"Manager Poppy" is the first segment of the 5th episode of the first season in the Trolls: TrollsTopia series, and the 8th overall episode in the series. It premiered on November 19, 2020.
Synopsis[]
When Val's manager must step down just before her first all-Tribe concert, Poppy must learn the ways of the Hard Rock Tribe to make sure Val's ready for the show.
Plot[]
It is eight hours until Val Thundershock's concert that night and already she is drawing a crowd which impresses Poppy. Branch says that according to word of mouth Val's concerts are a thrill to watch and she opens by dropping from the sky. Smidge adds she heard Val smashes a guitar and DJ Suki claims the pieces of the guitar transform and carry you off to a city in the sky. DJ realizes she dreamed that part.
Poppy goes to visit Val to show her support. Val is upset as Demo, her manager, had an accident after sharpening his hair and getting stuck in a branch after leaping. He freed himself and rolled down a hill. Demo appears beaten up after going through a number of items on his roll. He is not okay as various things are stick to him and he can't manage for Val. Val doesn't want to cancel and thinks she can manage for one night without Demo. When he starts listing all the jobs he does for her she looses interest and says they may have to cancel. Poppy offers to be her manager for the night instead. Demo has doubts because Val is a handful and more then a Pop Troll usually would expect to handle. But no sooner has she spoken Poppy has already lost sight of Val.
Poppy finds Val at Striped Smiley's candy bar, a Troll who specializes in taffy sculptures. Poppy catches up with Val and lists the responsibilities she has to do to get Val ready, but Val states she doesn't get ready for a concert like that. Val tosses Poppy a crumbled up piece of paper with the things Val does to get ready on. It includes bungie jumping, volcano spalunking, artic sling-shotting, and sticking her head in a predator's mouth; it's a list of reckless antics. Val tells her that she does this to keep her edge. When Poppy looks up from her list to disagree, Val has run off and she's talking to a taffy sculpture of her instead.
This begins a montage of Poppy looking and being unable to find Val. Poppy finally catches up to Val while she is joy riding the Funk Vibe Town spaceship. She demands to know where Val's been and Val replies; finding her edge, they've been over this. There's one hour left until her concert. Poppy introduces a vehicle called the Dune Huggy to Val, which the pair ride in. This also helps Val complete one of her listed tasks: joyriding. When she ejects Poppy out of it, Poppy has had enough of Val.
Val still has three more tasks on her lists when Poppy demands she goes to the venue, one of which is stunt Flyer Bug flying. She spots a Flyer Bug and jumps on, only to get stuck. It turns out the bug was a taffy sculpture. Val hasn't finished her list, but Poppy is dragging her to the concert.
At the concert, Poppy has everything ready, and Demo has managed to get free of his hair. Poppy brags about getting Val ready and the show begins. Val goes to smash a guitar as normal but can't manage it. It turns out Val was doing preparation work after all and now doesn't have the edge to begin her concert. The crowd is chanting for Val and she is about to cancel.
Poppy interferes and uses a real Flyer Bug this time to grab Val. She begins to take care of the list, beginning with stunt flying and sticking her head in a predator's mouth. Poppy adds "Storm Chasing" to the list to give Val an extra edge. Back at the concert, Val smashes a guitar with explosive results. Turns out her pieces of guitar do turn into birds as DJ is carried away. She grabs a new guitar with her hair and begins to play. When Demo goes to ask Poppy if she would like to do it again, Poppy says "not a chance".
Cast[]
- Amanda Leighton as Queen Poppy
- Skylar Astin as Branch
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Smidge
- Fryda Wolff as DJ Suki
- Matt Lowe as Striped Smiley
- Kari Wahlgren as Mags Gumdrop (non-speaking)
- Eric Lopez as Gust Tumbleweed (non-speaking)
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- The baby bird in Demo's hair is a recolor of one of the chicks that Branch found in "Bringing Up Birdy".
- While looking for Val, Mags Gumdrop and Smidge can be seen in one scene. Smidge is in the Southern belle she wore several times in Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, starting from the episode "Crushin' It".
- While swimming in the lagoon and asking the Techno Trolls for their help in finding Val, Poppy wears her swimsuit first seen in "Laugh Out Cloud"; she wore this suit several times throughout Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, and would be later seen again in "Surprising Gust".
- The episode marks the introduction of the Dune Huggy.