Love and affection between husband and wife can be expressed in many different ways.

Some lavish their partner with gifts, words of affirmation, a fancy date, or a combination of that and more.

One man here in Singapore though, went thoroughly and hilariously out of his way to put together a complicated set-up overnight... just to prank his wife over the Christmas and New Year festive season.

Bought 36 identical figurines

One Ian Cheng took to Facebook and his Instagram stories recently to document an elaborate Christmas prank he carried out on his wife, Vera Ang, revolving around Ang's most hated game character.

Ang apparently detests a particular character named Isabelle from the innocuous social simulation game Animal Crossing, who he said she believes is a useless character.

In the game, Isabelle is the town's secretary. Here's what she looks like.

Impressive amount of analysis into a small, fictional, anthropomorphic dog.

Opportunity arose when Cheng came across Isabelle figurines at a toy shop, going for only S$1 each.

Most husbands might, you know, purchase a handful to irritate their significant other. But not Cheng.

Across several days and differing locations around Singapore, Cheng proceeded to buy a total of 36 identical figurines of Isabelle.

One shopkeeper's hilarious reaction though, almost made it seem as if bulk orders of Isabelle figurines were not uncommon.

Operation Hide Operation From Wife

Not only did Cheng have to conceal his very large loot from his wife, he also had to make his preparations for the elaborate prank in the dead of night, while she was asleep.

He detailed the entire operation on his Instagram stories, without leaving out its unexpected obstacles.

Cheng even went the extra mile to buy tiny Christmas hats to embellish the figurines.

Final product

And here is the very-tediously-assembled final result, which apparently took Cheng two hours to set up:

A panning shot of smiling Christmas Isabelles holding up slips of paper that read "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year", all ready to welcome Cheng's wife in the morning.

[video mp4="https://static.mothership.sg/1/2019/12/getfvid_81665424_155802585706863_1604247334468986858_n.mp4"][/video]

And here's the funniest part: Cheng says Ang did not even notice the very long row of Isabelles greeting her the first time around, and only saw them when she walked back into the living room.

This is her face of absolute disdain.

And her subsequent reaction on Instagram, where she described the prank as "horrific".

Ah, the joys of married life.

It seems Ang's friends were sympathetic to her plight, though.

One friend commented how the character was so "damn useless", that each Isabelle figurine had to carry one letter, instead of one Isabelle figurine carrying a sign with the full message.

Post-Christmas day, it seems the figurines are still there. Hopefully Ang can reconcile her differences with the character and make peace, because it doesn't look like the 36 of them are going anywhere anytime soon.

Truly the epitome of marital love.

For more reasons why people hate Isabelle so much, you can view Cheng's full post here.

Top photo from Ian Cheng / FB