Welcome to BATTLE TROLLS MONTH!!

Ah Battle Trolls...I remember this line well. It was 1992, I was 12 years old and still enjoyed buying and playing with toys. Between my sister and I the Troll Doll fad (specifically the ones made by RUSS) had gripped us tightly and we really seemed to enjoy collecting them. We had Trolls for Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Knight Trolls, Scuba Diver trolls, baby trolls: the works. We by no means had HUNDREDS of Trolls, maybe 10-to-15 between the two of us, but as my sister was 7 and a girl (naturally) I really couldn't go out on our block and play with troll dolls and the other kids. You couldn't do much with them anyway, except comb their hair and change their clothes which can get boring very quickly. This is all we had though so I enjoyed them but knew there were no trolls aimed at older boy kids to play with.

Enter: Hasbro.

The main big 'lie' about this artwork? That the toys can actually aim their weapons in a useful way.

Now, at this point in our childhood my mom had gotten a part time job so once the summer rolled around we'd be home by ourselves for a good portion of the daytime. When it was too hot to go outside, we'd watch TV and I distinctly remember seeing the Battle Trolls commercial and being blown away by it. These were trolls just for boys, and they looked REALLY cool. I don't recall when I bought my first, but I remember going to Kay-Bee Toys in the mall and buying them there as well as the nearby Toys 'R' Us were they were less expensive. Back then, Kay-Bee always seemed to charge $2.00 more then TRU did. For example, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures at TRU- $3.99, KB- $5.99. But when KB toys discounted stuff, it was toy buying bliss (I was a particular fan of their 3-For-$10 or 3-For-$5 stickered items) and I cleaned up there on many a toy line over the years.

*sigh* I miss Kay-Bee Toys...

Out of the 24 different Battle Trolls made between 1992-and-1993 and spread out over 3 different Series, I owned a mere seven of them (8 if you count the Trollasaurus battle mount as a Battle Troll), which compared to other lines I collected at the time was not very much. These were moderately articulated much like the standard action figures of the day (which had at least 5 points of articulation) but here they only turned at the waist. So they were less articulated then a TMNT figure, but more articulated then the standard Troll dolls...so I guess it was a good thing? Personally I'd have been happier with arm articulation as the majority of the ones I owned had their arms permanently posed in such a way that it made aiming or using their accessories impossible. What's the point of making action figure trolls that are VERY limited on the 'action'?? I think my childhood brain knew this and I never really sought out any more Battle Trolls once I had my small collection.

I do have a few memories playing with them, one time with my sister and cousin at my Grandparent's house (as there was very little to do there anyway), in my yard, in my room and anywhere I could lug them around. As they are pretty chunky figures coming it at about 4 & 3/4" tall (not including their hair) it was not easy to carry them around like a TMNT or GI Joe figure was. I remember using the boxes for both the Trollasaurus & the Capture Net accessories as storage for my Battle Trolls collection and the last ones I have are still packed into that old box to this day.

Last survivors of the great Troll Wars of 1994...so many cut down in their prime..

The line did well enough as there was enough interest to keep it going for a few assortments until the line died and hit the clearance bins. I remember walking into Toys 'R' Us a good 2-to-3 years after Battle Trolls went belly-up and found Sgt. Troll and The Trollminator for their 'New Lower Price' of $0.98. As I did not own these two, I could not pass them up for such a low price especially as this was one of the very few times were Toys 'R' Us actually had something on clearance that was cheaper then KB. Series 3 was less common by that time as I presume Hasbro looked at the numbers and stopped pumping money into the line. KB was the only store I found that carried Series 3 and I can remember walking in there with my mom and picking Wolfman Troll out of all the other eight Series 3 guys they had (he was in a close tie with Jack CousTroll, but I guess a wolfman beats a scuba diver to a 12 year old).

Now even as a collector I never owned the entire line, as due to the passage of time and through numerous 'Toy Purges' I whittled away at my moderate Battle Trolls collection until three or so remain. I have added 2 new ones I never owned as a child too my collection and I will be reviewing them along with the other remaining toys throughout the month of August. Be sure to come back here every Wednesday to see pictures and read my reviews and check out the Youtube channel to see video of the toys 'in action'.

Battle Trolls....they're outta conTROLL!!!!