What Villagers Are Your Unexpected Favorites?

[DragonAceSg7]

Poncho. He was one of my starter villagers and he was so into fitness I didn't think I'd like him but I've hit the point I'd be super sad if he wanted to leave. And Rex. His talk about sharing his snacks with the bugs on the floor put me off but his vibe of 'going on snack runs', worrying about dream sandwiches, and falling asleep when Pierce gets him to work out is just the best.

 

[MadisonBristol]

Cyrano. I thought he was kind of scary-looking when I got him in Wild World. But he quickly became one of my two favorite villagers (along with Stitches), remaining in that position until New Horizons when I met Melba and Tangy.

 

[squidpops]

Beardo! Back in one of my new leaf town's, when he first moved in all I thought was "ew ugly, go away" but after interacting with him for awhile I ended up really like him! I've always liked the smug personality and he was just so sweet and always sending me nice letters. His personality plus general detective aesthetic (I really like the classic detective cliche aha) drew me in and I've loved him since.

 

[ConfusedDad]

Definitely Nana. She's not really popular, and from the moment I got her, I hated her. She just wasn't who I wanted. I tried going on a villager hunt, but I only had 3 tickets and I got:
Eunice
Rhonda
Marina (I know, I know, but I just thought, her mouth creeps me out, maybe I'll have better luck autofilling...)
So then I got Nana. I tried not saving, but I got her still. I was really sad, to be honest. But then one day she comes up to me and says, "I try to be a good listener. You can tell me anything, po po." I am about to melt. It is soooo cute. And now I like her. Also, definitely Ken. I want Graham as my smug villager, so I'm trying to kick him out, but I will die once I kick him out because he actually has a neat design.

 

[PoppyPumpkin]

Definitely Nana. She's not really popular, and from the moment I got her, I hated her. She just wasn't who I wanted. I tried going on a villager hunt, but I only had 3 tickets and I got:
Eunice
Rhonda
Marina (I know, I know, but I just thought, her mouth creeps me out, maybe I'll have better luck autofilling...)
So then I got Nana. I tried not saving, but I got her still. I was really sad, to be honest. But then one day she comes up to me and says, "I try to be a good listener. You can tell me anything, po po." I am about to melt. It is soooo cute. And now I like her. Also, definitely Ken. I want Graham as my smug villager, so I'm trying to kick him out, but I will die once I kick him out because he actually has a neat design.

Am so glad you love Nana now!
She's so special to me, so I always get so happy when I hear people like or love her =D

 

[DJ-Mika]

Curt!
When my sister and I went island hopping to fill a new plot, we ended up running into Curt
I wanted to pass on him; his design wasn't striking at all and we already had a Cranky at that point and I was trying to avoid duplicate personalities, but my sister instantly loved him and vouched for him hard so I reluctantly invited him
I now love him! He's almost like the cool uncle of the entire island, he's hilarious and always looking out for everyone and surprisingly gets along really well with almost all my other villagers; I really want to redo the inside of his house and deck it out with a nice chill Zen style c:
He's a permanent resident on my island for good, it really just wouldn't be the same without him

 

[WaileaNoRei]

Recently I invited Daisy to my island, and I was really surprised by how much I love her! She’s kind of the color palette I usually dislike. I don’t like the washed out pale pastely colors usually - I really dislike Diana, for example.

But Daisy is just so cute and sweet and something about her just made me love her .

I was also surprised, way back in the beginning by Bangle becoming a favorite. I invited her as my original peppy, I didn’t have many tickets and she was my favorite I had encountered. I intended for her to move out and even had a whole plan for who would replace her. But something about her, she just seemed so fun and excited about everything. She started to feel like the villager version of the island rep, and soon I couldn’t imagine my island without her. Now over 2 years later and I still love her so much and can’t imagine letting her go.

There’s surely more. It actually happens to me all the time. It’s great. I love being surprised by finding a new favorite!

 

[spicedb]

For me it’s Piper and Peaches! I randomly found them while island hopping and instantly felt in love. I have never seen or heard of them before, yet to me they were so much more cute and charming than most popular villagers I see all the time.
I remember having to decide to let either Daisy (one of my most favorite villagers) or Peaches go…eventually, Peaches stayed. She’s like a sweet big sister who is full of curiosity

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

Almost all the mouse villagers! I never knew many villagers when I was little and as I started to collect more amiibo cards and get villagers to move into my town I slowly got tons of faves! Anicotti was one that moved in and I fell in love with how adorable and kind she was early on! She was a later fave as I found her out from a random move in New Horizons! Bettina is a cooking mouse which was a cute concept and was one of my first normal villager favorites! I also love Broccolo and basically all the mice! Bree was a villager I had when I was younger in my original New Leaf town of 6 characters. I still remember her and may move her back in, sometime in the future!

 

[QueenCobra]

Honestly, I didn't play this series until New Horizons, so a lot of them are unexpected favorites. If I listed all of them, this would be a novel, so for now I'm saying:

--Most penguins
--Shari the sisterly monkey (cheeky!)
--cute cranky villagers, Rizzo and Hamphrey
--Flora (and a lot of the other peppies.)
--Hazel the squirrel
--Pietro the clown sheep
--Penelope the mouse
--Rhonda the rhino
--a lot of the hippos
--Drago the lazy alligator
--Gayle the alligator
--Molly the duck (and a lot of other ducks)
--Midge the bird
--Papi the okapi
--Melba the koala
--Ken the chicken
--Megan the bear
--Most cubs
--Beardo and Klaus (bears)
--Knox the chicken
--Genji

 

[LuchaSloth]

I really like a couple of the Sanrio villagers.

Wasn't expecting to...but, I took Marty and Chai, and I enjoy having both of them around.

 

[nightglow]

Beardo. He was my mandatory smug in my first play of acnh. He is awesome and is my all time favorite smug. I find him humorous and chill, while others find him creepy.

 

[Rubygame]

I never imagined it, but New Leaf gave me the opportunity to get to know some wonderful characters, almost all the characters I had (which I initially hated) have become my favorites, and which I now protect with all my heart
The first very strange character I had as a starter was Coco, the more I looked at her the more I thought it was a bad taste joke from the producers of the game LOL
Instead she's the sweetest and most adorable rabbit in this world and every time I see someone who finds her creepy I feel so sad! It deserves so much love.
Then there was Bonbon.
She was so... euphoric and ditzy! Really, she was very vivacious, perhaps the most vivacious peppy villager I have met so far.
At first she got on my nerves, and instead she later became one of my favorite characters, she would be able to cheer me up even on the saddest day in the world.
Then there was Gigi… a frog with a make up mask, it scared meI found her too weird! And as you may have understood, she has become one of my favorite characters. She's absolutely gorgeous
Then there was Chops... guys I'm IN LOVE with Chops. But of course I hated it at first… I never had a soft spot for pigs LOL
But the more I spoke with Chops, the more I understood that he had an incredible style and personality, Chops is not a smug villager, he is THE smug villager.

I sent most of them away, but only because I like to change and meet new characters, luckily I often see them in the shopping street

 

[outofwrlds]

Elvis is an unexpected favorite of mine, and I didn't even know he existed until I got him. I had a cat named Elvis, and when he was 12-13, he disappeared. There was construction happening near my house at the time, and despite never finding out what happened to him for sure, I suspected that he was hurt/killed there. He was very strong and healthy at the time, so it was definitely not old age.

Anyway, a few months after he disappeared, I was scrolling through the forums and saw someone giving away a villager for Elvis for free. Honestly, did not care what he looked like. I needed him. He turned out to be a super cool lion, and I love his gruff attitude and regal style. Even without his original namesake, he's become special to me on his own.

 

[EZbot]

unironically Raymond.

At first I saw the sort of bat**** insane simps that goes absolutely bananas over this business cat. I saw fans literally paying $$$$ and threatening someone thru DM just to own a virtual cat. these acts of desperation unironically turned me off from Raymond, even if I was actually a lil bit interested with his design. That's why I originally opted for Marshal instead for my smug villager.

It changed after 2.0 updates. You see, I originally used Marshal house as some kind of replacement for the lack of The Roost, as a sort of coffee shop. Of course we know that's no longer the case in 2.0. The other catalyst was finally moving Petri to my island. I just feel like there's too much white fur and tiny villagers, at this point I already like Petri better so he's gotta go.

I like neutral-colored villagers I cannot lie. Despite all my grievances about the simps, I admit his design just works. What captures me the most is the glasses, the grey-black fur, and his waistcoat shirt. I need a villager that gives me the vibe of a screenwriter/novelist and he's just perfect. It wasn't an easy choice to make because I tend to get attached to villagers I spend so much time with, but aesthetics wins out in the end.

In the end he's truly grown on me. He meshed well with the rest of my villagers and his personality didn't annoy me at all. He's definitely a permanent resident on my island for sure.

 

[Goldi Locks]

Bluebear I had never really noticed before. Now whenever I see her I'm like awwww there's the island baby. Grizzly and Curt are both cool despite being less popular in general.

 

[Tylerhelt14]

Katt. Katt moved from My cousin's island to my island Wellsboro. When I first saw her,I was like * home improvement grunt* but now she has grown on me. I love Katt now.

 

[FaeLeaf]

Baabara is one of those villagers I never noticed much, even though I actually did have her in one of my OG Gamecube towns. But then I saw her in HD and loved her overall aesthetic, especially her freckles.

 

[drowningfairies]

Teddy and Nate!​

I think their brows add so much charm. Teddy was a favorite before Nate, but he quickly grew on me. Teddy and Nate!​

 

[Hunter_Gr33n]

Phil, Gloria, Monty, and Kody. Phil was my campsite villager in New Horizons (you know what I mean) and I quickly fell in love with him. Gloria was one of my mom's villagers when she played City Folk and I only knew she existed because my mom said so. Lo and behold, Gloria moved in to my island a few months later, in May or June 2021 (she long since moved out :-[). Monty and Kody I both found while villager-hunting and quickly got attached to them. Especially Kody.