if he's even thinking straight anymore at this point.
- Novelization: The film was released a few weeks before Christmas 2018. At least four different illustrated books of different designs and prices were immediately available in French book stores.
- Obviously Evil: At no point can Sulfurix pass for a good guy, beginning with his name. Intentionally non-spoilered.
- Oh, Crap!: Giant Sulfurix sports an absolutely priceless expression that screams this, moments before the centaur golem piloted by Obelix delivers a Megaton Punch that sends him flying into orbit.
- Only Sane Man: Getafix when compared to the other druids. No wonder his reputation puts him above them all.
- Out of Focus: Asterix and Obelix contribute very little to the overall story, which is mainly centered on Getafix and Pectine. Asterix in particular has a much smaller role than usual; he spends much of the movie either grumbling in the background or off-screen altogether.
- Passing the Torch: After being constantly in peril, Getafix feels the serious need for a successor to pass on his magical wisdom and knowledge to preserve his village.
- Pet the Dog: Or Pet the Boar, rather. Sulfurix never shows any ill will towards the tiny sow who brought him the message and sticks with him afterwards.
- Photographic Memory: It's implied that Pectine has one. She is able to recreate the Magic Potion after observing it being made only once, something that only the most talented druids are capable of, and later tells Getafix that she can't forget it, no matter how hard she tries.
- Playing with Fire: Sulfurix's main invention consists in a fire-creating powder that he uses with great accuracy (most of the time anyway). Near the end of the film he acquires actual fire powers thanks to mixing it into an attempt at brewing the Magic Potion.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Surprisingly for a movie filled with Romans and Gaulish warriors, it's Getafix who gets one right before the final fight against Sulfurix, having created an enormous centaur-like structure made out of enchanted Romans, using his "lovely but useless" magic powder.Getafix: There you go. Beautiful! But this time, I dare you to tell me it's useless.
[flexes one finger, and the construct punches Sulfurix in the face; cue the curb-stomp] - Precision-Guided Boomerang: Getafix uses his golden sickle like a boomerang to pluck mistletoe in the trees. He has enough precision with it that he can catch a freefalling baby bird without harming it to bring it back safely to its nest.
- Punny Name: Tons of them (as is usual in the Asterix franchise), such as Pectine (though it is the name of a component in fruits, and the kid's name in the previous movie being Appeljus).
- The Resenter: Sulfurix was given first prize by the druids for his fire powder, but he failed to get anywhere in life (even eventually reduced to becoming a grilled-meat vendor). Getafix, meanwhile, found out how to make the Magic Potion and was celebrated as the greatest of the druids (of course, we get to see how competent the average druid is...).
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The tiny sownote has even more screen time than Dogmatix, and is adorable in all her scenes. That she's used as a kind of pet by Sulfurix, and even treated like a Right-Hand Cat at one point, doesn't change a thing. The little porker isn't evil at all, of course, just hanging around the villain for food.
- Right Behind Me: On the beach, Asterix confides to Obelix his severe doubts about Getafix's plan of looking for a successor, thinking the druid is making a mistake to seek a stranger to the village. Then Obelix wordlessly turns around, showing that he was carrying Getafix on a chair tied to his back, unseen from both the audience and Asterix, who looks quite embarrassed.
- Rolling Pin of Doom: Played with as you would expect it in the hands of Impedimenta, who has it as a favorite weapon. However, it's a Roman legionary who attacks a giant Sulfurix with a rolling pin. Impedimenta herself attacks Sulfurix with a bludgeon, so they likely swapped weapons.
- Sanity Slippage: Sulfurix was never a very stable individual to begin with, but his sanity keeps deteriorating over the course of the film. He seems to completely lose it once he realizes that Getafix did not transmit the full recipe of the Magic Potion to Teleferix.
- Series Continuity Error: A really minor one, but... Getafix tells Pectine to hide her pigtail when trying to pass for a boy at the druid council. This, despite the fact that many male Gauls wear pigtails and/or Braids of Barbarism (notably Obelix) and that, in one album, Panacea mentioning she'd been wearing them when younger calls the style "boyish".
- Shout-Out:
- When the Romans attack, the charge is sounded using Kaamelott's theme.
- When the Roman Centurion drinks the Magic Potion and jumps toward a giant Sulfurix, his posture in flight is reminiscent of Superman's, and he's also wearing a red cape as part of his uniform.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: The druids can understand boars, talk to them and use them to send messages to other druids.
- Status Quo Is God: As expected, Getafix remains the druid of the village and does not transmit the full magic potion recipe to anybody else. However, Pectine now knows the full recipe, except for the actual composition of Getafix's secret ingredient, and it's hinted Getafix could actually consider her to be his successor. This gets a big ol' lampshade when Tomcrus is telling Caesar that everything's back to the way it was, but he must be used to it by now.
- Stealth Pun: The centaur-shaped golem made out of Roman soldiers at the end has a head shaped like an officer's crested helmet. It's a centaur-ian.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Pectine pretends to be a boy at the druid assembly, under Getafix's advice, since it will make it easier for the kid to be accepted in the sacred forest usually forbidden to women. Note that she looks rather tomboyish to begin with, so it's not too hard to pull off.
- Tagalong Kid: Pectine, a little girl who admires Getafix, is brought along the heroes into the action, despite the adults' wishes. She has quite an impact on the intrigue, since she's the only one to learn of the Magic Potion's full recipe, beyond Getafix, and could very well become his successor.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: A good chunk of the movie consists of this, as Getafix searches for a young druid suitable to succeed him. Because of Sulfurix, the notes rating the skills of the apprentices got mixed up, so they have to go through every one of them all over Gaul (then again, the druids thought there were maybe two candidates worth investigating). The candidates are for the most part either plain incompetent, closer to snake-oil peddlers than true druids, way too cozy with the Roman invaders, just not trustworthy enough to be given a secret as precious as the Magic Potion, or seemingly more interested in circus tricks than real druidism.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Cubitus doesn't directly say this, but he certainly gives off the impression of wanting to when confirming that the first assault should go just as well as their normal attacks do.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: The Roman legionaries, after being beaten up as always, have their chance to be heroic being allowed to drink the Magic Potion and becoming instrumental in defeating Sulfurix.
- Travel Montage: Part of the Terrible Interviewees Montage is presented that way, showing the protagonists crossing all over Gaul (including Corsica) during their travels. It even includes the Gauls taking a detour to sink the pirates.
- Underling with an F in PR:
- Cassius Ceramix's every attempt at convincing the Gauls that he's not longer The Quisling is contradicted by his druid candidate (demonstrating a potion that turns a mosaic of the War God Mars into a pair of gladiators fighting under the gaze of the great Caesar) or his cooks making Roman-inspired dishes. And then his mustache falls off.
- Sulfurix's plan to reveal another promising druid to Getafix nearly falls through when Tomcrus proves to be extremely bad at acting, all but getting Sulfurix to deliver the message himself.
- Unexplained Recovery: The Roman centurion is never directly stated to be the one from Mansions of the Gods, but if he is, it's not explained how he was released from being a gladiator.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The tiny sow gets lost along the way and accidentally delivers the message to Sulfurix, setting off the events of the movie.
- Villain Has a Point: Sulfurix calls out the other druids for keeping the Magic Potion under such a tight wrap and solely using it to protect a lone village, while it could be implemented in reconquering the whole of Gaul from the Romans. Getafix stands by their decision, however, convinced that using the Magic Potion on such a large scale would just make it impossible to keep its recipe secret, and thus would make it inevitable that the Romans seize it sooner or later, bringing everybody back to square one. Of course, it is later shown that Sulfurix's motives are purely self-serving since he has no hesitation cooperating with the Romans, making his argument a hollow pretext. He also makes unhinged rants about "stopping all wars" by spreading the secret of the Magic Potion, but by that point he's clearly off his rocker.
- Villainous Breakdown: Sulfurix is already pretty unhinged by the time he first appears but manages to keep himself seemingly together. By the finale however he completely loses it. Just when he thinks he finally has the magic potion, it slips through his fingers as Getafix never told Cholerix about the final, secret ingredient. The sheer frustration sends Sulfurix into a frenzy trying to finish it. Some of his own fire powder accidentally gets dropped in giving him fire powers.
- Volcanic Veins: Once Sulfurix obtains fireball powers, he gets glowing veins.
- Watch Out for That Tree!: A hazard when running at full speed thanks to the Magic Potion.
- First, after a wild boar accidentally drinks Asterix's potion, he, Obelix and Dogmatix are dragged behind the super-strong pig until they all get slammed into a tree.
- Later, when pursuing Sulfurix, Asterix ends up slamming into a tree, and then Obelix coming right behind him crashes into the same tree, squishing Asterix.
- Weak-Willed: Sulfurix's hypnotic trick only works on the feeble of mind, as he demonstrates on an old, senile druid. When he tries it on Asterix, he's not very surprised that it has no effect whatsoever on the strong-willed hero. That it works on Obelix, however, opens much more interesting opportunities for Sulfurix.
- Wheel o' Feet: When chasing a trio of boars alongside Asterix in the opening sequence, Obelix's feet are animated as a circular blur when he gets his head stuck in a log — simply revving up and continuing the chase, log and all.
- Wizard Beard: Yes, all of the elder druids have a long, white beard. Which somewhat confuses Obelix, prompting Asterix to explain that they have a long, white beard each, not a long, white beard for all of them.
- You Go, Girl!: Averted. Pectine does have to disguise herself as a boy to help Getafix in the forest, but the disguise is soon dropped, and the gender issue doesn't come up again, focusing on her usefulness as an inventor (and at the very end, she doesn't show signs of wanting to prove herself, running off to play with the other kids).
