The ‘majestic’ Banjo-Kazooie animatronic from the ’90s commercial recently sold for $2,100

Talk about repressed memories coming back to me suddenly, but anyone who was a kid during the N64’s lifespan will likely remember the brash commercials Nintendo aired. One of the more obscure was for the 1998 classic Banjo-Kazooie. A brief 30-second ad had some men camping in the forest and talking about the dangers of a flying beast that had elements of both a bird and a bear. Lo and behold, the titular heroes swoop down and snatch the guy as he is mythologizing them, though not before the audience gets a horrifying look at a semi-realistic Kazooie.

I completely forgot about all of that until I saw the recent article about the animatronic Kazooie being sold recently. As spotted by GamesRader+, a man named Andrew Olson posted to a Facebook Banjo-Kazooie group that he recently acquired the original animatronic used for the advertisement. Sharing some nightmare-fuel-inducing photos of Kazooie up close, he notes that she is in fantastic condition, has a 4.5’ wingspan, and has a fully animatronic mouth and eyes. Reportedly, “she’s a fun, nostalgic edition” to his office.

 

 

Now, that’s actually pretty cool and all my joking aside, is a neat addition to any fan’s collection. Where the story gets more interesting is in how much Olson paid for the bird. Thanks to GamesRadar+ reporter Dustin Bailey, we have a digital trail pointing to an online auction held on December 14, 2024. While you need to log into the site to view any listings are sales history, Bailey discovered that the item was sold for $2,100. The website also confirmed that Kazooie was “constructed by AnimatedFX, Inc., a renowned Los Angeles-based company specializing in animatronics and special effects.” That’s prestigious.

I don’t know that I would part with $2,100 for a replica of Kazooie, but then things like GPUs sell for $2,000 now and won’t last nearly as long as this gem. At least when Olson gets older, he can donate the puppet to a video game history museum or even take the bird on the road for some photo ops.

 

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