Matilda

To see images of Matilda, please go to her gallery.

"Drop it like it's hot!"

Matilda is a character in the Angry Birds series of games created by Rovio Entertainment. She was introduced in 2009, as part of the original 5 birds of the flock. After her first appearance in Poached Eggs, Matilda has become a very prominent character in the installments that followed.

Personality
Matilda's Description in the Angry Birds Movie

HIPPIE OF THE FLOCK

''Matilda is the leader of the anger management class on Bird Island. She is a former angry bird herself, but has since learned the error of her ways. Now she makes it her business to keep the good vibes going at all times.''

Matilda has been shown to be a very considerate, caring character, often taking on a mother-like personality in the flock. While she does bear these qualities, she is additionally a very fierce bird, who is shown to have the capability of being very angry as the other birds. These features of her are consistently shown all throughout the series, along with the movie.

Matilda has an adoration for peace, often being considered a "hippy" in many animations. She also grows her own plants, from flowers to vegetables. She is also shown to be a very skilled saxophone player.

Matilda loves cooking, but isn't very good at it. Thus, it is especially hurtful when the other birds do not like her food, as they all try to dispose of it in some way.

In the movie, it is shown that Matilda has her own anger management class, which is how she meets many flock members, Red, Chuck, Bomb, Terence, and Hal and Bubbles, who worked for her in the background.

Angry Birds
Matilda makes her first appearance in the original Angry Birds game, as the last bird introduced in Poached Eggs. (in the level Poached Eggs 2-14) She is the final bird of the original flock, along with the biggest. (at that time)

After her debut, Matilda will appear and be a playable character in various levels in all themes, excluding The Big Setup, as the episode solely focused on Hal and Terence as playable characters. She also appears in multiple games and installments of the Angry Birds series as a main character, and has become very prominent in the Angry Birds universe.

Like all the other characters of the game, Matilda received a newer animation, getting her "Chrome" design, as all the characters' new designs had originally come from the "Angry Birds Chrome" game.

Gameplay
Despite being one of the largest of the birds, Matilda is weak in physical strength. The egg bombs she deploys have decent power but suffer from a short blast radius and tend to be overestimated in their effect on the structure.

Once the egg is dropped, Matilda's corpse then flies up and explodes to the right. Additional damage can be done to the fortresses if the egg is dropped in such a way that it launches the corpse into the structure. This can be used purposely in multiple levels, and the speed that she is launched at will allow her to become a bit stronger.

Matilda's corpse used to be a deflated, shriveled version of her once she launched the egg, but as of the newest version of Angry Birds, she will revert to her regular corpse sprite.

Angry Birds Seasons
Matilda appears from the very start of the game, when it was once known as Angry Birds Halloween. After her first appearance in Trick or Treat, she will be a playable character in all of the episodes that follow.

Unlike the other installments of the Angry Birds Series, Angry Birds Seasons does not update Matilda's design to her new one, and stays true to the original.

There was also a version of Matilda in Hogs and Kisses unofficially named "Female White Bird", as she had never been given an official name. She is shown to be significantly smaller than the Female Red Bird in some photos, who was the same size as the regular Red Bird. However, in others she was just as big as the regular Matilda. It was shown that the Female White Bird and Matilda were in a romantic relationship, however this had been before official genders were given to the birds and has not been counted as actual canon.

Gameplay
Matilda bears the same ability in the original game in this one, along with her battle cries and launch sounds. There are no changes to her size, strength, or speed.

In Piglantis, Matilda's ability will go along with water. If the water is deep enough, then Matilda's explosive egg will be able to burst out of the surface, and hit possible structures above it. If Matilda is slung into the water, she will sink and then resurface.

Angry Birds Rio
Matilda appears very early in Angry Birds Rio, first appearing in Jungle Escape. She was strangely introduced before Bomb, even though she had been introduced after Bomb in the original game. She first appears in Jungle Escape Level 6. After this, she appears in all the following episodes as a playable character.

In the Rio 2 segment, she receives a redesign using her animation from Toons like other characters, who were first introduced in their Chrome designs and then into their animation designs. This featured a more prominently feminine Matilda, as fans had been initially very confused about her gender. (though at this point it had been confirmed that she was clearly a female)

Matilda is one of the few characters that are actually included in both the animations and the gameplay trailers for the game.

Gameplay
Matilda's ability is the same as the previous 2 installments of Angry Birds. However, it is very notable that she and her egg bomb are notably more powerful, and can make much more damage, which was very pleasing to fans as they complained that her ability had been extremely weak.

If she lays a egg on Luiz during Beach Volley, Luiz will fly in the air; which is actually quite useful, as Luis is very strong and can destroy many bricks. (along with destroying even more if beach balls are laid out afterwards)

If used right, Matilda can be a very versatile and powerful character to have during bossfights. Matilda's egg bomb is very harmful towards bosses, taking a very major hit. (as you usually will need 2-4 of them to defeat the boss) It is recommended that if possible, fire Matilda very close to the boss and lay the egg bomb on him, causing Matilda to fly off, where she will hopefully hit TNT or a weakly supported structure.

Angry Birds Star Wars
Matilda appears in Angry Birds Star Wars, taking on the role of "C-3PO". Although Matilda's character is technically female, she is considered male in this game. Canonically, his name is "C-3PYOLK", which is a pun on the word "yolk" and the name "C-3PO".

In the storyline of Star Wars, which the game is based after, C-3PO is bought by Luke, along with R2-D2. (after they escape the Dark Side troops and are kidnapped by Jawas) After this event, they do play a part in the cutscenes, but both C-3PO and R2-D2 are not playable characters in the story episodes.

Gameplay
This is the first game where Matilda's ability is different. She no longer has the egg-bomb ability, but rather the ability to split into 5 different pieces. While these pieces do have the potential to do a lot of damage, they spread too far apart from each other and not every piece will likely manage to hit an object.

For the player to use the character as best as possible, it's better to make sure that C-3PO is surrounded by as many bricks as possible, and releasing his ability once he is. His ability shouldn't be launched from far distances, as once the pieces lose their speed, they will no longer be as powerful.

C-3PO's ability takes a lot of strategy, just as the original Matilda. If used right, he can do much damage. It can also be noted that unlike the other Angry Birds games, all characters can use their ability even after they hit a structure. (however, this feature will only be available for quite literally only a split second to a second)

Each piece, if having good speed, will be able to destroy all the materials, from glass, wood, and stone. (in first contact)

Qui-Gon Jinn
While Qui-Gon Jinn doesn't bear an extreme resemblance to Matilda, it has been refrenced by Rovio that he is actually a counterpart of Matilda in the game. He is the first character to be introduced in the game, and also is the first to have an actual "death" cutscene. (which followed the original prequel's storyline) After his death, he does not appear for the rest of the game as a playable character, excluding the underwater level and if the player uses him as a powerup.

Before the events of the game and the prequels, Qui-Gon was first mentored by Count Dooku, who was on the "Pork" side. Qui-Gon served as the mentor of Anakin in the beginning of the game till his death. He was also Obi-Wan's teacher.

There also was an actual plush for the character, and it was promoted in a toy fair along with multiple other "Star Wars II" plush toy promotions. However, they were never released, perhaps due to underwhelming profit, and have not been given away in competitions like Silver had been.

Gameplay
Qui-Gon doesn't have an original ability, which never actually had happened to characters in the Angry Birds universe. Instead, his ability is the same exact one as Luke in the original Star Wars game. He swings a moderately strengthened lightsaber in a 360 loop, which can instantly kill pigs, shred glass, destroy/damage wood, and harm metal. He himself is not very strong, and can demolish very few bricks, glass easiest, and slightly damage metal.

It is noted that again, characters can use their ability for a very short period of time once they hit a surface or structure before turning into a corpse.

In boss battles, Qui-Gon is rather skilled in using his lightsaber. He can destroy bricks and pigs that go near him vigorously, so an easy way to beat him is to overwhelm him with multiple blocks, perhaps hanging above, so that he does not have time to destroy them all and takes on damage. It is not suggested that the player directly uses his/her character's ability on him, as he can deflect lasers and the playable pigs.

C-3PO
Matilda appears as another character, returning for the role of C-3PO, as the character, of course, had appeared in the prequel storyline which took place before the original. C-3PO's now has two playable versions of him; however, the original C-3PO will be the only one that is featured as a playable character in the Bird Side. (unless, of course, Silver C-3PO is summoned as a power-up)

C-3PO is also given a new design, which doesn't change his physical appearance, but more his animation style. (likely to fit with the other characters better) The Silver version of him also has the exact same design, only with different colors.

A broken up C-3PO can be found in "Watto's Shop" as a bit of an easter egg, as it was in the prequels that C-3PO had been assembled by Anakin.

Gameplay
The original C-3PO has the same exact ability as the original, only that now he is actually playable in normal gravity levels. (as he was only featured in zero gravity in the first game as a bonus character) Due to this, physics do apply, and the pieces that he splits up in will burst out and then fall to the ground.

The other Silver C-3PO is slightly different. In his ability, he will split into 4, rather than 6, pieces that of course, will be much bigger and denser, making them much better at destroying materials and structures. However, the original is much more versatile, so it depends on the player's choice. If the player wants something more destructive for point value or just to beat the level, then the silver version is preferred. If the player however wants to hit multiple targets at the same time, then the original may be more preferable.

Angry Birds Go!
Matilda is featured in Angry Birds Go! as a playable character, and multiple changes are made to her character. For one, she uses her Toons animation in-game, which hadn't happened before. She also, like all of the other characters, uses a 3D model, which was a first for Rovio, as all their games had been in 2D animation up until that point.

Like all the other playable characters in the game, Matilda has her own kart, which is the Tub-Copter. This is the kart that she is featured with in Telepods, promotions, and other merchandise.

Gameplay
Matilda was first featuerd in Air as a boss. You would have to beat her 3 times in a race in order to unlock her as a playable character; and like most of the other characters, she had a different ability. (in which she would throw spinning eggs at the player)

However, once the game was updated, the boss battles were then on removed from the game and replaced with the campaigns. Now you have to get one star on campaign level 4, race 5.

Matilda also appears in races as an opponent in all themes of the game.

Her ability as a playable character is to throw egg bombs at the rival racers. While this ability is effective in the players that it hits, it isn't as widespread as other character's abilities, or abundant.

Angry Birds 2
Matilda is included as a playable character in Angry Birds 2, which had been introduced after a rather long period of time where Rovio did not introduce slingshot-based games with Matilda involved. As most of the returning characters in the game (exluding Red), Matilda was given the same ability she originally had in the first games.

The game also introduces computer animation for the birds and pigs, which had never happened before in the previous slingshot-based games, where there was instead multiple sprites for the birds that were used when they were idle, flying, corpses, etc. Matilda also appears in her "Toons" animation style, as prominantly female. (along with her voice parts)

Gameplay
Matilda has the same ability as she had in the original games, which is to shoot egg bombs vertically downwards. Once again, the egg bombs aren't extremely effective in terms of destruction, but they are much more effective in being "bombs". They can cause nearby objects to slightly shake, and can also destroy balloons and weak objects even if they are not directly hit.

Matilda also flies to the right once her ability is used, which is a feature that was in all of the other slingshot games. (excluding the Star Wars series) This is useful, as the levels tend to be much bigger than the original, so there are much more structures to knock down and there is more of an opportunity for Matilda to cause damage.

Like all of the other birds, Matilda can level up if the player obtains her feathers, which increases the amount of points she earns when she is used.

Trivia

 * Matilda's physical appearance seems to be based on an egg shape, due to the egg it encases inside her body.
 * Matilda is the second largest playable bird in the game, next to Terence.
 * Matilda is the only bird to have projectiles.
 * Birds and corpses are impervious to eggs. If the player drops an egg on a corpse or a bird waiting their turn on the slingshot, the egg will bounce off.
 * Matilda, as well as Hal and Bubbles, are the only Plush Toys with openable beaks.
 * In the Summer Pignic animated short when Matilda is on the slingshot, Hal accidentally trips and knocks over the slingshot causing her to fling in a different direction. But strangely when she reaches the ground, instead of releasing her explosive egg like she does in every other game she stars in, she explodes right on the spot thus, leaving a small but noticeable crater.
 * Originally, one of Matilda's cheeks became purple when she became a corpse (to look like a black eye). However, it was redesigned to look normal yellow.
 * Matilda can play the saxophone, as seen in the Angry Birds Toons episode Epic Sax-Off. This makes her the 6th bird known to play an instrument, the others being Hal, Willow, Poppy, Dahlia and Luca, in that order.