Toy Fair 2016: The Angry Birds Movie

[Hapori Tohu]

Angry Birds first came out in 2010, and is apparently still popular enough with the kids for them to make a movie out of it. They've teamed up with LEGO to make sets based off of the film, which seems like it could be a good combination of cartoony fun and action features. There's six sets in a variety of sizes offering a variety of characters from both groups. To check them all out - read on!

 

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[Ta-metru_defender]

And the prize for most unnecessary theme goes toooo...

Edited February 18, 2016 by Ta-metru_defender

[Toa Smoke Monster]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I never got into Angry Birds. These sets don't really change my opinion on them, though I do think they come with some interesting pieces MOCists might like.

 

Also, the King Pig's Castle actually looks kind of good IMO. It's not the best set I've ever seen, but it still looks somewhat good to me.

[Boxorak the Azure Noob]

I don't exactly have high hopes for the movie, but the sets look decent enough.

[CaT in Rogue]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5phl8p3euG4

[Aanchir]

And the prize for most unnecessary theme goes toooo...

Out of curiosity's sake, what defines a "necessary theme"?

 

These sets look well designed, and I still don't get the amount of hatred they've gotten. Every discussion of this theme I've seen, even those involving otherwise reasonable people, ends up with LEGO fans sounding like a bunch of grumpy old men complaining about these newfangled "cratoons" and "vidya games" are just shallow fads that rot kids' brains and have no cultural merit.

 

Sure, the Angry Birds franchise peaked in popularity three to five years ago. But I don't remember LEGO fans (on BZPower or elsewhere) complaining nearly as much about Scooby-Doo, a franchise that was many years past its prime when it was announced as a LEGO theme. Or about Jurassic World, built on a franchise that had its last commercially successful outing in 2001, and which invited a lukewarm response from critics in every installment except its first. Or even about The Lone Ranger, a series that hadn't really been relevant within most of our lifetimes.

 

Angry Birds is a franchise that emerged onto the cultural scene less than five years ago and made a big splash, appearing in lots of merchandise, advertising, and video games. In many ways it is to today's kids what Super Mario Bros. was to the kids of the late 1980s and Pokémon was to kids of the 2000s. There have been three Angry Birds television series, so this movie won't be the series' first appearance in a non-gaming capacity.

 

All in all, I really struggle to understand why everyone's so cynical and dismissive about this? So much of the criticism just seems to boil down to "it's new, so it sucks". We'll see how the movie does and how the kids like it, but I don't think it's done anything to invite the level of cynicism I've seen.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Aanchir

[CaT in Rogue]

 

And the prize for most unnecessary theme goes toooo...

Out of curiosity's sake, what defines a "necessary theme"?

 

These sets look well designed, and I still don't get the amount of hatred they've gotten. Every discussion of this theme I've seen, even those involving otherwise reasonable people, ends up with LEGO fans sounding like a bunch of grumpy old men complaining about these newfangled "cratoons" and "vidya games" are just shallow fads that rot kids' brains and have no cultural merit.

 

Sure, the Angry Birds franchise peaked in popularity three to five years ago. But I don't remember LEGO fans (on BZPower or elsewhere) complaining nearly as much about Scooby-Doo, a franchise that was many years past its prime when it was announced as a LEGO theme. Or about Jurassic World, built on a franchise that had its last commercially successful outing in 2001, and which invited a lukewarm response from critics in every installment except its first. Or even about The Lone Ranger, a series that hadn't really been relevant within most of our lifetimes.

 

Angry Birds is a franchise that emerged onto the cultural scene less than five years ago and made a big splash, appearing in lots of merchandise, advertising, and video games. In many ways it is to today's kids what Super Mario Bros. was to the kids of the late 1980s and Pokémon was to kids of the 2000s. There have been three Angry Birds television series, so this movie won't be the series' first appearance in a non-gaming capacity.

 

All in all, I really struggle to understand why everyone's so cynical and dismissive about this? So much of the criticism just seems to boil down to "it's new, so it sucks". We'll see how the movie does and how the kids like it, but I don't think it's done anything to invite the level of cynicism I've seen.

 

My issue is less 'it's new so it sucks' and more 'it's a fad that hasn't been relevant for ages and it kinda sucks'.

 

Scooby Doo and Jurassic World are franchises that everyone's loved and talked about for decades (although I have no idea what the deal with the Lone Ranger thing was), whereas Angry Birds is sorta like that one friend you used to hang out with a lot because they were fun to be around, but they got kind of annoying pretty quick because they have like one gimmick to their whole personality and so you've sorta lost touch with them but lately you've heard they're getting married or something and you go 'well, that's nice, I guess' and suddenly one of your other friends who you've remained friends with makes a big deal out of it and starts getting on your nerves.

 

That might not be the best metaphor but it kinda sums up my opinion on the Angry Birds franchise. It's not actually bad, it just seems kind of...meh. I don't usually associate Lego with 'meh', so this is kind of irritating from my perspective.

 

(Also I know this isn't their first branding deal that could be seen as 'meh', but don't think I don't feel the same way about those things)

[Sybre]

Gotta admit, these sets look kinda nice, even if I'm not getting them. They definitely capture some sort of Angry Birds feel and LEGO's actually doing a decent job of capturing it. The sets look creative and imaginative, but the minifigures are kinda strange. Like I said, I won't get these sets, but I can safely say LEGO didn't waste their time designing them.

[Banana Gunz]

Well, I liked the trailers for the movie which looks like it might be fun... I never played the game though and never had any sort of interest in it though, and I guess the same goes for these sets. They're not bad by any standard (unless you count those un-natural figs...), but I could honestly care less. I doubt I'll see the movie in theaters, and I most definitely don't see myself buying these.

 

They have some nice parts I guess, but my main criticism is that this is one of of those themes and properties that doesn't feel particularly suited to a LEGO theme while there are others that would be so much more interesting (at least to me).

 

An upside to this is that this is technically a video game movie, and if it does well then maybe we'll see more of those (as in good adaptations) in the future, and perhaps somehow by some off logic more LEGO sets based on video games or at least video game movies. I'd like to see a Legend of Zelda set or something.

 

All in all, Angry Birds doesn't make me angry, it just makes me sigh and go "oke" because it just doesn't matter that much to me.

[ShadowVezon]

Personally, I'm not a fan of the redesigns for the birds. I suppose its necessary for the movie, but that's the biggest turn-off for me.

 

That said, I like the look of the sets, and I might even pick up one.

[fishers64]

I really like these sets - they are very well designed and good looking. The fact that the movie doesn't appeal as much as these sets do is kinda sad. I might actually pick up one if I see it on sale or something. 

[Aanchir]

Not strictly LEGO-related, but today I took a walk to the park because the weather was nice. As I was passing by the playground, I saw a bunch of kids running around with Angry Birds plushies. Yet another reminder that this franchise has a lot more life in it than many LEGO fans are willing to give it credit for. There's a lot of Angry Birds merchandise out there, and clearly someone's buying it.

[Ta-metru_defender]

Not strictly LEGO-related, but today I took a walk to the park because the weather was nice. As I was passing by the playground, I saw a bunch of kids running around with Angry Birds plushies. Yet another reminder that this franchise has a lot more life in it than many LEGO fans are willing to give it credit for. There's a lot of Angry Birds merchandise out there, and clearly someone's buying it.

No denying that, doesn't mean that there's much interest from the AFOL community as seen here. That and that, at first blush, Angry Birds isn't really a franchise that lends itself to Lego as much as, y'know, Star Wars.

[Aanchir]

 

Not strictly LEGO-related, but today I took a walk to the park because the weather was nice. As I was passing by the playground, I saw a bunch of kids running around with Angry Birds plushies. Yet another reminder that this franchise has a lot more life in it than many LEGO fans are willing to give it credit for. There's a lot of Angry Birds merchandise out there, and clearly someone's buying it.

No denying that, doesn't mean that there's much interest from the AFOL community as seen here. That and that, at first blush, Angry Birds isn't really a franchise that lends itself to Lego as much as, y'know, Star Wars.

 

Seems to me it lends itself to LEGO better than a lot of people (myself included) would have expected, judging from the quality of these sets. The sets do a good job depicting the general precariousness of the structures and jury-rigged feel of the pig vehicles while still being sturdy enough in the right places to be playable.

 

And of course I don't expect it to appeal to AFOLs as much as it does to kids. But when it comes to LEGO, kids are generally the more important audience anyway. Especially since today's kids are tomorrow's AFOLs. I wish the many AFOLs who scoff at the theme would remember that a theme doesn't have to appeal to them to have a purpose. That's not just in reference to this theme, either — I remember a lot of AFOLs similarly scoffing at the prospects of LEGO Minecraft ever since that first passed the LEGO Cuusoo review.

 

If LEGO is going to retain their incredible brand strength with kids they need to stay attentive to what kids these days are enjoying — even the things that adults dismiss as fads that'll never last. Because whether kids will enjoy these things in the future doesn't diminish whether kids enjoy them in the present.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Aanchir

[Eyru]

I like the look of these sets. They do a good job of capturing the feel of Angry Birds, particularly, as Aanchir put it, with the precariousness of the structures and the "jury-rigged" appearance of the vehicles. Angry Birds is a bit of a "silly" franchise, so I like how LEGO went all-out making thing look a little weird and out of proportion.

 

I also appreciate how nearly every set has a little catapult. Launching birds is the core mechanic of the entire franchise, so it's appropriate.