My personal favorite is Kabuki. He looks REALLY cool, and his facial expressions are funny. The exterior of his house is pretty cool, too. He's just really entertaining and is a great addition to my town, and I'm sure you would love him too.
Octavian is my bro. I love him to death. He's my favorite cranky followed by Apollo.
Apollo is almost always my starter. I've never seen the AC movie.
Octavian just seems so much more integrated with my town than Apollo even though their friendship levels with me are the same.
I like the cranky villagers the most my favorite is Hopper, but I also like Apollo, Octavian, Rolf, Elvis.......
The only crankys I don't like are Fang and Croque.