Kirsten

I'm sad to admit that in it's two years since releasing, I've never seen Trollhunters until last night. I'm a huge lover of cartoons, but I also have a bad habit of judging by the cover. So when I watched the trailer for it, I thought it was a little childish and cliche. I didn't like the idea of the trolls and it being around a rather ordinary boy who gets bullied at school suddenly finds a random power that's thrusted onto him.

But then I watched it.

I've made it to Jim's final episode of being in the Darklands and I have some opinions. It's plot, character development, dialogue, script, animation, and everything else is just so good.

The first thing I want to get into is it's atmosphere. It's pretty dark with the first few minutes in the first episode being a guy falling off a bridge as suicide. But then in a later episode, it shows Toby holding a sleeping Chomsky in a sack beside the sink with the garbage disposal on practically saying "Jim is too soft, so I'll kill him" (though we later find out he didn't actually kill Chomsky). I definitely didn't expect to see that.

Along with those, the show also has some real life family issues. Jim's dad leaving him when he was five, Toby's parents killed by a storm out on a cruise, Claire stating how her mom never remembers her birthday without checking her schedule.

Now, something that's important to me when it comes to cartoons is it's action scenes. In DreamWorks previous shows, Voltron and She:ra, I didn't find their fighting to be enjoyable. I personally belived it was a bit choppy and unrealistic (granted, nothing about their plots is realistic). But in this show, I love it. It's smooth and allows Jim to be a little awkward while not holding an insane amount of power right off the bat.

After he becomes the Trollhunter, he isn't gifted with strength or speed or fast reflexes. And his training lasts for more than one episode. You can actually keep up with how much stronger he's getting and see where he's lacking. Shows usually show a little bit of training before shoving them off into some big battles and then suddenly they can take on anyone and come out victorious practically every time. This doesn’t do that.

I'm really, really happy with how it turned out.

Jim and Barbara's relationship is beautiful.

Because Jim's father walked out, these two have sworn to take care of each other and formed a very strong bond over the years. Fully aware of how hard Barbara works, Jim does all the cooking, making sure she and Toby has lunch the next day. He would even tend to her while she's asleep.

As Toby has pointed out before, he mothers his mother. And I find that to be really nice.

But as his Trollhunter duties continue, his and Barbara's relationship becomes strained. They'd fight a lot and never apologize afterwards even when they both clearly want to. He hides his second life away from her so she wouldn't worry about him. He's fully aware that if he died, she would never know why unless he writes her another letter like he did before his fight against Draal or one of his friends breaks the news to her.

When she did find out about trolls and Trollmarket, she had to have her memory erased as a side affect of being healed after Agnor Rot hurt her and Strickler. She wanted to be apart of his other life, asking him to promise her he'll tell her about it afterwards. He did a small nod in time for her to see it, but where I'm at, he has yet to keep to it. I really hope he tells her again.

While I'm on Jim, I want to talk about his mental endurance.

He's a very (mentally) strong character having to balance school, heroism, and his relationship with Barbara on a daily basis. I'm not aware if he has a mental breakdown at any point in the series, but by the time season one ended I would have had several hundred.

Having to help trolls in Trollmarket, find a way to defeat Gunmar and any enemy that pops up, protect humans, pass high school, keep a steady relationship with his mother, and keep his identity and trolls a secret from humans every day has to take a mental toll on him.

He is very, very selfless putting other's safety before his own, i.e. when he goes into the Darklands alone because he doesn't want anyone else to get hurt. I hope there's a soft, vulnerable side of him later on.

Because there’s so many characters in this, I’ve limited it down to just three or else this would be going a lot longer. 

The characters in this is phenomenal, but out of everyone I think Strickler is the most impressive. When he was first introduced as the friendly teacher towards Jim I was really excited because he’s not the stereotypical “mean teacher” that’s meant to make Jim’s life harder. Then he was revealed to actually being an antagonist. I was so, so happy to see that. And even more so when he was revealed to Jim as well. 

Then he got close and started to spend time with Barbara, eventually making a pretty smart foe with the enchantment that binds his and Barbara’s fate together. That’s when he really started to feel something for her, but sadly ending with him disappearing far away, erased from her memory, but protected by Jim. He went against his own kind and his own leader for the sake of this boy and his mother. As smart as he was; however, he wasn’t the best enemy against Jim since he cared too much.  

My second favorite is Agnor Rot. Brought back to life and controlled by Strickler, he still made a tricky enemy. He played with Jim, testing the water. Eventually he actually marked him which gave him control over Jim’s sword whenever he brought it out. I love that the creators gave him the ability to do that. He was a challenge for Jim and allowed him to unlock new weapons. 

Not only did he do that, but he was also the first ever (in present time) to invade Trollmarket and killed someone. Deaths, especially when there’s war or a lot of action, is very important to me. It shows that the creators aren’t afraid to be bold and kill off anyone. No character is safe. Granted, he does come back. 

And lastly, Blinky. After finding out about Jim’s deadbeat dad, he starting taking the role of both mentor and father. He did what Jim’s dad was supposed to do while also shaping him into a nice young man. I honestly don’t know what this show would be if the creators hadn’t thought of him. He’s such a lovely character. 

Because I feel like this post is long enough, this will be the last one...Trollhunters plot.

Out of everything this show has going for it, I believe it’s plot is the best. In the beginning I said how I thought this was going to a cliche series, but I couldn't have been more wrong.  

As I was watching I would think about how the next scene will play out. Thinking that it was a cliche, that’s how I would think it turned out. But I was proven wrong every time. It went against every other cartoon I've watched so far, doing what I wished the others did. It’s different. 

Their dialogue is actually funny and made me laugh several times. I also cried, and was in suspense wondering what would happen next. I wasn’t let down. Unlike other cartoons, they allowed the main character to tamper around with the darker side of their power. They allowed Jim to go on a journey of his own against the wishes of those around him. He wasn’t convinced not to like in other shows. 

I’m just overall in love with “Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia” that I can’t put into words. There should be more shows like this one. Not every character is perfect and problems can’t be solved by a little positive thinking.