Lego and Nintendo have revealed Lego Animal Crossing, featuring mini figures of fan-favourite villagers as well as characters like Isabelle and Tom Nook.
The teaser for the collaboration showed Rosie, Bunnie, Marshall, Kapp’n, Fauna, Julian, Isabelle and Tom Nook waving at a floating present with a balloon attached. When the clouds parted, the logos for Lego and Animal Crossing appeared in the sky.
Behind the villagers were Lego trees with plastic fruit like apples, oranges and cherries on their branches, and Lego flowers studded into the grass. Check it out below:
Welcome to…LEGO Animal Crossing!#AnimalCrossing #LEGO #Nintendo pic.twitter.com/fU2hvP7y1G
— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) October 5, 2023
Funnily enough, some fans said that the upcoming set would be somewhat of a spiritual successor to Fabuland. Released in the 1970s and 1980s, Fabuland was concepted as a transitional theme between Duplo and Lego.
The cast of characters were anthropomorphic animals with their own names – the first Lego set to do so – and the animals often had stories attached to them.
Fabuland was turned into a claymation TV show titled Edward And Friends that aired on British, Canadian and New Zealand television between 1987 and 1989. There were also books published by Ladybird Books based on the episodes.
At the moment, it’s not known what the upcoming Animal Crossing sets will include. Nook’s Cranny, Able Sisters, the Town Hall and the Museum and The Roost are obvious choices, but alternatives could be some of the caravans from Harv’s Island, like Katrina, Kicks and Savannah.
Or, sections of the Museum could be separate sets, allowing players to build their own miniature dioramas of the fossil, bug, art and fish wings.
In other gaming news, anonymous Creative Assembly staff alleged that Hyenas was “cursed” from the get-go, citing an chaotic engine swap, lack of risk-taking and mixed messaging on its intended audience as factors in its cancellation.