Blaine: “Wizards” is the third chapter to Guillermo del Toro’s “Tales of Arcadia” series. The first two were “Trollhunters”, a show about a teenage boy who becomes a leader of Trolls, and “3Bellow”, a story about how an alien race hid on Earth to stay away from evil that was happening on their planet. The ending to “3Bellow” showed there was going to be a new adventure for the characters of Arcadia, which leads to “Wizards”. The main characters who have been around through out the whole “Arcadia” trilogy are Toby Domzaiski, Steve, and AAARRRGGHH!, the troll. A lot of things go on in the town of Arcadia, which is why it’s called “Tales of Arcadia”.
The “Arcadia” series is additive to watch because of the adventures these characters go through. It makes you curious to know what’s going to happen next, almost like “The Lord of the Rings”. There was so much stuff happening in “Trollhunters”, that lasted three seasons. “3Bellow” went through things that lasted two season, and their path would come across the “Trollhunter” path. Things already get interesting during the first episode of “Wizards” and it makes you curious about what’s going to happen through the season. Leave it to Guillermo del Toro and his team to always make things interesting for Arcadia.
“Wizards” introduces Douxie Casperan, a wizard who has been in training for over a century. It isn’t till the 20th century that he becomes the wizard he always dreamt of being. “Wizards” shows Douxie’s journey into becoming a grand master wizard. His master is Merlin Ambrosius, who was already introduced in “Trollhunters”. Merlin is the wizard who made the Trollhunter amulet. Like the Troll characters, the wizards have existed for a thousand years thanks to the power of immortality. His best friend is a talking cat who can transform into a dragon. But this isn’t just Douxie's story.
“Wizards” introduces some new characters and also shows a lot of familiar faces fans love from “Trollhunters”. It’s a reunion. Jim Lake, the high school kid who was chosen to be a protector of good trolls, ended up becoming a troll himself because of a spell, and both he and his girlfriend, Claire, left Arcadia to travel and defend the trolls. Somewhere within me I had a feeling we would see them again. Now they’re back, going back in time I should say.
Douxie opens a time portal sending him, Jim, Claire and Steve to the 19th century. The more our time travelers stay in the past the more they alter time. They make sure good wins over evil and things should be written in the same way as they were written before. This was a time before the trolls had a warrior to protect them. They make sure the history of the Trollhunter exist.
Steve, started off as the bully when the “Arcadia" series began. Then he fell in love with an alien during “3Bellow", but she had to leave to rule her planet because she is royalty. Now Steve has traveled back in time with the others and meets someone who could be his great great grandfather. Steve is trying to be a knight, but he’s a wimp to face anything that’s tougher than him. Even though Steve is a coward, he fights anyway and he never gives up. He has all sorts of feelings going through him. As fearful as this is for him, it’s also exciting. Steve is so full of energy, it’s incredible how fast he moves. He’s also looking after his friends and that’s good because it shows he cares.
“Wizards” is showing something interesting you would never expect. There's a character who was the bad guy in “Trollhunters”, but is shown as an ally in “Wizards”. The way I describe it is like the prequel to “Star Wars”, showing Anakin Skywalker before he joined the dark side and became Darth Vader. Morgana was an enemy Jim and his friends had to face at the end of “Trollhunsters” and she was very powerful. Jim and his friends fought with everything and Morgana was destroyed. Now we see her again in “Wizards” and learn more about who she is. She hasn’t returned from the grave, we see who she was in the begging before letting the dark side seduce her. She even got her had cut off and a new hand was made for her, just like what happened to Darth Vader.
Another thing about “Tales of Arcadia” is it has a ridiculous amount of good humor that will make you laugh hard. There’s one scene in “Wizards” where Steve is teaching knights how to rap, haha, that cracked me up!
Time is repeating itself. Jim and his friends had to fight Morgana and the evil trolls in the future, but now they must fight them again in the past. “Wizards” also tells an origin story for “Trollhunters”, like the Trollhunter amulet being created and who the first ever Trollhunter was.
The past is safe, but there is still a fight to be fought in the future. Every time it looks like the world is coming to an end, it’s no surprise for Arcadia after everything it’s already been through and witnessed. The people who work on the series sure made it look funny in “Wizards”. It’s always a challenge on how the heroes are going to defeat the bad guy the show has been leading up to. There’s also something going on between Jim and Claire in the future that’s like a “Beauty and the Beast" type of thing.
Douxie feels like a new person compared to how we saw him in the beginning. He has become a wise and powerful wizard.
It’s possible there could be another season of “Wizards” because there is still a threat Douxie has to face. There is also more to come for Arcadia because a “Trollhunters” movie is in the works right now. Fans of the “Arcadia” series, like me, can not get enough of what goes on in Arcadia. There’s always something happening in that town.
