Angry Birds

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Video game fandom
NameAngry Birds
Developer(s)Rovio
Release date11 December 2009
External link(s)https://www.angrybirds.com/
Related articles on Fanlore.

Angry Birds is a mobile video game franchise developed by Rovio Entertainment. The game series follows the adventures of the titular flock of birds who try to save their eggs from the green Bad Piggies. The games spawned a successful franchise including games, animated series, two theatrical films, and numerous merchandise.

Canon

The gameplay of most of the Angry Birds games involves launching birds from a slingshot in order to destroy structures and defeat enemy pigs.[1] The objective of each level is to eliminate all the pigs on the screen using a limited number of birds. The player controls the angle and power of the bird's trajectory by pulling back on the slingshot and releasing it at the desired moment. The player must carefully aim the bird in order to hit the pigs or other targets and cause the maximum amount of damage. The game features a wide variety of different bird types, each with their own unique abilities. For example, the red bird is a basic bird with no special abilities, while the yellow bird can be activated mid-flight to increase its speed and power. Other birds include those that split into multiple smaller birds, those that can drop explosive eggs, and those that blow up structures.

There is not much continuity within the games and animated series, but there is a loose storyline that connects them. The main protagonists are a flock of colorful birds, each with their own personality and power, who live peacefully on Piggy Island. However, their idyllic life is constantly threatened by a group of greedy green pigs, led by King Pig, who want to steal their eggs. According to the law of Piggy Island, the the leader must eat one egg in his lifetime, or he will lose his crown. The birds use a slingshot to launch themselves at the pigs and their fortresses, in order to protect their eggs and stop the pigs' schemes. But the pigs never give up, and they always come up with new ways to try to get the eggs. Over the years, more birds and pigs have been added, and the flock embarks on more adventures.

The Angry Birds Movie and its sequel present a different continuity, where the birds and the pigs live on separate islands. Red, the leader of the flock, is a grumpy outcast who struggles with his anger issues. Leonard, the king of Piggy Island, sails to Bird Island with his minions, pretending to be friendly, but secretly planning to steal the eggs. This sparks the first war between the birds and the pigs, which ends with the birds' victory and the pigs' retreat. However, peace does not last long, as a new threat emerges from Eagle Island. Zeta, the leader of the eagles, launches ice balls at both islands, intending to destroy them and create a new paradise for herself. The birds and the pigs have to team up to stop her, with the help of Mighty Eagle, who turns out to be Zeta's ex-husband. He had left her because he was too cowardly to face his responsibilities. Together, they manage to save the day, and the eagles reconcile with each other and get married.

Fandom

The Angry Birds fandom began as early as 2009, when the first game was released for mobile devices. Soon, the game attracted millions of fans around the world, who created parodies, fan animations, and walkthroughs of the game. The popularity of Angry Birds reached its peak from 2012 to 2015, which some fans call the "Golden Age" of the franchise. During this period, many spin-off games and merchandise were released, expanding the Angry Birds universe. One of the most notable additions were Angry Birds Toons, a series of animated shorts that added more depth and humor to the characters and their stories, and Bad Piggies, where the players play as the pigs stealing the eggs by building cars and other vehicles.

When the first feature film adaptation of the game was released in 2016, the movie received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, who praised the animation and humor, but criticized the story and characters. Some fans felt that the movie was oversaturated with pop culture references and product placements, and that it deviated too much from the original game's premise and style. The movie also sparked controversy over the redesign of the birds and pigs, which some fans liked and others hated. The movie was a commercial success, grossing over $352 million worldwide, but also marked a low point for the franchise, as it failed to revive the waning interest and popularity of Angry Birds.

In 2019, The Angry Birds Movie 2 was released, which received positive reviews from critics. However, some fans disliked the movie for deviating too much from the source material. It was also in this year that Rovio removed the classic Angry Birds games from the Google Play and the App Store, citing the difficulty of maintaining and updating them for the modern mobile gaming market. This angered many fans who grew up with the original games and wanted to play them again, popularizing the hashtag #BringBack2012 in protest. Some fans also criticized Rovio for focusing on free-to-play games with microtransactions and ads, instead of the premium, ad-free experience of the classics. In 2021, Rovio announced that it would bring back the classic Angry Birds games to the mobile platforms, after hearing the outcry from the fans. This sparked a resurgence of interest and nostalgia for the franchise among the fans. However, the remake Rovio Classics: Angry Birds was removed after a year, much to fans' criticism.

In 2023, Sega Sammy Holdings agreed to buy Rovio Entertainment for $776 million, in a move that would bring Angry Birds under the same umbrella as Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega said that it would use Rovio's expertise in mobile gaming to expand its global presence and leverage its own IPs. The acquisition also raised the possibility of cross-franchise collaborations between Angry Birds and Sonic characters.

Example Fanworks

Fan animations and videos

Fan games

Fan art

  • Sam Spratt "realistic Angry Birds"

Other

  • Amgry Burds
  • Angry Birds X, fan animated TV series concept by ABFan21.

Archives and Communities

Links & Resources

References

  1. ^ http://www.macworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=356224
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