Troll | doll:Trollz | Amethyst Van Der Troll

The modern craze for troll collectibles began in Denmark in the 1960s with Thomas Dam's wooden troll figures. The figures his company Dam Things produced were eventually made of soft rubber, then of vinyl. Trolls were marketed to bring good luck to their owners, and thus trolls decorated teenagers' rooms, cars, workplaces, and many other locations. The fad subsided by the end of the 1960s, but a revival occurred by the end of the 1980s. Trolls enjoyed a surge in popularity throughout most of the 1990s. More recently, trolls have received a make-over aimed at making them more appealing to young girls. Once chubby little elfin figures, the new Trollz appear as teen girls with pixie faces, long skinny legs, and huge amounts of hair. The new Trollz are an example of age compression, or kids getting older younger, the toy industry's attempt to market their toys to ever-younger--and therefore larger--clientele.