Isabelle, the "real" mayor?

[Sweetley]

Okay, that might sound weird, but... Am I the only one here who thinks that Isabelle is more
like a mayor then you, the player? I mean, think about it: What kind of duties do you have
compare to Isabelle? If we are honest here, we have almost no duties. We can make a order
to build a PWP (or demolish one) as well as changing the ordinance of the town. That's it?
Oh, and we can make a little party for the builded PWP, but even those are voluntary. If we
"don't have time" (= just don't want to), then Isabelle even says to you that she will take
your place and make it. Taking care of our villagers, donating stuff to the museum or making
landscaping aren't really duties of a mayor, we already done this back in the older AC games
where we just villagers of the town.

Besides that, while we maybe spending like a few minutes in the town hall, Isabelle is almost
the whole time in that building. The only time, where Isabelle is not in the town hall is when
there is a event, where she is on the plaza (but even then, she still has to work) or if we are
giving her a day off by scanning her amiibo to invite her to the campground. Otherwise, she's
working the whole time, even on events like Bug Off where you can't "work" because it's a
event, even take care of the town in the time where you not playing. She's like a workaholic
compare to you, the actual mayor, who has more free time then any other special NPC. And
she's just the mayor's assistant!

If you ask me, I don't feel like a mayor. Yeah, sure, the villagers and all NPCs call you the mayor,
but those little things I do aren't a big deal in my opinion that makes me a mayor. Now I'm not
saying that I want to spend the whole time in the town hall and have to do stuff I don't want
to, but I wouldn't mind if I become a normal villager again in the next main AC game, who has
the control to decide which PWP get build next or what town ordinance is getting active. I
mean, I would like to be a mayor again, if I have at least more duties or more "power" to build
my town in the way I want, making my own events and so on. If I become mayor again and
have the same duties like in New Leaf, then I would rather give up my mayor job to Isabelle,
who deserve the attention and praise for her work.

So yeah, sorry for this long post. It was just a thought. Would be nice to hear what you think
about it.

 

[MapleSilver]

Maybe "mayor" just means "that guy who sits at the back of the town hall" in this universe. I mean, Tortimer was basically always asleep unless there was an event. I like the idea of creating events, though I'm not sure how complex they would be able to make it without requiring people make their own code.

 

[Lenndrix]

My mayors name is King Bob, so I kinda see Isabelle as one of those advisor types who actually runs the land. Sure I have the power to decide the laws (or ordinances) and what gets built in the town (PWPs) but otherwise my job is very kingly... Running around, doing what I like, and taking credit for other peoples hard work...

 

[Hopeless Opus]

y'all give isabelle too much flack, she's just helping y'all out and she doesn't want the town to look messy with everything cluttered together. i love a helpful queen who loves giving directions!

anyways yeah she definitely does give off the vibe she's more of a mayor than us. isabelle for mayor. give it to her. it's what she deserves. but also not because the girl needs to sleep !

 

[honeyblossom]

I mean, there's not much else they can incorporate into the game mayoral duty wise, because it's not practical. Most of what mayors do is paperwork, interviews, and meetings galore. This game was targeted mostly towards kids and I kind of have a feeling no child would have gotten past week 1 if they were required to go to meetings and conferences all the time and read through 30 different grants a day. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten past it either.

Isabelle is in the town hall constantly to accommodate everyone's different play schedules. Isabelle doesn't take days off to organize events because that's how it works in real life. If someone needs to work on a federal holiday, it's certainly not going to be the mayor. You have more free time than any other NPC because you're the one responsible for designing the whole town, from the houses that go in it, to the flowers that grow. You would hardly have time for any of that if you were busy scheduling Isabelle some time off.

I get that the title is a bit odd. It's not really practical and it would have made more sense to have the main character be on a PWP committee with all other human characters in the town, or something like that. The only thing that ever really "bothered" me in regards to the tile/position is that animals give us petitions to get signatures for. Why would I, the mayor, want to get signatures for someone else's petition? I'll do it. It's just weird.

Regardless, this game isn't supposed to be a political science stepping stone. It's a town of anthropomorphic animals who can barely feed themselves. Let it be whimsical and unrealistic.

 

[toxapex]

I think New Leaf did a good job with the idea of mayorhood (even though it’s still kinda a weird idea to me in general). I’d be fine being a normal citizen who happens to have input in the next game! Honestly I’d be happy either way I think, just I hope they don’t make being mayor busy and boring lol

That said, I love Isabelle and she did nothing wrong leave her olone

 

[Ably.Saucey]

*coughcough* Phineas was supposed to be mayor.*hackcough*

 

[honeyblossom]

There's a lot to unpack there.

 

[toxapex]

The only negative thing I can think of about Isabelle is that she’s the host of pocket camp when Harvey is right there.

Other than that she is v hardworking and I worry about her

I mean she fulfills our duties when we take random vacations so I’m sure even the townsfolk consider her the real mayor at some point

 

[Lemonsky]

Before I got properly familiar with Animal Crossing, I thought that Isabelle was the mayor. She does kind of seem like she could be and I wouldn't mind if she was. At least I don't always feel like I'm succeeding at my job since I rarely build PWP:s and I just keep doing the more fun things like shopping and looking for fish and bugs.

 

[NobbyXI]

I don't think Isabelle does enough to qualify as a Mayor.

As Mayors, we are in charge of:

PWP type, amount, and placement
House placement
Deciding which villagers stay and go
Landscaping
Pathing
Funding everything
Town upgrades
Influencing villager clothing, speech, and housing decor
Conducting all requests
Museum stock

Isabelle hosts events (that we take charge of) and tells us that we're too close to something when trying to place PWP, that's about it XD Whereas we literally control the way the village looks, the map it's built on, and the villagers who live there. That's pretty mayoral to me.

 

[Dorian]

i have little contact with Isabelle other than PWP's and holidays. I feel a bit sorry for her. I'd like to see her shopping, going to the island, walking around town and interacting with the other villagers. I think if they did that and we got to see her in a more, ahem, 'human' manner, she would be a far more likable character in the game.

 

[toxapex]

Actually I rly wouldn’t mind if Isabelle became mayor in the next AC. She’s such an agreeable and determined character that I’m sure they could just have you be able to do all the (frankly, limited) stuff you can do as mayor and pass it off as Isabelle “accepting input from the community” or something. Also that would remove the weird stipulation of only one player character being able to do that.
Plus then ppl won’t be able to say the game’s mechanics shouldn’t apply to them because they’re the mayor

Also I gotta point out that the player is expected to do the weeding, watering, landscaping, etc in every AC game, regardless of mayorhood. It’s part of the game. I’m not gonna pick a fight here but the point of this game is to relax and have fun, so let’s try not to get hung up too much on the deets!

 

[WarpDogsVG]

She definitely cares far more about mayorship than I do

 

[BambieTheMayor]

Isabelle is such a sweetie. I love her s o much. I wouldn't mind if she were mayor in the next game but at the same time I really like being in charge of the PWPs and ordinances.

But I do think we should be able to do more because my god if one more villager puts their house in front of my bridge I am going to lose it. We should be in charge of where they put their houses. I know that's not how things work in real life but honestly it's a game of talking animals and you're a thirteen-year-old mayor, so... Let me do what I want, game.

 

[Corrie]

If she is the real mayor, it would make sense why she's always ready to take your place when you leave for a while.

 

[Lenndrix]

Isabelle is such a sweetie. I love her s o much. I wouldn't mind if she were mayor in the next game but at the same time I really like being in charge of the PWPs and ordinances.

But I do think we should be able to do more because my god if one more villager puts their house in front of my bridge I am going to lose it. We should be in charge of where they put their houses. I know that's not how things work in real life but honestly it's a game of talking animals and you're a thirteen-year-old mayor, so... Let me do what I want, game.

To be fair, if I tried to just build my house in front of some random bridge in real life I don't think If get away with it... I'm not as cute as some of these villagers though... XP

 

[MapleSilver]

To be fair, if I tried to just build my house in front of some random bridge in real life I don't think If get away with it... I'm not as cute as some of these villagers though... XP

An actual photo of Sylvia's house, ripped straight from the game itself.

 

[AccfSally]

I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up being the Mayor in the next game.

 

[Lenndrix]

An actual photo of Sylvia's house, ripped straight from the game itself.

View attachment 216005

Oh my gosh! You made my day! I know that struggle all too well...