Red (Classic)

Red made his first debut in the original Angry Birds game as the main character (and icon). He is first introduced in Theme 1-1 as the very first bird to the players. From then on, the following levels are mostly based off of teaching the player how to play the game/use Red, and from then on he appears often as a playable character.

After his first appearance in Poached Eggs, Red appears in all of the themes, excluding The Big Setup, which was entirely based off of Hal and Terence. He also appears in all of the cut-scenes for the game.

Ever since the game first skyrocketed, Red has become a very noticeable and iconic character.

Angry Birds (Classic)
Despite being the main character, Red (for the most part) does not have any actual abilities. When the screen is tapped Red will only emit his "battle cry" and nothing else. While he is useful in the first couple of levels, as the player unlocks more characters he/she will realize that Red is not very strong nor needed in some situations.

Red's strengths and weaknesses are seen here.

In the Red's Mighty Feathers theme, Red was given an ability similar to Lazer Bird, which is to fly off to wherever the player taps. This ability makes Red much more useful as he can reach any location on the level map, which is something that none of the birds can do at will. He is also slightly stronger, mostly due to his increased speed when his ability is activated.

This ability is exclusive to the levels in the theme and the Golden Eggs associated with the theme, but the game once offered an in-app purchase to active Red's ability permanently for all levels, where the profits contributed to the RED organization.