A good tell-sign would be when you decide to discotinue it, the entire interweb goes into total meltdown.

That was what happened on social media-sphere recently.

Leave him alone!

Twitter users went into absolute meltdown recently after they found out that IKEA will be discontinuing a stuffed animal toy.

It's not just any stuffed animal, mind you; it's their cult favourite giant blue shark called BLÅHAJ, which gained popularity back in 2019 when people begin posting photos of the cuddly toy doing "human things":

Image credit: IKEA

The whole social media drama started when IKEA UK sent out a tweet on 26 September explaining that the BLÅHAJ was currently unavailable due to "supply issues".

But it was the second part of the tweet that got the attention of social media users, when an IKEA support staff member by the name of Alex mentioned that the cuddly blue shark "may only be available for a short period of time as it is set to be discontinued from April 2022".

Hello. I'm sorry that BLAHAJ isn't available at the moment, due to supply issues. It may only be available for a short period of time as it is set to be discontinued from April 2022. I shall log your comments in relation to this. Thanks - Alex— IKEA UK Support (@IKEAUKSupport) September 26, 2021

The news didn't sit too well with netizens, who uttered their disbelief over the piece of information.

Interestingly, it seemed like Twitter users were genuinely upset to find out that BLÅHAJ will be permanently taken off the shelves:

There will be a riot if you take our BLAHAJ away.— aura, tired (@acute_aura) September 26, 2021

you can't do this

— ? the6p4c ? (@the6p4c) September 26, 2021

BLAHAJ DID NOTHING WRONG

— Baja Yaga ?✨ #BLM (@penelopew_) September 26, 2021

No. Please. No. No. No. pic.twitter.com/TbqTeLg3GQ

— Aurora (@aurora_smiles_) September 26, 2021

please don’t take blahaj away they’re an icon ??

— Josh………………… BOO ? (@Joshbal4) September 26, 2021

This is a hate crime please reconsider

— ︎ ︎ (@bee_sec_san) September 26, 2021

Don't do this please

— rin! ♥ (@lostkagamine) September 26, 2021

You can’t take away my beloved!!!!!

— Claireus, the Dogcow?️‍⚧️ (@assert_h) September 26, 2021

In fact, even social media users halfway across the world felt the pain of the sudden announcement.

According to a report by Business Insider, Weibo users in China took to the social media platform to mourn the 'death' of BLÅHAJ.

A thread with the title "Ikea toy to cease development" was reportedly viewed over 72 million times on the social media site, even spawning over 10,000 discussion threads.

Image credit: Insider

That's not all: there's also a petition running on Petition.org, urging IKEA to continue selling the BLÅHAJ.

At the time of writing, it has garnered more than 4,300 signatures. If you love the blue shark, you can sign the petition here.

Yeah, we love our BLÅHAJ, alright.

There may be hope yet

Thankfully, there's still a sliver of hope that IKEA may not be discontinuing the BLÅHAJ beyond the UK.

A seperate tweet by IKEA USA mentioned that they have no plans to discontinue the stuffed toy in a respond to a Twitter user:

Hi Melody! Thanks for reaching out. We appreciate your interest in our BLÅHAJ shark soft toy! IKEA USA doesn't have current plans to discontinue this product (Article no. 903.735.90). You can check this out on our website here: https://t.co/gNiDsGoeOI. We hope this helps!— IKEA USA Help (@IKEAUSAHelp) September 26, 2021

However, that didn't stop people from panic buying BLÅHAJ, as Business Insider reported that the soft toy has been listed as 'sold out' in IKEA's Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore online stores.

Thankfully for us Malaysians, there's still hope yet.

A quick check revealed that the BLÅHAJ is still available on IKEA Malaysia's website for RM59:

If you have yet to bring this cuddly blue shark home, better do it soon.

Who knows it will be collector's item in the future, kan?