Trollenkoning Animatronic

Recreating the Figure That First Inspired My Love for Animatronics

Recreating the Trollenkoning from Efteling’s fairytale forest has been a long-time dream of mine. This character is one of the main reasons I fell in love with animatronics in the first place. Somewhere on an old VHS tape there’s a recording of two-year-old me standing in front of the original figure, completely mesmerized. That moment stuck with me — and this project is my attempt to capture a bit of that magic again.

Overview

This build is a faithful half-scale recreation of the Trollenkoning, including all three of his signature “fortune-telling” animations: Positive, Neutral, Negative.

Even though he speaks a fictional troll language, the expressiveness of these modes makes him surprisingly easy to understand — something I tried to preserve as closely as possible.

Mechanical Structure

For the first time, I built all mechanical parts out of aluminum, using a mix of modular profiles and custom-milled components made on a tabletop CNC. The smaller 1:2 scale introduced some spatial challenges, especially inside the head, which meant simplifying or omitting a few mechanisms. Still, the switch to metal made the whole setup far more robust and precise than previous builds.

Another “first” was giving him a hand with individually moving fingers.
I studied a mechanical hand showcased by Disney during their Disney 100 exhibition and adapted the idea into a compact 4-bar linkage mechanism. To complete it, I created a silicone hand glove cast in a two-part mold with an inner core to guarantee consistent wall thickness.

This mechanism is modular enough that I can reuse it in future animatronics.

This project pushed my silicone work further than ever before:

• Added power mesh reinforcement for durability
• Embedded precisely positioned magnets for mounting and eyebrow control
• Designed and cast a high-detail silicone mask, improved through more advanced digital sculpting in Blender

The Trollenkoning’s face has a lot of character, so making him instantly recognizable was a key priority.

All animation was created in Blender using my Blender Servo Animation add-on.

• I imported footage of the original Trollenkoning
• Recreated every movement frame-by-frame
• Synced everything directly to the original audio

This approach allowed the recreated figure to match the rhythm, personality, and odd troll-language expressiveness of the source animatronic.

Scenery & Companion Owl

The Trollenkoning wouldn’t feel complete without his surroundings. I recreated key props from the Efteling display — bowls, fruit, bones, flasks — all based on reference photos.

The scene also includes a second animatronic: a small owl perched next to him, capable of turning its head and blinking. It adds a subtle touch of life to the environment and helps bring the entire setup closer to the spirit of the original attraction.

This project challenged nearly every skill I’ve built over the years — mechanical design, sculpting, silicone casting, CNC work, and animation. But bringing this childhood memory to life made every step worth it.