Good Luck Trolls

**"Good Luck Trolls"**, often shortened in reference by fans and collectors to just **Lucky Trolls** or **Trolls**, is the name of the classic "Troll dolls" branding. It's one of the two Troll Doll-related brands that DreamWorks has licensing with, the other being "DreamWorks Trolls" which is itself a license within the "Good Luck Trolls" branding.

Both brand names form part of the overarching "Trolls" franchise. DreamWorks currently joint-owns copyright licensing with Dam Things owned by Thomas Dam's descendant, Niel Dam. Since *Trolls World Tour*, the brand name has slowly been expanding to include many new products within the "Good Luck Trolls" branding. Good Luck Trolls remains the flagship property, and DreamWorks not only owns a number of trademarks, but access to the full copyright of "Good Luck Trolls", including 52 related listings.

## About

### Origin of the Trolls

The origin of the "Good Luck Trolls" is that they are the original name for Thomas Dams' Trolls, though the dolls themselves went by a number of names in the 1960s. The company used "Good Luck Trolls" and "The Original Good Luck Trolls" to signal the Dam Things company's Trolls were the originals during the 1980s and 1990s because of the number of fake Troll Dolls on the market during the 10 year period that Dam Things struggled over copyright issues. The name "Good Luck Trolls" has also been one of several variants as well, owed to the issue Dam Things had with licensing their dolls.

Other names besides "Good Luck Trolls" that the company used for their dolls include "Dam Trolls", "Norfin Trolls" and "The Original Good Luck Trolls".

Original Dam logo"The Trolls" was another logo used for some Dam things Troll dolls and their magazinenorfin Trolls logo"The Original Good Luck Trolls" logoDreamWorks "Good Luck Trolls" logo, seen in use 2016
### Purchase by DreamWorks

After failed attempts to re-launch the "Good Luck Trolls" brand in the 2000s, Dam Things went to Hollywood studios to find a company that would make a movie for them, receiving a great amount of interest. At first, DreamWorks were going to make a licensed product using the brand name, but DreamWorks bought the "Good Luck Trolls" brand off of Dam Things in 2010, with the purchase being completed in 2013 and continued to use the name from 2015 onwards. By which point they were using "DreamWorks Trolls" as the main basis for their version of Troll Dolls. The movie took much inspiration from the "Good Luck Trolls" as a result, but did not carry the "Good Luck Trolls" name in its title, but was still written as a love letter to the brand.

When DreamWorks took over the Dam Things trademark in 2010, it had existed since 1968, making it the oldest trademark DreamWorks currently owns, and the one to see the most use due to its registered first use being in 1959. DreamWorks filed for the trademark in 2006, and was awarded the trademark by the name on the 31st of July 2015, making 2015 the starting point for the brand name's existence as a DreamWorks property. Of the two, though "Good Luck Trolls" is the older of the two franchises, it is the youngest of the two Trolls properties for DreamWork to use under the "DreamWorks" name since all pre-released trademarks related to the final conceptualized version, are usually dated from 2014 onwards. DreamWorks, however, had a number of various attempts to trademark different Troll-related names prior to the purchase of the "Good Luck Trolls" from Dam Things. DreamWorks Trolls itself managed to successfully bring the Good Luck Trolls franchise back to form since the Troll Doll craze of 1992-1993 and is a large contribution to its re-launch since *Trolls* and *Trolls World Tour*.

### References in DreamWorks Trolls

Though they are kept distinctly apart from each other, small cameos of the dolls in the DreamWorks Trolls animated properties still occur. The dolls also are the basis for classic Troll Doll cameos in other media or any toyline that refers to Thomas Dams dolls and act as such main licensing placement holder for that design despite DreamWorks treating both "DreamWorks Trolls" and "Good Luck Trolls" as separate entities.

Originally, Queen Poppy had a more 1980s appearance in reference to the Good Luck Troll appearance, she was also listed as a Rainbow Troll in the *Trolls* era alongside her father King Peppy, Branch and his grandmother, Grandma Rosiepuff. This was a nod to the Rainbow Trolls of Russ Dolls. In *Trolls World Tour*, Poppy gains multiple colored hair as a nod to the same Rainbow Troll Dolls. In addition, Trolls such as Cooper and the Funk Trolls, as well as Guy Diamond often reference the designs of Dam Things and other licensed Troll Dolls as a nod to DreamWorks origin of their main movie brand name. Barb is also considered a continuation of the appearance of the "Punk Rock" Troll Dolls, of which there had been several versions since the 1980s by Dam Things, Russ Trolls and other companies.

In addition, DreamWorks animations make a note to reference the "Good Luck Trolls" history in the ending credits of their Trolls films, specials, and TV animation.

In *How to Train Your Dragon*, Stoick the Vast is heard complaining about taking his son Hiccup fishing, only for Hiccup to be distracted and go hunting for trolls. Although the film came out long before the *Trolls* franchise, it was later confirmed that the trolls he was looking for were the ones based upon this franchise, and it was a nod to the upcoming *Trolls* film. As a note, *How To Train Your Dragon* also has a Scandinavian setting since it's based on Vikings.

## Licensed Products

### "Trolls"

Originally the dolls were not given a specific name and were made with just the "Dam" logo on the dolls tag.

Later magazines would adopt the name "The Trolls" when speaking of the toyline, and sometimes they were called "Dam Trolls".

The dolls experienced success in Europe during the 1960s and their initial trademark was filed in 1/1/1959, though the first Troll Doll predates this year and was made of wood and were highly successful, though Thomas Dam their creator was limited by the number he could produce and wood he could get hold of.

The original mass produced dolls were made of rubber, though later switched to plastic.

#### Russ

Russ referred to their dolls as "Russ Trolls" or "Trolls", and held the license for a period. They produced the first licensed animation Super Trolls under their licensing, making it the first official Trolls licensed animation.

Russ lost their licensing control at some point in the mid-late 90s to The Troll Company, which took over the control and licensing of global Dam Things dolls until DreamWorks Trolls.

### Norfin Trolls

The 1990s marked an issue with copyright over the brand name, and begun with the sudden success of the Russ licensing of Trolls in 1992. Millions of Troll Dolls were sold but the Dam Thing company lost out on much of the profit of the following decade due to issues over copyright.

Norfin was the name the company adopted in the early 1990s and was used at least up until 1994. The Troll dolls under this name were called "Norfin Trolls" and a series of 3 animations were created called The Norfin Adventures. There were also books and magazines made under this name.

The name was only used for a brief period of time and was soon abandoned.

### Good Luck Trolls

When speaking of the "Good Luck Trolls", this is considered the settle official name for the brand that was used in the latter half of the 1990s, when Dam Things finally was settling on their 10 year copyright battle over the name. Originally "Good Luck Trolls" was adopted by the company, but due to many counterfeits by this point the company also used "The Original Good Luck Trolls".

In the period between *Trolls World Tour* and *Trolls 3*, the brand has expanded to include more and more items.

To date, though part of the "Good Luck Trolls" licensing, both Trollz and DreamWorks Trolls remain their own entities within the Good Luck Trolls licensing.

#### Dark Horse Good Luck Trolls

In 2012 and 2013, Dark Horse comics obtained the licensing to produce two series of Troll Dolls under the Good Luck Trolls name These separated themselves by the fact they had coloured bodies and hair. Normally, the Trolls of previous incarnations had just coloured hair.

The short lived series ended due to the involvement of DreamWorks in the following year.

#### DreamWorks Good Luck Trolls

The series began to see used as a brand name starting with the 60th anniversary of the "Trolls" name.

The brand is attached to all modern "Classic" Troll Doll-looking dolls. While still part of the overall "Trolls" franchise, it's considered a separate entity to the main "DreamWorks Trolls" brand. They don't have their own separate storyline, making them a strictly "toyline-only" brand. While "DreamWorks Trolls" carries the DreamWorks logo above its own, DreamWorks tends to brand their logo separately on the back of "Good Luck Troll" licensed merchandise instead of including it in the name like "DreamWorks Trolls". The original 2015 version of the "Good Luck Trolls" logo, however, had included the DreamWorks logo.

Unlike *DreamWorks Trolls*, the dolls keep the tradition of being typically nameless, and come based upon the classic 1980s and 1990s generic designs. They have colored hair, and most have the classic tan skin and smiling faces. They often have a gemstone on their belly. Though hair colors vary, the most common featured hair color is the rainbow one, which was popular in the 1980s and 1990s, and is also referenced in *Trolls* media.

The brand name was also used alongside the main DreamWorks Trolls brand by Erin Condren, who did designs based upon both in 2022.

Until 2020, all DreamWorks "Troll" toys were not required to carry the "Trolls" mark. The Good Luck Trolls did not carry the mark for some time after, but as of 2022 now often carry the mark as well to signal their official status as licensed "Trolls" merchandise, however, Dam Things "Good Luck Trolls" do not have to carry this logo.

A number of companies have since made "classic"-looking dolls.

In 2022, MAC released a cosmetic range under the "Good Luck Trolls" branding.

#### Dam Things Good Luck Trolls

Dam Things have an agreement with DreamWorks that allows them to continue to produce their dolls independently from DreamWorks, despite DreamWorks being the licensing holder, however, DreamWorks do not produce dolls in the Scandinavian area. This is a licensing agreement between the two companies that allows Dam Things to continue its traditional Troll dolls without DreamWorks interfering with them. The result is both sides of the "Good Luck Trolls" brand have very different approaches to Troll Dolls within the brands name.

While all "Good Luck Trolls" by DreamWorks are meant to be toys, Dam Things own "Good Luck Trolls" are strickly collector items. And of the two, only the "Good Luck Trolls" by Dam Things carry the "Dam Things" name, while DreamWorks "Good Luck Trolls" typically do not. Both carry the "DreamWorks" licensing. One notable different is how the Dam Things Good Luck Trolls look, which strays from the 1990s Russ Dolls appearance. Dolls can often be sculpted to look more realistic, and therefore are more defined than DreamWorks dolls, with more characteristics, personality, and detail inserted into every doll, mimicking the older 1960s original dolls more closely than modern Troll Dolls. Alternatively, the dolls produced are artistic and while looking like the Dolls of the 1990s, do not have the same appearance but are made of a variety of materials such as metal and decor such as paint on them.

The current owner of the company is Niel Dam, who took over the company after Thomas Dam's death.

## Trivia

* The current "Good Luck Trolls" logo is based upon the one used by Dark Horse in 2011-2012 for their dolls. Hasbro and Funko had used a different logo for their releases. No details on the reasons for the different logos are currently known.
* Red Velvet also did a "Red Velvet loves Good Luck Trolls" promotion.
* Dam Things being allowed to continue to produce Good Luck Trolls, is a type of agreement known as a Grandfather clause. This term applies to political, licensing and services that change over time, but allow pre-change circumstances to be maintained. The reason for the Grandfather Clause is mostly out of respect and/or honor held by a company, the law or a goverment to uphold its past agreements and demonstrate that a party is trusting of their word.
* Due to issues with copyright, many of the franchise's copyrights are much younger than their related trademarks. While the trade mark for the main property dates back to first use of 1/1/1959, the related copyrights mostly are dated to 2013. At this point the copyright was jointly held by Dam Things and Niels Dam, and DreamWorks.
	+ Both the copyright and trademarks of Good Luck Trolls also never included the Trollz, despite it being an official property under the Good Luck Trolls franchise. This remains owned by DiC Entertainment, even though the related company no longer exists and is now owned by Cookie Jar Entertainment.

## References

1. ↑ https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search\_Arg=good+luck+trolls&Search\_Code=TALL&PID=4NuqcyYRpUQPSVfbKrPKJH2txw9kK&SEQ=20221020130400&CNT=25&HIST=1
2. ↑ https://trademark.trademarkia.com/good-luck-trolls-78919215.html
3. ↑ https://www.licenseglobal.com/lifestyle/erin-condren-launches-collaboration-dreamworks-trolls%E2%80%AF
4. ↑ https://mashable.com/article/mac-cosmetics-good-luck-trolls
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/5redvelvet/status/1230722372736446464