Rabbids (franchise)

Rabbids, known in France as Lapins crétins (Idiot Rabbits) and also known as Raving Rabbids, is a video game franchise developed by the French-Italian video game industry Ubisoft. The series was originally part of the Rayman franchise but eventually got its own franchise due to its surprising popularity.

The series follows the misadventures of small rabbit-like creatures known as Rabbids, who have short attention spans, constantly yell Bwaaaaaah! and are bent on world domination. Most of the video games consist mainly of party games, which contains various mini-games that can be played to up to four players. The series itself is known for the titular Rabbids and their wild antics which provide a lot of slapstick comedy.

History
In 2006, Ubisoft announced that a fourth Rayman game was currently in development for the Nintendo Wii Console. Two teaser trailers were released that showed Rayman battling a horde of zombie bunnies. The game was shown as an action platformer with free-roaming action. However, eventuallly the project was scrapped for unknown reasons and was changed into a mini-game compilation titled: Rayman Raving Rabbids. In 2007, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 featured Rayman disguised as a Rabbid, putting more emphasis on them than on Rayman. In 2008, Rayman Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party was released, which rendered Rayman unplayable, and was only featured on cutscenes of the game. In 2009, Rabbids Go Home was released, which ultimately excluded Rayman from the franchise. Rabbids Go Home was the first Rabbids game to not be a minigame compilation, and was the official birth of the Rabbids franchise. Later on, Raving Rabbids Travel in Time was released in 2010, which returned to the party genre, Rabbids Alive and kicking was released exclusively on the Xbox Kinect on 2011. A seventh game, Rabbids Land, was released on holiday 2012 exclusively on the Wii U. The eight game Rabbids Invasion- The Interactive TV show was released for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Playstation 4.

Characters
Originally being part of the Rayman franchise, the main character used to be Rayman, but with the release of Rabbids Go Home, the Rabbids became the main characters of the franchise. Rabbids are rabbit-like creatures with bug, blue eyes and a large mouth that reveals two incisors whenever the Rabbid opens it. In Rayman raving rabbids, they appeared as the antagonists and were not playable (although they are playable in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 and Rayman Raving Rabbids TV party) However, in Rabbids Go Home, although still being the villains, they were the protagonists and were playable. Professor Barranco 3 is the leader of the rabbids and one of the main antagonists of the franchise. Apearing as the main villain in a total of three games and a few episodes of Rabbids Invasion. Also in the TV show there are many human characters, some of them being nice, while some of them are not.

Games

 * Main Article: Raving Rabbids games


 * Rayman Raving Rabbids (2006)
 * Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (2007)
 * Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party (2008)
 * Rabbids Go Home (2009)
 * Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time (2010)
 * Rabbids: Alive and Kicking (2011)
 * Rabbids Land (2012)
 * Rabbids Invasion-The Interactive TV Show
 * Rabbids Crazy Rush (2017)
 * Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (2017)
 * Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope (2022)

BWAAAH!!!!!

 * Main Article: BWAAAH!

BWAAAAH"" is the Rabbids' scream/catchphrase and over the years it has become a video game icon.

Comic book Series
Main Article: Rabbids (Comic Books Series)

In the beginning of 2012, Ubisoft announced that a Rabbids comic book series was in the making. Later on, the first issue of the comic was released. It had a yellow and orange cover with a Rabbid sticking out of the front page. The title of the book is: The Lapins Cretins # 1: BWAAAAAAH!. It is only sold in France. All comic strips were drawn by the french cartoonist Thitaume Pujol. A second comic book ( The Lapins Cretins # 2: Invasion) is currently in the making. Not much is known about it except for its cover, which features an army of hundreds of Rabbids. A third volume titled The Lapins Cretins 3: Renversant will be released later in the summer of 2013

Television Series

 * Main Article: Rabbids Invasion (TV series)

In 2010, Ubisoft announced a TV series based on Raving Rabbids, entitled Rabbids Invasion. Ubisoft's French studio produced four seasons of CG episodes. At the 2013 Ubisoft E3 press conference, it was announced that a video game featuring an interactive version of the TV series would be released in 2014 for the Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Kinect for the Xbox 360. The game is called Rabbids Invasion: The Interactive TV Show

Theatrical film

 * Main Article: Rabbids (Thearical film)

Ubisoft announced that a theatrical film based on the Rabbids franchise is being developed, along with Far Cry and Watch Dogs films. The film is being developed by Sony Pictures as a stop-motion/live-action hybrid. The film is produced by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios and Ubisoft Motion Pictures and distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Viral videos
Main Article: Viral Videos

Ubisoft also tends to post Rabbid viral videos on YouTube. These shorts are usually either a trailer for an upcoming game or just simply a short to provide audience comedy relief. Rabbids trailers usually don't show or give any clues about the gameplay of their upcoming game, instead, a CGI short plays to show you what the plot of the game will be, of course in a rabbid comedic way.

Fan Pages
Rabbids also have a Facebook and Twitter fan page. In Facebook, Ubisoft will often send funny pictures, screenshots and videos of rabbids to keep all fans up to date with the rabbids' antics. they can also play the city-building game, Rabbids Invasion.

Merchandising
Main article: Rabbids Merchandise

Partnerships
Ubisoft has partnered its Rabbids franchise with other known product franchises. The partnership usually shows a Rabbid commercial that shows the Rabbids interating with the product they're advertising in a comical way.


 * 1) Renault
 * 2) Capri-Sun
 * 3) Signal (Aqua Fresh)
 * 4) Coca Cola
 * 5) Nickelodeon
 * 6) Maped

Theme Park Attractions
The Rabbids opened a theme park attraction exclusively in France entitled Le Machine a Voyager dans Le Temps which is French for The machine that travels through time. It is based on the game ''Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time. Audiences of all ages are able to travel through time with the Rabbids as well as interact with them with the help of special 3D glasses. The attraction officially opened in Futuroscope on December 21, 2013.''

Rabbids Go Phone
In 2009, Ubisoft released Rabbids Go Phone on the iPhone and iPod touch in order to promote Rabbids Go Home

Awards and nominations
The Franchise's content has been nominated for many awards on some occasions. Gathering a total of 11 nominations and winning a total of 5.

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party

 * Interactive Achievement Award for Family Game of the Year = Nominated
 * IGN video game award for Best Use of Sound = Nominated
 * IGN video game award for Best Family game = Nominated
 * IGN video game award for Best Use of the Wii Balance Board = Nominated

Futurescope Time Machine ride

 * THEA Award 2014 for Outstanding Achievement in category: Best Attractions = WON
 * European Star Award 2014 for Most Outstanding Innovations and Projects = WON
 * European Star Award 2015 for the category: Europe's Best Dark Rides= WON

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Game Critics Awards 2017
 * Best of Show= Nominated
 * Best Original game = WON
 * Best Console game = Nominated
 * Best Strategy game = WON

IGN's best of E3 2017 awards
 * Best Strategy game = WON
 * Biggest Surprise = Nominated

Reception
The Rabbids from the Raving Rabbids series 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 Rabbids, 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. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party was considered further evidence, as Rayman, who is no longer playable, only appears in the game's cutscenes. This was then proven to be true with the announcement of Rabbids Go Home, which does not feature Rayman at all.

Trivia

 * Some of the Rabbids games will have players competing against the Rabbids while other games will have players either allying with the Rabbids or playing against them so far in this order
 * Rayman Raving Rabbids=against
 * Rayman Raving Rabbids 2=against (though they are playable in all versions)
 * Rayman Raving Rabbids TV party=with
 * Rabbids Go Home=with
 * Raving Rabbids Travel in Time=with
 * Rabbids Alive and Kicking=against
 * Rabbids Land=with
 * Rabbids Invasion-The interactive TV Show=with