Trollz

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It's a hair thing!

Trollz is an American animated television series created by DiC Entertainment in 2005, loosely based on the popular Troll dolls from the 1950s. Very loosely. The show revolves around five young Troll girls, each with different personalities: Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, and Onyx. While they're different, the "BFFL", AKA Best Friends For Life, are friends til the end.

Together, they fight evil with The Power of Friendship, try to impress cute boys, and get their homework done, all while learning about the magic in the world they live in.

Trollz first ran in 2005, and occasionally reran until DIC was bought out by Cookie Jar Entertainment. The show returned as part of Cookie Jar TV on February 5, 2011. However, the show left CBS on September 10, 2011, due to Cookie Jar Entertainment wanting to rebrand the block to Team Toon, as it will be[when?] replaced with Danger Rangers.

Tropes used in Trollz include:
  • All There On The Website: The Trollz' pets, aside from Amethyst's dog, Wa-Wa, are only seen on the website. (Ruby has a cat named Za-Za, Topaz has a bunny named La-La, Sapphire has a chipmunk named Ya-Ya, and Onyx has a lizard named Na-Na.) Some of the backstory involving Simon is only found there, too.
  • All Trolls Are Different
  • Alpha Bitches: Coral and her friends Opal and Jade. They're cheerleaders, too.
  • An Aesop: Quite a few episodes had one.
  • And I Must Scream: Zirconia was turned into a tree for 3,000 years. She was conscious the whole time. When Simon tries to turn Onyx into a tree, he at first simply imprisons her within one. Eventually she'd become part of the tree, like what happened with Zirconia.
    • Spinell got this too, being turned into a dragon for 3,000 years. A dragon that couldn't talk.
  • Anime Hair: Everyone but Simon, Jasper, and Snarf.
    • And Jasper did originally sport anime hair as well.
  • Animesque
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In the episode "Homecoming". Dragon vs. School Mascot.
    • Also the giant stone ogre in episode 9.
  • Audience Surrogate: Amethyst in the first few episodes.
  • Badass Adorable: The Trollz.
  • Baleful Polymorph: Zirconia's transformation into a tree.
  • Bare Your Midriff: The girls' gems are attached to their bellybuttons. How else are we supposed to know this without them being exposed 99% of the time?
  • Beach Episode: Three of them, actually. They made up the last Story Arc.
  • Beauty Mark: Onyx has one.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Make Amethyst or Topaz angry. We dare you.
  • Big Bad: Simon.
  • Big No: Done to exaggeration with Topaz as she dramatically jumps over a table to stop Sapphire from eating a cucumber sandwich. Sadly, that wasn't the friend in danger.
  • Blinded by the Light: Ogres don't like light. Good thing Sapphire's spell went awry and made her feet glow...
  • Book Ends: Episode 2 has everyone saving Amethyst from falling into a pit. The last episode has them saving her from falling into a volcano.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Happens when everyone but Ruby eats Simon's magic cookies.
  • Broken Aesop: In the story arc where the girls turn evil, Ruby worries that her meanness has influenced them into becoming mean. Obsidian tells her that if she sets a bad example, she can change it by setting a good one. It seems okay until Ruby cleans up her act and it fails because Simon's magic was too strong.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Done in the arc where the Trollz break the Sacred Altar, causing the magic to disappear. The next episode has them working to fix things.
  • Butt Monkey: Mr. Trollheimer and Snarf.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': The Trollz participate in an illegal Skoot race. Next episode they're caught and punished with community service.
  • The Cheerleader: Coral, Opal, and Jade. Coral gets extra mean points for being the head cheerleader.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Both Topaz and Zirconia come across as this.
  • Coincidental Broadcast: In the episode "Onyx's Gem". Justified that it was most likely magically assisted.
  • Compressed Hair: The trolls manage to fit all of that hair underneath their helmets.
  • Convection, Schmonvection: Zig Zagged. Amethyst is close to the center of an active volcano and comes out fine...though Ruby's hair doesn't, being frizzed and burnt from being near it.
  • Cool Bike: The Skoots.
  • Cool Old Guy/Cool Old Lady: The Ancients are this.
  • Creepy Child: Simon is this at points.
  • Cross-Dressing Voices: Snarf voiced by Janyse Jaud.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: More like curb stomp football match between the Ogreville Dandelions and the Trollzopolis Trolls. The Trolls got stomped, somewhat literally.
  • Curse Cut Short: In one of the Valli Girls' background songs for the series, "The Power of Five", the lyrics go:

It doesn't matter if you scream or what spell you cast/ We're five strong girls and we're gonna kick your--

  • Cursed with Awesome: Being a dragon for 3,000 years doesn't sound too bad.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Many of the Trolls including the main girls have this.
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Amethyst to an extent, and Topaz. Coal is a male example.
  • Cute Witch: The majority of Trolls, especially the main group.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Simon has at least one instance of this, though it doesn't work. When his dragon betrays him and frees Onyx, the two fly away. Simon's response is to change the dragon back into his true form, the troll Spinell. While he and Onyx are still in the air.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Onyx.
  • The Dark Side: One of Simon's plans had Sapphire fall prey to this. Coaxed by a magic mirror, she grew narcissistic and power-hungry, deciding she didn't need her friends anymore. Though she did have regrets about it, and apologized once things were set right.
  • Dark-Skinned Redhead: Ruby.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Onyx. Also Spinell.
  • Demonic Possession: Gremlin Possession, actually; Topaz suffers this when she loses her self-esteem.
  • Descriptive Ville: Trollzopolis.
    • Also Ogreville.
  • The Dragon: Snarf, though he's not a literal dragon More of an ogre-dog thing, and a puppy.
    • Simon also has a dragon who's really a dragon, until he changes him back to Spinell.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: At least one case for Onyx, when she was desperate to find her Ancient. Also Zirconia seems to have had a few.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Onyx.
  • Dueling Shows: With Bratz, and WITCH.
  • Dumb Blonde: Topaz has her moments.
  • Egopolis: Pretty much every time Simon manages to take over Trollzopolis, he renames it after him. In fact, he has quite a few names on hand to choose from.
  • Evil Costume Switch: Unlike most female examples, they're actually less revealing, more like MIB suits. Given Simon's fashion sense it may be justified.
  • Evil Laugh: Simon, Snarf, and Coral have them.
  • Exact Eavesdropping: Villainous example; Simon overhears Coral, Opal, and Jade talking about where the BFFL are headed for vacation.
  • Expository Theme Tune
  • Expressive Hair: It's mentioned in one of the episodes that sometimes when a Troll experiences emotion turmoil their hair goes floppy.
  • Extreme Doormat: Amethyst, at first.
  • Eyes of Gold: A few of the other characters have this but Simon fits the rest of the trope to a tee.
  • Famous Ancestor: Apparently Ruby is a direct descendant of King Trollemagne the First. Although this doesn't have much effect on the story.
    • There's a nice Continuity Nod with her last name, Trollman, being a watered-down version of Trollemange.
  • Fangs Are Evil: Simon, they tend to become more prominent when he's showing just why he was locked away in the first place. Although they do come across as Cute Little Fangs at times.
  • Fashion Show: Topaz tries one of these after seeing Jasper looking at models; however, he thought they looked silly.
  • Fiery Redhead: Ruby. Oh, so much.
    • Coral, too, when agitated.
  • Fighting From the Inside: Topaz does this while possessed by Simon. It doesn't work until her friends help out.
  • Five Girl Band
  • Five-Man Band: The boy Trollz have this, too.
  • Foreshadowing: A surprisingly subtle example, in "The Tree and the Dragon". Obsidian saves the Trollz from the dragon by summoning musical instruments. Both the dragon and Onyx cover their ears, clearly disliking the music. This makes sense, as the girls and their Ancients have similar traits.
  • Forgotten Superweapon: Villainous example with Snarf. He went One-Winged Angel a grand total of four times in a 27-episode series, and two of those times were in the first two episodes he appeared in. The third time was in episode 11--for about 2 SECONDS of screen time. The fourth time was the last episode he appeared in, without even a Transformation Sequence.
    • Simon's staff was used in Episode 6 and never seen again, despite the fact that it amplified his magic.
  • Funny Afro: Jasper had one... until Amethyst's spell made it disappear.
  • Gender-Restricted Ability: Only girl Trollz can use magic. Originally boys could too, until Simon got his hands on it.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: In one episode, Coal distracts Snarf by telling him that his fly's undone. After being tricked, Snarf realizes that he doesn't wear pants.
    • In the same episode, the girls used this subverted rhyme when fighting Simon:
      • "Simon is crude and Simon is crass, turn this loser into a DONKEY!"
    • On the website, Ruby asks in a Q&A "What the spell are braces?"
  • Girliness Upgrade: Compare these to the Troll dolls they were based off of.
  • Glamour Failure: Throughout the series it appears that magically disguised people can be revealed by their reflections.
  • Good Hair, Evil Hair: Normally, the girls' hair is curved. When they are upset or turn evil, it's all spiky.
  • Grand Finale: The final story arc had the BFFL sealing Simon and Snarf away for 1,000 years, reaffirming their friendship, and ending with a Farewell Luau.
  • Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!: Mr. Trollheimer is quite good-looking compared to the rest of the Ancients. Sapphire even commented that he was cute.
  • Griping About Gremlins: Simon plays this straight and averts this; he's skilled at building magical machines, but has no aptitude for modern-day technology.
  • Gross Up Close-Up: Miss Tourmaline's hairy legs.
  • Hair Reboot: All troll hair seems to have this quality.
  • Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Jasper is seen with an afro at first. Then Amethyst's spell makes him lose his hair permanently. He gets over it pretty quickly.
  • The Heart: Amethyst; her gem is even shaped like a heart.
  • Heel Face Turn: Shale and Mica.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Snarf is Mocchi, Pixie, Lilim, and Poison, and Amethyst is animated Sabrina.
    • Actually, Amethyst is the Sabrina from Sabrina's Secret Life, the sequel series!
  • Ironic Echo: In the episode where Sapphire becomes proud and power-hungry, a Magic Mirror is egging her on by telling her she's special. Later, when it's revealed to be Simon, he captures her. When she protests that he told her she was special, he says "You ARE special--the Blue Plate Special!" and calls in orcs to eat her.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ruby, Shale, and Mica.
  • Jive Turkey: Jasper.
  • Kick the Dog: Simon frequently mistreats Snarf, even though the latter is unwaveringly loyal to him.
  • The Lost Woods: The Haunted Woodz, complete with Troll Eating Ferns.
  • Magic A Is Magic A: Spells vary depending on how you word them; Sapphire wanted to dance and be 'light on her feet', but made her feet glow when she rhymed with 'my feet feel light'.
    • Girl trolls need spell beads to cast magic. This was averted when they cast a beadless transformation spell that required five to be used effectively, and when they were under Simon's control.
  • The Magic Goes Away/The Magic Comes Back: This was the focus of an entire arc when the heroes accidentally cause magic to disappear.
  • Magic Misfire: Happened a fair amount of times, usually with Ruby's spells.
  • Magical Girl: Of the Cute Witch variety.
  • Magitek: Trollzopolis is like this now. Originally it was totally magic-based, with boy Trollz as well as girls being able to use magic. Then Simon came along...
    • During the arc where the Sacred Altar is broken and magic disappears it's shown that most of the Troll technology uses magic as a power source at some level. The results include mass blackouts and more.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Being an Ancient means you get to either save the day or be captured. Or, in Zirconia and Spinell's case, turned into a tree and dragon.
  • Merchandise-Driven
  • Mind Control Eyes: When the girls turn evil, the shines disappear from their eyes.
    • Shale also has noticeably different eyes than the other girls, though it's revealed that they're contact lenses. When she takes them off her eyes are normal.
  • The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Reflections show the true forms behind magical disguises. This also includes reflections in water.
  • More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: Snarf, at points. This can also be Nightmare Fuel.
  • Muggles Do It Better: The male Trollz' technical skills are greater than those of the females, on a whole. This became useful in the arc when magic disappeared.
  • My Significance Sense Is Tingling: The school principal, Mr. Trollercromby is allergic to goldenrod and beasts from the realm of darkness which cause him to sneeze. Needless to say, when he starts sneezing you know something is going down.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Averted; Simon isn't exactly the kind of name you'd want to run from.
    • Also averted with the football team, the Ogreville Dandelions.
  • Never Mess with Granny: Amethyst's Grandma is normally doing things like baking cookies, but mess with her granddaughter or her friends and she'll come to the rescue. Obsidian and Zirconia, while not literal grandmothers, fit this trope as well.
  • Never Say "Die": Averted and lampshaded.

Amethyst: Ruby was going to tell the boys that she's sorr--
Ruby: I thought we weren't going to say the s-word. Besides, I'm just apologizing to Rock!
Amethyst: But Rock almost died when--
Ruby: We weren't going to say the d-word either.

    • In another episode, when the girls are brainwashed into becoming evil, Ruby comments that her best friends tried to kill her.
    • Still another instance comes when the Trollz break the magic altar, endangering the Ancients' lives, and an angry Sapphire says "You don't want them to DIE, do you!?"
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The girls let Simon and Snarf out of their prison, and spend much of the series trying to put them back there for good.
    • In another episode, the girls and boys manage to break the Sacred Altar in the Amber Cavez, causing magic to disappear and endangering the Ancients' lives.
  • Nonhuman Humanoid Hybrid: Snarf is said to be half ogre and half dog. Which leads to Squick about how he came about, he did mention having a mother once...
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: Simon has his moments of this, particularly in the arc where he turned the girls evil.
  • Old Master: Of the Ancients, Obsidian and Mr. Trollheimer fit this the most, teaching the girls and preparing them to fight Simon.
  • Older Than They Look: Most of the Ancients look suitably old, except for Mr. Trollheimer who looks like he's in his thirties. Why this is so is never brought up.
  • One-Winged Angel: Snarf can turn from a cute puppy into a snarling ogre-demon.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Only one is seen, though it hates certain kinds of music, is afraid of cats, has painful fire-breathing sneezes, and is really a transformed Troll.
  • Parental Abandonment: Of the girls, we only see Amethyst's mom and grandma, Sapphire's mom, and Ruby's dad; the latter only appeared in one episode. Where Onyx and Topaz's parents are is never addressed, and we never see the boys' parents at all.
  • Pet the Dog: In the arc where the town was sent back to the Middle Ages, Amethyst stood up for Coral, the Alpha Bitch, when Simon threatened her. When things went back to the present Coral thanked her, even if she couldn't remember why.
  • Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Simon often sets these up. Justified as their friendship is the key to defeating him.
  • The Power of Friendship: The Power of the Five runs off of this, and is often the key to defeating Simon.
  • Powers in the First Episode: Amethyst's powers manifest after her friends' already have, and the first episode has spells cast by a single Troll. In the second episode they cast their first spell together, turning Coal into ice and opening the rift to unleash the Big Bad.
  • Power Perversion Potential: Some of those spells.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Simon is over 3,000 years old. He looks and acts like a 9-year old.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Amethyst's dog Wa-Wa. It even has her hairstyle. The other girls have pets too, but aside from Ruby mentioning a cat a couple times, they were never brought up or seen on the show.
    • The Trollzopolis school mascot, Puff. It's a cute kitty!
    • Snarf, when he's in puppy form. Most of the time.
  • Rock Theme Naming: The girls get gems while the boys get rocks and minerals. They even used obscure gems like tourmaline.
  • Scotireland: Spinell has an accent like this.
  • Sailor Earth: With the whole Rock Theme Naming going on, there's a high potential for fan characters.
    • A popular one is Emerald, as green isn't represented in the color spectrum the girls have.
  • Secret Legacy: Amethyst's Grandma is an Ancient. Once, her Mom helped out too by giving her a magical, powerful necklace that her grandma used to wear.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Simon and Snarf are this. The girls accidentally let them out.
  • Sealed Good in a Can: Zirconia is more like Sealed Good in a Tree.
  • Shout-Out: Amethyst's last name, van der Troll, is a reference to Amethyst van der Poll.
  • Signature Sound Effect: The school principal's arrival or exit is always accompanied by the sound of squeaky/squishy footsteps.
  • Smurfing: This show is extremely guilty of this. Even molecules are known as trollicules.
  • Species Surname: Pretty much every Troll's surname has some form of the word troll in it.
  • Spoiled Brat: Ruby's the most well-off of the girls and isn't afraid to flaunt her wealth at times.
  • Spontaneous Crowd Formation: A crowd gathered to watch a Mexican Standoff between Sapphire and Shale; however, some of their spells hit the audience members.
    • Also during Coral and Ruby's spelloff.
  • The Stinger: On the DVDs each episode has an extra scene added at the end.
  • Stock Punishment: In the Middle Ages arc, the girls were put in pillories. Among other things, croutons were thrown at them.
  • Story Arc: Every three episodes are their own mini-arc.
  • Sugar Apocalypse: Not so much in the present, but the Trollz' way of life was destroyed in the past, as was their city. The world almost bit it, too.
  • Tagline: "It's a hair thing!"
  • Taken for Granite: In the second episode, the girls turn Coal into ice by mistake. Obsidian said that the spell would only wear off when he melted, so they had to reverse things quickly.
  • Theme Naming: All the girls are named after gemstones. The boys are named after rocks and minerals.
  • Trail of Bread Crumbs: When Onyx and Topaz head into the Haunted Woodz, Onyx leaves a trail of wild jellybeans to find their way back. Unfortunately, Topaz ate most of them.
  • Training Montage: The girls put Onyx through one to help her win the Skoot race.
  • Tsundere: Ruby.
  • Uh-Oh Eyes: When Simon's disguised as a Troll, his pupils are larger than real Trolls' are.
  • Uncatty Resemblance: All the Trollz' pets look like them to a degree, sharing hairstyles and presumably personalities.
  • Use Your Head: Rock defeats Simon this way by smashing his trophy talisman against his head.
  • Villainous Crossdresser: Simon when possessing Topaz and pretending to be Garnet. Snarf when he pretended to be Miss Tourmaline and a cute female poodle.
  • The Voiceless: Coral's friends, Opal and Jade, never had speaking lines until the first episode of the very last story arc.
  • We Can Rule Together: The first time the BFFL and Simon face off, he offers this and even gives them a chance to discuss it among themselves. Naturally, they turn down the offer.
  • We Could Have Avoided All This: Amethyst remarks in "Onyx's Gem" that if they had just talked to each other about their gems fading, they could've gone to Obsidian instead of falling into a trap.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Zirconia and Spinell, despite having been introduced before the Brought Down to Normal arc, are not mentioned among the possible Ancient casualties. It's almost as if these episodes were meant to be broadcast first. Either that or the writers forgot.
    • Their absence in the arc where the girls turn evil was Handwaved away by saying they were safely out of reach, but too weak to help.
    • To make up for this, the Beach Episode arc revolved around them a lot.
  • Wizards Live Longer: Implied to be the case with the Ancients.
  • Xanatos Gambit / Batman Gambit: Simon pulls off one of these in the Story Arc where the girls turn evil. It relies on the likely outcome, but he also plans for the initial plan to fail. He poses as a new girl in school and befriends them, at the same time ostracizing Fiery Redhead Ruby. He and Snarf feed the other four girls cookies, which makes them brainwashed. However, that episode he's defeated, so that would be the end of it, right? Wrong. In the next episode it's revealed that the cookies were time-delayed, and slowly turning the girls evil. He uses Ruby's fondness for pranks and occasional jerkish tendencies to make her think it's her fault they're acting rowdy, and Ruby doesn't realize his involvement until it's too late.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz: Lots of things that usually end in 's' end with 'z', including the title of the show.
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Done in the arc where Simon turned back time to the Middle Ages. Instances of stuff ending in '-eth' abounded.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: And green, and purple, and pink... Funnily enough, Ruby's fire-engine red color is dyed. Her natural color is brown.
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