It’s time for me to share my annual gallery of fancy Easter Eggs, each decorated with a hand-inked cartoon character. See all of this year’s egg photos HERE.
Read or skim the whole blog this time – there’s a comic at the bottom.
Last year, the Easter Egg Gallery paid tribute to “Rabbits of Super Mario Games.” However, a GRAVE error was made – I failed to include Nabbit, who is possibly the best rabbit (rabbit-like?) character ever to grace a game franchise. To correct this failing, the entire 2024 Easter Egg Gallery will be dedicated to that Bunny Burglar – with designs inspired by the “character standees” from Super Mario Wonder.
Why Nabbit?
It’s not that I forgot about Nabbit altogether, but before Super Mario Wonder came out last fall, I had underestimated how much the little crook had become a part of the main Mario cast. I knew he was introduced as a minor antagonist in Super Mario Bros. Wii U and became a playable character in the variant, but – as the Wii U is one of the only Nintendo systems I have never owned – Nabbit wasn’t on my mind as much as he should have been.
Besides, I don’t play as the easy characters much myself (although I’ll probably end up needing Nabbit if I ever want to finish that Final-Final Trial in Super Mario Wonder.)
But, after Super Mario Wonder came out, my niece and nephew started talking up Nabbit and asking questions about who he was. My niece in particular was delighted to learn that Nabbit was a thief. “They like that he’s a mischief maker,” my sister Liz (one of the children’s other aunts) suggested. “He’s troublesome, but not evil. He’s like a child’s version of Lupin the Third.”
“Then he’s Lapin the Third.” I responded.
In a very short amount of time, the kids had entirely sold me on the concept of Nabbit. Admittedly, it didn’t take much to make me like a character that combines two of my favorite things – rabbits and Super Mario. Of course, no one can be sure Nabbit is really a rabbit and not some rando in a bunny suit, but that mystery only adds to his weird charm (my personal theory is that he’s a rabbit in a rabbit suit.)
Music and Art
Over time, I found myself making up a silly little Nabbit song, which the kids enjoyed. And they more the liked it, the more verses I added. Eventually, I decided the whole thing needed to be illustrated, so I made the song into a comic, which I decide to share with you for Easter. The song is a parody of “There’s That Rabbit,” the theme song for the Rankin/Bass Easter Special, “The First Easter Rabbit.” You can hear the song on YouTube HERE, or watch the whole special from the beginning HERE.
Did I combine a song from a 1976 Easter special with a video game character that first appeared in 2012? Yes, this will be super-relatable to my audience. I make good life choices.
