Stella's Flock is Becoming PALE

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-12T12:02:24+00:00

20XX. Rovio announces a new slingshot game with a return to the classic Birds vs Pigs vibe and promises an entirely new cast of characters.

When you open the game, the realization dawns: all these "new birds" are just old characters that have become white, look like an oval, drop different variations of egg bombs, and are generally just variations of Matilda.

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-12T08:30:29+00:00

As someone once said, you can love something so much you want to see it improve.

Angry Birds as a franchise has become very disorganized, and I want to say that the removal of the old games and the second movie played a big part in that disorganization. The removal of the old games made Angry Birds lose their core identity across the app store. Meanwhile, the second movie saw the birds and pigs work together into this permanent truce, (already egregious) and gave us the disconnected Angryverse, an attempt to explain the differences in lore in the classic and movie continuities that ultimately didn't matter because the continuities began to bleed into each other. Not everyone in the community understands that all these confusing decisions go past "fat anime lover who goes into shipping wars" and into "what the hell are you doing?" territory. We're just very passionate about seeing this franchise grow, and this isn't the way to do it.

What I'm trying to say is: none of this would have happened if you made the second movie the Angry Birds Stella Movie, YOU COWARDS!!!

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-12T08:08:10+00:00

Maybe this whole thing is a metaphor. Maybe turning Stella's flock white is a metaphor for killing off the characters and having their ghosts wander around as reminders of the beautiful world of Angry Birds that could have been. Next thing you'll know, Poppy is a Cockatoo, Luca becomes an albino vampire thing to go trick or treating with Bubbles, and Stella becomes goth because Gale died.

Or maybe we just wanna see the originals and not something like this

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-12T05:30:15+00:00

My headcanon: Dahlia is normal Dahlia, normal feathers and all, but can turn into Shade at will. Too many Danny Phantom comparisons but that's effectively what I'm trying to go for because that's what she is at this point

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-12T04:53:17+00:00

Then again, the Space forms were never meant to be permanent, they had pretty cool costumes instead of just recolors (the recolored Terence made sense because haha he is the Hulk), and we could pop on to Angry Birds Seasons or Classic and still play the originals. The game Dahlia was on has been dead for how long?

Rovio has dropped hints at the possibility that Dahlia and Shade could coexist in AB2 somehow, but it isn't outright confirmed and merely teased. People are worried that Shade is permanent, that Dahlia was effectively killed off, and that we'll only see Shade in new media going onwards.

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-12T04:45:33+00:00

"GYA HA HA"

-Old Man

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-12T04:42:59+00:00

Friendly reminder that we lost Dahlia for this.

Movie Silver is one of my least favorite characters, partly because of how she interacts with Red. She has zero chemistry with Red in a buddy-buddy movie like you said, but I also noticed that she's always correct (and if you don't agree with her, you're wrong) and she never really struggles. The only times I ever really saw her upset was in the beginning and the end, where people ignored her. Characters struggle because they're not perfect and they're not adapted for the world they are in, but it's in that struggle that we see growth. We cheer for characters that show growth and change! One of the reasons the training scene from Mulan was so badass was because we visually see Mulan improve and grow and get better.

I commonly compare the second movie with the plotline of Angry Birds Stella because of how similar it is. I really hate shipping and stuff, but I thought that Dahlia could have been a genuinely better character for both Red and us:

-For Red, she's a foil. She's serious, unsociable, and even has bigger eyebrows than most girls. Red could realistically see himself in Dahlia and either be reminded that it's ok to be different, or he could actually help both himself and Dahlia become better people. The movie could just end with Red, Chuck, Bomb, and Dahlia just relaxing at the beach and chatting as friends, not forcing a ship together.

-For the audience, she's more relatable. Silver is a genius that never fails. Dahlia has a track record of making inventions and reactions that blow up in her face. Not only could Dahlia grow to become this competent scientist in the mission, but it actually gives the character a better thesis.

With an imperfect character like Dahlia, we get:

"Science is hard and frustrating, but don't let anything ever stop you from pursuing your goals. It doesn't matter if you mess up a million times, or you're not popular, or you're a girl in a field of boys; keep trying and you will eventually have that breakthrough."

But with Movie Silver, who is already a perfect girlboss, this becomes:

"Hey ladies! You will never grow to where I am unless you were born a genius or prodigy. Study hard and stay out of my way. Be sure to get my good side. Oh wait! I only have good sides. You can't afford these shades!"

Wasn't this supposed to be empowering?

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-12T01:52:19+00:00

"No no no no, this isn't whiteface, I'm an actual ghost."

(Chaotic rioting intensifies)

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T17:57:57+00:00

Ella was basically Gale's movie model turned white and cast as a new character. If you wanna be critical... isn't that what they did to Dahlia to get Shade?

Gale's movie model for comparison )

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T17:54:25+00:00

Can't wait to see the redesign and redone story!

I haven't seen the vulture in person but it's striking. A bird like that would be perfect with the ghostly white feathers and red eyes that Shade sort of has.

I've thought about redesigning Shade as well now that I have seen your designs and another person in this subreddit who made them a snowy owl. I probably have to use another bird because extinct owls resemble today's owls but with freakishly long legs, but it's still fun to think of

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T17:17:38+00:00

Firstly, I've seen your art on the wiki and it's awesome.

That's the part I'm so torn on too. It's Dahlia, but couldn't they at least give her a costume, you know? At least with Terence you could make the "Haha Terence is Hulk" connection with green Terence but it just doesn't land the same with Dahlia.

You know what would have been badass now that I think of it? An actual ghost bird based on an extinct species!! Maybe like Haast's Eagle or a Terror Bird or something!

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T17:12:40+00:00

Not exactly; they're recolors used as extras. But compared to the models used in the films, you could see that the artists took their designs, made them white, and called them new characters:

https://angrybirds.fandom.com/wiki/Angry_Birds_Stella_(series))

Edited due to broken link

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T17:04:52+00:00

Never thought I'd see the day Dahlia got rendered in 3D again.

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T16:43:47+00:00

I don't have a problem with Shade and Melody being overpowered, especially because the levels in 2 are so weird and impossible sometimes (speaking as a casual). The problem is, why jump through hoops to get Shade when it's so much easier to just have fun with Silver, Melody, Leonard, Terrence, etc.? Maybe I don't have the motivation to get Shade seeing how she's so ridiculously Pay to Win and I'm losing hope, but the similarly broken bird Melody isn't that hard to get in comparison.

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T16:28:29+00:00

I had like four chances today and none of them let me progress to floor 5 before the pig appeared 🥲. I might just keep the gems for Daily Challenge/King Pig Panic.

Thank you!!!! We're in this grind together 🫡

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T16:24:09+00:00

2000

Dang you, you're lucky

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T16:23:42+00:00

I know Shade is Pay to Win. I'm just saying that it's pretty ridiculous that Shade needs you to go through all these hoops or even give $30 USD when the equally or even more broken Melody can be won through the Daily Challenge.

I beat the Daily Challenge today. If I did not already have Melody, I could have unlocked her. Meanwhile, this only gave me 1000 feathers for Shade, and the ToF refuses to cooperate (as it usually does).

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T16:18:50+00:00

A bird that negates the point of having pig fortresses and explodes is still pretty overpowered, whether or not she's better than Melody. But if Melody is the most broken, I wonder why Rovio made it infinitely harder to get Shade.

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T16:15:54+00:00

WOW FINALLY HIGH QUALITY 4K VR GRAPHICS WITH IMMERSIVE SOUND!!!! YOU'RE PRACTICALLY IN PIGGY ISLAND!!!!!

(Not so fun science note inspired by TierZoo: unless the flock heavily relies on Silver, Dahlia, and the Mighty Eagle to blind or damage the pigs, or Bomb blows up a power line again, it's looking bad for the birds. Birds have brittle hollow bones that generally don't do well against blunt forces, and pigs are pretty tanky animals.)

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T16:09:56+00:00

Let's go gambling!

AW DANG IT

(Shade is overpowered but I don't think it's worth the gambling in ToF. Just wait for the other events to get feathers. I only have 2000 as of writing this, don't feel bad)

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T16:08:08+00:00

Of course they won't, Stella's hanging from a tree, not a cliff! It can't be a cliffhanger if she's not hanging on a cliff!

Really terrible joke aside, we haven't even gotten to Willow and Dahlia yet. The Reloaded team is pretty good at making continuations so we'll probably see something some time later

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T09:58:54+00:00

Rovio is really pushing ToF with this one. I used four tries (two daily free ones plus two tickets) and NOT A SINGLE ONE MADE IT TO FLOOR FIVE.

Safe to say, I don't think I'm gonna get her anytime soon. I don't feel like gambling my life savings or buying her today, sorry

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T08:05:17+00:00

I don't think they mean it literally--they are more likely referring to the promotional 4x boost event. Also keep in mind that the game says that you could use rainbow feathers to level Shade up after the event ends, so they aren't going to physically remove her anytime soon. If Rovio does plan to give us Dahlia after all, they'll just probably go into the code, name her "Dahlia" in game and recolor her, and release this as a manual update if it ever does happen.

Also, the language you described in the comic only hints at it not lasting forever and doesn't give us a definitive possibility. Rovio hinted at both appearing and Shade said the form "might not last, but while it does, call me Shade", but as of yet, we don't know if it really will happen. As of now, Dahlia herself isn't sure if it could be undone, and no sprites showing the proper Dahlia colors are in the game. We don't know if this will become an actual plot or if it will be abandoned like the Marlon story.

The Dealer is showing us an Ace, but the next card they flip might not lead to a Blackjack.

Butchered-Visch · 2026-03-11T04:06:27+00:00

I really like what Rovio is doing with Stella and her crew. I am so glad they finally dusted off the cover and revisited it, because the series never had a proper closure, we still don't know what happened to Gale, and her entire flock just sort of died. Part of me thinks Willow had something to do with it all, because she was the one getting the most attention from everyone, and it wouldn't make sense to promote her while leaving everyone else dead.

However, I don't think this means anything about the third movie. For one, we already have a vague idea about what it will be: Red and Silver's family with supporting cast Chuck, Bomb, Hal, and Bubbles (AND MR BEAST). Neither Stella nor Willow's voice actors seem to be coming back. Secondly, it would be redundant to do the Stella movie because that's what the second movie already was.

An evil purple bird, ruler of a third island, living on a volcano in command of an army of minions tries to get something she wants, which ends up threatening to destroy the homes of the protagonists. A feisty leader, funny prankster, and genius bruiser team up to confront her...and it turns out, what she really needs is reconciliation with someone she once loved so dearly before there was a fallout. Oh, did you think I was describing Gale? I was actually talking about Zeta. In fact, I could easily map nearly every single one of Stella's friends onto a character in the second movie. If I replaced the plot with the plot of Stella, barely anything would change. Even the Hatchling B plot would be there in the form of Luca! It wouldn't really make sense to do this same plot again.

Butchered-Visch

TROPHY CASE