Rock Trolls, also known as Hard Rock Trolls or Rocker Trolls, are a Tribe of Trolls who appear in Trolls World Tour and Trolls: TrollsTopia. Their current leader is Queen Barb. Their former leader is King Thrash.
History[]
Pre-Trolls World Tour[]
A figure representing the "rock" ancestor
At some point in the past, the ancestors of the 6 Tribes created 6 Strings for each type of music after one of them made a sound. As their name suggests, they were centered around Rock music and they held the String of Rock song. However, the Rock Tribe and the other Tribes went on separate ways after having an argument thanks to the Pop Troll elder's selfishness. The Pop Trolls attempted to keep all music to themselves and prevented the other Trolls having their music. The Tribes grabbed their Strings and ran away, each vowing never to meet again with the others, isolating themselves in the process.
Eventually, the Rock Trolls settled in the lands of volcanic molten lava and ash. The Pop Trolls actions had cause the Rock Trolls to remain with a grudge towards them. The Rock Trolls would never forget what the Pop Trolls had done.
At some point, King Thrash, their ruler and the King of Rock, handed over his crown to his daughter Barb and thus she became Queen of Rock just before the events of Trolls World Tour.
In "Trollvial Pursuit", it was stated that Volcano Rock City was later founded by George Thrashington.
Trolls World Tour[]
By Trolls World Tour, they had set their eyes on the rest of the Troll Kingdom, with Barb aiming to get all Strings and uniting the Trolls under one single music - their music. Thus, they begin an event called the "Rock World Tour".
During this time, they gathered all Strings and all Trolls of each Tribe and took them to Volcano Rock City and put them in an arena. Barb would convert everyone who wasn't a Rock Troll into a Rock zombie. She almost succeeded in doing so, but her plan backfired thanks to Queen Poppy. The Trolls temporarily lost their music when the Strings were destroyed, but all Trolls, including Rock Trolls, realized they could draw music now from themselves. The Rock Trolls are currently united with the other Troll Tribes as an united nation again.
Biology[]
Anatomy[]
The Rock Trolls resemble the Pop Trolls the most, though they have more fierce looks. Their clothing is often tattered, and they commonly have piercings and heavy black makeup. Most Rock Trolls favor dark colors such as grey, dull blue and black, as well as the occasional white and bright red. Their noses are usually arrowhead-shaped, and their ears have a sharper point, which is a defining trait of their Tribe. Their hair itself often sticks straight up like the Pop Trolls' hair does, but the ends fall down, giving it a wilder look, with many of them also having it styled into spiked peaks. Due to this, even when their hair is longer, most Rock Trolls are overall shorter in height than Pop Trolls from their toes to the tip of their hair. Another notable difference between them is the tendency for Rock Trolls to have longer legs and smaller bodies, though both Tribes still stand about the same height as each other.
The Rock Trolls' skin tones are muddy-colored; for example, Barb's skin is a muddy red, which sometimes looks purple. These tones are similar to Branch's, though this is purely coincidental as Branch's original skin color was cyan. The Rock Trolls also don't have the soft felt-like appearance that many Trolls have, and instead their skin is a soft-rough, stone-like gradient texture.
Most Rock Trolls are randomly generated. Their hair is one of several designs that have been picked out randomly for each model, and can be one of about 5 colors: red, grey, black, white and blond. Their clothing is also randomly generated.
They appear similar to how they look in Trolls World Tour, but have more overall detailing in their hair and clothes. Their Tribe's main trait, their pointy ears, aren't as sharply depicted as in Trolls World Tour and in some cases absent altogether. This is not the first time this has occured as the same issue impacted Branch and just like Branch is most likely also a result of preference by the animators.
In comparison to the movie, Rock Trolls tend to have not much differences in their overall body build compared to Pop Trolls and for the most part the majority of them look no different in their physical build. Though unique designs may still favor a build which has longer legs and shorter bodies as exampled by Petra, Romper and Rose.
Certain random Rock Trolls are also generated with an oversized, muscular build making them unique among the Trolls.
Unlike movie Rock Trolls, they can generate with Treasure Troll-like gems on their belly button area.
They appear the same as Trolls World Tour. However, Val Thundershock became the first 2D to 3D Rock Troll to appear in 3D animation. Since her 3D design is based on her 2D one, she is the first Rock Troll adult whose ears are not pointy in the 3D animation.
- Sexual Dimorphism
In Trolls World Tour, females are easily identified by their eyelashes, which look like they have thick mascara and heavy eyeliner. Also, females tend to have the same pair of earrings on their left ear, while males tend to lack any kind of earrings at all. Males often have a nose piercing instead. Both males and females can have charcoal-colored, smokey-looking eye shadow, though females tend to always have it and males have less of it when they do. There are also some clothing such as fishnet tights that are worn only by female members of the Tribe. Males are more likely to have exposed or bare chests with their clothing, and females are always covered up.
In terms of physical build, they're similar to the Pop Trolls. Males have the same height as females, but are built with bigger stomachs and hands overall. Females have slimmer arms and are typically slightly slimmer than Pop Troll females, but still have a stomach. When combined with their overall body build, both male and female Rock Trolls end up looking more masculine/feminine overall due to how their body types exaggerated the traits of both genders.
- Juveniles
In Trolls World Tour, aside from hairstyle and color, child Rock Trolls seem to be mostly the same as child Pop Trolls, with a majority seen in Trolls World Tour not even having the distinct pointy ear shape of their Tribe; it's likely that their pointy ears develop as they age. Their clothing is also a lot more basic than that of adult Rock Trolls. It's currently unknown what their eggs look like.
Habitat[]
Volcano Rock City arena
They live in a volcanic area that is harsh and tough as they are, called Volcano Rock City. Their leader Barb resides in a fortress.
According to the development direction of the Trolls World Tour film, the Rock Trolls are subterranean, meaning they prefer to live underground in a similar manner to Branch.[1]
In Trolls: TrollsTopia, the Rock Tribe delegates, including Val, Demo and Blaze Powerchord reside in Rock Hollow, which was established in the episode "The Buddy System".
Diet[]
They are seen using packaged goods, like Carol's can of spray cheese and King Thrash's "fiber" carton drink.
In "Bad Hair Day", it was said that their favorite treat is "cupcake à la splode". In "TrollsTopia Part 2", Val was served a "dark, dark, dark chocolate" ice cream.
Tribal Abilities[]
A Rock Troll after jumping into lava, as seen at the near end of Trolls World Tour
- Tribal Traits
The Rock Trolls are shown to have a high tolerance to heat, able to live around lava; one even jumps into a pool of it with no ill effects at the near end of Trolls World Tour. He finds it difficult to get out again as he began to slowly sink, noting "Erm... This is a little hot". However, in Trolls: TrollsTopia episode "Bubbled In", this was not the case.
In addition, in both Trolls World Tour and Trolls: TrollsTopia, Rock Trolls are seen firing "power chords" from their guitars that can damage scenary and infusing them with lightning. Combined with the Strings, Barb was able to play the "Ultimate Power Chord" which allowed her to turn Trolls into Rock zombies dedicated to Rock.
- Intellectual
It's implied by how easily The Snack Pack fooled Sid Fret and another Troll with outfits that were obviously mismatched to the Hard Rock appearance, as well as their lyrics being incorrect for the Tribes' style, that the typical Rock Troll isn't that intelligent. Though Barb herself displays an above average intelligence for the Tribe in the movie, being able to suspect that something was up when the spotlight was on them, she didn't think anything more on the Snack Pack's poor attempt to disguise themselves when Biggie smashed his guitar. Riff's official bio also states he isn't intelligent himself, but is prone to moments of realization and revelation. Barb herself is very realistic on expectations; in Trolls World Tour, she showed herself to be one of the smartest Rock Trolls, but was subject to the wrong conclusions and interpretations of things, such as the differences of the 6 Tribes.
So it seems that while they're not that intelligent in some aspects, the Rock Trolls are capable of understanding things grounded in reality, and experience periods of epiphany, though can be mistaken by what they've understood. This was continued in Trolls: TrollsTopia, wherein Val Thundershock and Demo both have moments where they're ignorant about things, and yet other times display an above-average grasp of what's going on. In "Mini Mini Golf", Val dismisses her own revelations, as she tries to figure out what's going on. This can also get them in trouble when it comes to other things like skills in subterfuge; in "Blaze and the Blazing Blazes", Blaze Powerchord almost blew pretending that Queen Poppy, Minuet Sonata and himself were a band to his former bandmates. But Demo and Val also had issues in "Girls' Night" and "Classical Rock" with the same skillset, so it appears that thanks to their intellectual deficiencies, Rock Trolls aren't great at lying.
Most of their intelligence deficiencies are a result of ignorance, and they simply don't know any better about their behavior; this usually results in them avoiding situations that would pose intellectual challenges to them. Or alternatively, due to their Tribe's habit of being rash, they take the least resistant or edgiest path presented, as shown by Demo in "Palentine's Day" and Val in "Flyer's Ed".
- Other
Due to their music style, members of this Tribe can end up with some severe disabilities as elders. Thrash's wheelchair-bound status was a result of his lifetime of Hard Rocking as King. Between his mental and physical issues, this had been a reason for Barb taking over as Queen, as it rendered him no longer able to rule. Thrash's arthritis is so bad that even making the Rock hand gesture is difficult for him without help. While it's unknown how common this happens among elders, Thrash still represents an extremity of his Tribe and its dedication to their music.
Rock Music requires the Rock Trolls have a talent for knowing when to chime in, maintain a steady beat and it is the only time the otherwise disorganized Rock Trolls can organize themselves as a tribe, bringing order to a disjointed Tribe as seen in "Journey to the Center of TrollsTopia". When they do, they excel at this kind of behavior and talent. Rock Trolls can join into a already-playing song and opt out just as easy, harmonizing with other Trolls playing. They were shown to do this subconsciously, without even realizing or acknowledging they did this until it was pointed out.
Society[]
The Rock hand gesture
Behavior[]
When speaking of the Rock Trolls, King Peppy has trouble describing them in a good light in the trailers. Queen Poppy describes Barb as using her power "for evil". However, the Rock Trolls aren't actually evil, and simply identify as who they are - Rock Trolls. Rock Trolls are the most dedicated Trolls to their genre of music and follow their favorite genre to a zeal. Their reaction to Poppy and the Pop Trolls is based on the past, when the Pop Trolls had been themselves evil; this makes the Tribe guilty of ancestor shaming.[2]
Their leaders used to express a desire to rid the world of other Troll Tribes' music; this forms the plot of Trolls World Tour, as the Rock Trolls seek out the 6 Strings. They're fierce and appear quite frightening compared to other Trolls both in appearance and aggression. Given their rebellious and nonconforming attitude towards all other music genres, they have far less tolerance for other Tribes, and want the world only filled with Rock Trolls and their music. Barb's goal in Trolls World Tour was to make harmony among the 6 Tribes, simply by uniting them all under Rock, so that every Troll would look the same and like the same things. Her fellow Rock Trolls supported her in this endeavor, but after the movie, their leader now see harmony in differences.
In scenes, the Rock Trolls can be seen pushing carts when The Snack Pack are sneaking among their ranks. They appear to be somewhat industrious; many of their buildings are made of metal, in comparison to other Troll Tribes, with some things appearing almost punk-like.
Despite this, they're also some of the laziest Trolls, and are seen just lazing around at times. They barely seem to put much effort into doing anything at all. Val Thundershock says in the Trolls: TrollsTopia episode "Kick-Off Party" that in regards to parties, Rock Trolls go with the "flow", which means "I fake laziness so that others work". In "Classical Rock", Val woke Poppy up by playing loudly so that Poppy would walk to her, saving herself from walking to Poppy.
According to Val in "Smooth Operator", like any Rock Troll she naturally questions things ("rules, convention and especially saxophone-wielding Trolls with a eerie amount of chest hair") when speaking of Chaz the Smooth Jazz Troll. They also care deeply about their image, the best example being Val herself. In "Piney & Lord Prickles", Val was afraid to advertise the loss of Piney, as she was ashamed of having a snuggle toy. In "Hopscotch Extreme", it was shown that Rock Trolls have a habit of playing up anything that appears to have been done in an awesome way, as it suits their image; even if the truth is actually different. The episode, along with "Blaze and the Blazing Blazes", showed they do appreciate open expression of feelings and honesty - they are just very reluctant to do both of these things because of their fear of how they are perceived by others.
They also have a habit of teasing each other about being "soft", a reference to the Soft Rock subgenre, whenever one of them starts to be too emotional or loses their edge. They often say Rock-themed terms and phrases in their everyday speech.
According to "Trollvial Pursuit", Val states that Rock Trolls are on their best behavior when guests are over, however as it was shown when they don't have guests, they are their usual destructive and disruptive selves. Poppy found out this when she stay at Rock Hollow living as one of them. Though they begin each morning with announcements, Rock Trolls can be hard on the announcer any suggestion of forcing someone to do something or doing something they disagree with will see a crowd of booing Trolls. This is very different from Pop Trolls, who were stated in "BFFF" to agree with everything.
Overall, Rock Trolls aren't good at organization. In "Journey to the Center of TrollsTopia", they explained this to Poppy when Val and Demo shrugged off the responsibility of telling the other Rock Trolls about not throwing broken guitars into the lava pit, ending up with Blaze being the one whose shoulders the responsibility landed on - he proceeded to just forget all about it. However, they're super-organized when it comes to music, and can chime in and follow other Rock Trolls, a talent they excel at greatly. Otherwise, they'll just wing-it and hope it all works out (which it usually does).
More than any other Tribe in Trolls: TrollsTopia, Rock Trolls are most likely to say "Rock Trolls..." before explaining a behavior or cultural aspect of theirs, since they have such a contrasting series of habits compared to other Tribes.
Social Structure[]
On the outside, the Rock Tribes social structure is simple like most other Trolls, but in deeper perspective it is not and it is one of the more complicated social structures.
The Rock Trolls have a King or Queen in charge. The Rock Trolls' leader has to be the most "badass" rocker around. A heir will take the position of leadership if the older King becomes unable to lead. However, respect isn't lost for the older monarch. They favor strong leaders over weaker ones. However, the social structure of the Hard Rock Tribe can be a lot harder then it seems at times, as compared to other Tribes, individuals may have trouble speaking out against their leaders as the general population tends to follow whatever direction their leader takes the Tribe in. With the exception of the temper of their current Queen Barb, the majority of the Rock Trolls don't seem to be bothered by her presence throughout the movie, and she is just expected to lead them in music. Barb tells Queen Poppy about the tendency to be told only what she wants to hear and that there's a lot of pressure on her.
Even in TrollsTopia, it is mentioned in the episode "Classical Rock" by Demo that Val Thundershock, who happens to be the local leader for the city's Rock Troll population, gives anyone who's too open a glare. However, Demo and the other Rock Trolls had mistaken her reactions to them as signs of disapproval when in reality she was just struggling to handle mushier subjects.
It's shown in Trolls: TrollsTopia that due to their adoration for Rock concerts, Rock Trolls often form bands with a lead guitarist, a bass guitarist and a drummer, with one member also being a singer. They're highly supported and adored by other Rock Trolls, with some like Bad Hair Day having dedicated or loyal fans who follow them to every gig. Blaze mentions in "Blaze and the Blazing Blazes" that he was part of a band before going solo, and within 12 hours of his departure they had become one of the top bands of their Tribe. He also explains that he himself hadn't found a band to spend his life together with since his departure. He still maintains his solo act at the end of the episode, but it's clear throughout the Trolls: TrollsTopia episodes that top bands carry a lot of social status and rank among the Tribe; by going solo, Blaze had missed out on this himself.
These bands are also accompanied by roadies like Sid Fret or managers like Demo who dedicate their lives to helping their supportive rockers groups. These Trolls actually enjoy the manual labor and more boring stuff compared to the groups they support and are often fans themselves. Roadies like Sid Fret generally make sure a concert runs smoothly, while managers like Demo will make sure all musicians are prepped and ready to Rock.
In both Trolls World Tour and Trolls: TrollsTopia, it's shown that members like Barb, Val Thundershock and Petra value friendship quite dearly but don't rush to form new ones, taking time and small steps to meet them. Many members can be guarded and reserved, unwilling to express unusual parts of themselves, thus it is typical for Rock Trolls to take some time to open up to others and make friends. Others like Demo are not so restrictive, but regardless Rock Trolls come off as the least friendliest of the Tribes and are the hardest to warm up to others, even among their own tribe. They often form deep friendships, but fail to express their feelings to others.
Inter-Tribe Relationships[]
Rock Trolls were originally cautious of other Tribes, and thanks to Queen Barb originally they sought to wipe out the other Tribes and replace their cultures and music with their own. Otherwise, the rules for other Rock Trolls are applied to other Tribes. Some individuals like Val Thundershock or Petra see some of the activities of the other Tribes doing as a threat at times to their Rock Troll image, and they can be more guarded against the influences of the other Tribes. However, this is not universal among the Tribe, as some like Demo are more open than others.
For Trolls of more open and friendlier Tribes, it is difficult to understand a Rock Troll due to how contrasting their cultures and attitudes are, with individual Rock Trolls often coming into cultural conflicts over minor interests, approaches and opinions as seen in "Cheery Glo-mato". Rock Troll culture is not for the faint-hearted in addition and Trolls like Poppy simply cannot handle it as seen in "Trollvial Pursuit". In the Trolls Scrapbook Stories short "Poppy's Rock Queen Transformation", it is noted how the Hard Rock Trolls are very different to the Pop Trolls and what works for that Tribe does not work for them, resulting in the need to cater to their Tribe specifically as their issues and attitudes.
However, Rock Trolls do connect with others at a personal level and most examples in the series show them making connections with non-Rock Trolls over common interests and over actions that had caused another to be wronged with a struggle. A number of the Rock Tribe can be some of the most difficult Trolls for other Tribes to fully befriend, owed to the cultural conflicts that occur; too much of something that doesn't "Rock" at once is just off-putting to them as they simply don't want to do anything that is a conflict of their personal interests. But an action that hits them at a conscious level or invokes empathy often is enough to make them drop their guard, thus friendship with a Rock Troll comes as a result of earned trust, one that is harder for non-Rock Trolls to understand and earn than with other Rock Trolls.
Generally, their loyalty to their friends means Rock Troll will go to great lengths to either look good in front of their friends or show their appreciation and throughout the 2D series its been shown that earning a Rock Trolls friendship means a lot to them. In the Trolls: TrollsTopia episode "Palentine's Day", Demo tried too hard to impress DJ Suki and upset her but managed to fix his issues in the end. In "Be My Val In Time", Val's own valued friendship with Poppy made her regret her earlier behaviors and attitude towards her when she first entered TrollsTopia, to the point she wanted to change history for the better.
Tactics[]
The Rock Trolls' music and aggressive tendency results in them being the most offensive of the Tribes. For the Techno Trolls, a more passive Tribe, the Rock Tribe simply walked over them as putting up no defense is a mistake. Yet even if the other Trolls put up a defense this wasn't certain to work either as due to their aggression, a group of Hard Rockers can easily send the large orchestra of the Classical Trolls away. The Rock Trolls beat the tough Country Trolls despite their physical prowess and the technology-reliant Funk Trolls, although both victories weren't seen onscreen. Nor was the fall of Pop Village, but it nonetheless fell to the Rock Trolls. The only tactic that seemed to have worked against the Rock Trolls was "run and hide", which spared certain members of The Snack Pack, but most Pop Trolls were still taken. Rock Trolls will also employ Bounty Hunters to do their dirty work.
Holidays & Events[]
For a list of Holidays & Events that have occurred on this tribe, see Holidays & Events#Rock Trolls.
Party Games[]
The games of the Hard Rock Trolls are a bit extreme, like for example, the floor is lava, but instead of imaginary lava, the lava is real. They also do not play hopscotch, but instead play hopscotch extreme.
Culture[]
Rock Trolls tend to be limited cultured compared to other Trolls, with their focus on a limited style.
Architecture[]
Rock Troll architecture generally involves use of a lot of dark colors with black being their favorite along with much use of the color red. In Volcano Rock City, lava is channelled everywhere and is also part of Rock Troll design along with the fabrics Denin and leather, while in Trolls Scrapbook Stories, Poppy noted that they like areas which are underground, dark and drippy. Most designs are made to appear dark and edgey, with use of skulls, spikes and their hand gesture - Rock music isn't just in their music but their entire culture. Speakers and amplifiers are also common and can be found placed throughout Rock architecture. In "The Buddy System", Val Thundershock comments that her ideal home would have a bath of boiling hot lava.
Rock Trolls also live underground, though hold their concerts in the open air at times.
Music[]
The Rock Trolls like Rock music, and their lives are centered around Rock concerts. The Rock Trolls' music are characterized by its strong, rebellious, and often defiant personalty that invokes a sense of energy and power for them.
Stylizing themselves at the most authentic of the Trolls in regards to music, they have strong negative opinions on the music of the other Tribes. They don't like music that they deem as boring with no lyrics at all like the Classical Trolls', has meaningless and pointless lyrics like the Pop Trolls' or is just random noises like the Techno Trolls'. They seemed to dislike Pop music the most, evidenced by Barb labelling it as "the worst of all".
In "Classical Rock", Demo's delicate melody on a Classical guitar was noted as an exception, as Rock Trolls music is usually rough and agressive, and thus would fit better an electric guitar.
According to "Trollvial Pursuit", Rock Trolls have 6 major power chords.
Dancing Style[]
Rock Troll music involves a lot of headbanging, moshing, and fist raising, usually in the horns style. It will also involve jumping on the spot, but generally doesn't seem to include a lot of varied movement overall and parts of their bodies can remain stoic at times. Their dances end up with a wild and aggressive movement as a result. According to King Thrash's bio, his disability is caused by a lifetime of Hard Rocking, so the Tribe's music can take its toll later in life.
The Tribe also originated the "mouth guitar" technique. It involves mimicking a guitar with one's mouth as a form of air guitar. Those who are passionate with it like Blaze Powerchord can also smash things as if they were holding a real guitar. The "guitar" can be passed from individual to individual as though real too, and a similar technique known as "mouth drums" also exists; Val hinted that the same technique can also be used for even more instruments than guitars and drums, as she mentions bass guitars, trombones and bagpipes. Such techniques were first shown in the Trolls: TrollsTopia episode "Mouth Guitar". Outside of the Rock Trolls, the technique is a foreign concept to all other Trolls, though Minuet Sonata of the Classical Trolls was able to learn this technique with help from Val, even if learning to be passionate about it was the most difficult thing for her to grasp.
Cultural Criticisms[]
Due to their behaviors and nature, they were described as "Barb and her Barbarians" by Guy Diamond in Trolls World Tour. Rock music was generally seen as a current threat, a title once held towards "Pop music". Delta Dawn didn't think much of Barb's Rock World Tour, while Funk were the only Tribe to take the Rock Trolls seriously and treated it with equal hostility, despite being friendly towards Pop Trolls and giving them time to talk when they previously had been a threat.
Technology[]
The Rock Trolls have access to, and use, electricity powered things such as speakers and guitars.
Use of Fauna[]
They also use fauna such as the Pop Trolls do for things like travel and sending messages as exampled by Barb's pet Debbie. In the Trolls World Tour movie, they use Angler Bus creatures for transport, this is their equivalent of the Caterbus creature Pop Trolls use for transport instead.
Record Keeping[]
It's apparent by their information on other Trolls that they know exactly who everyone is. The means of Rock Troll information retrieval and record keeping is currently unknown. Their reaction to Poppy and the Pop Trolls is based on the past when the Pop Trolls had been themselves evil, with the Rock Trolls remembering them in a bias light. Barb was expecting Queen Poppy to appear more opposing based on how in the past Pop Trolls had been a threat to everyone else as she had worried about them. When the two Queens finally meet, Barb simply belittles and mocks Poppy for not living up to the reputation the Pop Trolls had earned from the past.[2]
Influences[]
The Rock Trolls, as their name suggests, are into Rock music. Originally, Rock was identified alongside "Pop" music and was included alongside it as a result. Over time the two developed into their own genres of music. It originated from the genre "Rock 'n' Roll" becoming popular, and spun off into many subgenres including Hard Rock, Punk Rock and Heavy Metal. Rock itself mostly originates from the United States, but later gained many influences in the United Kingdom as well. The genre itself came out of Blues, RnB and Country music, with influences from Classical music also showing up over time.
The Rock subgenres that the Tribe prefer the most are Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, and they show a lot of influence from American and British Rock culture. The genre of Rock is often considered to have wild, rebellious and often sexual influences from culture. Many Rock subgenres are often regarded as unpopular or outsider interests, since Hard Rock is known for its toughness and often over the top extremities.
King Thrash gets his name from Thrash Metal, while his daughter Queen Barb draws elements from Punk Rock. Barb's habit of sneering when she smiles is also a nod to the infamous "Elvis Sneer" that Elvis Presley became famous for making and many Rock legends also avoided smiling but doing a form of sneering themselves.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, screenwriter Jonathan Aibel confirmed the Rock Trolls were highly influenced by the screenwriters growing up in the 1980s, when Hard Rock was at its peak. The writers didn't purposely make the Rock Trolls evil, nor were they written to be evil. The writers felt they had grown up in the Rock Trolls' world, and noted how a fan wearing a Judas Priest shirt described this is as who that person dedicated themselves to. So this was the basis of the Rock Trolls.[2]
Cronkhite Shaindlin noted that when researching Hard Rock, the two most common colors that kept turning up were red and black, accompained by a strong association with the occult. Branch's bunker had been a huge inspiration for the Rock Trolls, and it was even pondered if he had originally been one of them without him knowing it. The volcano aspect of their home is a link to the illuminati due to the triangular shape of volcanoes, as well as other links back to how the occult influenced Hard Rock.[1]
As a note, one of the more common critical claims to Trolls World Tour and its display of the Rock Trolls is that the Tribe displays a larger influence from Heavy Metal rather than to Hard Rock. Hard Rock itself originally began identification in the 1960s and 70s. The conception of "Heavy Metal" came later in light of bands such as Black Sabbath in the 1980s, with the primary characteristic being a band with 2 electric guitarists, a bassist, a drummer and a singer; in later decades, a keyboardist was also included as well. This distinction meant a lot of older Hard Rock bands were later also re-identified as "Heavy Metal" in addition to Hard Rock, thus Rock Bands of the past decade were also included in the identification. Much of the time, Heavy Metal itself is still considered a variant of Hard Rock, and remains labeled as a Rock subgenre, but remains one of the most popular niché subgenres within the Rock genre nowadays. It also took a number of years for some years for the term "Heavy Metal" to see greater usage, and in the meantime the established "Hard Rock" category was used. The Hard Rock Trolls were based on the 1980s portrayal of Hard Rock, when this overlapping period was still occurring. In addition, in earlier iterations of the storyline, the "Hard Rock Trolls" were just identified as "Rock Trolls", and there was a broader coverage of the Rock genre within their tribe.
Currently, while they're usually called "Rock Trolls", they're fully known as "Hard Rock Trolls". In an earlier version of "Crazy Train", Barb calls herself "The Queen of Rock and Roll Trolls". In Trolls: TrollsTopia, the tribe varies between identifying themselves as "Hard Rock Trolls" and "Rock Trolls", but mostly refers to themselves with the former term.
Another note is that Rock music was one of the more commonly referenced music genres in Troll design with both Dam Things and Russ having made dolls based upon rock designs, especially punk. In addition a glam/punk rock design lead to the Stone Protectors being able to pull off the Troll-like design the counterfeit Troll Dolls were going for and a doll was also found based on punk rock among the The Original Battle Trolls. Several Trash Can Trolls cards also referenced both Rock'n'Roll and the punk/hard rock genre. This makes the music genre one of the most popular references in Troll Doll history and has been referenced one way or another since the 1980s.
Character Concept[]
Concept Art[]
Known Members[]
The following is a list of known members of this Troll Tribe, divided by the media where they first appeared in.
Movies[]
Trolls: TrollsTopia[]
- Billy Reverb (voiced by Jake Green) - the lead guitarist of the band "Bad Hair Day". The only named member of the band, his name was mentioned in the ending credits of "the episode of the same band name".
- Romper (voiced by Raul Ceballos) and Rose (voiced by Kat Palardy) - appeared in "Blaze and the Blazing Blazes", they're a duo of performers who used to be part of Blaze's old band "Blaze and the Other Guys" before he went solo due to a disagreement on the band's name. By the end of the episode, he told them how he feels on their success, and they parted on good terms.
- George Thrashington - founder of Volcano Rock City, mentioned in "Trollvial Pursuit".
- Alexander Slam-ilton - mentioned in "Trollvial Pursuit". While it is known he didn't found Volcano Rock City, the question he actually was meant to be correct for never is spoken, therefore while the Troll is a known figure, the series does not say what he did historically.
- Jill - a Rock Troll mentioned in "Trollvial Pursuit" whose name was called out when a Troll bar tender had their drink ready. Jill never got to drink that drink as another Troll grabbed it first.
One note is that the Trolls from Trolls: TrollsTopia tend to have both a first and last name. This has been common with Trolls of the past 2D animations. The Tribe's naming scheme has a tendency to lean towards terms that have an electric-themed nature or generally sound destructive or powerful, though there are exceptions to this rule. They also use a lot of "real world" names such as "Barbara", "George" and "Billy", a contrast to the Pop Trolls who often take their names from nature and things related to them.
Books[]
Transformations[]
Some non-Rock Trolls were temporarily converted into "Rock zombies" and gained a Rock Troll design.
Trivia[]
The Snack Pack trying to be Hard Rockers
- At one point in Trolls World Tour, The Snack Pack try to pose as Rock Trolls to infiltrate them. Their designs are references to the Rock 'n' Roll era, which was when Rock split from Pop. Rock 'n' Roll was the foundation of Rock itself.
- Biggie & Mr. Dinkles' designs are based on Elvis Presley, whose genre of Rock was Rock 'n' Roll. In Biggie's case, it specifically references the infamous outfit Elvis wore for the Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite concert.
- Biggie's outfit also has a resemblance to the one worn by the Trash Can Trolls card "Performin' Norman" (card no.16a), also known as "Bob Slob" (card no.16b). Both Trolls have large stomachs as well. Note: The "Trash Can Trolls" were a series loosely based on Garbage Pail Kids. Be careful when looking up for these cards, as they contain gross-out humor, including puking and body mutilation.
- Satin & Chenille's outfits are based on the ones worn by the cheerleaders from the film Grease.
- Legsly's outfit is based on those of the dancers in the film Jailhouse Rock.
- Smidge is wearing sunglasses based on the ones worn by the character Jan, also from Grease.
- Guy Diamond's glasses are most likely based on Buddy Holly.
- Tiny Diamond is dressed as a T-bird/"Greaser".
- The white lollipop sticks that Smidge and Legsly hold in their mouths are stand-ins for cigarettes, which were popular in the Rock 'n' Roll era.
- There's evidence from the Trolls World Tour Look and Find book and the Hasbro Tiny Dancers that their outfits were originally meant to be proper Hard Rock outfits, but were later switched to Rock 'n' Roll ones.
- Biggie & Mr. Dinkles' designs are based on Elvis Presley, whose genre of Rock was Rock 'n' Roll. In Biggie's case, it specifically references the infamous outfit Elvis wore for the Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite concert.
- The Rock hand gesture seen throughout Trolls World Tour is "the sign of the horns", and was the most common symbol shown in regards to the movie. It was used by the Rock Trolls in a zealous manner, as well as Clampers and Branch when turned into Rock Zombies, Poppy when she's first "converted", and various merchandise and promos. Like the Pop Trolls' gesture, it can actually be seen as offensive in many countries, due to it being seen as linked to the Devil with the two fingers sticking out like devil horns.
- Though the Rock Trolls are seen quoting "Rock 'n' Roll", and the genre owes its existence much to that one causing a separation in Rock and Pop, there's usually considered a separation between what is Rock 'n' Roll and what is general Rock music.
- Trolls World Tour and the Trolls: TrollsTopia episodes "Classical Rock", "Mouth Guitar" and "Clash of the Battle Piñatas" all feature either the Classical Style converted into Rock music or Rock music transferred into a Classical style. This is most likely a note to the two genres, which are the most reliant ones on music theory. While other genres still comply with these theories, both genres are the most compliant with them, and what works in one of them tends to work in the other one. This is because they're reliant on a format of traditional band styles such as having a string section, percussion and vocalist, and thus don't work without some order to them. Classical Music has also directly inspired many Rock music works in real life.
- Common colors used for the Rock Trolls' palette include black, red and purple, which are normally considered in modern media to be "dark" or "edgy" colors (particularly black and red). These colors are often seen as representations of "evil", "darkness", "outsiders" and the "occult".
References[]
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- †: retired lore
| Rock Trolls | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaders: | ||||
| King Thrash (former) • Queen Barb (current) | ||||
| Other Known Members: | ||||
Val Thundershock • Demo • Blaze Powerchord • Petra • Bad Hair Day (Billy Reverb) • Romper • Rose • George Thrashington • Alexander Slam-ilton • Jill
| ||||
| Misc. Related Articles: | ||||
| Rock String • Volcano Rock City • Rock Hollow | ||||