When I was 12 years old back in 1992, there were 4 local stores were I got my toys; Toys'R'Us, Kay-Bee Toys, Caldor (
a local department store chain) and Fun Stuff Toys. Fun Stuff was a little mom & pop organization and most of my Battle Trolls card backs have their stickers on them. They closed the location near my house in the mid to late 1990's, but a good deal of my toy purchases went to them. When they didn't have anything I wanted or could afford, Kay-Bee Toys located in a nearby mall was the best way for me to get toys on the cheap. I grabbed this mammoth 2-pack for $7.99 (
on clearance from $14.99) and have held onto it ever since even doubling the box as a Battle Troll Carry Case. I was a little...confused when I opened him up and his colors did not at all match the ones plastered all over the box, but more on that later.
It was a cool addition to my Battle Troll collection and I know you all want to see more so let's dive right in and check this tag-team out!
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| Dinosaur & Viking: Together as nature intended. |
Contents! What do you get??
Not as much as you'd think for a MSRP of $12.99-$14.99. Weapon\Accessory-wise you really only get the Log Bazooka and a yellow axe for SvenTroll to wield. That's it. I mean, the box is says this is the Trollasaurus so I guess
technically SvenTroll is an accessory for him, not the other way around. What's even funnier then that? NONE of the two accessories that come in this box were newly created for this set. The Log Bazooka is from the Kenner
Snap-Up Swamp Thing figure and SvenTroll's yellow axe originally came with the villain
Joat from Hasbro's
The Pirates of Dark Water toy line. Wow. So, you paid $13.00 back in 1992 and Hasbro did not even toss in a new accessory or two....NC for Not Cool Hasbro...
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| Somebody call Swamp Thing, make sure he knows his Log Bazooka is missing. |
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The only reason nobody noticed this was
re-used from the 'Pirates of Dark Water'
toy line is because nobody bought those toys. |
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| SvenTroll: "I am not an accessory! I am a human being!" |
So, to review: $12.99 in 1992 money got you a big Troll dinosaur and a re-paint of another figure. What's that you say? He's a repaint!? We'll get to that below...
Okay cool, tell us about 'em!
This pack was the most phoned-in cost-saving set in the entire line (
actually, no, the Capture Net with Bulls-Eye Troll was, but I'm not getting into that here...): SvenTroll is a re-paint of Series 1 Trolaf and...wait...no...they didn't: Trolaf came with THE EXACT SAME ACCESSORIES. Same axe, same Log Bazooka both in the same colors.
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| Brothers separated at birth... |
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....or just paint variants of the same character?
YOU DECIDE! |
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| SvenTroll (Angled Front View) |
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| SvenTroll (Rear View- Literally!) |
SvenTrollaf here is actually very nicely sculpted and I think I like this color of the mold more then the Trollaf version. The lighter colors to the armor, the white beard, the fairer skin (
hrrmmm...red hair, fair skin, blue eyes...nope, not trying to be norse at all), the orange hair...it all really allows you to see so much more of the sculpted details. Troll has so many darker hues it really hides a lot, which is a shame as SvenTroll's armor is incredible. All that being said, essentially you were paying for a new Trollasaurus toy whose colors drastically don't match what's on the box AND for essentially a color-variant of the single-carded Trolaf figure.
Like I said, SvenTroll is not a bad figure, but like most Series 1 Battle Trolls, they kinda get out-shinned by their Series 2 & 3 companions. The sculpting on him really is excellent and not really playing up the
goofy aspect that the line leans towards more in the next two assortments. This looks like a troll viking warrior AND he has arms posed in such a way to affectively wield weapons and can aim them far better then any of the other trolls we discussed this month.
Now...in Hasbro's defense, this must have been their way of bringing Series 1 into production affordably. Once the line was a success, they had more money and then on Series 2 & 3 they pulled out all the stops on accessories and sculpting. Clearly, in this set, all the attention went to the Trollasaurus. And it's a great toy.
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| I'm not sure if purple was the best color for a troll dinosaur... |
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That is quite the sizable chunk taken out of Trollasaurs' spinal
column to put in that saddle. What on earth did
SvenTroll do to him... |
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| Baby got back! |
Trollasaurus on the other hand is a great battle mount\new character for your Battle Troll legions. The detailing on the saddle, the scales, the thick imposing legs...he is a beast. His spiked tail is kinda stumpy, but I think getting hit by those gigantic spikes would still ruin your day. I'm not sure which color way of this I would have preferred, but I think the Purple Skin\yellow hair combination was not the best color to pair them with. Maybe a Green skin would have looked good with the hair, or red hair; yellow is just too much of a stark contrast and really pushes this into the obnoxious 90's colors sector...which if that's your bag- great! I don't hate these colors, but had I been given another option, I'd have gone with option 2.
I tried posing Quick Draw Troll on him to see if the added height would make his weapons-aiming-at-the-ground problem go away.
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| It sorta works....but not so much. |
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Quick Draw: "Ride like the wind Bullseye!"
Trollasaurus: "......." |
It didn't. *sigh*. He looked ok riding Trollasaurus, but the thing was really always designed for SvenTroll (
or Trollaf as they are the same sculpt) and works best with him. I had fun as a kid having this duo stomp my other toys, so it's totally good for that. Quick Draw Troll's weapon did work well with SvenTroll though...
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SvenTroll: "I'm here to kick-ass and chew bubblegum
....and I'm all out of bubble gum." |
Should I try to get this brand new?:
Sure if you can find it for a price you like & want the hair in pristine condition. As long as all the accessories are intact...well, you could get these both loose and always give them the Log Bazooka from Snap-Up Swamp Thing and the axe from Joat, but be aware the two bazookas are different and it won't attach to Trollasaurus unless it's the Battle Trolls one.
So what do you really think about it?:
Despite being
heavily re-painted and borrowing parts from all over their company and sister company Kenner, Hasbro did make a fun addition to Battle Trolls with this two pack. Was it worth the original $14.99 price tag? Not so much, but as a single carded Battle Troll retailed between $5.99-and-$7.99 buying these two things separately would cost you a little more.
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