Trolls: Holiday in Harmony is a 2021 animated Christmas TV special produced by DreamWorks Animation. Part of the Trolls franchise, it is a sequel to Trolls Holiday, which followed the original film, while this one follows Trolls World Tour. The special aired on NBC on November 26, 2021.
Queen Poppy plans the first annual Trolls Kingdom Secret Holiday Gift Swap, but things take an unexpected turn when she and Branch draw each other's name; Tiny Diamond comes down with a bad case of writers' block.
Trolls: Holiday in Harmony provides examples of:
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Actor-Shared Background: When the Rock Trolls pose for a photo, King Thrash sticks up his middle finger. Though he has no dialogue in this special, Ozzy Osbourne - who voices Thrash in World Tour - often does this gesture when performing at concerts or posing for pictures. - Ambiguously Christian: The special is clearly set during the winter, and features several traditional elements - the "Trepak" theme from The Nutcracker is used in the opening, two Trolls are shown kissing under mistletoe at one point, and the central plot revolves around the characters giving each other gifts - that are commonly associated with Christmas. Despite this, it is never specifically stated which holiday the trolls are celebrating in-universe.
- Canon Welding: Val Thundershock and Holly Darlin', both introduced in the 2D spin-off series Trolls: TrollsTopia, appear in this special, making them the first 2D characters in the franchise to make the jump to CGI, rather than the other way around.
- Censored for Comedy: King Thrash apparently makes a pixelated middle finger gesture when Sid Fret takes of a photo of him, Barb and Val, which disturbs them all.
- Christmas Episode: The second animated one for the Trolls franchise.
- Everyone Has Standards: Played for Laughs. Both World Tour and the Trollstopia series establish that the Rock Trolls take pride in being chaotic and rude. Despite this, Barb, Val and Sir Fret are all visibly horrified when they realize King Thrash is Flipping the Bird in their holiday photo.
- Le Film Artistique: How Mr. Dinkles' flashback to when he lost his hat is presented, complete with Deliberate Monochrome and Gratuitous French.
- Fun with Subtitles: Done with Mr. Dinkle's Gratuitous French. When he says "Zut allors", it gets subtitiled as "Dang." Later, after getting a new hat, his brief words of thanks get a subtitle too long to read without pausing.
- Insecure Love Interest: Poppy and Branch goes through this:
- Branch desperately wanted to create "the ultimate gift giver", because he felt if he gave Poppy a gift too small or big, she would freak out and would end their relationship. Being the one that overthinks on everything, we spend the most time on Branch's gift compared to Poppy's. He ends up giving to Poppy a scrapbook of all his adventures with her, and Poppy finds the gift wonderful, as something only he could give her.
- Poppy felt the pressure of not knowing what to give to Branch because she describes him as "The coolest Troll in the world who is sweet, kind, cute and overly prepared for anything". Part of the reason she spends so much time on helping everyone else is to distract herself, and the audience, from finding out that she wasn't able to get anything she felt was meaningful to Branch. Branch says the best thing she can give to him is spending the holidays with her, with her giving another balloon journey with no multitasking.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The special's premise revolves around the various Troll Kingdoms coming together for their first shared holiday, spoiling the ending of Trolls: World Tour where they all put aside their differences. This includes prominently advertising Queen Barb as a main member of this cast, after she committed a Heel–Face Turn in the previous film.
- Laugh of Love: After Poppy confirms a balloon ride date with Branch with no distractions, she kisses him on the cheek. Branch then giggles in response.Poppy: Hey, Branch, how about another ballon ride over Troll Kingdom?
Branch: No multitasking?
Poppy: Nope. Just you and me.
(Poppy kisses Branch on the cheek. Branch, in return, gasps in surprise, then plants a big smile on his face while giggling) - Least Rhymable Word: Tiny Diamond's plot has him writing a rap for his father, but is unable to find a rhyme for "Guy Diamond." He goes on a quest to find it, at at the end comes to the realization that he could just rhyme to "daddy" instead.
- Misleading Package Size:
- King Trollex has trouble getting a giant comb inside a square gift box. Poppy solves the problem by turning the box around, revealing that it's long enough to fit the comb sideways.
- Poppy's gift box for Branch is enormous, but when it's opened there's nothing inside because she couldn't think of anything to give him.
- Not This One, That One: Windbreeze tells Tiny Diamond to ask the Cloud Monks for help at the top of the mountain. Tiny Diamond mentions how tall the mountain is, and then Windbreeze points out that she meant the even taller mountain next to it.
- Official Couple: At the end of World Tour, Poppy and Branch started dating. Other characters even refer the two of them as being Boyfriend and Girlfriend. In fact the plot revolves around the two of them and their hopes that their present doesn't disappoint the other.
- Puff of Logic: After Tiny Diamond gets his flow back.Female Cloud Monk: Dude, did that guy's tattoo just talk?
Male Cloud Monk: Hey, you just broke your vow of silence!
Female Cloud Monk: You just broke your vow of silence!
Male Cloud Monk: Wait, does that mean... [disappears]
Female Cloud Monk: Aaaah!... [disappears]- They later reappear when Cloud Guy brings a bunch of clouds to make a snow day for all the trolls.
- Reading Tea Leaves: At the Cloud Monk temple, Tiny Diamond is given a cup of tea. After drinking it, the leaves read "You already have the gift." Tiny dismisses this and throws the cup on the ground, and the leaves rearrange themselves to read "Look through the clutter." And when Tiny is still dismissive, the leaves just form a face and outright talks to him.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Rhyme-a-Saurus is an expert in rhymes, so naturally he speaks in rhyme.
- Rockers Smash Guitars: Val Thundershock gets a guitar that reassembles itself when smashed.
- Secret Santa: Poppy organizes a secret gift swap, sending invitations with the name of a random troll on them. She and Branch end up getting each other.
- String Theory: Branch has set up a chart with string on a corkboard to figure out what to give Poppy. Cooper and Prince D. try to hide how disconcerting they think it is.
- You Mean "Xmas": The Trolls Kingdom Secret Holiday Gift Swap is intended to be the Trolls' version of Christmas, as least as far as gift giving is concerned.
