Rabbid (species)

Rabbid
'Rayman/Rabbids' race
First appearance	'Rayman Raving Rabbids' November 14, 2006
Created by	Hubert Chevillard, Michel Ancel
Information
Home world	The Glade of Dreams, Earth, the Moon
Notable members	Blizzy Bwaluigi Bwario Calavera Edge Female Rabbid Icicle Golem Lapinbernatus Lava Queen Mad Rabbid Madame Bwahstrella Mini Rabbid (Mini thug) Phantom Pirabbid Plant Pr. Baranco III Rabbid ancestor Rabbid Cranky Rabbid Kong Rabbid Luigi Rabbid mafia gang Rabbid Mario Rabbid Peach Rabbid Rosalina Rabbid Yoshi Sandy Spawny Sunflower

Rabbids are a fictional species of maniacal anthropomorphic rabbits originating from Ubisoft's Rayman franchise, where they initially appeared as comedically violent and insane antagonists. Their name is a pun of "rabid", a term used to describe an animal with rabies, or a person who acts insane. Following their popularity, the Rabbids would evolve from recurring enemies to temporary quasi-protagonists that spawned their own spinoff series titled Raving Rabbids. Aside from their generally chaotic behavior, the Rabbids are known for their loud vocalizations, typically written as "Bwaah!" or some variation, during which their eyes usually become red and unfocused.

Their most well known traits feature various slapstick comedy elements; running around wielding various household objects, dressing up as various other fictional characters, and most of all, constant screaming. Although essentially the "villain" in the game, they have gained a considerable popularity and fanbase through viral videos and media appearances. Many people even suspect them to overshadow Rayman, despite hints that there could be a Rayman 4. They even went to "create" their own band, The Raving Rabbids.

Conception and creation

The earliest Rayman 4 trailers depicted the bunnies as rather menacing and zombie-like, simply appearing from underground with a blank stare in various shapes and forms, smaller eyes and furry. At this point, trailers showed the game as an adventure game with fight stages, where Rayman would need to punch himself through a horde of zombie-bunnies. As the game concept evolved (from one of a central objective to minigames) and viral videos were created, however, the Rabbid figures became much more conscious and amusing, changing from clichéd computer game cannon fodder into a series of memorable characters with various traits and quirks, akin to Worms. Rayman creator Michel Ancel described the bunnies as "vicious, but at the same time [...] totally stupid".

Characteristics

A scene from the fourth fact clip "Bunnies Never Close Doors".

The Rabbids appear as anthropomorphic, stout rabbits with big round eyes and a large mouth. Their irises appear bigger in gameplay than cutscenes. They stand around 2 feet tall, with their ears adding an additional foot to their height. They have two large incisors, but are never shown with any other visible teeth with the exception of the "Bunnies Don't Use Toothpaste" minigame, in which they are depicted with a full set of (grossly unhygienic) teeth.

Rabbids tend to be somewhat mentally unstable, and often experience strange adrenaline rushes, where their eyes turn red and they emit a loud yell of DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! (often spelled BWAHHH! in various media and graffiti). This is also often a precursor of the bunny smashing something or attacking someone with its tool of choice.

Rabbids have an interesting choice in weaponry; trailer videos show that bunnies have a high preference of carrying around various household items as melee weapons. Choices include feather dusters, plungers, ladles, toilet brushes, toy shovels, tennis rackets, sausages and other objects. The toilet plunger, the central weapon of the game, is a main example of the bunnies' sense of toilet humor. Some Rabbids carry oversized spiked clubs.

Rabbids have a penchant for dressing up. These outfits include, but are not limited to, French maid outfits, snorkels with duck-shaped swim rings or swim trunks with assorted huge swimfins and swimming goggles, ninja suits, pirate outfits, cowboy hats with bandanas, Superman costumes, gladiator outfits made out of pans and other kitchen utensils, Sam Fisher-style night-vision goggles, and Metal Gear's cardboard boxes. Another example of Rabbids being used as cameos for other people is a poster entitled "Bunnies' Creed" (a joke of Assassin's Creed), in which a Rabbid is dressed up as the game's main character, Altair.

A Rabbid seems to blink once or twice at an object before taking in what it is. It is also seen that Rabbids have a habit of closing and opening their left or right fist. They love to dance, as seen in the bonus videos in Rayman Raving Rabbids. Some of their more bizarre exploits are seen to be falling in love with a metal detector (airport), swallowing a whole tube full of wasabi paste and various inorganic objects such as an Xbox 360 controller and a Wii Balance Board.

History

Not much is known from the fictional history of the rabbids; the Game Boy Advance version of the game states that the Rabbids used to be cute, friendly creatures, but they trusted nearly everybody, which made them the target of many jokes. After taking this for a long time, they went mad and are now trying to get their revenge on everybody who tricked them.

In their first game appearance, the Rabbids kidnap Rayman and the baby Globoxes, and imprison them in their Colosseum, in which Rayman must endure a number of minigames to gain the praise of the Rabbids. The Rabbids reward Rayman's efforts with plungers and an increasingly more comfortable jail cell. It is unknown how they react to Rayman's escape at the end of the game.

In the sequel to Rayman Raving Rabbids, the Rabbids attempt to invade Earth and set up their headquarters near a local shopping mall. Rayman Manages to get inside to only see the rabbids observing a large screen showing everyday human objects. Once the game is completed, there is no ending video to conclude if Rayman's mission was ever successful.

In the third instalment to the Rabbids collection, Rayman is seen running from the Rabbids and runs into a house. The rabbids are struck by lightning and are zapped into the antenna on top of the house and inside a TV where Rayman is forced to watch the Rabbids on the television.

Reception

The bunnies became massively popular both through the teaser trailers and the game itself. IGN has stated that the Rabbids have "more personality and charisma than 10 of the most popular video game mascots combined", and that the bunnies have literally "upstaged Rayman himself". GameSpot has noted, "The Rabbids themselves are almost exclusively responsible for [selling the game's humor], as they are, without a doubt, hysterical. They're adorably designed, with their dumb stares, high-pitched shrieks, and a penchant for taking comedic bumps."

There has been speculation by reviewers that the success of the Rabbid character will probably inspire the developers to create more games of the franchise, possibly even without Rayman. This was first hinted in the launch trailer of the first game, where Rayman, despite being the title character, only appears for a fraction of a second, only to be squashed flat by a couch taken over by the bunnies, and became evident in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, in which case Rayman disguises himself as a Rabbid, causing the game to put more emphasis on them than on Rayman himself. In a recent video review, project lead Loïc Gounon confirmed the possibility of splitting the Rayman and Rabbid series apart, mentioning that the Rabbids seem to appeal more to older gamers, due to its slapstick humor and minigames deviating from the Rayman series' more fantasy-oriented style and action adventure gameplay.

The Rabbids have gained a somewhat negative look among Rayman fans due to the fact that they seem to be replacing him.

Teasers

Rabbids earned their own share of the spotlight through the teaser trailers of the game, including a series of videos entitled Bunnies - Very Useful Scientific Facts, which showcases the bunnies' unorthodox approaches to such complex problems as milking cows, playing soccer and even infiltrating Games Convention in a Metal Gear Solid style; each video is presented as a camcorder documentary recording a Rabbid being puzzled with some kind of everyday activity, suddenly wielding various objects and punctuated by their trademark yell. The trailers, however, are also quick to point out that regardless of their antics, bunnies "can dance" - a reference to the various rhythm mini-games (One trailer," Bunnies can't phone " however, replaces "dance" with "fly," then shows a Bunny unsuccessfully attempting to fly off of a building, and ends by asking "Did you really believe that?"; a later trailer replaces "dance" with drive, then shows a Rabbid crashing a kart racer into the camera, followed by the caption "Well, almost...").

The official E3 teaser video shows creator Michel Ancel being ambushed by a group of bunnies, who ultimately smash the camera with a toilet brush.

The teasers for Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 have the bunnies traveling around the world and exploring various countries, including a retry of getting inside Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany; where to enter they disguise themselves using Rabbid masks. One also in Japan wherein a Rabbid ends up being "squished" by a sumo wrestler and imagines that he'd been inside a Japanese restaurant, finishing a bottle of wasabi. A sketch about New Zealand on a rugby game is shown wherein a group of Rabbids taunt the country's rugby team (comically), while the other team scares them off through the Haka, leaving one Rabbid behind with the ball and being chased and kicked in the ending sequence. The same thing also happened in the USA football sketch, but the only different thing is the Rabbid swallows the ball before being chased and kicked.

The song played in the background is Daft Punk's 1998 single Around the World.

Another video was released on the internet that parodies Transformers, which depicts a toilet transforming into a Rabbid.

The latest teaser released in April 2008 features a Rabbid interacting with the Wii Balance Board, with comedic results. The video happens to be the first teaser trailer for Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party. They appeared in a commercial for Capri-Sun's contest, following the "Respect the Pouch" message as one Rabbid dives off a board and onto an inflated Capri-Sun pouch, causing it and two other Rabbids to be blown away.

Several TV Party videos are featured on the Rabbid website, such as the "A Game You Can't Play With Your Butt" commercials, a James Bond parody, and a Heroes parody.

In popular culture

A Rabbid made a cameo appearance in a trailer for Far Cry Vengeance and Red Steel, where they were enemies in the Gaming District level, exploding as they came down a hill the player was forced to climb. They were also used as speakers for the villain of the level. In one part of the level, the Rabbid shout is heard on a recorder in an office.

There's a Rabbid themed chess set in Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition. [1]

The Rabbids have also been featured in some comics drawn by Penny Arcade [2] and VG Cats[3] parodying the videos showing the traits of bunnies.

For a period of time, the show Pants Off Dance Off often had a Rabbid dancing along in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Three varieties of Rabbids have been confirmed as playable characters in Ubisoft's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up: Raving Rabbid, who is wearing red underpants like in Rabbids Go Home, Splinter Rabbid, wearing goggles similar to Sam Fisher and a yet-unnamed Turtle Rabbid, who wears a mask and fake shell. [4] The game also features a stage based on Rabbids Go Home depicting the Rabbids' junk pile to the moon, with objects occasionally falling from the sky to interfere with the battle. [5]

External links

• Official Rabbids website
• Rabbids Go Home website
• RabbidDot TK |Fan RRR Site