‘GOOD LUCK’ TROLLS

Bright hair, fancy dress and a happy go lucky attitude; no we’re not talking about Katy Perry’s latest video, but the wild and wonderful world of ‘Good luck’ Trolls.

With their constant smiling faces and bright eyes filled with wisdom, they pretty much dragged Barbie down in the dirt and kicked Ken’s ass in terms of coolness; or perhaps that was just in my eyes.

Even though these adorable dolls originate back in 1959 (the handiwork of a Danish fisherman, too poor to buy his daughter a gift, instead carving for her a little troll from wood), and became a phenomenon in the 60s, they enjoyed a huge resurgence in popularity in the 90s, and most of today’s fans first discovered them in this era.

In the 90s Trolls pretty much tapped in to every market available, and you name it I probably had it. Duvet covers, pencil toppers, over-sized trolls (we’re talking the size of a small child), t-shirts and although it pains me to admit it now; troll wallpaper. I remember saving up my pocket money each week, venturing into town and spending at least 30 minutes choosing the perfect troll for my collection; seriously I would put Dermot O’Leary to shame with how long I dragged the elimination process out.

Trolls all looked the same naked (not that I had a fetish for undressing them…), but pop a cute little fancy dress outfit on them and they were Gok’d up to perfection. My favourite was the spaceman, as he had a proper little foil suit (complete with American flag) and an adorable helmet which just about covered his wild mane. I even remember on my 22^nd birthday my then boyfriend bought me a leprechaun troll; complete with detachable pot of gold, which probably cost him about 3 times more than I could ever of afforded back in my pigtails and hair mascara days.
Even my Mum knew how much I adored these little goblin-esque creatures, when she took them away from me for two days after a fight with my older brother; in all fairness he should of known that parting their bright tresses would result in my retaliation.

Trolls were more of a girl’s toy, but none of my friends saw the appeal, they were too busy getting Barbie to buddy up with Sindy and grab the attention of ‘shaving fun’ Ken. But the makers did attempt to grab boys attention by making a line of lame ass ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Trolls’, but these were received about as well as Jamiroquai on the X Factor: BOMBED, as did the  short-lived cartoon series, Trollz.
Trolls were meant to bring you good luck if you rubbed their hair, something which I believe actually happened to me as I found a £20 note on the floor soon after and won £1 on a scratch card, and I think it was the magical appeal which many people; including myself, fell in love with. They have even recently been included in the Toy Story franchise, something which I spotted and squealed about.

There were also reports last year that Dreamworks are currently working on bringing the trolls to the big screen, in their own animated film. *doing silly little happy dance*

I sometimes pop into charity shops on the off chance they’ll have a lonely Troll looking for a loving home. Who knows, maybe I’ll be reunited with my spaceman troll and be left feeling out of this world by these magical toys once again.

By Kelly Holgate