The Troublesome Trio

"The Troublesome Trio" is the first segment of the 4th episode of the seventh season of Trolls: TrollsTopia, and the 96th overall episode in the series. It premiered in August 11, 2022.
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Chaz the Smooth Jazz Troll, Marshtato Mary, and Pushy Poppy all band together so that they can take over TrollsTopia once and for all. But when they can't stop bickering long enough to get anything done Poppy decides that what they really need is to form a friendship.
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Poppy is doing a gift-wrapping lecture where she instructs other Trolls on the value of "double-gifting" a gift, explaining it gives the thrill twice. She is interrupted by Branch, thinking he is late to her seminar, but he is actually alerting her to the return of Marshtato Mary, Pushy Poppy and Chaz. The trio introduces themselves once again and Mary brags that all three of their arch nemesis are here at the same time. As they chuckle, they are interrupted by Cooper who is laughing behind them and he is offended that they don't want to hear his trademark Cooper laugh.
Mary says that the three of them are here to join forces and unite together to stop the Trolls once and for all, until Chaz brings up turning TrollsTopia into "Jazztopia", which the other two reply "no we're not". The three get into a talk about their goals, with Mary wanting to ruin their parties and Pushy Poppy wanting to be really pushy. Soon, the trio argue with each other.
Branch and Poppy begin to criticize, but Poppy just thinks they need to become friends, which Branch is shocked about since that wasn't what he was expecting Poppy to say. He points out to her that they're villains, to which Poppy replies that she believes they would become better people if they were friends with each other, so she wants them to become friends to help them towards a common goal. Branch tells Poppy that their goal is to conquer them. Poppy goes to tell them about her offer, but they refuse. Mary claims that they will get along fine once the other two start doing as she tells them; this causes another round of arguments over who the leader of the trio actually is. They stop mid-row and ask Poppy when can she start.
Later, Poppy explains them that to work together, they need to get to know each other. She introduces them to the "share ball", which would only allow the one who is holding it to have their time to speak. Mary grabs the ball and rubs it, stating that whoever wields the ball gets to silence their enemies with unnatural sorcery. Poppy explains it is more about telling each other about themselves. Chaz gets the ball and spends the time explaining that he likes Jazz, which ends up being the only he talks about. Pushy Poppy asks permission to take the share ball when she gets disgusted about Chaz mentioning his chest hair, to which Poppy gives her the ball. Pushy Poppy takes it by pushing Chaz aside, and states she loves to say stuff and have others do it, but she has prevented from speaking any further by Mary, who steals the ball.
Poppy moves onto the next task. Holly and Smidge are acting out a scene in which they must take one of two cakes, a chocolate or strawberry cake. The situation is that preferences are in conflict with each other. Poppy asks the trio how Holly and Smidge should resolve their conflict. Pushy Poppy says with "pushing", Chaz says that the one that likes Chocolate should hypnotize the other to take the chocolate; meanwhile, he has put Mary under a trance to get her to agree with him. Mary calls her doomsday critter, who puts Chaz in its mouth.
The third task is cooperation. Poppy offers an incentive of a tray of cupcakes, but Pushy Poppy doesn't know why they would want them, until Poppy says they're evil cupcakes. At the start, the trio leaves the race, but immediately try and enter the first obstacle in the course Poppy has laid out at the same time. This causes them to get stuck and the tube to roll. At the beam across water obstacle, Mary and Chaz fight over who goes across and are pushed aside by Pushy Poppy, who runs across and slips on water on the beam. The last course is a wall they must climb; Chaz and Pushy Poppy fight over who climbs and Mary flies up, believing she has won. She lands on a button to open the cupcakes, but is immediately thrown by a red light below her signals.
The trio sit on a log, all beaten up by Poppy's efforts. Poppy tells them that as individuals they're great, but as a team they aren't working. This seems to click them and they retake the course. Chaz lets Mary and Pushy go in front of him on the tunnel tube. On the beam, Pushy Poppy pushes Chaz and Mary across, then as she slips they save her. Finally, on the wall, Mary flies Chaz and Pushy Poppy up. The three hit the three buttons and get their reward.
The trio celebrate, and while they do, Pushy Poppy and Mary do a special clap, as they have a high-five they've worked on without Chaz, which Chaz notices. Mary states it didn't mean anything, which Pushy Poppy takes offense to. Poppy tries to derail the escalating row that's coming on. Chaz takes the cupcakes to enjoy by himself, to which Mary tells him to keep them as she and Pushy Poppy quit.
Branch interjects at this moment, and asks Poppy if she's finished helping the bad guys conquer them yet. Poppy has an idea to get them back together.
Later, at the Villain's lair, Mary gets a notice saying that she's won. Pushy arrives to pick up her "Pushy award", and Chaz shows up to collect a lifetime supply of chest cream. Poppy claims responsibility for bringing the trio back together. The trio wants to leave, but Poppy states she couldn't watch them throw away a friendship, and they had become friends. They're not impressed with the idea, to which Poppy sings (which Branch protests over) and tries to bring the three back together. When the song ends, the trio call each other evil best friends. Now united, they believe nothing can stop them.
Branch flinches as they state that by the end of the day they will have conquered TrollsTopia. Pushy Poppy stops to state that the next day, it's Chaz's saxophone's birthday; Mary says they have to celebrate that, while Pushy Poppy says that they'll conquer TrollsTopia tomorrow, but Mary interjects that tomorrow is when she goes bowling. When Pushy Poppy states she loves bowling, Mary invites her and Chaz to come bowling with her. The trio bring out their dairies and begin to plan when they can work on their conquest scheme. Thursday, Chaz says he has pottery class; Mary tells him that they have pottery class.
The trio walk off as they laugh about the things they are going to do together. Branch is shocked that bringing the trio together worked, and Poppy simply answers him with "Better people Branch, better people.", which was her goal all along.
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;Pop Trolls
*Amanda Leighton as Queen Poppy
*Skylar Astin as Branch
*Kevin Michael Richardson as Smidge
;Country Trolls
*Megan Hilty as Holly Darlin'
;Funk Trolls
*Ron Funches as Cooper
;Alternate Dimension Trolls
*Amanda Leighton as Pushy Poppy
;Other Trolls
*Sam Haft as Chaz
;Non-Trolls
*Corina Boettger as Marshtato Mary
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*"Badder Together"
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*Poppy's plan worked out because the trio are now too busy doing each other's interests and are using up their free time to do that instead of committing evil acts. Branch has a point, as this plan could have gone wrong, since TrollsTopia would have had three conquerors to deal with at once.
*The initial fighting the trio do is a note to the common trope in fiction that villains are untrusting to each other, either because they're selfish, believe they can't work with a partner, or they're expecting to be in charge all the time due to being in control of a plot or scheme. Once they develop a decent alliance or friendship, they lose some (if not all) of their mistrust, and may start to adopt some of the morals often thought up as being a sign of a "good guy".
**A previous example of this happened with the arc villains Lord Tirek, Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow from the series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. At one point, the three had to learn to cooperate with each other in the episode "Frenemies". The events of the episode almost cause the three to become friends, and they reject this notion upon realizing it, as they don't want to adopt the values of their enemies. They learn to work together until they have defeated their enemies, vowing to go their separate ways thereafter, but never became friends. Because they never became friends, their story ends with them being turned into statues in the series' finale so they're stuck with each other, which was seen as a fitting end, as each other was the one thing they couldn't stand.
*Pushy Poppy is shown to share some traits with Poppy herself. Previously in "Puffalo Express", it was shown that Poppy likes to note birthday dates, and she was shocked that she forgot Lownote Jones', as forgetting birthdays is not something she's known for. Pushy Poppy remembers that Chaz's saxophone's birthday happens the next day, meaning that like Poppy herself she also pays attention to birthday dates.
*Mary never calls Pushy Poppy or Chaz "Elves", despite using the term against the other Trolls.
Category:Episodes
Category:Trolls: TrollsTopia episodes
Category:TT Season 7 episodes
Category:Pop Trolls Story Arc Episodes
Category:2D animation