Random: The Official Animal Crossing: New Horizons Guide Puts To Rest One Bit Of Romantic Speculation

They’re together no matter what the guide says

" or does this news simply confirm your suspicion that people were reading too much into the dialogue?"

It's the Internet, ofcourse they do.

Official guides tend to be by completely different authors as the localisation and filled with misinformation, as any Pokemon fan could tell you, so regardless of your thoughts on this matter this isn't the place to look for de/confirmation.

And they were roommates!

It's Animal Crossing. Just assume nobody is in a relationship. Because that's pretty much the gist of it.

Eh, I mean this may as well be like all those biographers who euphemistically chat around the probability that a historical figure's 40 year cohabitation with a person of the same sex was totally no homo. Got to account for the author's hang-ups too.

Still, I can't get anything more or less than CJ having a huge crush on his bug loving roommate personally.

I feel like a lot of people have been in isolation too long

@carlos82 lol this was the comment I needed. Just burst out laughing.

@Schliam Worst part: they go in the flat just to discover that... THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED

business partners AND gay? inspiring honestly
@Blizzia: what about kapp'n and reese

C.J. aka Justin (What a nice name in Japan version) is very cute. 😛

Btw...
Here we go again.
Wah wah same gender relationship, wah wah LGBTQ...
Peoples... Chills.

This thought has never crossed my mind, honestly. But it's a fascinating hypothesis.

Why stop there with the speculation? Let’s go deeper. What if no one is an animal, and they’re all just dressing up like Zipper?

The "term" in this case is referring to the fact he works with Flick. Heck, you could say they are Business Partners. I doubt it's referring to them being in love with each other.

Must be a slow news day. I'm going to watch this video about how this guy finds the announcer on Super Monkey Ball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inUkotGb-K4

I don't believe the book, because I've actually seen in-game dialogue where one of my villagers, Pate, told me he saw Flicky and C.J tossing each other's salad

@carlos82 It seems like they have been in isolation for a lifetime.

alternative title: imaginary video game character not gay

@DinnerAndWine laughed WAY to hard at this 😂.

I’ve never played AC before and honestly hadn’t even realised C.J. was even talking about Flick, just thought he had some helper somewhere busily making cool Collectibles for him while he was busy fishin

Those two characters seem to be written in a way that's supposed to reflect younger people anyway, even if Flick's dialogue is painful to read.
I assumed it was open to people's interpretation so they could take what they wanted from it....but I also couldn't care either way.

I don't know... For me, it was always pretty obvious that they are work partners. People are reading too much into this.

Nah. They're a couple. Deal with it.

Flick isn’t female? I thought she was a cool outdoorsy chick into collecting bugs. I am disappoint.

I totally read it as them being gay to be honest, that’s just what partners screams to me. God forbid there’s anything remotely gay in a kiddie game though, parents would have a field day.

Bert and Ernie are also long-term roommates. I mean, it’s obvious.

Now I know that they are roomates AND gay. Cool article.

Literal "OMG they were ROOMMATES!!" in Nintendo lore.

"Slow news day!"

...on a goofy Nintendo fansite? What news is more newsworthy inside that framework that they aren't already covering? And I can get real news elsewhere. I come here to escape the hell of reality!

@nessisonett - not this parent, but I take your point about how it could cause a phony outcry.

Personally I think it'd be brilliant, especially in this kind of game.

Also, I'm strangely attracted to Flick. #isolationstircrazy

I knew it all along.

I thought Flick was a chic.

Freaking thank you I knew they were just best friends or even business partners not a romantic pair like tumblr people tried to shove down others throats -being dead serious. When you point out the obvious no hint at all that they are nothing more then just friends to them you will get attacked. It's what happen to me on that darn site.

Ahahaha like a guidebook is a good source on anything factual. I don't know why everyone cares so much what other people think about those two, but Nintendo guidebooks are notoriously inaccurate.

still up in the air how close their relationship actually is, since cyrus and reese could technically be labeled roommates and business partners too. its a big reach but it doesnt really disprove anything, and obviously nintendo wouldnt directly admit to a gay couple in their game

@Aaron09

I don't think you are familiar with his artwork...

Oh for crying out loud, this is NINTENDO, they freak out at even the thought of doing anything controversial. They don't even want us using the internet... and people think they, of all people, are going to put in a gay couple in a game that's supposed to appeal to the most amount of people without causing problems.

Alright, whatever you say.

Hhhmm, I'm not so sure. I've spoke to a villager called Candi who told me about her favourite book that was a lesbian romance. The female lead goes on a quest only to find he true love was the princess all along.

I feel this statement is a cowardly way of not upsetting certain homophobic sectors. I could be wrong, but it just feels that way to me.

@Ogbert If anything, that would just prove that Nintendo is not shy about gay couples and the fact they didn't make Flick and C.J. explicit shows that they aren't.

I never realised Flick was male!

@Shinnos Yeah he hides it well. I thought he was a punk girl or something.

I figured as much.
Still, it was funny seeing people get so worked up over something so trivial, on both sides of the argument even.

Otters and lizards...don’t...really...work that way...

The game is completely gender neutral in some cases so it’s not like any of it really matters.

@Mii_duck Oh absolutely, times they are a-changing but just look at some of the attitudes on sites like this at times. Given the notorious ‘parents just don’t understand’ attitude towards gaming in general, and the controversy with even things like Spongebob, where the characters aren’t even gay, I reckon there’d be too much negativity for Nintendo to ever consider it. The only really gay characters you get in Japanese games tend to be stereotypes as well, it’s quite frustrating.

@Noid no it is a de conformation -get over it.

@carlos82 it's true lmao

@somebread ..I'm assuming your joking lol.

@CooperFrank it's not a hypothesis it's a fact o.o

@HobbitGamer noo!! Lol

You have to remember this is a chameleon and a beaver we are talking about... ew. Romantic relationships have thus far only been between animals of the same species (except Lottie and Digby but that wasn’t anything more than a crush).

@link3710 um..you do realize that the nintendo guidebooks about characters are facts...-please relax..lol

@Aaron09 Shirtless muscle dudes are his obsession, you must be new here

@Ogbert ...just why? why you gotta do this now? xD lmao...I think I'm done here.

@nessisonett ...i..I feel sad that people seriously forgot the other fact about what partner originally meant -partners as in working together, it was pretty obvious from the gecko...I-sigh

I ordered that Official Animal Crossing New Horizons guide months ago, how do you all have it?

I knew people jumped the gun on this one. I never read "partner" as anything more than "business partner"... I mean, a partner that makes models for C.J. didn't really seem like a romantic partner, and seeing as it was not specified otherwise, business partner was the logical conclusion.

It's still a fairly LGBT positive game either way.

CJ tells you as much in his dialogue, as you keep giving him fish to make collectibles. No need to look that up in a guide if you play the game.

People have always pretended their imaginary pairings are a thing, and they always will.

@MidnightLaces It’s like 2020, when I refer to my partner at uni or work, I mean my boyfriend. I would typically jump to that meaning rather than assuming all uses of the word ‘partner’ are referring to some sort of business arrangement. It’s Animal Crossing though, it’s hugely popular in the LGBTQ community and you can’t exactly blame people for projecting.

I always assumed it was business partners. Still what I think of first when someone says "my partner".

@MidnightLaces
Perhaps you understood the opposite of what I meant.I meant that the "romantic hypothesis" never crossed my mind. The word "partner" in that context doesn't make me think about a couple, maybe beacuse of its Italian translation (which I don't remember at the moment). Anyway, the romantic sense is only one among the several meanings of "partners". Remaining in the field of Nintendo, "Mario and Luigi - Partners in Time" should have a romantic meaning, if we always see that word in that sense. But obviously if someone wants to see them as a couple, they're free to do it, it's a nice concept.

Business partners.

“Business”

https://youtu.be/WGOohBytKTU

@Schliam OH MY GOD THEY WERE ROOMATES!

So am I romantically involved with all three of my male roommates as well?

As a gay I can tell you that roommates can also be code for partner lol. Anyway. Everyone on my island is gay because its my island and I said so.

This game is all about selling stuff, buying stuff, and general business related ventures.... but yeah, totally makes sense that "partner" would mean that in this game. People really have too much time on their hands.

@Aurumonado you're practically married.

@MidnightLaces you know you can @ multiple people in one reply right

@Kalmaro It feels to me like they included same-sex relationships as part of the lore and character development and treated it like the perfectly normal no big deal it should be. In game.

But, then someone in the Western marketing / BI department got cold feet and felt they should tone it back to something more ambiguous, but didn't realise there were occasional other references in the game as well.

@Noid how is this misinformation?

@MBII ... Is the repression session over yet, or do you have more people to cry at?

@Ogbert It may seem that way, you could possibly be correct, we just can't prove it so anything we say is just speculation. All we can do is go by what they said which... is just that they are partners.

We don't have anything else to go on and it makes more sense anyway that nintendo is trying to avoid drama, though thirsty people on twitter find it anyway.

well, this comment section has gone about how i expected it to

I always knew they were romantic lovers. They make a great couple too.

People were reading way too much into this. Really don't think Nintendo would put a gay, interspecies relationship into Animal Crossing, especially given the...consequences that I'm sure are out there.

@MidnightLaces please don’t post so many times in a row. I’ve taken the liberty of merging most of your comments together, and removed the least useful ones.

@mesome713 What? How can you know something that has never been proven to exist?

Nothing about that contradicts the undeniable fact that they are madly in love with each other.

@kupocake Just report and ignore them. Replying will only encourage them.

I did not even notice it.

@Roto13 Nothing about this confirms it either.

@MBII let's not. I'm sure you can find ways to express your point of view without insulting others or posting multiple comments in a row.

https://i.imgur.com/8kO3Ez4.jpg

@kupocake
Hi. 😀
Are you new moderator here ?
Never saw you before.

@Anti-Matter she's most likely a writer.

Yeah, well, "official sources" also claim that Gracie and Sahara are girls, but we know better.

Some sites say otherwise

I just want Pekoe to love me forever.

there's no ambiguity in the japanese dialogs tho. They just refer to each other as friends.

@dakuww Doesn't matter for some people, they want to feel validated by a beaver and a lizard hooking up.

Just like those ladies who never got married and lived with their "closest friend" for decades.

@Manah Not exactly, the game just says they grew up with other and are business partners. Anything beyond that is speculation.

Suuuurrreee, they're just "roommates"

@Kalmaro Just let people have their headcanons. Sure its just speculation, but who cares? if people want to view them as being in relationship let them. It doesnt affect how you view/play the game

@jimmy789 People can have whatever headcanons they want, it's their opinions and they are entitled to them... it's only an issue when they act as of their headcanons are fact and then go against people who don't agree with them, which I'm seeing plenty of here.

@Kalmaro I think those people are mostly joking, stop taking everything so seriously.

@jimmy789 Unless they say they are joking, it's hard to tell when they are not.

I mean, I could be joking right now, why so serious?

@RupeeClock where are you from because I've never heard anyone refer to their boyfriend, fiance or spouse as partner. That's certainly not common parlance anywhere I've ever been. None of the gay people I know do it. Not even the one trans couple I know. They all use typical American relationship titles. Partner is a business term in 97% of cases here.

People actual thought they were together?! Lmaooo

i never once entertained the notion that they were lovers, partners simply meant that partners. there are plenty of other gaming examples to prove that.

the fact that anyone jump to the conclusion is kind of weird and with a game like animal crossing any of that stuff is the last thing i'll be thinking about lol

@DarkLloyd It makes sense when you consider who is doing it. It's usually people trying to validate themselves, imo.

@Schliam oh my god, they were roommates

So roommates and business partners can't be a couple?

@StinkyHat a better question is if room mates and business partners have to be a couple, which they don't.

Some people are saying that since they live together and are business partners, there's no other option but for them to be gay, which is silly.

Sorry but being roommates when theyre carrying millions on them daily, that aint for business reasons, theyre a couple. cased closed lmao.

ok actually tho who cares let the fandom think what they want the ship is cute af

@Fokkos Comments like that are why.

I don't think anyone is actually upset if they are hay or not. Rather, it's people pushing their opinions on others. It's the difference between someone saying "I think they are gay" or "I like to think they are in a relationship " vs "They are gay, deal with it".

“We want people to smile and have fun when they play our games.”
Tumblr can go crawl into the hole it spawned from

@MidnightLaces I'm not stressed. I'm just saying that I've been reading Nintendo guidebooks since the 90s (gotta love the Prima days), and they're always put together by third parties and tend to contain references to things that are flat out wrong. Just cause it's official doesn't mean that it was put together by the dev or localization team or anyone involved with the game.

I don't care either way about this debate, but taking a guidebook as gospel is either naive or idiotic, take your pick.

Oh and evidence: https://nintendosmash.com/the-pokemon-company-has-found-64-errors-in-the-official-guidebook-for-pokemon-sword-shield/

Here's a very recent official guidebook...

@RupeeClock I did not know that. Interesting.

@ReaperExTenebris Why do they need to? It is a game about an island of animals. Why does ANYONE need to be in any sort of relationship? Can't we just have a game that is fun to play and relaxing without it being politicized by requesting characters have sexual preferences. I sincerely hope that Nintendo never turns Animal Crossing into a dating game or something to push an agenda.

@Kalmaro
That was a jab at how every time a relationship between two people of the same sex (in the broadest sense) is the tiniest bit ambiguous, some people are hellbent on disproving that there could be romance involved. Read: this article is pretty pointless.

Peopke who want to ship them will do that regardless of official confirmation, people who don't won't, and the only thing that really matters is that we're all just scamming them out of their money.

@Manah And I'm fine with people shipping whomever, I just wish folks wouldn't be so toxic about it. Its like having someone try to force you to read their fan fiction.

@Kalmaro
Never seen anyone do that with these two, maybe I'm not hanging out in the right internet circles. This article is thr first time I see anyone push their opinion.

roommates that kiss

Disappointed

@SoIDecidedTo they took Reese and Kapp'n out behind the shed this game so they couldn't politicize straight relationships, inspiring honestly

Tom Nook and Redd used to be partners
partners in crime that is

the word partners does not have to mean romantically

@Manah Just read all of the comments, I don't feel like name calling, that and twitter is just melting down over this.

@Manah Honestly this whole article was just a jab they didn't say they weren't in a romantic relationship or not people can still ship them amd others can say they are just roommates.

My thing is why this article went straight to tell the people shipping them "here something to say your wrong for thinking they are in a relationship " vs oh wow the business partners cj are roommates too.

I never even considered them to be talking about each other, if anything Flick would be w/ the drug dealer from the back alley in Splatoon, forget their name, you all know the one.

Can we get to something actually important though -

How often do they visit your island and is there a way to get them to arrive sooner? I've saved up 3 of every animal I want made into a collectible, have only seen each of them once.

@rjejr from what i understand they visit once every week randomly with sunday being the exception im assuming

Yes... “roommates.” I’ve known a few couples who were officially just “roommates.” I’ll go on pretending CJ and Flick are a couple because there’s no reason not to,

@Halifirien And that's fine to pretend whatever. As for a reason not to, I'd say them not saying they are in a relationship is a good reason, but it's your prerogative.
@rjejr I THINK its once a week too.

Hey they can be roommates and business partners and partner partners too

The only reason to say they aren't a thing is to once again, spit in the face of the LGBT community. Why make a big deal about a couple of fictional animals who happen to be implied as an LGBT couple? Why?

If people want to interpret it that way, let them. It's as harmless a game as a game can be conceivably possibly harmless.

And personally, I do think that is the implication. The game doesn't cut back on dialogue anywhere else, and they don't say "business partner" they say "partner".

@Heavyarms55 That's a lot of reaching to assume that Nintendo would go out of it's way to attack anyone while also trying to make money.

They are a corporation and they have one goal, money. They aren't here to be 'progressive'. Even Disney, who pretends to be progressive, has no problem dropping it all when it comes to catering to the right audience (like china)

People can interpret whatever they want, just don't go acting like opinions are fact, please.

I'm all for gay interspecies love and I'd have no problem with those two being more than just friends even if I actually played the game, nor would I give a damn if some close-minded parent felt "traumatized" over one her kids being exposed to such a couple in a game that pretty much targets all ages. I don't run the company though, and unfortunately I'm guessing that a significant number of their customers (and maybe a few stockholders) would not approve. That's all speculation though, and I often have a very negative outlook on society.

I’m an old fashioned lesbian so as soon as I saw “partner” my first thought was “wow Nintendo really is acknowledging that not everyone is hetero...” roommate is old code as well.

I don’t see the issue. Heterosexual relationships are shoved into all media even where it shouldn’t be. Most fairy tales are romances but are geared towards kids. If it is ok for a child to be exposed to or trained for heterosexual relationships at young ages it shouldn’t really matter if its homosexual or not. We say media doesn’t influence others so nobody should be afraid that representation will give people gay cooties or minority cooties for that matter. Are people so vile that they are willing to deny a few people a sense of belonging?

Besides if it is true that they are together it is subtext: meaningless to anyone that doesn’t use that code. Thus nothing was lost, but maybe just maybe a subset of people might feel a little validation. But because it makes pathetic people feel better by pretending that the real world doesn’t exist and think it isn’t varied people have to go out of their way to “explain” things.

@Kalmaro @DarkLloyd Thanks. I've played every day since it released Friday 3/20, probably close to 200 hours, and excluding the all day Saturday fishing tournament I've only seen each of them once, CJ last Monday and Flick Tuesday. Flick was there all day Tuesday but I think I only saw CJ after dinner.

I know the fish tournaments are the 2nd Saturday every 3 months, and Daisy Mae and her turnips are Sundays 5-12noon, KK Slider on Saturdays - poor guy sat out in the rain ALL DAY with hardly any audience - but I'm still learning the rest. Was surprised w/ the Bunny Day and oh so short cherry blossom festival which I basically ignored collecting eggs.

So I wasn't looking for an exact time, but I figured they must have some type of pattern, once a week, twice a month, every other month. Once a week would be good, even if I miss them, just to know.

@CairiB Same here never hit me to be any other way

The term "partner" is so unromantic. Frankly, I'm confounded by its adoption. I find it particularly strange when married couples refer to their spouse as their "partner", almost as if there is a stigma to one having a husband/wife.

@Silly_G That's probably why they decoded to use the term. I'm not sure why people are trying to hard to say them being partners means they are in a relationship.

I mean, I have ideas why but that's about it.

Hmm, they're "roommates".

@Ryu_Niiyama I think that people who need games to validate themselves have other things that they should concerned about.

Folks shouldn't be playing a game to feel better about existing, the only excuse I can see for rhat is maybe if onr need therapy or something.

As for raising kids, game companies can promote what they want. Personally, I'd prefer they stick to promoting heterosexual relationships since those tend to be more stable and the norm.

Wait... Flick is a DUDE?!

...I seriously thought Flick was a girl...

this doesn't deconfirm anything and i feel like i'm going crazy seeing people acting like it does. how does being roommates make it less likely that they're gay? especially in a universe where no one has to share a house with anyone if they don't want to because you can own your own house with a zero-interest no-deadline loan of $500?

@Adamario Well first things first,

This does deconfirm people saying that it proves they are in a relationship simply by the fact that it doesn't make it explicit. Nintendo is perfectly fine with gay people in their games when they want to have them, the fact they they even mentioned some princesses looking for love with another woman in the same game proves that.

Second, being a room mate does not prove people are in a relationship at all and never has

We also have no clue if Nook gives people the same deals as us or if he would have to. We don't even know if Flick and CJ are just living together because it's cheaper.

You know what is for certain? They are childhood friends and love together, that's all. Anything beyond that is speculation, which you are entitled to.

The way people are talking about this makes it seem like they literally cannot see the word partners in a romantic way, like, they read a romance novel, but it described the couple as "partners" so these people think they're reading a novelisation of wolf of wall street

@VirtualEmerald I could just as easily turn that around and say that I can't believe some people can't see partners in an unromantic way.

@Eel edited. But thanks for the info! Now I know why my comments possibly may have been unrightfully taken down towards rude comments that were aimed at me :"D.
I can clearly tell how hard it is to control peoples comments and rage when -your other mod friends allowed a swamp of people to jump at a man for a reviewing a pervy game and allowed alot of chaos to happen in the comments...

-i'm just trying to rap my head around how you can take down "spam" comments, but people attacking others on the comment section plus the people that work on this site, -don't do nothing... -...yikes.

more worried about the poor mods that work here that get jumped because of the rude people on here :/ but thank you though -at least you combined them.

@CooperFrank makes sense :0
@somebread yeah I noticed that late lol -like a couple of days

@link3710 ok 😩💨

@MidnightLaces I don’t personally spend much time in the article comment sections, and sometimes things get too out of control before I, me, can do something. I do try to delete any egregious acts of aggression I find though, just not minor disagreements. Don’t want to get too draconian.

6 posts in a row are just easier to identify and fix.