The recent Animal Crossing and Build-a-Bear collaboration feels like it was orchestrated by the notorious capitalist exploiter Tom Nook

As an avid Animal Crossing fan, hearing the news of the new Build-a-Bear and Animal Crossing crossover had me running laps around my street. The day of the release, my phone buzzed, and to my surprise, it was an email from Build-a-Bear which I had signed up for months in advance in anticipation. The adrenaline kicked in and I opened the email in a crouching position so I would be ready for the inevitable leap of joy.

Then reality struck. I read that the “collection” consisted of only 2 characters from the game. 

I stared at the Isabelle stuffy’s condescending smile and wave, and felt personally attacked.

You betrayed me Isabelle. You betrayed us all.

Since the launch of the Build a Bear and Animal Crossing crossover on April 6th, the memes have been pouring out and Animal Crossing fans have been feeling the same way they did when Tom Nook laid down a multi million bell debt onto their poor souls.

For $57CAD plus shipping, you receive either Tom Nook or Isabelle, with a sewn-on outfit, and an Animal Crossing voice box. The voice box has two options, one is a song from the game, and the other is voice lines from the game. If you’ve ever played Animal Crossing before, you would know that the “voice lines” are more just… gibberish. Rolling over in the middle of the night and accidentally pressing the voice box to be woken up by high pitched nonsensical babbling is likely to make your soul shoot from your body. 

The lack of customizability with the sewn-on clothing has left some people feeling confused. The Build-a-Bear brand is all about customizability. If you can’t build the bear what kind of rubbish are they selling us here? Build-a-Bear lets us dress Pikachu like a princess, or Stitch as Spider man, or any number of options that are endless and adorable. But when they do a collab with a game all about decorating, customization and creativity, and an endless variety of outfits, then they choose to lock in their character models? 

On May 11th, a new addition to the line was added. When I heard the news, I thought that maybe, this could be the redemption for the collaboration! Maybe I would finally be put out of my pain and agony and finally have Raymond by my side! But to my surprise, it was simply the same cheerful dog and money loving raccoon… but in one different still sewn on outfit. 

It may be shocking at this point, but there are other Animal Crossing fans who are even more crazy than me… some people even go as far as paying millions of bells, or even real money for some of the more popular characters from the game to grace them with their presence. So you can imagine that they would sell their organs on the black market for a stuffed animal of their favourite villager. Such as Raymond, a smug cat villager who thinks knows he’s the star of the show! 

The anticipation to be able to own a Raymond Build-a-Bear was at an all time high, or even any other of the whopping 379 villagers that exist. Come on Build a Bear, please, throw us a bone here!

Rumours have been flying around of a possible new addition to the collab. My now shattered heart really wanted to believe it, but it’s radiating the same energy as thinking you are done with your debts, and then Tom Nook slams you with even more virtual money to pay off. You have burned me before, Tom Nook. Don’t give me hope again. My heart can’t take it.

But I can’t help it. Build-a-Bear made an announcement on their website that we can look forward to another friend being added to the collection this summer, and my serotonin levels are ZINGING. This is better than hearing your villagers sing a duet for the first time. (It’s the cutest thing in the world.)

Let’s keep our fingers crossed and our hopes up that the new addition will restore peace among the Animal Crossing community, still reeling and in disarray from the whiplash and chaos Build-a-Bear has inflicted on us.

Image Credit: Image via Nintendo Life