Lady Birds in Pink

Talking about weird coincidences. I blogged about Angry Birds recently. In fact it was my latest post until day before yesterday, when I talked about genderized target margeting. Today... I suppose I'm making a mashup of the two? Which I swear I did not plan at all.

Ok, after Friday's post it has come to my awareness that a new Pink Bird is to be presented in Angry Birds Seasons. Pink Bird is a girl bird who I suppose has the ability to distract the pigs with her bubbles or something of the sort. (I'm not sure, the game's not out yet.) An interesting idea indeed. However the character... I guess she's supposed to be the Amy Rose and Vanille of birdies, and that might be exactly what irks me here. I'm not exactly a fan of overly cutesy girlie characters, except if they somehow break that stereotype. Which I highly doubt will be the case here.

Don't get me wrong, I love female characters. And Pink Bird, according to the ad, seem to have her own skills certainly, and she seems somewhat smart as well. But that is not what I'm talking about now. 

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It's the thing about adding girl characters in general. Especially to games that are meant for children. I suppose some people still think that if you do stuff to kids you have to go over the top. In everything. That there needs to be girl things and boy things, and that those things need to be clearly separated and color labeled. That of course is hardly the case. There is no way a girl would be biologically drawn to pink color, dresses or mascara. Just like a boy wouldn't be to cars, sports and video games. It is a cultural thing that is developed in the social interaction with other people. Usually with people who, consciously or subconsciously, encourage to certain behavior and interests with certain genders. Not only do I feel people shouldn't feed these stereotypes that, yes, might attract some girls and boys, but at the same time alienate others, I feel that it is totally unnecessary to bring gender into things that don't need it.

Was there once a game called Angry Boy Birds? No, there wasn't. The were just birds. That were angry. The birds were totally non-genderized, the concept was good, and all kids, not just boys, liked them. Or at least I thought so. Was I wrong? Was there in fact a need to a pink, airy, eyelash batting, bubble blowing girl bird? And there was no other option to design that girl either?

For how I've seen it, and if you really think about it there should always have been girl birds in that world. I'm not very much in the Angry Birds lore, but the whole base of the game is that the pigs stole the birds' eggs, right? So, where did the eggs come from? I see no reason why the pissed birds attacking the pigs wouldn't have been the whole bird community, girls and all. I've never ever though I should be seeing Angry Birds masculine in any way. But, certainly, that is the official opinion, and in fact there already do exist female characters before Pink Bird. If you don't already know, care to guess what they look like.

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Ok, Miss Piggy is priceless (they just added the bow, now that's hilarious), but the Angry Chicks are just too much. Red Bird is not amused about her insane lashes and yellow bow. And White Bird... Oh White Bird, what have they done to you? It's like looking at some disturbing turn in bird evolution where birds have finally gone insane and are murdering pigs in their beds dressed as prostitutes. Wouldn't less sometimes be more? Guys? Well, apparently not, and that's why there must also be a version with pink lipstick on her. 

The ladies seem to bring interesting aspects to the games, by the way. They change the way we are supposed to think about the birds and their eggs. They bring family life in game. Gosh, now it's almost brutal to think about the birds having their scared, crying babies kidnapped from them, and the fathers (this is the game's opinion at least) going on a suicide mission to rescue them. How many single mothers will be left behind? Thousands! If you think I'm exaggerating, check out this pic I found. 

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Oh, and why again are the eggs wearing a bow and a cap? Really? I don't think the other eggs were. Especially when there is no way to know that the kids will be a boy and a girl. They are eggs! Red Bird couple must have some pretty heavy expectations for their children.

So, yeah. Bringing Pink into Birds isn't a huge deal, if you think it like that. It is surely a very natural next step to the series' line of ladies. But every game and a product of popular culture has the choice to create characters that challenge the general idea of things. In this case, gender. In those situations, what causes people to dig up the easiest, most stereotypical of all and not giving it any more debt? If you can put birds in space, the sky is no more your limit. Thus, you could have made this character anything. Instead you colored her pink and gave her lashes. That's not character design. 

I don't think even Miss Piggy will appreciate that.

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