© Alan LopezSoapbox features allow our individual writers to give their own opinions on hot topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. Today Alan grabs his target for accountants and increases how much he earns wasted has wisely invested in the Bank of Nook over the past year.
On the corner of my desk there is always a small plastic trinket near my stack of business cards, next to an overflowing basin with disposable pens: it is a small, tiny house, maybe two centimeters long, with a small and tiny window tingling door . When you open the door, a red otter named “Pascal” moves out. I pull him out when I’m sad. I love it, it’s cute.
Pascal and the house in which he lives come from the phenomenon of the town building, Animal Crossing. Maybe you’ve heard of it before. His little plastic house, already imported from Japan, has been sitting on my desk for almost a decade now. It was the only Animal Crossing thing I owned for years.
It was my strange life, before March 20, 2020, the day I bought Animal crossing: new horizons for my Nintendo Switch for $ 59.99.
You know what happened next: the world succumbed to a global pandemic; we all hung out indoors; we cling to our beloved animal friends for comfort. It’s somewhat painful to realize that it’s been a whole year since my obsession with Animal Crossing began.
And no, I do not mean that I have become obsessed with the game itself. Honestly, I mostly enjoy watching others play it. I no longer bother much with the small details of the game. My villagers’ hair often has a mess on its head, a sign of infrequent sign-ups. On the contrary, the silver lining for my lost year was the opportunity to leave a pent-up fandom for something I did not even know I was so interested in.
My year of crossing animals
© Nintendo LifeIt all started with the trading cards. Why does it always start with trading cards?
A slight revision: done actually buy one other Animal Crossing thing, except for the little plastic chachki. Until recently, the only modern merchandise for the Nintendo series that ever appeared on the state was four series of amiibo cards. Each card contains a different animal than the game’s history.
The timing of their release (2015) was certainly not available. Despite the fact that there are small chips inside that you can use to scan them for games, they probably did not do much at the time. Stacks of these things literally spread down the aisles, not long after release. My local stores could hardly give them away, and their prices dropped to cents on the dollar. So yeah, sure, I conceded. Eventually, I bought enough discount packs that I almost completed the entire dang collection before giving it up.
But when Nintendo announced five whole years later that these random cards were literally the only way to invite the animals into your game, and these throwaways immediately became eBay gold; so much so that people who have been out of my life for years have asked me cold messages to borrow random animals. Despite all my senseless hobbies, I became a god among mortals … except that I may still be fifteen or twenty cards short.
© Alan LopezI’m not exactly proud of this, but for the first few weeks of my quarantine, I traded double cards via Reddit by mail. But eventually even trade became too expensive. (“You want HOW many cards for Pietro ?!” was a real thing I told someone.) After researching reputable sellers online, I found:
- POMPOM # 373 – $ 2.95
- ANCHOVY # 219 – $ 1.55
- PIETRO # 356 – $ 35
But then, another ripple: I bought official card straps for the first three series super cheap, released again, but the series 4 binder I never found. No problem, I found it on eBay for a non-cheap $ 51, after shipment. I was so close to finishing the set, so why not?
This whole excursion ended up needing me just four maps, unfortunately some of the most popular animals I was not lucky enough to get randomly in packs years ago. For the privilege of catching Rosie, Lucky, Wendell and Ribbot, I turned an online seller into a mere underdog $ 86.10. My Animal Crossing collection was finally completed …
Nook, Inc.
Except no, it actually wasn’t. Because then came an official “companion book” from Animal Crossing, an encyclopedia of small games that sells today at outrageous prices far north of $ 100, but which I was able to order at the release in advance. I just paid $ 24.40, an absolute steal! (I also put a pack of Animal Crossing stickers in my cart, but it was just $ 5).
As Animal Crossing grew larger during quarantine life, second-hand art grew online. My friend made an art print that she sold for charity, so I paid $ 20 For that. A while later in the year, a whole series of ridiculously cute pens appeared on my Twitter feed, and in all the hype of a low-stock alert, I decided to buy another one. It amounts to $ 110.50. (Hey, it’s important to support small businesses during a pandemic!)
I was not fast enough to get them everyonehowever. Don’t worry, I’ve picked up the ones I missed a few months later during an inventory. $ 43.
And then came the motherboard of all Animal Crossing memoranda, at least priced: designer clothes. After a supposedly successful range of other Nintendo franchise-based clothing, the trendy Australian store BlackMilk jumped on the Animal Crossing wagon with a dazzling array of outfits.
It was my lifelong dream – or so I decided when my phone loaded the newsletter I had previously subscribed to – to see my partner in a Timmy and Tommy dress. Two of them, actually. She also looked good in a neon blue t-shirt with a tie on the front.
I did know what I was paying for. $ 197 for all things. And the other Animal Crossing outfit I bought a day later $ 114.32? It was a gift.
This is your detailed account! Ja ja.
© Nintendo LifeYou can read it all and think I’m just a rich man. I mean, I have a job. But no, I’m not. I’m usually pretty good with money. Except maybe for that time a month or two ago when Nintendo finally reissued the Animal Crossing trading cards – the ones that landed me in this mess in the first place – and made them available online for (and correct me if I wrong, fanatical people in the comments) only a few hours, tops. I bought nine packets for $ 45.75 not to has them, unopened.
I definitely played a lot of Animal Crossing, but most of all I played myself.
This is a warning story of what happens when one of your favorite things strikes a cultural chord – in this case, in all likelihood, a digital meditation on not life, but on life, expressed by anthropomorphic animals. By the time I picked up a little freaking Animal Crossing makeup for $ 24, I arrived at the New Horizons Anniversary Anniversary with a $ 820.56 tab. It is money that is expressed in real currency, not with bells.
The good word of crossing animals goes even further than all the shit above; since the New Horizons craze, where once there was hardly anything, there is now everything: plushies, office supplies, stickers, calendars, t-shirts, spots, you name it. I literally got an email to sell my Animal Crossing socks while writing this piece. To indulge in the level advocated by the marketers can only be described as an everyday ‘Animal Crossing lifestyle’, which wraps you in a lifestyle about playing lifestyles – the ultimate ouroboros of fandoms – all in one calendar year breaks out. (Thank God I did not jump for the Animal Crossing-themed $ 299.99 switch. Can you think?)
And yet, of all the Animal Crossing stuff I own, my favorite thing remains my little Pascal, sitting on the corner of my desk. I still open his door and let him out from time to time. In fact, I pulled him out while picking up the cost of every thing I bought in the past year – just the Animal Crossing stuff. I will certainly not admit to you how much I spent on it other video game stuff.
I’m not crazy.
© Alan Lopez