Rabbids, those 2003-looking things from several of Ubisoft's Rayman games, are going to have their own 'amusement center' in Canada soon. The Rabbid Amusement Center is not an asylum or playhouse for the animated atrocities but instead an indoor theme park apparently themed around them. It will open this August in Montreal's West Island. At least they will be kept contained.
The Rabbid is a sort of hyperactive rabbit/Crazy Frog hybrid, and their kind debuted in 2006 as the focus of a series of minigames in the Rayman franchise, Rayman: Raving Rabbids. Interestingly, the original French title was Rayman contre les Lapins Crétins, meaning 'Rayman Versus the Moronic Rabbits'. The moronic rabbits apparently proved popular enough, in the eyes of French Ubisoft, to earn a sequel to that game and eventually several more, usually focused around the Rabbids participating in minigames of some sort, and often involving exotic peripherals like the Wii Balance Board.
They haven't been seen since 2014 in Rabbids Invasion: The Interactive TV Show for the Kinect, based of course around the non-interactive 45 episode TV show Ubisoft Motion Pictures produced in 2013. It aired on Nickelodeon, but saw greater popularity across the Atlantic in France. It was even directed by Akama, who also handled the excellent French cartoon Wakfu, so it's really not a throwaway effort.
I guess Rabbids are a big enough deal among French-Canadians to inspire this edifice to amusement, in spite of their creepy, detached eyes and stereotypically kooky behavior. Or perhaps Ubisoft just wants to break into the theme park business, and didn't think the Tonic Trouble IP had enough life left in it. Maybe Yves Guillemot just loves the Rabbids. Maybe he is a Rabbid. If you're a Rabbid, or want to feel like one, or if you're just in Quebec this summer and need to see something weird, look for the Rabbids Amusement Center on West Island in Montreal. I bet it'll be pretty unmistakeable.
Would you want to go to the "amusement" center? Are the Rabbids really popular where you are? Are these creatures just Minions in bunny costumes? Let us know in the comments below!
