Happy Tree Friends

Happy Tree Friends is an internet series, featuring cute and cuddly animals, but they suffer lots of gruesome deaths.

## Origins

Rhode Montijo drew an animal on a scrap paper, who would later become Shifty. Then he drew a yellow rabbit who would later resemble Cuddles.

There was a pilot called "Banjo Frenzy", which was released in May 1999. It features a yellow rabbit, a light blue squirrel, a purple beaver and a blue dinosaur (which are earlier versions of Cuddles, Giggles, Toothy and Lumpy.

After the pilot, the very first episode was released on the internet in December 1999, known as "Spin Fun Knowin' Ya". It was also the first season of Happy Tree Friends. After the first episode of the first season, a second internet episode was released, featuring two new characters: Petunia and Handy. In 2000, several more characters were introduced and appeared on the first internet season: Nutty, Sniffles, Pop, Cub, Flaky, the Mole, Disco Bear, Russell, Lifty, Shifty, Mime, Cro-Marmot, Flippy, Fliqpy and Splendid.

There were 21 main characters in the 2000s, from the first to the third internet season, until 2010, when two new characters were introduced. Lammy and Mr. Pickels came into the series as main characters.

## Characters

There are 23 main characters of Happy Tree Friends: Cuddles, Giggles, Toothy, Lumpy, Petunia, Handy, Nutty, Sniffles, Pop, Cub, Flaky, the Mole, Disco Bear, Russell, Lifty, Shifty, Mime, Cro-Marmot, Flippy, Fliqpy, Splendid, Lammy and Mr. Pickels. There are minor characters in the series as well.

Different types of characters with different types of looks and traits were created on different years. Cuddles, Giggles, Toothy and Lumpy are characters that were the pioneers of Happy Tree Friends, and by pioneer, it means that they were the first 4 characters ever to be introduced in Happy Tree Friends, in 1999. There are also fan characters created for Happy Tree Friends.

## Crew Members

* Alan Lau - writer, animator, director, storyboard artist
* Alan Smithee - animator
* Andrew "Big Show" Blodgett - animator
* Andrew Embury - animator
* Aubrey Ankrum - co-creator, director, animator, voice of Pop, Flippy, and Fliqpy, writer
* Bradley Rau - animator, writer, director, voice of Mouse Ka-Boom
* Chantelle Valdez - manager for advertising operations
* Chris Opena - technical director
* Christina Chavez - associate producer
* Cliff Malloy - web producer, manager
* Dana Belben - story editor, voice of Giggles, Petunia, and Cub
* David Ichioka - producer, writer
* David Winn - director, animator, voice of Lumpy, Splendid, Splendont, and Pod Lumpys, writer
* Dean MacDonald - animator, creative director, voice of The Mole and Cro-Marmot
* Deirdre O' Malley - executive producer
* Ellen Connell - voice of Giggles, Petunia, and Cub
* Ewen Nguyen - animator
* Francis Carr - voice of Russell
* Gene Fowler - animation supervisor
* Hillel Myers - production engineer
* Heather McDonald - assistant animator
* James LeFluer - works on the animation
* Jason Costello - content manager

## Year seasons

Happy Tree Friends has existed since 1999. Different episodes, images, videos and games have been made in different years.

*Go to the main article: Year seasons*