Trollhunters
Dec. 6th, 2018 04:11 pmI realized I've only been talking about this show on Tumblr and haven't made a proper post about it here yet! ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aqwt101 recced to to me last year. I bounced off the first couple of episodes the first time I tried, because it's very little-kiddish at first (although visually beautiful), but it turns out to be SO GOOD by the end. Like aqwt101 said, by season 3 it doesn't even feel like a kid's show at all.
What is it? 3-season CGI animated show on Netflix, produced by Guillermo del Toro, now complete but the first in a trilogy of 3 different shows set in the same town and sharing some of the same characters. Therefore, it has an ending, but leaves a lot of loose ends for the next show to pick up.
What's it about? It is, in the beginning at least, a "team of plucky kids vs. monsters" action/quest show. A secret (and gorgeously animated) world of trolls exists underground, side by side with the human world. The protagonist, Jim, is a high school student who picks up a magic amulet that turns him into the Trollhunter, who is the trolls' Chosen One. A human has never done it before and no one (least of all Jim) knows how to deal with having a human as their warrior-avatar. His mission is to hunt down threats to the troll world, while trying to hide his secret second life from his mom/teachers/etc, with the help of his friends. Eventually an ever wider pool of characters get involved.
Why is it awesome/why might I want to try it? I posted a list of enticements on Tumblr, which I'll just replicate here:
• Gorgeous CGI animation.
• Excellent voice acting (including, among others, Kelsey Grammar, Mark Hamill, Anton Yelchin, Anjelica Huston, Clancy Brown, and Tatiana Maslany)
• With Guillermo del Toro involved, you may expect that "monsters are people too"/"everyone deserves love no matter how monstrous" is going to be a major theme, and it definitely is.
• A bilingual Latina heroine played by a Latina voice actress
• Villain redemption arcs. So many villain redemption arcs. Nicely layered characters in general.
• Badass female characters (who admittedly don’t get to badass much in the first few episodes, but this part gets much better later on)
• No love triangles! (There are a few passing hints in that direction, but it never really develops as more than mild jealousy for an episode.)
• Characters named things like AAARGGGHH!! and NotEnrique (because he's definitely not Enrique. It makes sense in context).
• Flesh-eating garden gnomes.
• The humor is really, genuinely funny (for the most part) and sometimes very dark. Some of the episodes are flat-out hilarious. And then it'll do a sudden 180 turn into angst and heartfelt feels.
• Surprisingly dark plots involving things like mind control, genuinely creepy spirit-world stuff, and character deaths.
• Cool worldbuilding and good plotting.
Basically it’s a really cool show that turned out to be way more awesome than I thought it was going to be from the standard-kids-show tone of the first couple episodes. The character interactions are wonderful and I love how even the villains' storylines are layered and interesting. It started to remind me a lot of Gargoyles as it went along.
What might turn me off? Some of the show's humor relies on stereotyping more than I'd like. Details under cut: ( Slight spoilers, mostly cutting for those who don't want squee spoiled )
Anything else? Come watch it so we can talk about! I also requested it in fandom-stockingand other people who request it might get treats from me.
No spoilers in comments, please! A spoilery discussion post is forthcoming.
aqwt101 recced to to me last year. I bounced off the first couple of episodes the first time I tried, because it's very little-kiddish at first (although visually beautiful), but it turns out to be SO GOOD by the end. Like aqwt101 said, by season 3 it doesn't even feel like a kid's show at all.
What is it? 3-season CGI animated show on Netflix, produced by Guillermo del Toro, now complete but the first in a trilogy of 3 different shows set in the same town and sharing some of the same characters. Therefore, it has an ending, but leaves a lot of loose ends for the next show to pick up.
What's it about? It is, in the beginning at least, a "team of plucky kids vs. monsters" action/quest show. A secret (and gorgeously animated) world of trolls exists underground, side by side with the human world. The protagonist, Jim, is a high school student who picks up a magic amulet that turns him into the Trollhunter, who is the trolls' Chosen One. A human has never done it before and no one (least of all Jim) knows how to deal with having a human as their warrior-avatar. His mission is to hunt down threats to the troll world, while trying to hide his secret second life from his mom/teachers/etc, with the help of his friends. Eventually an ever wider pool of characters get involved.
Why is it awesome/why might I want to try it? I posted a list of enticements on Tumblr, which I'll just replicate here:
• Gorgeous CGI animation.
• Excellent voice acting (including, among others, Kelsey Grammar, Mark Hamill, Anton Yelchin, Anjelica Huston, Clancy Brown, and Tatiana Maslany)
• With Guillermo del Toro involved, you may expect that "monsters are people too"/"everyone deserves love no matter how monstrous" is going to be a major theme, and it definitely is.
• A bilingual Latina heroine played by a Latina voice actress
• Villain redemption arcs. So many villain redemption arcs. Nicely layered characters in general.
• Badass female characters (who admittedly don’t get to badass much in the first few episodes, but this part gets much better later on)
• No love triangles! (There are a few passing hints in that direction, but it never really develops as more than mild jealousy for an episode.)
• Characters named things like AAARGGGHH!! and NotEnrique (because he's definitely not Enrique. It makes sense in context).
• Flesh-eating garden gnomes.
• The humor is really, genuinely funny (for the most part) and sometimes very dark. Some of the episodes are flat-out hilarious. And then it'll do a sudden 180 turn into angst and heartfelt feels.
• Surprisingly dark plots involving things like mind control, genuinely creepy spirit-world stuff, and character deaths.
• Cool worldbuilding and good plotting.
Basically it’s a really cool show that turned out to be way more awesome than I thought it was going to be from the standard-kids-show tone of the first couple episodes. The character interactions are wonderful and I love how even the villains' storylines are layered and interesting. It started to remind me a lot of Gargoyles as it went along.
What might turn me off? Some of the show's humor relies on stereotyping more than I'd like. Details under cut: ( Slight spoilers, mostly cutting for those who don't want squee spoiled )
Anything else? Come watch it so we can talk about! I also requested it in fandom-stocking
No spoilers in comments, please! A spoilery discussion post is forthcoming.