Queen Barb (2024)

Barbara, most commonly referred to by her nickname of Barb, is the queen of the Rock Trolls and Thrash's daughter. She made her first appearance in the DreamWorks Trolls franchise as the main antagonist of Trolls World Tour where she nearly starts The Rockalypse, but reformed by the end of the film.

She never appeared in Trolls: TrollsTopia but was mentioned in the episode "TrollsTopia"; she was also seen in the supportive short series Trolls Scrapbook Stories, where not only did she went on another tour, but she now visits Poppy regularly with Debbie. She also appeared in Trolls: Holiday in Harmony as a supporting character. She also appears as a main character in Trolls Remix Rescue. Though she is absent in Trolls Band Together, she was meant to be mentioned by Poppy to Viva but the scene was cut making her completely absent from the movie.^[1]

Appearance

Official Bios

Trolls World Tour

Official Twitter

Personality

General

Queen Barb is shown to be a zealous hard rocker at heart, who loves the members of her Tribe and her music. Even though she mostly shields herself with a rough exterior, Barb actually has a softer side that she mostly expresses around the kids in her Tribe (she is seen rocking with Amp during Crazy Train); she also cares deeply for her senile father, and her pet bat Debbie, whom she calls her "hairy little baby". Barb appears to have a more realistic perspective of friendship and believes that one can't just become best friends all of a sudden, but rather friendship takes time with mutual care and respect. But judging by how the other Rock Trolls treated her (as their queen and leader and not as a fellow Troll to befriend), it seemed that she was lonely and wanted real companionship.

Her more realistic approach to the world lets her see how the Tribes were different, which was a stark contrast to Poppy who believed everyone was the same, but she didn't see how this was positive. Instead, she saw the only way to unite the Trolls as being under one music, which she believed should be her own music: Rock. Her plans proved to be far more insidious, as she planned not only to eradicate all other kinds of music except Rock, but to turn the other Troll Tribes into "Rock zombies", using the Rock string to overwrite their true nature and force it to be dedicated to Rock. Although Barb thought her actions were righteous and for the greater good, she casually admitted her goal was basically world domination, and called it fun.

She had no qualms with threatening and attacking the other Tribes, as seen in her confrontation with King Trollex, and appeared to look down upon them and their music (such as mocking the Techno Trolls' music as "bleeps and bloops" and calling the Classical Trolls' music boring because theirs doesn't include lyrics). She especially mocked the Pop Trolls after going on a violent rant of how much she hated Pop music, thus appearing to loathe Pop the most out of all the other tribes. This is likely due to the ancient Pop Trolls being responsible for the Tribes living apart and isolated from each other. Barb didn't seem to realize, or perhaps she just didn't care, that her motives and her methods to destroy all the other Tribes' music so that all are united under Rock is basically the same thing the ancient Pop Trolls did, which made her a hypocrite, if not a worst villain due to converting Trolls into Rock zombies.

Barb displayed a twisted cruelty when she tossed the guitar holding the Strings to Rock-zombified Poppy so she would be the one who converted King Peppy and the Funk Twins. It backfired on her, as Poppy had avoided the brainwashing of the Ultimate Power Chord. Barb's constant victories during the Trolls World Tour made her arrogant and overconfident; she was so sure of her victory that didn't perceive this as a bad idea to begin with when she tossed Poppy the guitar.

Although she threw blame onto Poppy for destroying all music, Barb did show remorse after realizing that the ruining of music was ultimately her fault. During Just Sing, she seemed to resist the urge to sing with the other Trolls, and as a result her heart didn't glow nor did she have her colors return until right at the end of the song, with her late entry starting the songs "Rock" section. Once she realized her mistake, she learned to accept other's company and their differences. When she finally joins into the harmony created by the 6 Tribes, she took her first step of making new friends by accepting Poppy's offer of friendship, therefore gradually becoming a happier person.

In Trolls Scrapbook Stories, it was shown that Barb had grown to regret her actions in Trolls World Tour, and was taking steps to make up for it. In Trolls: Holiday in Harmony, she is shown singing the line "I've done a lot of foolish things, That I really didn't mean" during the song Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours). It is shown she is now on good terms with everyone else and is even excited to partake in Poppy's gift swap.

Other

Barb gives derogatory nicknames to other Trolls, and generally isn't afraid to insult them. In Trolls World Tour, she uses the following:

• "Popsqueak/Pipsqueak" - refers to Poppy being 1 centimeter shorter than Barb herself. Poppy didn't like this, and tried to protest that she's not one.
• "Popsicle" - another one of her degrading terms to Poppy. A play on words, she calls Poppy a "sucker", meaning she's gullible.
• "Popcorn" - a more general mocking to Poppy.
• "Boytoy" - this is her nickname to Rock Zombie Branch. "Boytoy" is a very degrading term, and was her worst nickname for anyone. For girls, this terms means a young girl who's sexually attractive, and thus a "toy" for male sexual desires. When referring to a man, the term refers instead to the man being a "sex toy" for older women.

Relationships

Friends

Riff

Riff is Barb's right-hand man, who generally does whatever she tells him. She calls him casual nicknames like "dude" and "man" in a typical rocker fashion. Riff is shown to fear her temper, but was also the first Rock Troll to tell her something she didn't want to hear, pointing out that her plan to make everyone look the same and like the same things would render to no one knowing that they're cool.

Tim Heitz confirmed that Barb and Riff are like brother and sister in terms of relationship (or cousins) and there is no attraction between them.^[4]

Val Thundershock

In Trolls: TrollsTopia, Val Thundershock and other Rock Trolls accept their Queen's behavior as a changed person, but acknowledge her past actions though they no longer reflect their current situation. Val was also taken on her second tour during the Trolls Scrapbook Stories short "Poppy's Rock Queen Transformation", presumably the pair are on good terms.

After she appeared in Trolls: Holiday in Harmony alongside Barb, Tim Heitz mentioned that Val was one of Barb's "besties".^[4]

Other Rock Trolls

Although mostly a callous Troll, Barb does have a soft spot particularly to the kids form her tribe as they admire her as a queen. This unfortunately doesn't change the fact that she has generally little to no friends, despite claiming otherwise and citing Carol as one. The Rock Trolls seem to show little interest in their Queen herself, and are more in supporting her plan to make Rock music the dominant genre. Barb herself notes to Poppy that her people often pretend to be her friends, and only tell her what she wants to hear.

Queen Poppy

Before she began her world tour, Barb used to hate the Pop Trolls for what their ancestors did in the past; therefore, she held the same grudge towards Poppy as the Pop Trolls' leader during the tour. When Poppy reached out to her to become friends through a glitter card, Barb misunderstood her friendship request and lost her temper, believing that she was making fun of her since she regarded Poppy as selfish as the ancient Pop Trolls; she immediately burned the card afterwards. She also acted condescending towards Poppy when she managed to hold her captive, particularly after she didn't live up to Barb's expectations.

When Poppy accidentally destroys all music by damaging all of the Strings, Barb shoves the entire blame onto the former, despite her own misdeeds, so that she can hide her regret of what she had wrought. However, after witnessing how Poppy has encouraged the reunification of Tribes and how she (along with the other Tribe leaders) helped everyone realize that music truly comes from within them all, Barb finally appreciates and becomes friends with Poppy.

Though she never made an appearance, she was mentioned by name in the Trolls: TrollsTopia episode "TrollsTopia", when Poppy said "our good friend Queen Barb", indicating Poppy still considers Barb as a friend. In "Smooth Operator", Poppy describes Barb as her "bestie x infinity +1". And though she hasn't been physically seen in the series, in Trolls Scrapbook Stories, it was said that she and Debbie visit Poppy every so often.

Branch

Barb mocks him when she first meets him as "Poppy's little boyfriend", clearly not impressed with him and was annoyed he dropped a heavy book on her. She even insults him after he's transformed into a Rock zombie, calling him a "boytoy". But it's presumed that with Barb's change of heart, they're now friends.

Family

King Thrash

The pair have a good father-daughter relationship, and Thrash apparently supported Barb's conquest of the Strings. She appeared to be quite eager to impress him by her conquest. It was also mentioned in Trolls World Tour: The Junior Novelization that she was under pressure to please her dad. Nevertheless, by the end of Trolls World Tour she accepts his advice to let everyone be what they want to be, including herself. According to DreamWorks' Twitter account, Barb is a "Daddy's Girl".^[5]

Pets

Debbie

Debbie is Barb's pet bat, whom she has a strong affection for. She's upset when Debbie has been dressed up by Poppy, losing her temper and throwing a violent tantrum. She moves Debbie away so that she doesn't accidentally harm her.

Skills & Abilities

She has most normal Troll abilities, as well as the abilities of her Tribe.

Driving

She's fully capable of riding a Beetle Bike upside down, though later in the ending credits of Don't Slack, when teaching Poppy how to ride one, appears to be frightened of how she drives it.

Leadership

As a leader, she lived to expectations of her station as the "baddest" rocker around and lead her Tribe in the name of rock. However, unlike Poppy, she doesn't seem to be surrounded by friends she can rely on. In addition, when Riff spoke against her just before Poppy smashed the Strings she displayed issues with listening to others and ignored both Poppy and Riff as they spoke up against her, a issue that Poppy herself had only just come to the realisation moments before was important to be a good Queen.

In Trolls World Tour: The Junior Novelization, it was mentioned that she was expected to live up to expectations of her father.

Psyche

Barb's intelligence is a bit above average for her Tribe, and was able to put into action her plans for world domination within a short span after becoming Queen. Her tactics for taking the Strings considered hitting the other Tribes hard, and when need be she resorted to more sneakier modes to turn things in her favor.

Her realistic approach to things means that she had mistrust towards Poppy and Trolls of other Tribes, but she understood her short comings and limits, hiring bounty hunters when she wanted Poppy dealt with specifically. Despite her intelligence in comparison to other Rock Trolls, she demonstrated that while she understands the bigger picture, her conclusions are not the best. While her source of information gathering is still not yet known, she was very well informed on other Trolls. Her only short-sightedness in this area was expecting the Pop Trolls to be a bigger threat than they actually were, and underestimating Poppy's tactifulness in avoiding from getting brainwashed. Her plan had worked so well that she got co*cky about her victory, which was her undoing.

Music

Barb is seen using a wireless, axe-shaped electric guitar that can shoot out power beams with each strum of the strings. She's seen playing this guitar with both a left-handed and a right-handed posture, making Barb ambidextrous.

She also sings. Though she's capable of going higher into upper notes, in Trolls World Tour, her voice has a dark tone with a gruff quality to it, and thus she has a tendency to favor lower ranges. This makes her vocal a contrast to Poppy with her higher vocal pitch and brighter tone.

As Queen of the Rock Trolls, it was her sworn duty to protect her music, including the red string of Rock, until she learnt music comes from inside. Due to her position, and Rock Trolls giving a lot of high status to talented bands and musicans, Barb likely holds a lot of social ranking and status among her people.

Medical Status and Issues

She's seen in Crazy Train leaping between various Fauna that the Rock Trolls are using for transport during her World Tour. She's shown to be quite agile and strong.

Physical Injuries

As noted in "Appearance", Barb is missing the tip of her left ear which is shaped like a bite mark. It is unknown currently what caused this injury.

Songs

Trolls World Tour

• "Rock You Like A Hurricane"
• "Crazy Train"
• "Barracuda"
• "Just Sing"

Etymology

"Barb" is short for "Barbara", as revealed within the Trolls World Tour movie when her father King Thrash said the line "its okay Barbara, just let everyone be who they want to be, including you".

Of another note worth mentioning in relationship to her name in regards to the line Guy Diamond said in Trolls World Tour "everyone was taken to Volcano Rock City by Barb and her Barbarians". Aside from the obivous intended pun on her name "Barb", both "Barbara" and "Barbarian" have the same origin from the greek word "βάρβαρος" which means "strange" or "foreign", which was used by the Greeks to refer to something or someone from a alien or foreign land which is strange compared to their own culture.

In concept art, Riff's name was "Spyke", likely to make his name match Barb's as both names would have referred to pointy objects. Since the name was changed to "Riff", the pair's naming scheme was broken as a result.

Trivia

General

• Due to part of her left ear being missing, Barb is the only known Troll to have shown a form of physical mutilation so far.
  • However, the reason of why her left ear is chipped is never explained so far.
• Barb displays traits from past Trolls sources:
  • Her short hair is very similar to how Branch's hair is shorter than most Trolls. According to supporting Trolls material, Branch's hair is short due to his habit of not showing his full potential. When Trolls show their full potential, their hair grows as was the case with Branch. This means Barb's "standard appearance" is likely not her fullest potential, just as is the same case for Branch.
  • In later sources for the Rainbow Trolls, it was noted that all Rainbow Trolls had hidden "True Colors" that only showed when they're reflecting their true selves. Because of this, she displays traits of this family, despite being from an entirely different Tribe. "Rainbow Trolls" are currently considered a retired family as of Trolls World Tour.
• Barb is not the first Punk Rock-style Troll Doll design; in fact, she's one of several. In the 1980s, Dam Things produced the "Gonk Punk Rock", a Troll based on a British Punk Rocker. Russ Trolls would later produce a Punk Rocker Troll Doll in the 1990s; this particular doll is one of the most well-known dolls of the Russ Trolls era. Hasbro also produced an action Troll Doll called "Punk Troll" as part of their The Original Battle Trolls action figures lineup for Series 2.
• Barb's star sign is Aries.^[6]
  • This is likely a nod to Aries being said to be brave or bold, determined and adventurous.
    • In 2023, however, the DreamWorks Trolls Twitter account stated that Barb's starsign was switched to Taurus and Branch was given the Aries starsign.^[7]
• Discounting Poppy, Barb was the only Troll Leader to be mentioned from Trolls World Tour in Trolls: TrollsTopia until the episode "Troll Exchange Program", which mentions Trollex.

Specific To...

Trolls World Tour

• Her red hair matches the color of the Rock string, which is also red.
• In the extras video "Tourist Map", Cloud Guy calls Barb "the Queen of Darkness". This is a nod to her father's voice actor, Ozzy Osbourne, who's nicknamed "the Prince of Darkness".
• During Just Sing, Barb was the last Troll to re-color and the only Troll whose heart didn't start glowing until right at the end of the song, when she chimes in. Upon doing so, she also not only re-embrace Rock Music but the harmony of the other Tribes' music, thus gaining a rainbow mohawk, this was followed by Poppy herself coloring up afterwards. Poppy and she were the only two Trolls to do so.

References