The Original Battle Trolls

The Original Battle Trolls was a brand of action figures produced by Hasbro from 1992-1993. They were made in attempt to market the popular concept of troll dolls to young boys in the early 1990s.

Overview

Introduced in 1992 at $4.99 to $6.99,[1] the trolls were marketed with the slogan “Big Haired Dudes with Bad Attitudes”[2][3] and were actually quite large at approximately 4 3/4 inches tall (not including roughly 4 inches of hair). The line did not establish a story arc to provide a unifying narrative for the characters as a group. However each individual troll was provided a brief biographical profile (in parody of a G.I. Joe file card), and, details on their cardbacks as how to properly "neglect" them suggested that the owner hide them in "a dark, smelly place" and keep them "cranky, mean and ready to fight anything or anyone for years!". In association with their tough nature, many of them had facial stitches and their toes poking through their boots.

The line featured 26 individual characters, two of which were repaints available in special "vehicle sets". Each Troll featured a single cut joint at the waist and included two handheld accessories. All but four had an accessory designed to launch a projectile by flicking with the finger. The individual characters were styled on either generic action/adventure themes (a pirate, a ninja, two Vikings, a robot, a policeman, a knight, a punk rocker, and a Wild West outlaw); athletes (an American football player, an ice hockey player, a boxer, and a skateboarder); military servicemen (a general, a navy diver, and an air force pilot); monsters (a vampire, Frankenstein's monster, a werewolf, and two cyclopes); or outright spoofs of famous franchises (John Rambo, the Terminator cyborg, Superman, a Mad Max-style villain, and The Ultimate Warrior).

While initially successful, the Battle Trolls line failed to achieve the popular success that the 'original' troll toys enjoyed. Though much of the line consisted of references to classic fiction and popular culture, it was retired in 1993 after a third, much scarcer run with 8 final characters. A fourth series was planned, but never produced. The prototypes were displayed at the 1993 New York Toy Fair. This featured a line of six villains called the Evil Horde, including trolls styled after the Joker, Swamp Thing, an Alien, and one that looked like a hooded executioner. A promotional photo of the group can be viewed online.[4]

Imitations of Battle Trolls were made by competing companies: "Troll Warriors" by Tyco, "Troll Fighter" by Simba, and "Troll Force" by Toys 'n Things.

Characters

Battle Trolls were introduced in three assortments.[3]

Series 1 (1992)

Special sets
  • Capture Net, with Bulls-Eye Troll (Troll-Clops repaint)
  • Trollasaurus, with SvenTroll (Trollaf repaint)

Series 2 (1992)

Series 3 (1993)
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References
  1. Wanderer, Robert (March 1993). "Battle Trolls taking charge. (What's Selling)". Playthings. Archived from the original on 2018-11-19. Retrieved 2017-05-20.
  2. "From the OTHER blog: Trollin' along, singin' a song…". Metal Misfit. 2007-04-09. Retrieved 2007-04-14.
  3. "Virtual Toy Chest's Battle Trolls Archive". 2003. Retrieved 2007-04-14.
  4. Cawiezel, Marc H. The History of Unproduced Alien and Predator Toys (August 2006). Retrieved 2017.05.25.
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