"Troll Exchange Program" is the second segment of the 7th and final episode of the seventh season, as well as the series finale of Trolls: TrollsTopia, and the 103rd and final overall episode in the series. It premiered in August 11, 2022.
Synopsis
In the name of cultural exchange, King Trollex has invited one TrollsTopian to come back and live with the Techno Tribe... and it's up to Poppy to select who gets to go.
Plot
Poppy thanks the Trolls of TrollsTopia for coming to a meeting: a special guest is arriving to make an official announcement. A large whale shatters the ground beneath Cooper and he swims to land. The whale's mouth opens and King Trollex appears from it. Poppy asks for the reason he is here and Trollex explains he is a huge fan of TrollsTopia and is now planning his own project: the Troll Exchange Program. One Troll will be sent to Techno Reef from the Trolls of TrollsTopia for a year to live and experience life among the Techno Trolls and their culture while teaching the values and traditions of their own culture from the Techno Trolls.
The crowd is excited. Gust Tumbleweed and DJ Suki comment on the announcement as being awesome and Gust tosses his 20-gallon hat. Poppy asks Trollex who he will choose, to which he tells her he came to visit TrollsTopia because she is the cultural exchange expert; the Troll is up to her to decide. She calls the TrollsTopia Tribal Council in, as requests are pouring in from Trolls to be the Troll chosen. She scraps together a few assessments to pick the best candidate into an "Assessment scrapbook". None of the council are excited. Branch, who is taking minutes, explains the issue is that whomever is chosen is a friend they will lose for an entire year, and no one wants to see that happen. Poppy reminds them that the development is good, as while they lose a friend, the progress made for Troll Kingdom itself is huge. So they need to focus on the Troll to be chosen who enjoys the Techno Troll culture the most and exchanges theirs the best.
The lineup of candidates is Rhythm, Blues, Demo, Minuet Sonata, Gust, Biggie, Smidge, DJ Suki and Guy Diamond, all of whom are chosen for round 1. The first round is interviews on why they would be a great fit for the program. Guy has Tiny explain that Guy is the greatest and they all know it. The next round is essays. Demo does his essay on the importance of Hard Rock Trolls sharing their culture with other Tribes. By round 12, only Blues, Minuet, Demo and DJ are left as they do a swimming match.
At the Tribal Council Pod, Branch tallies up the scores and finds DJ is the best candidate. However, as they celebrate finding the best Troll to send away, Poppy notes that during the swimming race, DJ jumped the starting gun and was ahead by slightly, nullifying her score and tying with Demo and Minuet. This means more testing must be done to see who qualifies.
They begin more rounds of testing, but as the rounds go on the tests become less valuable and more random. Eventually, everyone catches on and Poppy confesses she herself couldn't bare the thought of losing any of her TrollsTopians, as their life would be incomplete and too sad. Holly comforts her and notes they all know this; each member has already been through this, having to say goodbye to people they care about when they came to TrollsTopia. Val states that it still feels sad now. The Trolls do some talking about the issue, but this is about the dream Poppy started.
They introduce DJ as their chosen candidate for the program. Trollex lands out his hand, inviting her to come with him. DJ looks back at the other Trolls of TrollsTopia with sad eyes. Poppy tells her that she knows that she loves her, and DJ says she knows that is true and it will always be with her no matter where she goes. She finishes by saying "later".
There is a moment of silence, which is broken by Poppy singing a slow reprise of the series' theme song. Holly, Val and Branch join in soon followed by the other Trolls. Eventually, all the Trolls sing together, as the episode as well as the entire series comes to an end.
Cast
- Amanda Leighton as Queen Poppy
- Skylar Astin as Branch
- Fryda Wolff as DJ Suki
- Sean T. Krishnan as Guy Diamond
- Kenan Thompson as Tiny Diamond
- Biggie (non-speaking)
- Smidge (non-speaking)
- Creek (non-speaking)
- Satin & Chenille (non-speaking)
- King Peppy (non-speaking)
- Gia Grooves (non-speaking)
- Dr. Moonbloom (non-speaking)
- Sky Toronto (non-speaking)
- Harper (non-speaking)
- Fuzzbert (non-speaking)
- Rufus (non-speaking)
- Keith (non-speaking)
- Priscilla (non-speaking)
- Meadow Spriggs (non-speaking)
- Striped Smiley (non-speaking)
- Lauren Mayhew as Val Thundershock
- Charles DeWayne as Demo
- Blaze Powerchord (non-speaking)
- Megan Hilty as Holly Darlin'
- Eric Lopez as Gust Tumbleweed
- Slim Stuck 'Em (non-speaking)
- Michael-Leon Wooley as Lownote Jones
- Rhythm (non-speaking)
- Blues (non-speaking)
- Ron Funches as Cooper
- Vladimir Caamaño as Synth
- Laguna Tidepool (non-speaking)
- Anthony Lee Medina as King Trollex
- Non-Trolls
- Mr. Dinkles (non-speaking)
- Cloud Guy (non-speaking)
Songs
- "We're Livin' in Harmony" (reprise)
Trivia
- The titular program is a pun on the "student exchange program", a type of school program in which a student is exchanged with another between schools. This is done so both students can gain experience in a very different environment. The pun also is a slight pun with King Trollex's name, hinting at his appearance on this episode.
- The storyboard animatic version of this episode was uploaded by Lake Fama and can be watched here.
- Until this point, only Queen Barb has been mentioned out of all the leaders introduced in Trolls World Tour. Aside from Poppy, Trollex is the only leader to physically appear in the series. The only other characters who debuted in the film to have appeared were Tiny Diamond, who was a regular character, and Chaz, who appeared in "Smooth Operator" and "The Troublesome Trio". However, Barb did appear in the supportive mini-series Trolls Scrapbook Stories.
- This episode has the most voice actors out of any episode with 15.
- Being selected for departure is not just a coincidence. As of this episode, DJ Suki has now been departed from both 2D and 3D animated media, and it is unknown if her character will return to either later.
- For 2D animation, this story presents a way to write her out of future 2D projects and explain why she's missing, even though the absence in-story potentially takes her out of any 2D media that could come out after Trolls Band Together to accompany it.
- Part of the issue with her absence in 3D animation was that it wasn't explained where she was, even though merchandise had been made for her by Hasbro. Early pre-trailer news for Trolls World Tour suggested that DJ's 3D voice actress Gwen Stefani was to return for the film, but it was soon apparent that she didn't return.
- However, while the late removal meant that DJ was present in the related Trolls World Tour 2D animated series, her presumed replacement Legsly was absent in return. Most of the series was written in 2019, before the movie was released and was still in production. DJ not returning and being switched out for Legsly occurred quite late into production.
- The episode actually uses a moment of peace, or "silence" as referenced in "A Life Less Score-dinary". When DJ Suki leaves, there is a brief moment of silence where no character says or does anything, and no one makes any noise. The impact of the final song of the series, a reprise of the introduction, is greater as a result because it breaks that silence. Had Poppy gone straight into the reprise, the impact would have actually been less significant.
- Poppy's singing echoes "Just Sing" from Trolls World Tour, wherein she is soon joined by Holly, Val, Branch and other Trolls.
- When Poppy sings the reprise version of the show's theme song, Holly, Val and Branch sings the verse other Trolls sang in the original version:
- Holly - Synth's verse
- Val - R&B's verse
- Branch - Holly and Val's verses
- Animation mistake: a few frames before DJ Suki steps on the Techno Whale to leave TrollsTopia to live in Techno Reef, King Trollex's arm bands are missing some of their colors.
- This is one of the few Trolls: TrollsTopia episodes in which the entire Trolls-era membership of The Snack Pack (including former members Creek and Fuzzbert) are present individually.
- This is the last episode of the entire series, the last one to air in 2022, and the last Trolls World Tour-era piece of media. In 2023, the franchise's focus will turn to Trolls Band Together. All media and merchandise that appears from late 2022 until the release of Trolls Band Together (unless announced otherwise) will be listed as "DreamWorks Trolls" merchandise, generally being released without an attachment to a specific era of the franchise.
- As of 2023, It's currently unknown if DreamWorks are planning a new Trolls series.