Childhood Troll
Posted Tue, 12/03/13
Whatever happened to trolls?
When I was a child, troll dolls were my favorite "toys." I wasn't much into Barbie or her varied friends, but give me a troll or a green rubber Gumby and I could happily amuse myself for hours. It was even better when the troll house came into being. I used to pretend Gumby came by for regular visits.
According to Wikipedia:
A troll doll, also known as a Dam doll, is a type of plastic doll with furry hair depicting a troll. They were originally created in 1959 by Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam. They became one of the United States' biggest toy fads in the early 1960s. They became fads again in brief periods from the 1970s through the 1990s and were copied by several manufacturers under different names. During the 1990s several video games and a video show based on troll dolls were created. In 2003 the Dam company restored their United States copyrights, stopping unlicensed production. In 2005 the brand was modernized under the name Trollz, but it failed in the marketplace.
My particular troll - named Tragen - had long blue hair with a grubby little body. I took Tragen and the troll house with me everywhere, sometimes with Gumby tagging along. Typically, Tragen slept in the troll house bed while Gumby stretched out on the dining table.
Pictured: (Left) Blue-haired troll, similar to the one I had as a child. I named mine Tragen. To my best recollection, he was always naked! (Right) Gumby in the package, pictured with Pokey.
Pictured: (Left) Plastic troll house with handle, closed. (Right) Plastic troll house with handle, open.
The troll house was cool because it could be closed with a turn-snap and then and carried around like a suitcase.
While the toys were fun and vastly amusing, I prefer electronic gadgets (e-readers, hand-held solitaire games, etc). I wish they had been available in my day.
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