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Hal the Boomerang Bird is a character in the Angry Birds series of games created by Rovio Entertainment. He was introduced in 2010 and was the first new character added to the game who was not one of the original five birds in the flock.
Hal first appeared in Theme 6-4 (NPC) but was playable starting with Theme 6-5. He has appeared as a playable character in every version and episode of the game released since his introduction, though he is not necessarily in all levels. In the Fuji TV exclusive episode Sakura Ninja, Hal appears dressed in kendo garb. This was the first time he has appeared in costume in any game and completely new game sprites were created for this episode.
Ability
Hal flies much differently than the other species. When he launches, he's constantly spinning. This spinning plays into its special ability to change its course in midair to return to his point of origin. When the screen is tapped or clicked by the mouse, Hal will open his large beak wide, making it act like a boomerang and causing it to turn around and start flying back to his point of origin. This ability to fly backwards allows it to strike areas that the other birds can't reach. Note, The longer a player waits to activate the boomerang feature, the lower the hit will be.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The Boomerang Bird is very good against wood and glass, but not great against stone. When his ability is used, it's often the longer (eventually a set time) the bird can break through entire columns of wood and glass. Another way to use the Hal is by firing him backwards and using its ability to cause it to fly forwards.
A common disadvantage is when Hal is fired straight into the air, it's hard to arc him perfectly when he approaches the ground. Sometimes, he will hit the ground and become a corpse immediately when he goes out of range.
Personality
Hal has a short temper when it comes to egg theft and, like most of The Flock, become enraged easily when eggs are discovered missing. Little is known about his personality and demeanor at this time. Even though he doesn't appear in as many of the Animated Shorts as some of the other Angry Birds do, as he only appears in the; Summer Pignic Animated Movie, he is shown in the video as a very cheerful yet clumsy bird. This is shown in the beginning of the Animated Short when Hal tries to enlist in the Angry Birds Army, in order to defeat the Bad Piggies. Even though he doesn't have the same personality as a few of the other birds do and is rejected to enlist in the Angry Birds Army, he is reluctant to defeat the Bad Piggies when the birds are defeated from their attacks against the Pigs. But his clumsy nature starts to appear when he accidentally knocks over the slingshot causing Matilda to release her explosive egg in the wrong direction. But when he finally defeats the final level, after being awarded with three stars on his chest, he is very excited about his victory about defeating The Bad Piggies and accidentally trips over himself in excitement.
History
Little is known about Hal’s history before he met The Flock. When first seen, Hal was a prisoner of the Bad Piggies until The Flock freed him.
One summer, while The Flock was fighting the Pigs and having difficulty destroying their fortress, Hal tried to help. Unfortunately, due to his smaller stature, he had difficulty climbing the slingshot and caused Matilda to fall. Red refused any further help and indicated for Hal to leave. After The Flock had exhausted themselves trying to break the Pig fortress, Hal came back, climbed the slingshot and used his unique ability to recover the eggs and destroy the fortress, right before the king eats the eggs. He was then welcomed as a member of The Flock and one of the Blues awarded him three stars.
In the course of the battles with the Pigs, he has traveled to many different locations and environments, including the desert, underground caves and beaches. The Pigs never rest in their quest to steal eggs and the Flock often has to retrieve their eggs on holidays and special occasions. In one instance, the Pigs captured the entire Flock, including Hal, making it the second time he was captured by Pigs. It was only for the actions of Terence, the Big Brother Bird that the Flock was freed. Terence freed Hal and the two of them rescued The Flock and defeated the King Pig.
At an indeterminate time later, the Flock was captured as rare birds and taken to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where they fought with Blu, Jewel and their friends against Nigel the cockatoo and Mauro and his marmosets. Boomerang Bird did not appear originally in Rio, but arrived much later after the others, so it is possible he was not captured originally and made his way to Rio to help rescue The Flock.
In addition to Rio, Boomerang Bird has also traveled to China twice and Japan, where he wore kendo gear.
In another adventure, many of the Flock were whisked into Space via a wormhole, gained super powers and fought the Space King and the Space Pigs. White Bird, Boomerang Bird and Orange Bird appear to have been left behind.
Trivia
- Even though Hal has green feathers, yellow ones appear when he disintegrates after becoming a corpse. In Angry Birds Chrome, Angry Birds Facebook, and the 2012 updated version of the original game, green feathers appear (an earlier version of the Chrome version had white feathers).
- Hal will make Chuck's pain noises when being a corpse, thus making him the only bird without an original pain noise.
- Hal is also the only bird that rotates while flying from the slingshot.
- Hal has a different launch voice on Angry Birds Seasons as of the Ham'o'ween update. However, the PC and Mac version of Angry Birds Classic also has the alternative voice of the bird. The phone version of the original Angry Birds has the original select and launch voice. The original voice is a sound of one of the birds grumbling while waiting ("Grrrrrrrr!"), while the new voice used on Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Classic goes "WAHAAAA!".
- Hal and Ice Bird are the only Birds that are shown in the level before is played in as an unplayable item.
- On Chrome level 6-4, his corpse sprite disappears and is invisible, but when you unlock him, his corpse sprite will be the Angry Birds Rio sprite and he keeps Chuck's pain noises, but the feathers change from yellow ones to white ones.
- Hal may be based upon the Emerald Toucanet.
- The end of Hal's beak has red in the old design, but in the game, he has orangish yellow at the end of his beak.
- In Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Facebook, Angry Birds Google Chrome, Angry Birds Vuela Tazos, Angry Birds Fuji TV, and Angry Birds in The Hunt For The Golden Pistachio, Hal has a new design.
- Hal makes the sound "GAAAAAH!" when he boomerangs back. However, in Angry Birds Facebook, he makes the same sound when he hops on the slingshot. When he is pulled back, he says the pull-back noise from the Ham'o'ween update. When launched, he makes the original bird grumbling noise. When he boomerangs back, he does nothing.
- Hal is the only bird who hasn't shown an angry expression in the animations.
- In the Summer Pignic short, immediately after Hal recovering the eggs, the King Pig accidentally bites the frying pan, resulting in all of his teeth breaking. (Ouch!)
- Even though his full beak is all orange, in the Summer Pignic Animated Short, the top part of his beak is yellow while the bottom section is orange just like in his old design.
- He first appeared having green feathers in Angry Birds Facebook.
Appearances
Hal has appeared in the following games:
- Angry Birds
- Angry Birds Rio
- Angry Birds Seasons
- Angry Birds Facebook
- Angry Birds Chrome
- Angry Birds Google+
- Angry Birds Magic
- Angry Birds in The Hunt For The Golden Pistachio
- Angry Birds Vuela Tazos
- Angry Birds Winter Wonderland
- Angry Birds Fuji TV