#arcadiaverse

A little drawing based on a roleplay between @drax-is-inthefandom and I, with troll Jim and his now niece, Jewel.

Arcadiaverse Rp stuff

A character design!

In the Arcadiaverse roleplay server, there was recently a plotline where Bular the Butcher and Skarlagk the Scorned enter the Darklands to save the rebel army and officially win the Darklands War. The stand-in king, Calgod, was defeated in a gristly battle by Skarlagk - who, after some hesitance, allowed General Stars to take her place on the throne. Skarlagk and Bular rounded up trolls who wished to leave the Darklands, bringing them to the surface to live among the commoners in Trollmarket, wishing for a new life. These trolls were now referred to as Blakkrfolk, or “Dark People,” in reference to their old life in the Darklands.

The unnamed character above is a Blakkrfolk archer from the rebellion, struggling to find purchase in a modern world they can’t recognize. 

I’m debating whether or not to sell the character as an adopt, as I don’t see myself using them very much - but they were very fun to create! Fun fact; their leg has four joints in total :)

Ok, so you know how when Human Jim uses the face armor against Gunmar in Season 2 it has horns, even though he doesn’t have any??

But in Season 3 he has horns cuz he’s a troll???

That means Merlin was right in Season 3 when this happened,

“I must have a champion with a foot in both worlds.”

“I thought you said I had a choice!”

“You do. The amulet chose you to be the first human Trollhunter, but you were never destined to remain so.”

The amulet knew this was coming.

Arcadiaverse rp art

It was also insanely satisfying to see a show end on its own terms, amidst all those too early cancellations. Three seasons was a perfect length for it.

This is... really a masterpiece among its peers.

The animation is so rich and fits the brilliant, colorful, beautiful designs so well, the character development and dynamics among them, the overarching plot that was perfectly paced and both exciting and funny.

And I am both excited and afraid that the Arcadiaverse will be expanded. On the one hand, I really want to see more, want to learn more of this world, but on the other I feel like Trollhunters was this precious gem that was dear to Guillermo del Toro’s heart and it was closed perfectly and now tagging something on might feel less... special. A loss of quality and slip into the mainstream is what I fear here.

But let’s focus on Trollhunters season 3 for now.

There is only one thing that really bothers me and that’s how Draal is treated throughout the show. I mean, he is one of the Trollhunters. He joins them very early on, yet it always bothered me that he isn’t part of the group in the intro and how he is the one character that continuously gets beaten down. I mean, he loses his arm - is the only one to come out of it all with a lasting injury - and then he gets captured and mind-controlled and even though they work so hard to free him from the mind-control... he still fucking gets killed off. That was unnecessary. No.

So. Yeah. That’s the one canon-thing I’m just going to opt out of. That... didn’t happen. He totally made it out of there alive, thank you very much.

I’d have also wished for a little more involvement from Steve and Eli, considering they are now in the know and with some things this season, two additional sets of hands would have been helpful. (Though I am intensely excited that those two at least are confirmed to be in all three shows.)

I love that the parents got to learn the truth. Jim not telling his mom again after she lost her memories drove me fucking insane. But grandma and the Nuñezes too! That was a really nice touch and I liked how it was written.

I can’t believe I say this, but this cartoon really got me on board with a straight canon ship - but damn, Walt and Barbara were so good together and I love how much you can see that Walt loves her. I also really love Walt’s overall arc through the show.

Now, let’s talk about the wizard in the room.

Merlin was a bit of a disappointment, because when we first met him, I thought he was going to be the helpful, kind mentor type. And this season he’s... kind of an asshole? Also, super disappointed that he is not Jim’s father - seriously, I know they made the joke about it to drive home that they avoided the overused trope, but in this case it’d have made so much sense. I mean, I suspected it from episode one on, with Jim’s father gone, with his last name (you know, making Barbara the Lady [of the] Lake), the fact that the amulet never chose a human before so why did it now... It’d have been cool and I’d have liked to see that unfold. I understand why they didn’t and part of me enjoys the refreshment of Jim just being a random human with no greater connections, but... still bummed out a bit.

Morgana was amazing. Lena Headey was such a perfect choice to voice her. Thoguh her design, in my personal opinion, was too close to the Loki/Hela type from Marvel... seriously, that dumb golden helmet with the gazillion horns... did you have to...?

And I am absolutely in love with Jim’s troll-design. Like. Seriously. He looks so cool. And I hate that Draal never got to see him as a troll, hng.

But that final ending was...

I mean, I think it’s a very nice and smooth way of removing the protagonists from the playing field so the next series doesn’t get hijacked by them.

Jim leaving with his fellow trolls makes sense. Well done, actually.

But Claire...? That absolutely made no sense at all. Just because her boyfriend moves to New Jersey, she... drops everything too? Not graduating - and I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND THAT PART.

How the fuck does American high school work? “She has already enough points to graduate”... what... points? What? The school year isn’t even over? You can just up and graduate before even a year is over? No, wait, the fact that you can graduate before graduation is already too much for me. Don’t you have some soft of final exams? How can you just say “I have enough ‘‘‘points’‘‘ so I will just leave right now, without further notice and without even finishing the school year”...? That... doesn’t seem right? Or the American school system is seriously messed up. Which, would not even surprise me.

But how can she just leave her parents, her little brother, her graduation and, you know, finishing school with her friends, all to... live in a cave in New Jersey with her boyfriend...? Really?

Yeah, no, that, also a canon I’m going to opt out of because it makes no sense to me.

And I do wonder what Toby and Aaarrrgghh are going to do in 3 Below. After all, Toby already interacted with the aliens. And he still lives in Arcadia, as - as Jim put it - its only trollhunter left.

As of right now, Toby is the only official protector of Arcadia. So he has to be in 3 Below. And, honestly, he should also join forces with Steve and Eli, work as a team instead of separately.

So yeah, I’m hoping for confirmation that Toby and Aaarrrgghh will be in 3 Below. I’d also wish to, even if just in cameos briefly, see Walt and Barbara and the 1000 babies they got to raise. Like, that has to be addressed somehow.