I was sitting there through that scene wondering why they were getting all emotional. Like “chill he’s just going back a couple of hours it’s fine” and he goes back years. Like ok wow that was unnecessary but at least you can save people who died (Draal). And then he went and made Toby trollhunter. Why was that needed? I get you wanted him to be protected but you’re just putting him on the front lines again, except now he’s at the very front. And he has a target on his back
While boarding ROTT we sometimes explored moments in each others sequences. Below is my small take on Stricklers death. The sequence in the film was done by the incredible Ben Choi
Scrolling through the tag, it’s apparent that people really didn’t like this movie. I see it’s flaws and accept their criticisms, but I feel like the negatives were blown out of proportion.
The Bad
Most of these have been said before but here we go:
Cannon Steve Mpreg. It’s supposed to be comedic but A. Steve is like a teenager (older teen but still) B. Aja didn’t give him a heads up BEFOREHAND so he couldn’t really consent to that. It just winds up kinda uncomfortable. (And unnecessary since Steve does nothing for the plot in this movie)
Characters were underutilized. Steve and Eli were just there for the entire movie. What did Aja and Krel do during the movie other than suggest evacuation (good plan) and send a gun robot? I can’t remember what most the characters did. It happens with a big cast like this, but only Jim and Toby’s arcs(?) felt satisfying.
The Debatable
This is a critique I haven’t seen anyone bring up yet, but I wasn’t really invested in the villains. Like their designs and lore rock, but they just came out of nowhere at the end of wizards and now they’re the big bads to end the series? With Gunmar and the big bad of 3Below, they were always looming in the background, there was build up- tension! We don’t get that with these guys. Maybe the fact that it’s so sudden and the main cast is thrown into action with no time for preparation that makes them scarier? Active vs passive danger?
How characters moved on from death so fast. Some people disliked it, but I thought it was a good choice. They don’t have time to grieve, they’re in the middle of a crisis. That doesn’t mean they don’t care, just that they’re saving that for a better time.
Killing off characters. While it’s sketch that they killed off all the changeling shown in the movie, I do see the importance of Strickler and Namora’s deaths from multiple angles. The angst from “they died for nothing” is beautiful. Also this lessens the big cast issue. Don’t need to develop a dead guy ;). Nari, idc I don’t think there was enough time to get attached to her so it’s less impactful. Toby’s death wounded me severely and I thank Mr. Del Torro for that.
Nothing in the franchise matters now because it “didn’t happen”. But it did. Our bud Jimbo remembers it. There’s so much angst potential here. His friends don’t know him and also aren’t the same people because they haven’t experienced all the trauma they did in his timeline. He wants his friends back, but also wants to protect these kids left in their places.
Toby shouldn’t be the holder of the amulet because of that one episode of Trollhunters. Look, if you’re willing to throw this whole movie out of fannon, why not throw out that one episode instead? I do think how Jim sent Toby to get the amulet was ooc, but it’s a simple fix. Just have the amulet call to Toby when they go through the canal cause they’re late to school. Explain it’s Toby this time cause despite time shit, magic knows Jim already got his turn or w/e.
Some don’t like how far back in time Jim went. I think it’s the best time. He can bulldoze all previous problems (with some hiccups along the way for conflict in the story) so he has a ludicrous amount of time and allies to fight the titans. He didn’t go back any earlier because the time when he found the amulet felt like the beginning of his current life.
The Good
Obvious, but the animation and voice acting were out of the ball park.
The cast’s interactions with the police were peak comedy.
Striklake cannon fiances
Toby and Jim’s interactions were gold
V high stakes for a final battle, I mean we’ve had world ending shit before but this time it feels more real cause we can see the impact outside of arcaidia
There’s so much cannon compliant fic potential!!
We’ve got angst from Jim losing the connections he had with people from the other timeline.
There’s crack from our boy just bulldozing problems and no one knows how he just knows everything?? He’s not gonna explain esp. to foes like Bular and the Janus order.
There’s fluff from no longer dead and extremely less traumatized friends.
Anything you didn’t like from the original timeline can be sorta retconned and still be cannon compliant by just having them not happen/ happen differently in this timeline.
So there’s a lot in this movie that people don’t like and that’s fair. Maybe it’s a bad movie. But I’m an analytical mind and don’t see things for what they are, but the potential that they have. It’s why I love those 2010s Disney sitcoms like MightyMed. So I like this movie, and would love to see/create some fanworks from it ( esp. the new timeline :D ).
