How do you choose your villagers?

[Croconaw]

I’m not adding a poll for this because I know answers can be super varied and contain several reasons. I want to know how you chose your dream villagers. You can list them or post a picture if you’d like. I personally chose my villagers based on color scheme and species. As you can see, they all are of an orange-ish brown color scheme. There are two wolves, who I consider to be the leaders, and eight dogs. I don’t really care for personality types or having a variety of species. I like this aesthetic.

Did you choose your villagers to compliment your themed island, like Stitches for kidcore, for example? Do you have one of every personality? Do you have all one color for aesthetic purposes? Do you just go for ones you like, regardless of their appearance or personality? Let me know how you chose your villagers! Feel free to share your villager lineup.

 

[DJStarstryker]

I intended to have an all cat island, but I found some non-cat villagers I like so... basically the only thing is I want at least 1 of every personality. I just need to like their aesthetic.

 

[kiwikenobi]

I don't follow any theme or anything like that. I choose villagers just based on whether I like them or not. And since all villagers of a personality are identical in terms of... personality, I base my opinion on their appearance. I try to have one of each personality, for variety in the dialogue, though I didn't have a jock or a sisterly for a while because I like so few of their designs. But eventually I got Phoebe and Ribbot, who I do like.

If ignored personality altogether, odds are, I'd probably have a town with like seven normals at once. So many of them are so darn cute! ^o^;>

 

[Khaelis]

Mix of favourites and ones that fit my current theme's aesthetic.

 

[mnk907]

I'm not very picky. I don't follow any themes, but I do try to make sure I always have one of every personality. Other than that, it's just a matter of if I think the animal looks nice. Does this camper have a decent design and do I have room for their personality? Sure I'll take 'em. When I'm doing island hunts, it's usually to replace a specific personality, and at which point I often take the first one of that personality as long as I don't mind their design. If it was a personality double that left, then I'll be a bit more choosey to find one I like more.

The only time I've used an amiibo was Chai from the Sanrio pack. Everyone else has been choosing from what the game has given me.

 

[moon_child]

I initially intended to choose them according to my island theme but nah I can’t so I just chose them based on who my faves are. I recently reset my island and I intend to just keep my faves among each personality type and then leave the remaining two slots as rotational slots so I can meet a lot of villagers.

 

[EtchaSketch]

OP, your villager lineup is super aesthetic and i’m jealous!!

idk how to choose my villagers, still haven’t decided. too attached to so many of them (

 

[Bugs]

For the older games I just went with whatever I had, usually I got attached to a couple of them and now I've got their amiibos lol like Hans, he was my neighbour in New Leaf for years so I had to bring him over to New Horizons

However, since we can theme the whole town in this game I have actually tried to go for a theme. I've been trying to collect "monster" villagers, specifically I'm after ones with tusks or big/sharp teeth specifically so far I've got Tucker, Boris, Bella and Katt. I'm keeping Hans with the excuse that he's a yeti lol I'm really struggling for the rest. I might get Drago if I can convince myself to kick out Cube

 

[Rosch]

I just pick who I find interesting.

But, from the moment they live on my island until I get their photo, if I form a deep attachment to the villager, then I can say that I like him/her. If I feel indifferent when they want to leave, then that means s/he's not the right villager for me.

I've had so many villagers who I thought I'd like but end up getting replaced by another. The cycle repeats.

 

[Dunquixote]

I just pick my favorites. I plan on cycling for a bit though since there are so many villagers I’d like to meet before settling for all my permanent villagers.

Before this update, my plan was for permanent villagers: Punchy, Rudy, Dom. Raymond. Ankha Marshal, Kiki, Spike, Merry, Sherb or Rosie.

I was also considering eventually looking for Claude (don’t have his amiibo card). Not sure who I’d replace though.

Now with this update: Punchy, Rudy, Raymond, Dom, Kiki. Spike, Merry, Marshal

and Sasha and maybe Niko too.

I still want Ankha, so some decisions will have to be made. I want to be able to keep Sherb too.

My dreamies all were picked for their design, though a good amount of them were picked from having them in NL or in NH and loving them .

Roscoe was going to be permanent until I heard him sing and all the time.

 

[CrankyCupcake]

These are my current islanders.

But they are not "dreamies". I play NH the same way I've played WW and NL. I just want different animals to come and go. I've never had a list of must-have villagers to work towards. When I go island-hopping, whoever looks attractive to me and seems interesting to talk to, I invite. The same goes for campers. The only exception is Raymond, for whom I spent 3 days resetting the campsite to acquire. He's staying on my island for as long as I'm playing the game. He just makes me smile every time I talk to him.

Personality-wise, I started out thinking I'd have at least one of each personality. So I did that for most of the past year. But now I feel I can do without the jock, the snooty, the normal or the peppy. As it is, I have 3 lazies. I love them!

One thing I've noticed about my own playing style is that, in WW and NL, I preferred the bigger animals. Now, I realize I'm loving the smaller ones more.

 

[JellyBeans]

I don’t have ‘dream villagers’ per se. In previous games I would - i always wanted to have one of each personality time, then one female duplicate and one male duplicate so that the gender split was equal, so I would just go through and pick my favourites at the time. now I cycle through villagers a lot more, and just replace each personality/gender as and when they leave with whoever’s available at the time, or whoever I feel like I want in the moment!

 

[Orius]

I just pick cute villagers, but there are a few exceptions.

Merry was the first villager I fell in love with in Pocket Camp. She was also one of the first I aggressively pursued her photo for in Pocket Camp. Still haven't gotten her photo yet in New Horizons, even though she's probably with me the longest, ever, among all other villagers. Like, you could request all kinds of giveaway villagers from me, 'kay? Just don't request for Merry, because there's no way I'm giving her away (at least not before I get that photo...).

Agent S was one of the first three villagers I met on the Mysterious Islands (the other two being Jambette and Clay), and she was the only surviving member of that trio whom I tried my best to summon back again and again no matter how many times she moves away. I have a special attachment to Agent S because she's just so cute, the way she dresses up as this cool superhero. I think outta the superhero team though, I definitely like her a lot more than Kid Cat. lol But I did move Kid Cat in because of her. They're now neighbors (after much effort to move around the houses...).

Julia was (kinda) a special exception because I also met her during Pocket Camp, but I didn't immediately think of her. I did really enjoy her "Dahling" catchphrase, and out of all the snooty villagers, she's probably the cutest too, not having that high society stuck-up look, and instead having a cleaner, more down-to-earth face.

Maple's cute, so no surprise there. Had to choose between her and the other Normal Villager, June. June was only available on the RV Welcome Amiibo card, which I didn't acquire until recently, so I picked Maple instead. I really felt bad about hitting June with the net to get her to move out back then, but after seeing how nice she is, I just grew closer with her.

Frita was one of the first two villagers I met on New Horizons (the other being Hamlet). She's the true exception among these cute villagers because I didn't find her that cute in the beginning, especially her outfit, but after she kept sending me these really nice letters of encouragement, I grew attached to her and tried my best to keep her moving back in. She's only moved out like, maybe twice? Far less than Agent S, whom I feel closer to. Frita is like this big sister/mother to the other villagers.

Marshal is an easy choice. He's popular for a good reason, having that sad-cute look. Plus, he's sulky like me. My Marshal Amiibo card stopped working a few days ago, and I immediately went out to get another one. Marshal's cool.

Beau was another villager I met on Pocket Camp that I liked. He's kinda the odd one out because I needed a lazy villager to have as many diverse personalities as possible. It was between him or Fauna, and since Fauna's Normal, and I already picked Maple, so Beau got in. And he's cute enough too, being close enough now to send me letters. So much dialogue about food... lol I love him.

And finally, Cheri. Man, Cheri. Yet another villager I met in Pocket Camp that I liked a lot, probably almost as much as Merry, almost. She has this cute tomboyish personality going for her, being tough yet cute at the same time. Unfortunately, she's the one who gets rotated out the most often during my villager giveaways. I hope for the day when I could get some time to get close to her without having our friendship level reset.

 

[Seelie]

Ahhh man OP your villager lineup is amazing, I love the aesthetic and I might try to figure out some similar color/species lineups just for fun.

I tend to prefer villagers that are 1) small and 2) roughly natural-colored, although there are plenty of exceptions to both rules, lol. I also like to pair up species on my island, but I don't think I could do a full one-species island; I've tried with cats before and ended up getting bored of it. Dom is my one true baby, even though I feel like honestly he breaks the "theme" of my other villagers by being a little too pastel and pink.

My other stupid thing is that I really like to find my villagers on hunts. I just...don't feel like I've earned them otherwise? Or don't get as attached, maybe?

Of my current lineup, the ones that are sticking around for the long haul are Chester and Olive, Marshall and Pecan, Dom, Dobie, Maddie, and Lily. I had originally wanted Bones and Henry to fill in the final two slots, which sort of pairs them off with Maddie and Lily respectively, but I might crumble if I run into Shino on a villager hunt first.

 

[Moritz]

I used to make sure I had every personality and didn't have more than 1 of a species.
Now I just have my favourite villagers.

I have, in map order:
Kidd
Sherb
Tybalt
Boots
Egbert
Quillson
Sheldon
Megan
Raymond
Limberg

Trying to decide who to kick out for tiansheng
Probably Sheldon?

 

[Xara]

i‘ve honestly never taken a villager’s gender, species, personality, etc into consideration when inviting them to live on my island. i mean, i don’t particularly want 3+ villagers that have the same personality on my island at the same time, but i don’t really mind either lol.

design is what i take into consideration the most when choosing my villagers — i never limit myself to villagers that match whatever theme i’m going for, though. i’ll invite any villager that has a design i like, regardless of what that design may be or what my island theme is. i also take any previous experiences/associations with a villager into consideration as well. for example, i would invite kiki to live on my island in a heartbeat because i love her design, but also because she reminds me of my black shorthair kitty, zeva. i would also gladly invite tabby to live on my island because i know she’s @WaileaNoRei ’s favourite villager, and seeing all the posts she’s made about her has made me want to give her a chance. the list goes on and on, since there’s plenty of villagers that i love, have good memories with or associate with something that makes me happy/is special to me.

my current villager lineup consists of audie, raymond, beau, sprinkle, whitney, margie, fauna, fuchsia, midge and zell, and while i don’t really have much variety atm, i still love my villagers and am happy with them. :’)

 

[Seastar]

I prefer to have at least one of each personality since otherwise I'll feel like I'm missing something. But really, I just choose villagers I like. I don't need a theme or anything. I just wish we could have more than 10 because I always end up getting too attached and then I can't move in the villagers I had wanted the most.

 

[Magus]

Initially I wanted to have all 8 personalities and 8 different species just for the sake of variety, but ultimately I fell in love with a lot of villagers and it messed things up

Concerning species I already have 3 cats (Kiki, Kabuki and Tabby), and I'm very interested to get Shino but will never say goodbye to Deirdre my first villager ever. I think I want Sasha too and don't plan on leaving Tiffany neither so...

My ideal is to remain with the 8 personalities though but it has been a year since I didn't play and I don't know if it's still matter to me for my comeback, because the thing I really care is to choose villagers I want to see on my island, I want to talk too, and that inspire my creativity. That's the most important.

Here's my line up at the moment

 

[TheDikTatorTot]

Mix of my fav animals plus just their basic looks.

 

[Altarium]

My first rule is having at least one from each personality. I want variety, each villager to feel unique, and I don't want to get burned out reading the same dialogue over and over again. This often proves quite challenging given our current selection of sisterlies and jocks, but I make do, and I end up falling in love with villagers I would've never expected.

The second rule is having Skye, Julian and Diana. They've been with me since the beginning of New Leaf and they're never leaving me.

From there, I pick my favorites based on looks and double up on my favorite personalities, but I also make sure they all fit the general aesthetic. You can see my lineup in my signature, and this time I tried my hardest to make sure everyone fits in. I'm quite happy with all of them <3