Last week, I took you inside DreamWorks Animation for a sneak-preview of DreamWorks’ Trolls: The Beat Goes On! Now that the first season of the series (and yes, there will be a second – I can confirm that) has been released for streaming on Netflix, it’s time to delve even deeper into the world of the Trolls, and that means going off-screen to look at the latest toys from my friends at Hasbro, who are bringing Troll Village to life with a whole new collection. DreamWorks and Hasbro recently sent us an assortment for review here in The Toy Testing Facility at Rock Father HQ, but before we get going on that, lets first take a look at the new Trolls: The Beat Goes On! Season 1 Featurette, in which Skylar Astin (voice of Branch) and Amanda Leighton (voice of Poppy) throw down some details about their new adventures…
The centerpiece of the Hasbro Trolls collection is the new DreamWorks Trolls POD’ular Troll Tree playset. I actually stashed one of these that I received during my recent studio visit, then wrapped it and gave it to our girls for Christmas. Quite simply, they love it. The Trolls obsession is a relatively new thing here, and this played right into that. It’s colorful, a decent, yet not overwhelming size (around 16″ tall) and comes with fun features like a zip-line and interchangeable Pod placement. Pods are essentially the rooms or houses that the Trolls live in.
The Bunker Critter Pod is my personal favorite, and that’s because this is Branch’s hangout. It can stand on its own or be placed as part of the POD’ular Troll Tree, features a glow-in-the-dark backdrop, a fun “rising” platform and includes a figure of Branch with a removable backpack and skitterboard (a skateboard made from a critter).
For even more expansion of Troll Village, the Camp Critter Pod is a fun add-on. If you already have the Troll Tree, you can actually hook your zip-line to this campsite-themed set to add even more space to your layout. Complete with a Poppy figure and removable guitar, it also comes with a variety of colorful critters, a hammock and more.
If bigger-scale dolls are your thing, the new Poppy and Troll Baby set features a 9-inch scale Poppy with styleable hair, a Mr. Dinkles-shaped comb and a tiny little Troll baby that can catch a ride in Poppy’s hair!
Finally, the Trolls Surprise Blind Bags are something we’ve been into for a bit – the perfect entry into the Trolls world. In fact, our youngest asked Santa for some Trolls blind bags, and he delivered, dropping a few in her stocking for Christmas morning. I believe that Hasbro is up to Series 7 on these already, and there’s a lot of characters to collect.
These tap right into the current micro-collectible trend and make for a quick and inexpensive way to build a collection of inhabitants for your own Troll Village. They’re much smaller than the 5″ action figures that come with the playsets, but our kids don’t seem to mind – they just love having more Troll friends to play with!
Trolls: The Beat Goes On! is streaming now on Netflix Kids & Family. The Trolls toys are available at HasbroToyShop.com, Entertainment Earth
and major retailers everywhere!
