Line #10 Recap/AsterixAndTheGoldenSickle


1	%%English-language quality swaps done here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1648933823047123100
2	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asterix2_6.png]]
3
4	The second ''Asterix'' book is the first to take our heroes beyond their village and the surrounding camps, to the city of Lutetia (the Roman name for Paris).
5
6	The peace of the Gaulish village is disturbed by Getafix; he's broken his golden sickle! In order for mistletoe to have magic properties, it needs to be cut with a golden sickle, and worse, there's a druid's conference coming up. The best golden sickles are made by Metallurgix in Lutetia, so Asterix and Obelix -- who's cousins with Metallurgix -- go off to buy one.
7
8	When they get to Lutetia, they find Metallurgix's house deserted. When they discuss their problem at an inn called the Jolly Arvernian, the owner suddenly closes up shop. He goes to see a Gaul called Clovogarlix and tells them of the two Gauls who want a sickle. Clovogarlix finds the heroes and offers to get them a golden sickle, as Metallurgix has apparently moved away. They go to a tavern and meet its owner, Navishtrix. Navishtrix offers to sell them a golden sickle...at 3,000 gold coins! Outraged at this steep price (and being called a small-timer) Asterix and Obelix pummel Clovogarlix and Navishtrix. The Romans show up to raid the bar, and Clovogarlix and Navishtrix flee. Asterix and Obelix are arrested, but the Roman prefect, Surplus Dairiprodus finds the pair amusing and pardons them. Asterix and Obelix find that there is a gang of golden sickle traffickers operating.
9
10	Asterix and Obelix decide to start their investigation by questioning the Arvernian; however, he has sold his inn to a Massilian and fled the city, and the two Armoricans chase him down on the road just outside Lutetia. They learn that Clovogarlix had kidnapped Metallurgix, and go to confront him. However, while raiding Clovogarlix's house they are once again arrested by the Romans. In jail, Asterix and Obelix learn from their drunken cellmate that Navishtrix and Clovogarlix meet under a dolmen. The Gauls break out, and once again the prefect finds that amusing and pardons them.
11
12	The pair finds a dolmen in the forest, and waiting there discover Clovogarlix entering a trapdoor. following, they find an underground warehouse full of golden sickles -- and the sickle traffickers! Asterix and Obelix make short work of the gang, and Navishtrix flees. Clovogarlix admits that Metallurgix is being held elsewhere, and that only Navishtrix and the boss -- whom only Navishtrix knows -- know where he is.
13
14	Chasing Navishtrix, the pair are once again arrested by the Romans and break out. In trying to escape, they find Navishtrix eating with the prefect. It turns out that ''Surplus Dairiprodus'' is the boss of the golden sickle traffickers, having done it all out of boredom. Metallurgix, being held in the cellar, is released and Surplus Dairiprodus and Navishtrix are arrested. As thanks, Metallurgix gives a golden sickle to Asterix and Obelix for free, and the two return home triumphant.
15
16	----
17	!!''Asterix and the Golden Sickle'' provides examples of:
18
19	* AnimatedAdaptation: One '''was''' in production by ''Asterix the Gaul'' director Ray Goossens, but was canned and replaced by an adaptation of ''Asterix and Cleopatra'' directed by Goscinny and Uderzo themselves after the ''Asterix the Gaul'' movie was poorly received. Reports vary as to whether production got beyond a few animation tests, or whether it's a full-blown lost movie.
20	* BarBrawl: When Navishtrix calls Asterix a "small-timer" for being unable to afford his outrageously-priced golden sickles, Asterix quickly starts one.
21	* TheBet: When going into the forest to look for the dolmen where Clovogarlix is, Asterix and Obelix bet whether they will encounter wolves first, or bandits, with the loser having to buy the other a round of beer. Asterix bets on wolves, and wins. But just barely, since the wolves are sitting around a tree, in which a bandit is hiding.
22	* BoundAndGagged: This is the first time this happens to Cacofonix at the ending banquet.
23	* CardboardPrison: Asterix and Obelix only stay behind bars long enough to get their bearings. It becomes trickier the third time when the two are separated, but the legionaries don't take away Asterix's bottle of magic potion.
24	* CasualDangerDialogue: The first time Asterix and Obelix meet some bandits. The subsequent encounters are skipped.
25	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The color of Romans' tunic under their armor indicates their rank. Legionaries have yellow or blue tunics, decurions have green tunics, guards have red tunics and centurions wear white clothes with no armor.
26	* TheDogWasTheMastermind: It turns out the head of the golden sickle traffickers is the perpetually bored Surplus Dairiprodus.
27	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
28	** One of the Roman legionaries calls Obelix "fat", and Obelix doesn't respond at all. In later books, being called "fat" is his BerserkButton.
29	** This is the only book where Romans have different tunic colors under their armor that indicate their military ranks (The previous book also had Romans with different tunic colors, but it was random). In later books, every Roman in the army has a green tunic.
30	** The Gothic innkeeper's word balloons use a different font to the rest of the comic, apparently to indicate that he's speaking with an accent. This font would be used in later books to indicate when characters were speaking in the Gothic language.
31	** Obelix has an explicit reason to join Asterix on his quest - he's related to the smith and can provide an introduction. By book 4, it's just taken as a given that if Asterix is going on an adventure, Obelix is too.
32	* ExactEavesdropping: The first group of bandits Asterix and Obelix encounter are in the right place and time to overhear Asterix tell Obelix how much money he is carrying. Not that it does them any good.
33	* ForcedIntoEvil: The Arvernian, who witnessed Metallurgix getting kidnapped. The kidnappers let him go, on condition that he would warn them whenever somebody came looking for Metallurgix.
34	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The reason Getafix needs a replacement golden sickle fast is not just because it’s the only tool he can harvest mistletoe for the magic potion with, but also because he’s about to go to a druid conference in the forest of Carnutes. This conference is seen in the following story.
35	* HelloAgainOfficer: Asterix and Obelix keep getting in trouble with the same Roman official.
36	* TheHighwayman: The forests between the village and Lutetia are infamous for being infested with these. Asterix and Obelix run into several of them along the way.
37	* INeedToGoIronMyDog: When Cacofonix offers to play a song of farewell for Asterix and Obelix, all the other villagers present make an excuse to leave, with one just bluntly saying "Goodbye!"
38	* KidnappedScientist: Metallurgix is known for making the best golden sickles. Hence why he was kidnapped by the sickle traffickers and forced to work for them.
39	* LowSpeedChase: When Asterix and Obelix catch up to the Arvernian on the Roman Road VII. Both they and the Arvenian's oxen are going at a walking pace, but a caption says "And the great race is on!"
40	* LuckBasedSearchTechnique: Asterix and Obelix find the dolmen by sheer coincidence, during a heavy rainstorm in the middle of the night, when they can't see a thing. The following morning, Obelix finds the secret trapdoor next to the Dolmen when he falls through it.
41	* MuggingTheMonster: On the way to Lutetia, Asterix and Obelix encounter bandits. Not that they particularly care...
42	* SecretUndergroundPassage: The sickle traffickers have an underground storage for their golden sickles, next to a dolmen in the forest.
43	* ShoutOut:
44	** The corrupt Roman prefect Surplus Dairiprodus is drawn to look like the English actor Creator/CharlesLaughton, who had just played the corrupt Roman senator Gracchus in ''Film/{{Spartacus}}''.
45	** The Massilian who buys the Arvernian's inn when he goes on the run is a caricature of French actor Jules Muraire, or Raimu as he was professionally known; his most famous roles include Ceasar, the owner of a bar by the port in Marseilles in the 1930s film trilogy ''Marius'', ''Fanny'', and ''Cesar''. (Raimu would also serve as the model for Drinklikafix, the Massilian bar owner in ''Recap/AsterixAndTheBanquet''.)
46	* SymbolSwearing: Done by Getafix at the start of the story when his sickle breaks. And later by Clovogarlix when Asterix and Obelix trap him in the underground sickle storage by putting the big boulder from the Dolmen on top of the trapdoor. Obelix even remarks that Clovogarlix knows some nasty swear words.
47	* UncannyFamilyResemblance: While Metallurgix's physique doesn't even remotely resemble that of his cousin Obelix, they have identical faces, to the point that he looks like someone put Obelix's head on Asterix's body.

Context Recap / AsterixAndTheGoldenSickle