It appears that Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be having yet another collaboration soon. In a recent announcement, Build-A-Bear Workshop revealed that it will be releasing an Animal Crossing: New Horizons collection, which means that anytime soon, dedicated fans will be able to purchase and take home some of their favorite villagers, as well as decorate and dress them up.
That being said, this crossover isn’t entirely that surprising; the American retailer already teased a collaboration with Nintendo’s life simulation game last year. Animal Crossing: New Horizons launched last March 2020, which unsurprisingly saw a surge in popularity, especially since the lockdown regulations were put into practice around that time in many countries around the globe.
As such, many different companies were clamoring to join the trend by either creating their own in-game island themed around their brand, or by releasing merchandise. Around that time, a Twitter user said that it would be a “cultural reset” if Animal Crossing and Build-A-Bear were to collaborate with one another, and the latter responded with a mysteriously vague tweet which hinted at the possibility of a future partnership.
During that time, fans who saw Buila-A-Bear’s response didn’t think much of it, and simply brushed it away to the back of their minds. However, it appears that there really was something brewing behind the scenes, as Build-A-Bear revealed earlier that it will be launching an Animal Crossing: New Horizons collection soon.
COMING SOON! Our Animal Crossing™: New Horizons collection is full of fun for all ages. Sign up for free email and text updates so you don’t miss a thing!
US: https://t.co/g37GrjpCWc
UK: https://t.co/D6Wesqr0Cc pic.twitter.com/ZJ0UwlAJx7— buildabear (@buildabear) March 10, 2021
The tweet contains a link to the company’s UK and US websites, but there’s not much information on both just yet except for a “Coming Soon!” However, interested fans are given the option to sign up for exclusive updates regarding the collaboration. Those who do enter their email will receive a message once the collection is available.
Since this exciting announcement, fans are already beginning to theorize which New Horizons villagers will be featured as Build-A-Bears. Since Build-A-Bear is known for plush customization, it’s highly likely that we’ll be seeing some of the fan-favorite villagers, especially those much-coveted ones who are sold and traded for millions of bells.
For instance, the rainbow sheep villager named Dom was incredibly popular when the Switch exclusive title was initially launched. Marshal and Raymond were also villagers who were often in the spotlight. There’s a bunch of other adorable villagers that would be perfect as plush toys, like Lily, Coco, and Stitches. Of course, Isabelle will always have a special place in players’ hearts, so we’ll probably see her too.
Despite the excitement, there’s one thing that’s making the fans worry: scalpers. And it’s understandable why this is a major concern, especially when scalpers also ruined the Animal Crossing: New Horizons x ColourPop collaboration.
this is gonna suffer the same fate as spring green frog and baby yoda, im afraid
so – out of stock quickly, and yeah probably scalped
build-a-bear is pretty good at restocking though, so there's that
— GabbieNight says wear a mask (@GabbieNight) March 10, 2021
Since Animal Crossing is such a popular and widely renowned franchise, it’s highly likely that scalpers will purchase as many stuffed toys as possible from the collection in order to resell them for ridiculously high prices. However, interested fans may have more of a fighting chance in this case, seeing as Build-A-Bear offers fans the opportunity to customize plushes.
