This article is part of a series where I search for media from my childhood. In this part, I’ll be finding Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors.
When I was but a wee toddler, my bedroom wallpaper had Good Luck Trolls all over it. I also enjoyed the toys themselves, and I still have my Good Luck Troll plush from way back then. You can probably imagine my excitement in 2012 when DreamWorks announced the project, “Trolls“. However, by the time the first look at the main trolls—Poppy and Branch—popped around, I was devastated. They don’t look like or have the same vibe as my beloved trolls. Where is the grit? Why are they all good? And what the heck is a Bergen?
You see, before the DreamWorks Trolls movies, we had Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors. Let’s explore this 30-minute movie from 1992 that helped shape my childhood. I’m not sure where it came from, and I’m not sure where it went, but I had it on VHS.
This movie is an absolute staple in my life. I talk about it at any chance I get. So here I am wondering, where is this movie? Can I watch it now? Will I be able to show my own child this absolute masterpiece?
Who Made the Movie?
Created by the French animation studio, Créativité et Développement (or C&D, founded in 1987 by Jean Chalopin) Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors was originally released in French. Later dubbed by the Canadian dubbing company, BLT Productions, the movie got a VHS release. The man behind the dub was none other than Canadian voice actor, director, and casting director, Michael Donovan. Donovan also directed the voice work on Dragon Ball and Help! I’m a Fish!, in addition to lending his voice to Carnage in Spider-Man Unlimited and Sabretooth in X-Men: Evolution.
This movie comes from Israeli producer Avi Arad, who you will know for his production work on X-Men ’97, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse, and, honestly, quite a lot of Marvel movies. Not only did Arad produce this movie, but we also got writing skills from French writer-producer Jean Chalopin, known for his work on Inspector Gadget and The New Adventures of He-Man.
We also have voice actors like Ian Corlett and Scott McNeil—both of Dragon Ball Z, 1996 fame—starring in the movie. I asked our resident Dragon Ball fan if he could point out which characters in Magic Trolls were played by each actor, but unfortunately, he’s not 100% sure. He thinks Scott McNeil is Odvar, who, by the way, you can get a figure of on eBay if you really want to.
Why Was Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors Made?
This movie was made to promote the Magic Troll and the Troll Warriors toy lines from Applause, Inc. While not affiliated with the original line by Dam Things in any way, shape, or form, the trolls in these lines bear a striking resemblance to the Good Luck Trolls.
These toy lines were created to appeal to both young boys and young girls. As was the way in the 90s, the cute, little magical trolls were to appeal to girls, and the gritty, tough warriors were for the boys. Not to be a conformist or anything, but I think I’d much prefer the Magic Trolls. Actually, looking up the figures, I think I might’ve had a Magic Troll doll… Where is it?
Though these dolls were counterfeit, at the time of their creation, Dam Things was having an issue holding the Trolls copyright. It’s clear that Applause, Inc. made use of these issues and jumped at the chance to make some money by creating their own Troll doll lines. Unfortunately, Applause, Inc. became bankrupt in 2004. This is a shame as the most iconic characters were created in plushie form by this company; from Bear, Tutter, and Otto from Bear in the Big Blue House, to Marvin the Martian from Looney Tunes.
Even though there isn’t much information about the movie, it has been said that it was a pilot episode that would have led to an animated series. Let me just cry over the fact that we never got a whole series. Hell, we didn’t even get a second episode. Who is the man who denied us this? I’d like to write a complaint.
Finding the Movie in 2025
The movie is available to watch on YouTube or on The Internet Archive.
To my surprise, it’s quite easy to find Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors on the internet. Now, if you had asked me in 2021, it would have been quite the opposite. I know this because I tried finding it back then. It was only available on YouTube in one of those weird playlists that had a movie split into two-minute segments. Luckily, since then, Riley introduced me to the Internet Archive, albeit in a passing conversation.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I knew the Wayback Machine was a thing for a while. However, it never really had much I was looking for, so it just dropped out of existence in my mind. And you must be thinking, ‘If it’s available so easily, how didn’t you find it?’ Well, my friend, Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors was added to the archive on June 4th, 2024. Yes, a whole year ago*. And the YouTube version? Also, a year ago. So whilst this makes my search super easy this time around, it wasn’t always so simple.
If we take a look below at the bar graph showing Wayback Machine growth on Wikipedia, we can see that since 2021, the number of archived pages has significantly increased. I’m hoping this will help me find and share the media I’ll be searching for in this series much more easily. But alas, as with most things in life, only time will tell.
The Story of Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors
The Setting
Magic Trolls and The Troll Warriors follows the story of the captive princess, Princess Celia. King Nolaf, the captor, is a troll who hates happiness. By capturing Celia’s father and holding him captive in the Granite Mountain, he has dispelled Celia’s happiness. Alongside this, all of the happy trolls have been captured by him and his troll warriors, thus turning them into slaves, forced to dig for gold within the mines.
One of these slaves, Sven, is enamoured by Princess Celia and her singing, even though it is filled with sadness. Sven makes it his mission to climb up to her tower in order to convince her to sing happy songs and reignite her faith that there are still happy trolls in the world. Unfortunately, Sven gets caught doing this and is sent to the Weeping Willows. Here, he gets tied to the willow tree when King Nolaf and all of the surrounding trolls hear Celia’s happy singing in the distance. Not only do the trolls hear this, but a magical bird, Siegfried, also with the iconic troll hair, hears her singing.
The Turning Point
We find out that Siegfried was a minister to Princess Celia’s father. He was in charge of the door that connected Celia’s world and the Magic Troll’s village. Siegfried explains that when King Nolaf and his warriors invaded and made the trolls sad, the magic trolls were in danger of vanishing, as they needed happiness and laughter in order to survive. Luckily, Siegfried put five of the magic trolls in golden eggs to keep them safe. 15 years later, this is when Siegfried hears Celia’s happy singing.
This is when Celia learns that she needs to sing a happy song to hatch the golden eggs, rereleasing the magic trolls. This is also when Nolaf informs Celia of Sven’s capture, causing her unhappiness to uh… Well, she nearly murders the magic trolls. We get to see some of the magic trolls’ abilities here, where they open the door to the magic village. This is a cute place with a lot of flora, mushrooms, and even baby magic trolls being born. Good timing, guys!
The Ending
The rest of the movie is about the planning and execution of Sven’s retrieval from the Weeping Willows. The magic trolls make a disguise for Celia since she can’t be seen outside her cell. If she is, Nolaf will send her father to the Weeping Willows. The troll warriors find out about the rescue mission and plan a counterattack. Siegfried almost ruins the mission by sleeping in. But ultimately, they succeed in saving Sven and destroying the Weeping Willow. All whilst there is one hell of a musical mashup in the background. I say background, but honestly, the sound mixing in this movie is a bit of a mess.
By escaping to the magic village, Celia, Sven, and the magic trolls are safe. Celia exposes her identity to Sven, but has to return to her cell. She exclaims that Sven will have her heart always, and that she’ll never be sad again. Here is when we get a magic troll, Zinc, telling the couple that they needn’t worry, they’ll see each other again. Siegfried, being a narrator, confirms that they would see each other again, for there were many trolls to make happy, many smiles to create, and many trips to the magic village ahead.
The Influence Magic Trolls and the Troll Warriors Had On Me
As you’ll come to see in many of the entries in this series, Magic Trolls and The Troll Warriors absolutely contributed to my creativity. My favourite characters are Zinc and Loki**, the magic trolls who create paint from flowers and use that paint to open a portal to the magic village. With the other magic trolls who specialise in things such as sewing and clothes designing, I can see how this influenced my love of fashion and tailoring.
In the latter half of the movie, we see Princess Celia in a Sailor Moon-esque costume. This was almost definitely one of my first impressions of a magical girl. I. Love. Magical girls. If you made me choose between anything with frills, stars, and moons or items that don’t give off that magical energy, it’s a guarantee that the former is coming home with me.
I also really love mushrooms and all things magical-foresty. I have no doubt in my mind that this movie contributed to my love of the aesthetic, especially when we look at the magic village. Not to mention the song the princess sings to hatch the eggs is still constantly in my brain. I search it up often to show confused listeners what I’m actually humming.
It is quite sad that we never got the series that Applause, Inc. was hoping for. Honestly, the fact that this is kind of a lost movie is making me want to reach out to anyone who has this movie in their filmography to find out more about it.
Where Does This Leave Us?
As this is the first piece in this series, you can anticipate me looking at more media that made an impact on myself as a person. I’m not sure how often I’ll get a piece out or how long it will take me to write up each article, but you can follow along here.
If you’re curious, be sure to join our Discord or bookmark our website to follow along.
You can also leave your childhood media in the comments below. You never know, maybe you’ll help me find something old but new that I’ll fall in love with!
*I’m actually writing this bit on June 3rd, heehee 🤭
**If these names are incorrect, I apologise. I struggle with auditory processing, and I couldn’t find an official list of characters anywhere.
Dividers provided by @thecutestgrotto on Tumblr.
Melltith, or Melty, enjoys cosier or slower paced games and likes to take her time with things.
She's a very crafty person who will throw her all into a multitude of new projects and skills.