About

Isabelle Cannot Be Harmed is a meme originating from within Mario Kart 8’s second DLC Pack, in which Isabelle, the secretary from the Animal Crossing series, is put into danger while racing, only for at the last second to not be harmed or to not fall off of the track by means of another characters intervention or otherwise.

Origin

Because of the polite and kind character that Isabelle is depicted as in Animal Crossing, fans have always taken Isabelles side in defending her from harm and general insults about her personality. As such, it’s not uncommon for Animal Crossing fans to display affection and a need to protect Isabelle online.

The meme itself originated from user Goomygoo on Tumblr, when they posted a video of Isabelle being chased down by a Red Shell right before the finish line. The video then goes onto show that, instead of Isabelle being hit, Baby Luigi lands on the Red Shell, for it to explode immediately after. As a consequence, Isabelle is not harmed, and wins the race. (right click, then press play to play videos below!)

A second instance of the meme was uploaded to Tumblr by user lustfuldemoness , with Isabelle, once again, being chased by a Red Shell, only this time on Mario Kart 8’s remake of SNES Rainbow Road. As a last ditch attempt to rid herself of the Red Shell, she falls off of the track, perhaps intentionally. The video further depicts her somehow bouncing off the Red Shell to safety, as if the track itself didn’t want Isabelle to be harmed.

Spread

Due to Tumblr’s simple Reblog and Like nature, the video’s has so far gained a combined total of 66,830 notes, and have spawned multiple pieces of Fan Art, depicting Isabelle in similar situations, such as letting Villager win, instead of her, in order to “help out” the villager, as she does in her secretary position in Animal Crossing.