Trolls Band Together Spoilers

(Clay and Bruce trying their best)

One thing I’ve been dying to talk about are the little ways Bruce and a lay take care of their other siblings and why.

It’s all in the little stuff! Like I am of the belief that Bruce and Clay are so close is because they could only really find solidarity in each other. Growing up no one liked how JD pushed them to be perfect, but Bruce and Clay were the only ones who felt pushed in a box, they were the only ones who got angry.

Floyd was always the peace maker and Branch was a baby so the only ones who understood their anger was each other.

Clay and Bruce always have each others backs, but I wanna talk about how they take care of baby Branch.

Like when Branch is listening to the broad cast with Velvet and Veeneer, Bruce notices Branch’s worry and turns off the radio. (Bruce also carried around Tiny bc he is a true dad.)

During the ‘It takes two’ song, Branch pulls out his blue prints and John Dory immediately pushes Branch out of the way to take control and you can see Clay and Bruce wince like they know it’s a bad idea before Clay pulls John away for the transition shot.

Not to mention Clay and Bruce seem so unironically excited to see Baby Branch that they side like JD, and I know that was probably because they’re still on weird terms with JD, but I don’t think their happiness to see BB was only for pettiness sake.

Maybe there’s some stuff I missed because I only saw the movie once and I looked down at some points to take notes so may haps I missed some back ground stuff but if there is please tell me!

1x1 - Pilot

Original air date: April 2, 1997

It is the very first episode, morning time in the Henderson household. Floyd is assembly line packing his kids’ brown bag lunches and they all greet us with their own personalities. Marcus is eager to stick his wee-wee inside whatever girl of the week he’s lusting after and Yvette is getting picked up by a Miguel character (who I’m sure was mentioned later in the series). Floyd hands her a backpack that in no way can hold 7 pairs of shoes that all complement her outfit unless they’re plimsolls. 

I think it’s interesting that Yvette was initially meant to be portrayed as a typical popular crowd member who eventually becomes the black feminist character we know her to be. Hello, character development! Why she is largely ignored in feminist TV teen discussions is beyond me. No it’s not. It’s because she’s black. 

After Yvette leaves with her heavy backpack, TJ comes down and spews his precociousness all over us with the adult-sized hat he models. After he leaves, we’re jettisoned to the title card and TJ emerges from that famous Laidlaw bus onto Piedmont grounds. 

Oh hello, Lisa. We’ll see you later when we’re discussing Yvette’s A-cup angst. You were also in Can’t Hardly Wait. 

TJ eventually makes his way to a class he shares with Marcus which doesn’t make sense because wouldn’t TJ be in AP classes? We see that Marcus wants to sit in front of Mariah, this girl that he and Mo fight over later. She’ll later appear in the Henderson House Party episode. For some reason, Marcus wants to sit in front of her as opposed to next to her. TJ eventually sits next to Mariah, who thinks he is just adorbs. This of course, pisses off Marcus who really needs to get his dick wet and Mariah is the only one entertaining him at the moment.

This is the main theme of the show: TJ’s brilliance causing issues for his family. Marcus is the middle child. It has pretty much been established that Yvette and TJ are the brainiacs and he is the slacker, for lack of better words. Marcus is jealous of TJ because he’s doted on the most due to being the baby, but also because of his exceptional intelligence. Because Marcus’ main goal as a teenage boy is sticking his wee-wee in as many girls as possible, he feels that TJ is cock-blocking him, and therefore overshadowing him when he already feels small enough. We then see TJ attempting to adjust to high school but laughing at childish things like the word “breasts.” This gets him sent to the principal’s office, alongside a clone of Anthony Keidis with Trent Reznor’s 90s baby locs.

Floyd comes up to the school because he’s a good father and talks to not Hilary Banks about whether or not TJ is mature enough to be in high school. I love that Floyd and TJ laugh together when she says “breasts” again. Like father, like son! 

We get to the big conflict of this episode, which is TJ infringing on Marcus’s hobby. TJ is now, all of a sudden the mascot and this just really ruffles Marcus’ feathers although I wonder how he didn’t know until TJ put on the costume? Why would the costume designers even make a high school mascot suit that only a child could wear? Nothing about this makes any sense except to show that TJ’s cuteness really grinds Marcus’ gears. 

The little penguin tries to break up a fight between Marcus and Mo who are “brawling” over Mariah but fails and ends up in the principal’s office with a seething Marcus who wishes TJ would disappear. At the game, TJ hides under the bleachers, butthurt by his brother’s words. When Yvette rushes to Floyd who tells him that TJ is refusing to mascot, Floyd immediately swoops in under the bleachers to do his fatherly duty.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate that Floyd is an actual good father? I mean, yes, he has to be that for his kids since his wife died, but most TV dads are portrayed as clueless and needing the guidance or assistance of a woman to effectively parent. You know, because dads’ only jobs are to provide and that’s it. If you want an emotional connection, talk to your mother. Not Floyd! Floyd actually meets TJ at his level, attempts to relate to him, climbing under the bleachers to help sort out his feelings of being the odd man out. He doesn’t default to yanking him from under the bleachers and forcing him to soldier on, hiding his feelings away to appease everyone else. I love healthy depictions of parent/child relationships, especially with black characters since we seem to be typecast as victims of endless dysfunction.

Marcus joins and apologizes for being a dick. TJ vows to accept that Marcus is dumber than him (his words, not mine). Of course, this only lasts the duration of this episode. Marcus’s shitty team wins the game, a rarity for the Penguins since in almost every episode after this, it’s mentioned that they are horrible. Aaaaand freeze-frame ending!

Stuff I noticed:

- Yvette defending TJ from the wrath of Lisa. This is more than I ever saw from Marcus. TJ will repay her by revenge porn-ing her later. No, seriously.

- Yvette even being on the cheerleading team is a rare moment of continuity, seeing as in a future episode, Yvette says she quit the team because she found it degrading.

- TJ coaching the coach at the end of the episode which led the Penguins to victory. Foreshadowing!

- Smart Guy was filmed on the same set as Boy Meets World.

⇋ Name: Jessamine Persephone Love-Witts.

⇋ Nicknames: Jess, Jessy, Jessa, Princess, Sweetheart, Baby, Kitten.

⇋ Age: 19. [ Real Age: 48. ]

⇋ Birthday: March 4, 1971.

⇋ Astral Sign: Pisces.

⇋ Sexuality: Bisexual.

⇋ Hair Color: Dark brown, appearing to be almost black except in certain lights.

⇋ Eye Color: Light brown, often appearing golden in the light.

⇋ Height: 5’4.

⇋ Identifying Marks: C-Section scar, black irises when angry or using large masses of powers.

⇋ Unique Features: Vintage wardrobe, collection of crowns, tiaras and diadems.

⇋ Species: Part god and part demon, often dubbed a demi-demon.

⇋ Occupation: Reigning Queen of the Underworld.

⇋ Parents: Hades of the Underworld, Diana Adams.

⇋ Known Siblings: Christian Conway (half-sibling), Clara Adams (half-sibling), Lyric Adams (half-sibling), Bradley Adams (half-sibling, deceased), Jake Adams (half-sibling), Amanda Patterson (half-sibling), Pierce Ellis (half-sibling), Esmeralda Adams (step-sister, cousin).

⇋ Children: Ridley Stark (daughter via James), Alexandria Lancaster (daughter via James), James Lancaster II (son via James), Grace Witts (daughter via Vincent), Noelle Witts (daughter via Vincent), Ashton Witts (son via Vincent), Contessa Witts (daughter via Vincent), Hope Witts (daughter via Vincent), Odette Witts (daughter via Vincent), Charles Witts (son via Vincent), Adeline Witts (daughter via Vincent), Adam Witts (son via Vincent).

⇋ Other Relatives: Lucifer Adams of Hell (uncle, deceased), Rowan Adams of Hell (uncle),), Esmeralda Adams (cousin, step-sister), Leah Witts (sister-in-law), Zeus (uncle), Poseidon (uncle).

⇋ Marital Status: Married to Vincent Witts.

⇋ Romantic Partners: Zach Maxwell (ex-lover), Felix Nichols (ex-lover), Claude Burton (ex-betrothed), Jenna Floyd (ex-lover), James Lancaster (ex-husband), Vincent Witts (husband.)

⇋ Inhabitance: Underworld (currently), Henderson Asylum (formerly), Hell (formerly).

⇋ Faceclaim: Adelaide Kane.

Personality: Jessamine isn’t always the easiest to get close to. While she’s more kind and generous than most, she extends her compassion at a distance from people, rarely getting close enough to them to truly bond, as she has a great deal of trust issues. After being left by her father in Hell, being betrayed by those she believed to be the closest to her and losing friends and family over and over, she found herself struggling to trust anyone to truly let them in. Therefore, even though she has moments where she is compassionate, mostly with the souls she relates most with, or feels maternal towards, she is often distant to a degree. However, to those she does know, she’s incredibly close to them. She’s compassionate, loving and caring. She’s often the caretaker of her friends and family. While some of them are older, she is usually the one trying to keep everyone in line and is viewed as more motherly. She’s stubborn and stuck in many of her ideals. She isn’t one to give up quickly and is incredibly determined in just about everything. She dedicates herself to being a good mother, good wife and good Queen, and even though she doesn’t admit it publicly, her friends and family will come first, though she loves her people. One of her biggest handicaps is her family, and most people have gone after them because they know losing them will cripple her. Despite her good traits, Jessamine can be incredibly manipulative, cunning and ruthless. She may have a softer heart, but that’s not to be confused as someone who will not destroy their enemies with an iron fist. While she’s calculating and intelligent, and doesn’t always strike, she isn’t scared to. She’s a talented liar, and often uses her innocent looking face and crowns and dresses to trick people into believing she is innocent. And when she cannot rely on that, she relies on her skills and cunning. She is perceptive and knows exactly where to hit and how to hurt. Jessamine doesn’t deal well with emotions or vulnerability. When she’s forced to face this, she’s got a bad habit of forcing it down as she knows if she faces all the pain and suffering she’s gone through, she’ll break and won’t come back from it. She’s learning to let people in more recently, to the deepest depths of her sadness, but still isn’t good at expressing her darker emotions. Biography: Jessamine was the eldest surviving child of Hades, King of the Underworld. She was an odd combination of a demon and goddess, known mostly as a demi-demon, although her mother wasn’t known to her until she was much older. Almost all of Hades children were killed off through attacks meant to destabilize his rule, but not Jessamine. She was a fighter from the day she was born. The first four years of her life were spent with her father, admiring him and learning everything she could about being a ruler by his example. Her life was perfect, even though she didn’t have a mom, she didn’t feel like she needed one. When Jessamine was four, a trusted source informed her father that there were people willing to slaughter Jessamine like the rest of his children. Dejected, and certain he couldn’t let that happen, Hades made a plan to abandon his throne and make his brother, Lucifer the regent until his daughter was old enough to take the throne herself. Her time with her father had come to an end, and so had her time in the place she’d learned to think of as home. She was forced to pack up her life and move to Hell with her Uncle, Aunt and her cousin Clara. Life in Hell was different, and Jessamine was not the same girl she was when she left Hell as she’d been when she’d entered it. She’d changed in the years in Hell. While some things would preserve her innocence, like her elder cousin’s protective nature over her, there was no avoiding her giving into her demon side under the pressure of being surrounded by darkness. She didn’t care about much, that ability became lost on her as she hardened through the years. Between all the evil she was surrounded by and constantly being rolled over when it came to things regarding her throne, it was the only way she could survive. For a while it worked. She was able to live a life as a selfish, cold hearted woman, not caring about anyone or anything other than her few family members. There was one person able to break through her façade, and that was James, a servant in Hell. He was one of the many souls that didn’t seem to belong in Hell, one the many souls that Lucifer had trafficked in through his abuse of his power in the Underworld. He was able to wake something inside of her, something that drove her to care about more than herself, something that drove her to strive to be a good Queen one day. She started to make new allies, ones who’d help her get out of Hell one day in the case that Lucifer’s cold attitude towards her would turn into him making a bid for the throne. She started to make moves to care about more than just herself. Not long after her sister Clara had given birth, she learned she was carrying James child. His form had been made similarly to that of an undead to allow him to interact in Hell, allowing him to impregnate her. When she went to a witch to confirm suspicions, she was taken captive and held until she had her baby by Lucifer, who knew that an heir would give her the power to take her throne. He wiped her memory clean of any memories of it after she’d given birth, sending her back to her life with James. To prevent anymore incidents as such, he soon decided he would take James too. To protect him, Jessamine made her first undead, sending him to earth to live on as she’d have rather he’d be safe and alive then in danger and with her. Life after that was focused around one purpose, working to find a way to get her throne back from Lucifer, and trying to remain alive. It worked for a while, at least until her cousins started being captured by the asylum in the human world. When her sister Clara was taken, she decided that it was time to leave. Her plan didn’t pan out well, as she was cornered by Lucifer, who was enraged. She wasn’t sure why at first, but eventually the crashing revelation came down when her ‘Aunt’ Diana came to beg for her life. It was explained that Diana had been on a diplomatic mission in the Underworld when Hades had seduced her. She’d ended up pregnant with Jessamine and managed to convince Lucifer to let her stay in the Underworld long enough to give birth under the pretense that there was more work to be done. It was all kept a secret, from Lucifer, from Jessamine and from her cousins. Lucifer had plans to kill Jessamine, but instead, he was convinced to banish her to the asylum. At the Asylum: Jessamine was not happy to be trapped within the asylum, and she didn’t have an easy time blending into the customs of Earth either. However, it did allow her to make connections with other races that were trapped with the asylum, and even gave her the opportunity to earn her throne back. She ended up manipulating Lucifer’s son and heir, Bradley into signing the throne over to her once again by using the girl he loved against him. It caused irreparable damage to their relationship, but as soon as Lucifer surrendered Hell’s throne to Bradley, she got hers as well. During that time, she was reunited with James, and while she was in the middle of the fight for her throne, over the course of a few months they came together once again, and she ended up conceiving a child. It only drove her to fight harder. When getting Bradley to promise not to retaliate, he only promised her that for the Underworld and for herself, not for James or her child. So the only way to protect them was to make them part of the Underworld. She married James both for his protection and because she loved him. Not long after, the barrier keeping in the supernatural dropped, and she was able to return home for the first time.On the day of her coronation she suffered what she thought miscarriage as a result of being poisoned by Lucifer, and for days after found herself in anguish over her loss. A short while later, she was forced to give birth naturally, expecting a dead baby. However, she was overjoyed to find that her daughter was well and alive and for the next few months dedicated herself to being the best mother possible. Five months after the asylum set them free, it drew James, her daughter and Jessamine back into its walls. She was able to work from there with the help of her advisers sending her work and documents. Learning to work from the asylum wasn’t the hard part it turned out, because she soon started to realize she’d fallen in love with her best friend Vincent Witts. After several obstacles, she made her choice and chose Vincent. They had more obstacles to move past as she was carrying another child with James, and the pregnancy was slowly killing her. She managed to fight through in the end and a short while after her and Vincent got engaged. Months into their engagement, the asylum took him captive and after weeks of searching, she’d given up. She turned her focus on her daughter, who’d sporadically aged up after healing someone. She managed to break the barrier partially and escape to find answers in the Underworld. Around the same time, Lucifer had sent demons to capture her ex-husband James who was in Hell. She ended up getting assaulted. She believed the demons had left her pregnant with twins, and was forced to try to deal with life after what had happened. Later, for revenge Jessamine and Clara killed Lucifer. Vincent returned eventually, and she learned what had happened to him. They were finally wed a while after his return. At his coronation, Vincent was murdered and before she could bring him back, Lucifer used his own spirit to hold Vincent’s and she had to destroy Lucifer to finally bring her husband back. The same night he was brought back, she learned the twins she carried was his. She gave birth not long after and for a while they were happy. Their happiness extended until the summer, and in that time they had another son. When summer came, Vincent was attacked, and was turned into a hybrid by his sister in order to save him. Jessamine was distraught when she found out she might lose him. When he awoke she proposed they renew their vows. Only a short while later her brother declared war on her, telling her she could either give up her friend Ainsley to be his citizen after she turned her to save her life, or go to war. She went to war. She ended up killing her brother in the end after he struck to try and kill her child. Not long after, Jessamine teamed up with Persephone – a close friend in order to bring down the supernatural border that held in the creatures of the asylum, for good. Since then she has moved back to the Underworld. She’s been working on modernizing the Underworld with her husband. They’ve since had four more children.