Whatever happened to Digby and Lyle?

[Sweetley]

Seriously, as much as I'm excited for the upcoming update, the DLC as well as for Lottie's comeback and the new NPCs, there is one thing which actually bothers me about the announcement but also about New Horizons in general: The lack of Digby and Lyle.

How comes that the one guy who's the twin brother of probably the most liked NPC, one of the main characters in Happy Home Designer (the precursor of Happy Home Paradise) and also the crush of Lottie, and the other guy who's one of the oldest NPCs, representative of the Happy Home Academy, also a main character in HHD and Lottie's uncle getting little to no attention whatsoever and seem to be gone reduced to atoms now, despite the fact that both would have perfectly fit to the update/DLC? I swear, they are both the most underrated and underused characters in the Animal Crossing universe and if someone like Tortimer (who was pronounced dead by half of the fandom ever since the release of NH and before the direct dropped) can get a comeback, why not these two guys too? Nothing against Niko and Wardell, but I would have rather seen the return of Digby and Lyle as a chaotic duo now supporting Lottie as best as they can in her new job and finally getting a purpose in this game instead of seeing them still rotting in the void of forgotten characters.

I just hope they come back at some point because I do miss them both.

 

[MayorofMapleton]

Probably just busy working at Happy Home Academy on the mainland.

Happy Home Paradise is probably Lottie's big break or personal project.

 

[Cosmic_Crossfade]

While watching the ACNH direct, my sister had mentioned Lyle and his absence and I didn't realize it until she did! I suppose he wasn't as popular as the rest of the HH cast? Lyle, iirc, was the grader for your home in last AC games. In ACNH, we get a letter evaluated by the HH crew in this game as an automatic sign up from being a home owner so perhaps he was deemed uneeded because of this? I do remember being annoyed by him because of how much he spoke though lol I think his sister was much more popular after the HHD game came out and was possibly more popular because she was more "cuter" and her role was more prominent for their DLC ideals?

Digby'a role was to be the one who showed you around NL's plaza above your town so he was probably not needed in this game because of Harvey being the guy to run a similar situation now that the update will have Harvey's own plaza of sorts as well. Digby was possibly over-shadowed drastically by Isabelle in terms of popularity so they may have felt it wasn't needed to waste time placing him in a game where his role wouldn't be needed anymore sadly. I liked Digby myself and thought he was a cute character in the game. I'm not sure if Isabelle mentions Digby in any of her dialog but she does mention talking with her family via Zoom/Skype so perhaps he's still living back at NL's terrain and not over the seas as Isabelle is?

The Shrunk isn't here either as he was the the one who distributed your emotions. They give us a new way to get emotes so perhaps he too was also deemed unneeded. His first appearance was in CF and he made his way to NL with his ever popular Shrunk Shuffle that a lot of people enjoyed haha I don't know if we will ever get that emote again but I suppose due to new ways to give certain info out in this game they had to make the decision to cut certain characters out they felt wouldn't contribute very much to the game itself perhaps.

 

[CL4P-L3K]

They fell in a volcano.

 

[JKDOS]

Digby'a role was to be the one who showed you around NL's plaza above your town so he was probably not needed in this game because of Harvey being the guy to run a similar situation now

No, he actually stood by the staircase to the Happy Home Showcase. And that is something that doesn't even exist in New Horizons.

Happy Home Showcase

The Happy Home Showcase (also called Model Homes) is a new location that appears in the town in New Leaf. The plaza appears behind the arch in the center of Main Street, opposite the train tracks. The main service this area provides is the ability to visit StreetPass players' houses from other...

animalcrossing.fandom.com

 

[Dream traveler]

Isabelle has mentioned her younger brother in the morning announcements, though not by name. I first noticed it last year sometime after diving was added. She mentions how her younger brother asked her to do a wake-up call for him but she forgot to call! I kept hoping that was hinting he would come back, but nothing.

I would love it if both Lyle and Digby came back! I just don't understand why they wouldn't. They wouldn't even need a specific role, so to speak. They could just sit and do administrative work. I was so hoping the Happy Home Showcase would come back so we could view other people's homes/islands and order items like in New Leaf.

Too bad they can't at least add Digby and Lyle to Resident Services as official Happy Home Academy representatives! They could give advice on how to improve our scores and maybe provide other services?? I don't know.... Just seems like such a missed opportunity. I love the new characters but miss Lyle and Digby, too.

 

[Etown20]

I don't mean to sound cynical, but thinking how they replaced Chip, Nat, and Joan with "cuter" characters makes me wonder if that was a similar motivation for replacing Lyle. I am surprised they didn't end up finding a new role for Digby though.

 

[Quaint]

I think they replaced them to fit the tropical island theme.

 

[Sheando]

I will always miss Lyle. His dialogue was hilarious.

 

[Faux]

I don't miss Lyle personally, but I really miss Digby. :[
I hope I can at least scan him into the cafe or design him a home with Isabelle, but I won't hold out hope until I see for myself.

 

[DJStarstryker]

Probably just busy working at Happy Home Academy on the mainland.

Happy Home Paradise is probably Lottie's big break or personal project.

If Lyle and Digby don't return, I hope they use that reason because it is a decent lore reason.

That being said, I want to see Lyle and Digby have some sort of role! Out of the NPCs we haven't seen yet, I still feel like Digby, Lyle, and Gracie have the highest chances of still making it into the game somehow, and for Digby and Lyle it would be because of HHP. We'll see!

 

[Cosmic_Crossfade]

No, he actually stood by the staircase to the Happy Home Showcase. And that is something that doesn't even exist in New Horizons.

Happy Home Showcase

The Happy Home Showcase (also called Model Homes) is a new location that appears in the town in New Leaf. The plaza appears behind the arch in the center of Main Street, opposite the train tracks. The main service this area provides is the ability to visit StreetPass players' houses from other...

animalcrossing.fandom.com

That's what it was! Happy Home Showcase! Thank you! My goodness I forgot he did that! I thought he toured you around the plaza He was in New Leaf yeah.

 

[Beanz]

like dream traveller said a few posts down, digby has been mentioned before by isabelle in the morning announcements. there is a possibility that he might exist and i feel like it would be weird if his name was just thrown in there for no reason. lyle has never been mentioned before in new horizons so i don’t know about him but it would also be weird to add lottie to the game and not lyle because they’re both related. maybe they’re both working in different positions in the company and lyle is the vice president of the company next to tom nook. like mayor of mapleton said, maybe this is lottie’s big break. since lyle gave reviews for your house in the past, maybe he has trained lottie to do the same and wants to see what his niece can do.

 

[GothiqueBat]

When I was a kid playing wild world , I used to think lyle was some shady tax fraud person I'd run away from and got genuinely scared of him

clearly he is paying for his crimes now in a HHD prison.

didnt uh he also have some other shady connections with Redd? Why isn't he a pirate with Redd now!?

 

[Licorice]

I really wish Lyle would come back and try to sell you insurance. Sometimes I miss being harassed by him.

 

[Croconaw]

I didn’t like being harassed by Lyle. I hope Digby returns though. I liked him.

 

[Xara]

i honestly can’t stand lyle or his dialogue sorry, lyle fans >_<, but i’m lowkey kind of disappointed that digby isn’t a part of hhp. he’s a pretty cool dude, and i actually really liked him in new leaf, so i’d love to see him in new horizons one day! :’)

 

[Sansy]

...I completely forgot about both Lyle and Digby, actually. I kept seeing people mentioning Digby in particular and I was so confused, "I don't remember an NPC by this name being in AC, what is everyone talking about?" I have like 300+ hours put into New Leaf too!

 

[Sweetley]

I don't mean to sound cynical, but thinking how they replaced Chip, Nat, and Joan with "cuter" characters makes me wonder if that was a similar motivation for replacing Lyle. I am surprised they didn't end up finding a new role for Digby though.

I have that feeling too. Speaking of Chip, Nat & Joan, I actually find it sad that they got replaced. Gives me sort of the vibe that nobody wants and likes the old folks anymore and rather see cuter/younger characters instead for whatever reasons. Mind you, I'm not a fan of the whole "everything needs to be cute and young" thing, the old characters were fine.

As for Digby, I hoped back then that he would maybe work together with Isabelle at the Resident Service now, like she has the day shift, he has the night shift. Kinda like how it was with Pelly & Phyllis. The fact that he has no new role whatsoever in NH and only gets mentioned every now and then by his sister is just disappointing. Such a waste of a good character.

didnt uh he also have some other shady connections with Redd? Why isn't he a pirate with Redd now!?

Right? Lyle and Redd could have been the perfect duo, such a shame that they forgot about Lyle and let poor Redd stay alone with no friend at all.

 

[Wickel]

I feel like Digby is going to show up somewhere in the future - maybe in another DLC? Maybe they'll update HHP?
Lyle.. I think they just cut him. Did anyone even like him? I always thought he was kinda annoying and I don't think new players will feel attached to him at all ha. He certainly doesn't really fit the theme of the current HHD-team.

Post automatically merged: Oct 20, 2021

Right? Lyle and Redd could have been the perfect duo, such a shame that they forgot about Lyle and let poor Redd stay alone with no friend at all.

Whoah, Redd has tons of cousins he hangs out with!