Following up on yesterday's tease, Rovio has revealed Stella, a new corner of the Angry Birds universe featuring "strong, passionate characters" ready to inspire and empower. Looks a bit Disney Princess, doesn't it?
I mean, replace the pink bird and the evil-looking one in the distance with Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent and you're most of the way there.
According to the announcement, Stella and her friends are a group of feisty characters (the Rovio blog calls Stella fierce and fiesty) who will deal with serious issues to protect their friendship and the environment they live in. Both the blog post and press release stress that fun, excitement and creativity will still be involved in all of this issue tackling. There'll just be a little more weight behind it than "pigs stole eggs, kill pigs, save eggs."
There'll be plenty of room for story too, as Angry Birds Stella is hitting on multiple fronts — games, animation, toys, books — you know how Rovio likes to merchandise.
"Angry Birds Stella is breaking the mold by introducing strong, passionate characters who really stand for something, while adding plenty of action and reality into the mix", said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Entertainment via official announcement. "The Angry Birds Stella story will live and evolve across physical and digital, bridging them in fun and innovative ways. Stella and her friends are here to stay, with plenty of adventures ahead of them."
Stella and her friends will start tackling tough issues this fall. No word on whether those issues will be perched precariously on whimsical constructs with questionable physics.