Favorite villagers: why the sheep syndrom is in full swing?

[Boccages]

Looking at people listing their few favorite villagers in Animal Crossing can be an interesting activity. It seems to me that there is a sheep syndrom going on, an impression only reinforced by browsing the Animal Crossing, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons subreddits. Some characters get more fanart than others, and usually fanart staring these same characters get more upvotes than others. I draw a lot of fanart, and I know if I'm drawing Lolly or Marshal, for example, I'll get a lot more upvotes than say : Betty, Belle, Olive, Claude, or Sylvana. This actually gets me to big time!

I would push the hypothesis that the most popular ones are "cuter" than the least popular ones. But cute is a pretty subjective measurement of popularity. And who's to say, for example, that Marshal is cuter than Sylvana ? Marshal doesn't have more prominent "kawaii" features than most of the least favorite squirrel characters: he does't have a bigger head or bigger eye, or a more pastel colour scheme.

I hypothesize that the more popular characters do have cute features, but that is not enough to explain their popularity. No. In fact, a cocktail of reasons might explain it.

1. Cuteness - a ratio of head size versus body size, and then eye size versus head size (bigger the better), colour palette usually targeting soft pastel hues, etc.
2. Novelty - new characters are usually seen more favourably by the Animal Crossing community than older, known ones
3. Exposure - characters that are brought to the front of marketing initiatives, or characters to which the community is exposed more will usually get more attention, and are more liked by the Animal Crossing fans

Here are a few anecdotes, and observations.

When New Leaf came out with 100 new villagers, and 2 new species, I remember quite vividly following different blogs on Tumblr. Those blogs were quite popular because the game had come out 7 months beforehand in Japan, and Nintendo of America had chosen some bloggers, and YouTubers and handed them the full complete 3DS game cartridge at least a month in advance of the June release date. Boy, were those blogs interesting! Some of those were more popular than others because they were better written and updated on a regular basis.

I remember one very popular blogger in particular whose town had Barold, Julian, and Marshal. I can still remember the people following her were tripping hard on Julian, and Marshal in the comments. Not that they were cuter than other newcomers like Bonbon, Sprinkle, Canberra, Diana, Fauna, or Soleil, but the community was exposed over, and over to these two new characters. And I remember seeing their popularity rise tenfold on this forum after a while. They are still on top of the popularity list today. I could also go on with Rosie. Rosie was a non entity when Wild World was released. She was in the GameCube game, but what really fired her to the front was Nintendo choosing her as a main character in the Japan-only anime movie they made to promote the release of the game. And her popularity took a while to carry over to this side of the ocean because, well, the anime was not available here until YouTubers got to translate it to English and post it here years later. Now, Rosie is still one of the few favorites, because Nintendo is using her in pretty much every piece of marketing (videos, merchandises, etc.) supporting New Leaf, or New Horizons. And this recipe could be applied to Pok?mon for all that I know (although I don't play the games, and couldn't care less for Pok?mon characters). Everyone knows Pikachu although he is arguably not the cutest Pok?mon there is.

It seems to me that nowadays, exposure is the most important factor in making an Animal Crossing character popular. Why do some characters are popular? Because they already ARE popular, hence the community is more exposed to them. Who is having Sunny, or Betty as their favorite? Not a lot of people, 'cause they have been MIA for more than 15 years now.

So when I see people commenting the new characters that were discovered yesterday with the HMV Japan sticker decals collection [I absolutely need that bicolor cub/squirrel, OOOOO I love the blue goat boy and I want him, that cat sporting glasses can walk all over me - I don't care I've got to have him], I smile.

Lemme make a bold prediction right now: these few characters were the first new ones that our community was exposed to, and they will top up the popularity list when the game launches in March, and for years to come...

 

[moo-kun]

To me the reason why Marshall is cute is because he's a total Tsundere! He has a pouty face and he's short which adds to his complex like I just want him to be my son and I want to pinch his cheeks ꉂ (˃̶᷄‧̫ॢ ˂̶᷅๑ ) www

Other characters like Baabara and Julien have closed eyes and anything associated with dreams and fantasy are a huge desire for me!
Plus they are blue and I love blue - it's a calming dreamy colour! Also since he's the only Unicorn in the game that adds to his appeal and not every character has closed eyes.

Also there's helmet wearing characters like Scoot who is sooo adorable! I'm quackers about him! Lol ( ? ?̮ ? )

Then there are characters like Tabby - I love the childish makeup she wears like she's pretending to be a grownup and I really enjoy her smile!

Other characters that are considered cute have pastel colour themes which are well, cute! Like Diana.

Then you have characters who are mysterious like Ankha!

So sometimes, I feel like villager will become a dreamie depending on the DERE aspect of them!

I think the added personality can be a major factor in this also! Like if you have someone who looks like they should be peppy but they turn out to be snooty (like Eloise) or vice versa - that can be unique and cute!

I think when they add everyone again, it'll be interesting to see how this reflects on the popularity polls as the same can be said with missing sock villagers like Cupcake, Elina, Bow and Meow, Jubei etc

I totally didn't even know Maddie existed until now like whadaheck! (⑅︎ ॣ?͈૦?͈ ॣ)꒳ᵒ꒳ᵎᵎᵎ

 

[ASWIFT]

Peewee will always be my favorite, he was in my first wild world town in 2007, and he’s in my New Leaf town today, special place in my heart.
Other than that, I really like the design of the Deer villagers in New Leaf I hope they look the same in ACNH, The eagles are also great like Apollo, Amelia, Sterling.

 

[jiojiop]

I remember one very popular blogger in particular whose town had Barold, Julian, and Marshal. I can still remember the people following her were tripping hard on Julian, and Marshal in the comments. Not that they were cuter than other newcomers like Bonbon, Sprinkle, Canberra, Diana, Fauna, or Soleil, but the community was exposed over, and over to these two new characters. And I remember seeing their popularity rise tenfold on this forum after a while.

It seems to me that nowadays, exposure is the most important factor in making an Animal Crossing character popular.

That partly explains things, but why Julian and Marshal from that blogger's town, and not the villagers from other very popular bloggers' towns? Why not Barold? ok maybe that one is self-explanatory. But also, consider that NL was the first AC game for many people so everything was new to them. Why those villagers and not the ones brought forward from older ones?

I think the other part of it is uniqueness. Why is Julian popular? He's unlike any other horse because he has a horn. He's a unicorn, which is special and unique. I ended up having Julian move into my town and I was considering trading him away because I found him a bit too cutesy, but I ended up keeping him despite the demand because he was very unique-looking. He also had the Smug personality, which was all-new to NL, so people would naturally be more interested in Smug characters.

Marshal also follows the same pattern: very unique face and he was the new Smug personality.

People also went crazy over Skye (unique blue wolf), Merengue (unique strawberry rhino), Stitches (unique cub), Tangy (unique cat) etc. They have extremely unique looks and stand out.

 

[John Wick]

I never look at fan art or read about villagers.

I don't gush over cute villagers.

Wolfgang is my favorite because I love wolves, he looks like a cartoon version of my beloved german shepherd from years ago, and was my fourth move-in on my Wild World game.

I never go by popularity tiers or any of that crap.

I like who I like for my own reasons and experiences with that particular villager.

I'm not one of the sheep.

 

[returnofsaturn]

This is my own personal take:
When I start a new town in animal crossing and I'm exposed to this handful of new villagers that I've never played with before, my heartstrings are pulled ever so slightly lmao and I instantly feel slightly closer to them than the rest. I was playing a city folk emulator with my boyfriend yesterday and I watched him play (for his first time) and he moved next to Dizzy the elephant (who I'd never really thought about before now) and it was like instant favourite lol and I never want him to move. Same with Antonio in my emulated town. I feel like the more people are exposed to them, the higher likelihood it is that they just feel an instant friendship/connection to them (especially if they are watching a letsplay because they themselves don't have the game). I don't care for Marshal that much but I do love Julian because he was in my best friends town, who I played with loads. I didn't keep up with the new leaf hype while it was happening so I didn't really have the excitement of finding everything out in bits and pieces (or being exposed to nintendos "agenda" lmao). The letsplay I watched was by ZackScottGames and thats when I instantly fell in love with Apollo and Rod lol.

I dunno.

 

[isabll]

I don't really look at fanart so I wouldn't know about that, but I do remember that, back when playing ACNL, there was some sort of popularity list going around, with different tiers for favorite, liked and least-liked villagers, so I know that some of them are more popular than others. Personally, some of my favorite villagers are ones I had in my AC games through the years and I've grown particularly fond of: Vesta, Moe, Cyrano, Hopper, Elise, Fuchsia and many others who, I'm guessing, might not be commonly desired. I'm sure it must be the same for other players as well, especially if they've been playing AC for a long time.

Then, of course, there are villagers I really like from an aesthetic point of view, such as Flora, Zucker, Tia, Shep and so on, but I don't really have a "connection" with them and I couldn't call them my favorites. Unique and cute characters are certainly more well-liked within the community, but I believe everyone has a couple of villagers they like for no real reason other than the fact that they grew close to them in a previous game and that's pretty neat.

 

[StarlitGlitch]

I agree that uniqueness has to do with it.

I'm not sure who said it, maybe someone who worked at Sanrio I can't remember, but they said that when you're trying to make a truly cute character, it can't be too "perfect." It can't be the epitome of cuteness, there has to be something to balance it. Chrissy I think could be an example of this, she has all these factors to make her cute, but people seem to prefer when she's with Francine and that there's the balance in-between them. And even then while they are very popular, they're not in the top tier. It's kind of a sense, but I think that's sort of what "uniqueness" is getting at.

Also I wanted to mention on the AC merch at Nintendo Tokyo Marshal and Rosie are both very heavily featured, among other popular animals, so Nintendo definitely knows what the fans like.

 

[Misskiki]

Definitely uniqueness and the aesthetic pleasure of their appearance and patterns etc. I'm a sucker for the animals I think are cute. Bangle, Gaston, Diva, Wart Jr., Lolly and Prince are my absolute favourites!

 

[Boccages]

Misskiki. The new character you have as avatar is confusing me. It has a squirrel head, but a cub body... What is it ?

 

[Neechan]

Misskiki. The new character you have as avatar is confusing me. It has a squirrel head, but a cub body... What is it ?

Its that new villager that was released on the stickers for the switch accessories

 

[Boccages]

Its that new villager that was released on the stickers for the switch accessories

I know I've seen her. I just don't exactly know what it is : squirrel without tail or cub with squirrel head ?

 

[moo-kun]

I know I've seen her. I just don't exactly know what it is : squirrel without tail or cub with squirrel head ?

She was prolly abducted by aliens and had a bear papa and squirrel mama... I wonder if she'll have some sort of special bio? (৹ᵒ̴̶̷᷄﹏ᵒ̴̶̷᷅৹)♡︎

 

[CaramelCookie]

I know I've seen her. I just don't exactly know what it is : squirrel without tail or cub with squirrel head ?

I think it's a cub with a regular head, maybe it looks rounder because of the bad quality and the white markings that create an optical illusion?

 

[jiojiop]

I know I've seen her. I just don't exactly know what it is : squirrel without tail or cub with squirrel head ?

Wow that's actually... wow. I didn't really question it before. None of the other cubs have their entire face in a different color of fur like that – they all have a distinct color snout section and/or a big nose. The squirrels are the ones that sometimes have a light face (enclosing their eyes, nose, and mouth) e.g. Pecan and Poppy.

To me, it kinda looks like a teletubby. It's definitely supposed to be the cub species as it's the same proportions as that while being taller than the squirrels.

 

[Boccages]

Wow that's actually... wow. I didn't really question it before. None of the other cubs have their entire face in a different color of fur like that – they all have a distinct color snout section and/or a big nose. The squirrels are the ones that sometimes have a light face (enclosing their eyes, nose, and mouth) e.g. Pecan and Poppy.

To me, it kinda looks like a teletubby. It's definitely supposed to be the cub species as it's the same proportions as that while being taller than the squirrels.

To me what makes me think it has a squirrel face are the proportions of the eyes. I can't recall a cub with such giant eyes...

 

[satine]

I never look at fan art or read about villagers.

I don't gush over cute villagers.

Wolfgang is my favorite because I love wolves, he looks like a cartoon version of my beloved german shepherd from years ago, and was my fourth move-in on my Wild World game.

I never go by popularity tiers or any of that crap.

I like who I like for my own reasons and experiences with that particular villager.

I'm not one of the sheep.

Just because somebody might appreciate the appearances of Julian and cuter "popular" characters does not mean that they are "sheep". Or they have a sheep syndrome.

This stance really glorifies nonconformity for its own sake. Who cares what people like more? Maybe the things that are popular are popular for a reason. Maybe cuter characters are more appealing to look at and easier to appreciate for the majority of players -- a huge portion of which, let's please keep in mind, are younger. And Nintendo isn't going to not push those characters out into the lime light when it is clear that they will, overall, be more well liked amongst the majority of the targeted populace.

Everyone has different tastes and that's awesome. But there's only so many characters. And there's so many players. A lot of different perspectives and preferences, therefore, are going to run together and appear similar. And Nintendo would be smart to use that in their marketing methodology. But that doesn't suddenly invalidate the preferences of those who appreciate the characters that might fit under the umbrella of "cute" more easily.

 

[Bluebellie]

I thought this was going to be a thread about the actually sheep villagers hehe.
I keep reading and reading looking to see where the sheep were mentioned.
It Was a nice read though.

I had never heard of sheep syndrome before and I just thought that maybe sheep were the new ?It?
Villagers in new horizons lol.

 

[Boccages]

Just because somebody might appreciate the appearances of Julian and cuter "popular" characters does not mean that they are "sheep". Or they have a sheep syndrome.

This stance really glorifies nonconformity for its own sake. Who cares what people like more? Maybe the things that are popular are popular for a reason. Maybe cuter characters are more appealing to look at and easier to appreciate for the majority of players -- a huge portion of which, let's please keep in mind, are younger. And Nintendo isn't going to not push those characters out into the lime light when it is clear that they will, overall, be more well liked amongst the majority of the targeted populace.

Everyone has different tastes and that's awesome. But there's only so many characters. And there's so many players. A lot of different perspectives and preferences, therefore, are going to run together and appear similar. And Nintendo would be smart to use that in their marketing methodology. But that doesn't suddenly invalidate the preferences of those who appreciate the characters that might fit under the umbrella of "cute" more easily.

You're making my observations into what they are not. It's not an axiological debate and I'm not looking into making people feeling bad for liking Julian, Marshal or Marina. I'm trying to look into what drives those very real, yet subjective patterns here.

 

[Neechan]

You're making my observations into what they are not. It's not an axiological debate and I'm not looking into making people feeling bad for liking Julian, Marshal or Marina. I'm trying to look into what drives those very real, yet subjective patterns here.

Basically, I see it as people wanting to get to know the new villagers, and that we don’t know too much about them, there’s nothing really too deep about it. it’s just something new, people what to know what mystery they hold (of corse a few we can guess what they’ll be doing)

Also for the title of the topic, calling it sheep syndrome basically means that they wouldn’t like changes, and would follow without question...meaning by that definition they wouldn’t like the new villagers or change at all (sorry, figure I’d point that out)

and as someone who’s first entry was nl, I didn’t realize some villagers were popular or even new to the series (deers, hamsters) until much later but had grown to like them due to liking deer sand hamsters in rl. heck even the amiibo exclusives I really didn’t care for since they were exclusives, and I didn’t like having a town of only them (but i still like a few of them)