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Hiccup: "Hey, you have a better idea for whenever that sand-busting thing comes back?"
Snotlout: "Sandbuster. That's a good name."[src]
  — Snotlout comes up with the name Sandbuster for the dragon  

The Sandbuster is a medium-sized Mystery Class dragon that first appeared in Dragons: Race to the Edge.

Official Description[]

Like a pirate protecting his treasure, the Sandbuster lurks under the Northern Markets’ shores to guard its gold and sink any trespassers!
The many criminals who frequent the Northern Markets are a dangerous lot, but even they know to keep away from the beaches. For years now, the Sandbuster has lived under those shores, amassing a valuable pile of gems and gold in its cave. Territorial and greedy, the Sandbuster burrows sinkholes in the ground that swallow up any humans foolish enough to tread near its riches. The dragon’s only weakness is sunlight, which burns its sensitive scales in a matter of seconds.
  Dragonpedia  
This shifty critter swims through the sand, catching victims unaware and pulls them underground. It hoards loot in great caves, viciously attacking anyone it suspects of thievery!
Sandbuster melts down sand and fires molten glass, trapping its prey. Its biggest weakness is sunlight, but it struggles to hold ground against larger dragons.
  Dragons: Rise of Berk  


Physical Appearance[]

Egg[]

Sandbuster Egg

A Sandbuster egg is oval shaped, with slightly irregular shape. It is yellow, the color of sand, with green spots, the color of grass. It is similar to the model of the dragon.

Hatchling to Adult[]

The Sandbuster is a medium-sized dragon that has a long, snake-like body. It has a large head with relatively small blue eyes and has a long neck with sharp rows of spikes. It has four legs, each ending with three claws. The back legs are bigger and more muscular than the fore ones. Its wings are big compared to the body. They have two sharp claws on each of them. The tail is long and has rows of spikes on it.

Sandbuster Titan - NBG

Titan Wing[]

A Titan Wing Sandbuster is not very different from the adult, except for the size increase. It has bigger spikes on its head, neck and tail. Its nasal horn becomes more prominent. Similar to most Titan Wings, it has red, fiery eyes.

Abilities[]

Firepower[]

The Sandbuster shoots superheated sand that hardens into a solid glass on impact. However, according to Dragons: Rise of Berk, it shoots molten glass which solidifies on impact, trapping its prey. When the blasts hit something, they spread out as much as possible before solidifying. As shown in "Sandbusted", the Sandbuster's blast can bounce off of sand. The glass is known to form into the shape of tears.

The glass that forms is opaque, and any light that manages to get through is weak. Due to this, the Sandbuster uses its blasts to protect itself from the sunlight that is harmful to its skin as it is not normally exposed to much sunlight.

Burrowing[]

This dragon is able to burrow through the sand, similar to how a Whispering Death burrows through earth. However, it doesn't make holes in the sand because it "swims" through it instead of eating it. The Sandbuster is also able to drag large things through the sand as it burrows, such as Vikings or treasure chests. It can burrow extremely fast, as demonstrated by an individual which managed to go from the surface to an underground cave in a matter of seconds.

While sand is the preferred substrate for a Sandbuster to burrow through, these dragons can also burrow through other fine-grained material like snow, as seen done by the individuals Frostbiter and Snowball, or sawdust as demonstrated by Sawduster. They are even capable of burrowing through mud as Marooned Mukchucker does.

Intelligence[]

This dragon seems to be quite intelligent as one understood how to protect itself from the sunlight using its blast

This dragon seems to be quite intelligent as one understood how to protect itself from the sunlight using its blast and then destroyed the only escape Hiccup, Snotlout and Amos had. In School of Dragons, one individual, dubbed the 'Smokebuster', was intelligent enough to form a symbiotic relationship with a pack of Smothering Smokebreaths, understanding that if it was covered in Smokebreath ash, it would become essentially immune to the effects of sunlight.

Ash-Covered Scales[]

If their scales are coated with ash or another similar substance, they become immune to sunlight, enabling them to venture outside their lairs without being burned.

Speed, Agility, and Stealth[]

Despite their large size, Sandbusters are very fast and stealthy, for they are able to sneak up on their victims without them noticing.

Having a snake-like body makes the Sandbusters very agile dragons as they are able to make quick turns in small places. Their tail is also flexible to swipe opponents.

Some Sandbuster individuals, such as Snowball, possess white coloration on their body that enables them to blend into snowdrifts once the dragon burrows into them. This allows them to be almost invisible in the snow, enabling them to surprise unsuspecting prey or to hide from predators.

Prehensile Tail[]

The Sandbusters' prehensile tails allow them to grab Vikings by their legs before pulling them under the sand

The Sandbusters' prehensile tails allow them to grab Vikings by their legs before pulling them under the sand. They are able to drag the weight of two Vikings with their tails, all while burrowing at great speeds.

Strength and Combat[]

One was able to fight against Toothless the Night Fury for a short period of time

Sandbusters possess enough strength to drag Vikings through sand and topple a tower of metal and wooden objects. A wild Sandbuster was able to tail whip Snotlout away before he accidentally triggered a crossbow. Sandbusters are shown to retreat every time it had to fight a stronger foe, showing that like Monstrous Nightmares, when faced with a highly formidable adversary that would likely outmatch them, it will choose to retreat from the confrontation..

Sandbusters are skilled fighters that are able to hold their own against several Vikings at once. One was able to fight against Toothless, a Night Fury, for a short period of time before retreating from its stronger opponent.

Cold Resistance[]

Despite being reptilian creatures, some Sandbuster individuals, such as Snowball, are able to resist the effects of extreme cold, enabling them to still be rapidly mobile even after hiding in a freezing cold snowdrift.

Weaknesses[]

Sunlight Sensitivity[]

Snotlout: "Did you guys see that?"
Hiccup: "It's the light. It can't be in direct sunlight."
Amos: "Maybe that's why he patched the holes in the roof."
Hiccup: "Maybe."[src]
  — Hiccup, Snotlout, and Amos see the sunlight's effects on the Sandbuster  

The Sandbuster is extremely sensitive to sunlight, not only in brightness to its eyes, but to its skin as well. A shaft of sunlight touching anywhere on its skin will cause lasting areas of redness, presumably a type of sunburn that appears quickly. It is unknown if any source of light might cause this damage, or it is limited to sunlight.

Behavior and Personality[]

Sandbusters are described as being territorial and greedy

Sandbusters are described as being territorial and greedy, protecting their treasure like pirates. They seem to be very aggressive in general, as seen when one attacked Hiccup, Snotlout, and Amos. They also highly intelligent, as it blocked the sunlight (its only weakness) with its blast and knew when Hiccup, Snotlout, and Amos were trying to escape and how to destroy their way out.

Comparative Statistics[]


Appearances[]

Dragons: Race to the Edge[]

Season 5[]

Hiccup-toothless-how-to-train-your-dragon-1
Main article: Wild Sandbuster
Sandbuster 73

The Sandbuster debuted in the episode "Sandbusted". A wild Sandbuster made its lair underneath the beaches of the Northern Markets, becoming a problem for the traders of the island. The Dragon Riders were asked to investigate the situation and split into two groups. Hiccup and Snotlout were trapped by the Sandbuster and separated from their dragons. Along with Amos, a thief who was also captured by the Sandbuster, they tried to escape multiple times, but failed. Fortunately, they were rescued by the other riders, who fought off the Sandbuster.

Season 6[]

The wild Sandbuster returns catching Johann, Hiccup, and Toothless in his lair searching for some jewels needed for the Dragon Eye II, where Johann reveals his true nature and when Toothless fires a plasma blast that caused the Sandbuster comes to see the source of the explosion. The two dragons have a quick fight that ends with the Sandbuster fleeing, and Toothless blocking its way back.

Games[]

Dragons: Rise of Berk[]

The Sandbuster was released in game a day before the species' debut in Dragons: Race to the Edge, Season 5.


School of Dragons[]

Sandbusters were released in this game in April 2023 as part of the 2023 Thawfest.


Trivia[]

  • The Sandbuster was named by Snotlout after Hiccup described the dragon as a "sand-busting thing".
  • It is possible that the Sandbuster's ability to swim through sand is based on that of the sandfish, a type of skink that lives in the Sahara.
  • The Sandbuster's behavior of living and hunting from underground is similar to that of the Sand Wraith, the Burrowing Slitherfang, and the Monster of the Amber-Slavelands. The similarity with the last is so pronounced that it has been speculated that the Sandbuster is based off of it.
  • The Sandbuster is the third dragon sensitive to light, with the first being the Whispering Death and the second being the Sand Wraith.
  • The Sandbuster's treasure hoarding and protectiveness of its lair is a reference to dragon behavior in many real-world myths and stories such as that of the unnamed dragon from Beowulf, Fafnir from The Saga of the Volsungs, and Smaug from The Hobbit.
  • The Sandbuster shares several similarities with the greater krayt dragon from the Star Wars franchise.

References[]

Sandbuster uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the DreamWorks School of Dragons Wiki page Sandbuster. The list of authors can be found on the page revision history (view authors). SODWikiLogo
Sandbuster uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the Rise of Berk Wiki page Sandbuster. The list of authors can be found on the page revision history (view authors). ROBWiki Logo

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