Character page for Birdboy The Forgotten Children.
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Main Cast
Birdboy
Birdboy
A shy misfit and a junkie, he’s constantly running from the police while struggling with his inner demon at the same time, using drugs to keep it in check.
- Addled Addict: His drug consumption has clearly done a number on him, as despite his still crisp mind, he's often dazed, tired and often has spasms which coupled with his gaunty, emanciated look, doesn't give the best first impression.
- All of the Other Reindeer: As shown in the prequel, after the death of his father, he’s ostracized by his peers and the city due to him being a junkie and the mistaken believe he’s a drug smuggler. They even have over-exaggerated stories about him drinking people’s blood.
- Attack on the Heart: At the climax of the film, his heart is hit by a bullet, stopping it and killing him for good
- Bad Powers, Good People: Birdboy is a lonely, sweet kid who wouldn't hurt a fly, but due to his past trauma, serves as the vessel for an Animalistic Abomination made of his inner darkeness and hatred toward those who destroyed his family. As such, he feels it's his duty to keep a lid on such destructive forces, even if it's at the cost of his health.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: He never talks and he will even let you bullying him, but hurting Dinky and her friends is a big no.
- Black Bead Eyes: He sports two big black eyes with no sclera whatsoever. However in the prequel, he used to have normal eyes. While the short film implies his pupils became dilated from constant drug use, the film reestablishes his eyes were always black, except they were smaller when he was younger and sober, maintaining the same principle.
- Break Her Heart to Save Her: The reason he grew distant from Dinky is because he was afraid of hurting her due to his inner demon.
- Break the Cutie: The death of his father at the hands of police, and the townsfolk constant harassment, take a toll on his mind, as these are the reasons why he has a inner demon in the first place, and he has to take pills and drugs to control it.
- Covert Pervert: During the happier times montage of his and Dinky's relationship, Birdboy acts coyish the first time Dinky tries to get him to go Skinny Dipping with her. As their meetings progress, he's shown more "handsy" when both are dry-humping each other.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He was raised by his father, Birdman, who after the nuclear accident was shot by the police for the mistaken belief he was a drug smuggler (in reality, Birdman was spreading glowing acorn seeds to restore on the island). Then the police started to target Birdboy, since he was Birdman’s son, and the townsfolk started to mistreat him. All these events and Birdboy’s anger and pain, created a black crow-demon inside of him, and he has to rely on drugs to suppress it.
- Dark Is Not Evil: He has a black and white color motif, but he’s overall a misunderstood kid. His inner demon, on the other hand, fits the Dark Is Evil category.
- Death of a Child: He is prematurely killed by a bullet being shot throught his heart at the climax of the movie.
- Deuteragonist: Birdboy may be the titular character, but Dinky is the story's protagonist.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: ZIgzagged. In the short prequel film, his eyes had actual scleras, with the change to black beads for eyes implied to be from constant highs. However, the film's version of his eyes is Truer to the Text of the graphic novel.
- Exhausted Eyebags: He sports these due to the stress of being hunted down by police and drug use.
- The Hero Dies: Although Dinky is arguably the main character, Birdboy is a close second, with his spreading of the seeds around the island crucial to returning it to a healthier state. He still ends up shot by the police before he can fulfill his purpose.
- Interspecies Romance: He's in love with Dinky, a mouse.
- Kill the Cutie: He’s shot in the heart by a rookie policeman at the climax.
- Loners Are Freaks: While he was a shy kid to begin with, he’s most of the time alone because of the townsfolk mistreatment.
- Mercy Kill: In the prequel, he killed a dying bird (from what it’s implied to be radiation poisoning) at the latter’s request to end its pain.
- Minor Living Alone: Due to both parents's absence, Birdboy has had to grow up alone, wandering around the island's edges, scavenging for food and simply avoiding the police, all while aware of the rejection he faces from the islanders.
- Missing Mom: His mother is never mentioned.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: The townsfolk always harass him for being the son of a supposed drug smuggler, and a junkie, as if he is the Devil’s Spawn. But no one (sans Dinky) ever bothered themselves to know him better. In reality, he’s just a shy but nice kid, who is hunted down by the police, while struggling with his inner demon and uses drugs to suppress it.
- Nature Hero: Just like his father before him, he tries to revive the island by planting golden acorn seeds that have the power to make plants grow out of the ground, and he takes care of all birds who live in the forest’s sanctuary, even taking the time to give a proper burial once they pass away.
- Older Than He Looks: He looks like a chick, but he’s actually a teenager.
- One-Winged Angel: His demonic form is a giant black crow monster with red eyes, teethed beak and with the ability of breathing fire. While he is in this form, he is also mindless.
- The Quiet One: He never speaks throughout the movie.
- Raised by Dudes: He was raised by his father in his early years.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Whenever he is confronting or turning into his inner demon, his eyes turn red.
Dinky
Dinky
Voiced by: Ana Lemos (Spanish, Original Short/Prequel), Andrea Alzuri (Spanish, Birdboy), Lauren Weintraub (English)
A cynical, yet emotionally bruised teenager who's still dealing with the loss of her father and both her stepfather and mother's neglect, due to being The Unfavorite to her half-brother Jonathan.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the original short, Dinky was much more rude toward her stepfather and mother, even though in that case they were at worst less passive-aggressive. In particular, her sore spot was the stepfather's claim of being her dad, even recasting several memories of the deceased father as his own. In the movie, Dinky is distant but rarerly acerbic and more resigned to her family's criticisms.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Zigzagged. Dinky loves Birdboy, the "dangerous" outcast. However, rather than his bad reputation or disheveled looks, her love comes from seeing the "real" him: a tender person who's rejected by the world at large and is just trying to find a place to call his own.
- The Cynic: In spite of her hidden softer side, Dinky is very much convinced her parents (read: her mother) don't love her, there's nothing in the island guaranteeing a prosperous future and her best option is to escape. Sadly, she's not given much of a rebuttal on most of these points except the "prosperous" part should the island be restored to its former glory, courtesy of Birdboy's spirit.
- Daddy's Girl: As shown in the prequel, Dinky was very close to her father when he was alive. Her relationship with his stepfather and mother being so fractured makes her miss this connection even more.
- Disappointing Older Sibling: To Jonathan, who clearly sees himself as superior to her. In a variation of the trope, Dinky is the more sympathetic of the two.
- Hates Their Parent: From their first scene together, it's clear Dinky disdains her stepfather for his judgy, religious manners. More subtle, however, is the silent resentment she directs toward her mother for marrying the guy and thus "replacing" her dearly father. She's also resigned to their addiction to pills and how the family routine consists on them putting her down emotionally and unfavorably comparing her to Jonathan.
- Interspecies Romance: She loves Birdboy, which is pretty self-explanatory.
- Morality Chain: Birdboy isn't evil but it's clear he'd have given into his demons a long time ago if it weren't for Dinky's support.
- Nice Mice: Downplayed. Dinky can be nice, but mostly, she's too jaded and cynical to try unless it's with her friends or Birdboy.
- The Only One: She's the only one who fully believes Birdboy to be a good person and thus the only one to support him.
- Only Sane by Comparison: She's got her own baggage but out of the group, she's the only one who's mostly okay. Sandra has her episodes, Little Fox is too meek, Zacharias has become a drug dealer and Birdboy is sane but not emotionally stable.
- Troubled Child: Granted, most of her peers smoke as well; yet in the prequel short, Dinky is shown as cheerfully walking with her father to school without a hint of her smoking, implying she started shortly after the factory's destruction and her father's death.
Sandra
Sandra
Voiced by: Eba Ojanguren (Spanish), Sofia Bryant (English)
A rabbit, friends with Dinky and Little Fox. She regularly suffers hallucinations trying to extort her to harm her friends.
- Hearing Voices: Frequently has little demons appear on her shoulders telling her to hurt others, especially Little Fox, something she doesn't want to do. At one point, they tell her to push him off a cliff he's standing nearby.
Little Fox
Little Fox
Voiced by: Josu Cubero (Spanish), Dean Flanagan (English)
Friends with Dinky and Sandra, he's the weakest member of the group and often the target of bullies at school.
- Ambiguous Innocence: Smokes just like his classmates yet retains a level of childhood naivete the others have since discarded.
- Bully Magnet: While it never excuses any of his mistreatment, Little Fox is often shown to be way too soft and innocent for the world around him, all the more easier for him to be labeled as a target.
- Butt-Monkey: Easily the most unfortunate and abused of the core trio. As his first scene demonstrates, he's a prime target for the school bullies with Sandra needing to step in to save him (nevermind how often she has to resist the impulse to harm him as well). In the film's climax, as the group is brought in as prisoners of the Forgotten Children, on top of getting a shiner, the group's leader decides he will be the one most likely to be sacrificed before Birdboy comes to their rescue.
Others
Zacharias
Zacharias
Voiced by: Jon Goiri (Spanish), Yuri Lowenthal (English)
A young pig fisherman who has to provide for both him and his mother. Due to fish being nearly extint on the island, he has taken to being a peddler, with Birdboy his main customer.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: He didn't became a drug dealer just for fun. Most of the fish in the island are dead and gone; to even scrape some living, he had to get creative. The fact Birdboy, his sole seen customer, owes him a lot of money which he simply ineffectively tries to remind him to pay shows just how unfit he is for the role of "pusher".
Birdman
Voiced by: Félix Arkarazo (Spanish), Jake Paque (English)
Birdboy's father, who was killed by the police.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: After the nuclear crisis happens and loses his job, he alongside many birds try to repoblate the island's flora by planting magical seeds, but those are mistaken from drugs by the police, who tanish his name and undo his progress by chopping off all the trees, before getting killed by one of them.
- Posthumous Character: He dies shortly after the nuclear crisis happen, with the sergeant telling his cadet how he fell from grace and how he killed him.
False Dad
Voiced by: Tacho González (Spanish, Prequel), Jorge Carrero (Spanish, Birdboy), Marc Thompson (English)
Dinky's current stepdad. Dinky's Mother
Voiced by: Xermana Carballido (Spanish, Prequel), Nuria Marin (Spanish, Birdboy), Janis Carroll (English)
Dinky's Father
Voiced by: Antón Rubal (Spanish, Prequel)
Dinky's father, who was killed at the nuclear crisis.- Deceased Parents Are the Best: He is fondly remembered by Dinky, who remembers him as a loving a supportive father, in contrast with her current stepfather, who berates her and unapologetically shows favoritism to Jonathan.
- Posthumous Character: He died at the nuclear crisis during the prologue.
Jonathan
Voiced by: Markel Kerejeta (Spanish), Hudson Loverro (English)
Zachariah's Mother
Voiced by: Nuria Marin (Spanish), Cindy Robinson (English)
The Clock
Voiced by: Josu Varela (Spanish), Erik Scott Kimerer (English)
The Officers
Sergeant Voiced by: Matías Brea (Spanish, Prequel), Kepa Cueto (Spanish,Birdboy), Scott Williams (English)
Young Soldier Voiced by: Anton Rei (Spanish, Prequel), Josu Díaz (Spanish, Birdboy), Kyle McCarley (English)
Two dog policemen who chase Birdboy throught the movie.Young Soldier Voiced by: Anton Rei (Spanish, Prequel), Josu Díaz (Spanish, Birdboy), Kyle McCarley (English)
Tropes associated with both'
- Would Hurt a Child: Both soldiers are willing to shoot Birdboy due to him being considered a dangerous criminal. At the end of the film, the young soldier ultimately kills the boy.
Tropes associated with the Sergeant
- Fantastic Racism: He has a huge distain for birds, as he believes that they help Birdman and Birdboy in their drug trafficking.
- Hate Sink: He is a ineffectual and paranoid officier that had done far more damage to the island than he tried to stop, having his officers cut down the remaining tress on the island to ward off birds, and even killing Birdboy's father just because he assumed he was smuggling drugs. If that weren't bad enough, he chases after Birdboy for the majority of his life in an attempt to kill him, causing him to get shunned by society, and making Birdboy the broken-down mess he is. When his recruit finally kills Birdboy, he gloats about it, despite said recruit clearly feeling guilty about it.
- No Sympathy: He shows no sympathy for Birdboy's death, congratulating his trainee for killing him.
Tropes associated with the Young Soldier
- Hero Killer: Becomes this at the climax, as he kills Birdboy before he could leave the island for good.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After killing Birdboy, he tears up at what he had just done.
The Creature
The Forgotten Children
The remnants of those that survived the factory explosion on the island in the area.
