Obsession with "Original" villagers

[Blades]

I was debating whether or not to put this in the "Villager Trading Plaza" as this heavily pertains to that, but since I'm not trading or selling any villagers I decided to stick it here.

What is the deal with "Original" Villagers? I get that they come with the original set of items and phrases, but why do people want them more or pay more for them? If you wanted them to wear their original clothes you could mail it to them or give it to them and there is a good chance they will just wear what you sent them. Same goes for phrases, you can reset all of a villagers phrases by "flagging" them even if they don't say anything offensive. The game will reset them to the default sayings. The only thing that's relatively difficult to change back to the original layout is the items in the house, but if you even talk to your villagers once a week, that is going to change. On top of that you can mail them their stuff back if you liked their original layout so much. So, why all the hullabaloo about these "OV's"? Is it a huge scam by the AC Power Elite to gain more bells? Makes you wonder... (for the record I purposely made all of my villagers(the keepers at least) unoriginal by mailing them "Ruby" shirts(including Ruby herself), all hail Ruby)

 

[Amissapanda]

Honestly?

I don't get it. You can't stop them from putting their furniture in Re-Tail, and sure, you can buy it and send it back to them, but who really keeps that close of tabs on everything in every villager's house?

For me, originality doesn't matter. I don't mind if they're original, but I wouldn't throw a fit or refuse a trade or something if they weren't. Chances are, unless you're the type of person who has to keep everything perfectly in order all the time, you're not going to constantly turn down their requests for things they want (furniture/gifts from other villagers/bugs/fish/etc). I don't really know where the extra value comes from. They're such easy things to change and manipulate that it just doesn't make sense to me.

Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is a scam. In fact, a lot of people won't even buy/bid if a villager isn't at least "mostly" original. So it's not just the sellers, either. It's probably a classic case of something that started as a small expectation that grew more and more over time.

I'm just happy to have the villagers. They could say "crapnuts" and wear one of the many horrid shirts/clothes in the game and I'd still love them, regardless. *shrugs* Each to their own, I suppose.

 

[Stacie]

I think most people that like "original" villagers is for the furniture in their homes since it can be tricky to swap out some stuff (like bugs, fish, and fossils). Like you mentioned, all the other stuff is pretty easy to change. Talking to Isabelle and flagging a villager for their clothes or catchphrase doesn't turn them back to original though, they get changed to the U R Here tanks and "uh-huh"

Personally I don't care if a villager is original or not but if someone wants to pay more for one that is that's their business. I've never actually paid for a villager myself though, just gotten freebies from cycle threads.

 

[TehyaFaye]

I understand the appeal. Some people are really into their villager's houses, and would like to avoid having to spend a decent amount of effort coercing their new residents into giving up their whale sharks and dung beetles. I personally wouldn't reject a villager for not being original, but there's nothing weird about wanting to minimize the amount of work they'll need to do to keep those houses looking nice.

 

[Chibiusa]

I don't get it. You can't stop them from putting their furniture in Re-Tail, and sure, you can buy it and send it back to them, but who really keeps that close of tabs on everything in every villager's house?

Yeah, you can. Just fill up Re-Tail with useless items and price them for the max amount of bells. They won't ever buy 'em and therefore there won't ever be space for them to put their house items up for sale.

My opinion though--I don't care about originality. It'll always change anyway, from their catchphrases to their clothes.

 

[mitzelflx]

I think it would be hard to keep a villagers home "original". That would mean not interacting with it at all.

 

[Amissapanda]

Yeah, you can. Just fill up Re-Tail with useless items and price them for the max amount of bells. They won't ever buy 'em and therefore there won't ever be space for them to put their house items up for sale.

My opinion though--I don't care about originality. It'll always change anyway, from their catchphrases to their clothes.

Fair point. I didn't consider that. But it would be pretty sad to never let them change anything in their houses. I don't know how other people feel, but I feel awful if I turn down their requests for bugs/fish and sending gifts to other villagers.

I think it would be hard to keep a villagers home "original". That would mean not interacting with it at all.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel. You can keep it looking original, but at the price of denying them basically anything and everything they might want or want to change. It just kind of makes me sad to think about.

I'm not criticizing people's choices, though. I probably just feel more for pixelated villagers in a game than I should.

 

[Blades]

Still doesn't stop them from mailing you crap, unless you want to get rid of your mailbox too for something as trivial as an item in a villager's home. Also, voiding out use of re-tail for the same reason is a steep cost. Personally I like villagers with pet sharks, adds curb appeal!

 

[MishMeesh]

I can understand the appeal. It's like starting with something fresh out of the box. Never been touched or changed. But I don't see why it'd be a deal-breaker if the villager your buying/bidding for isn't totally or mostly original (unless you really only want to get the furniture in their house for yourself). It's still the cute villager and their cutie self. If you're gung-ho about having a pristine character, it's not hard to give them their original furniture or make them change their shirt (although they'll change it themselves anyway so what's the point).

Unoriginal villagers are like well-loved hand-me-downs. Cute.

 

[Ayaya]

I only care about originality if I'm paying for them at a high price, but otherwise and especially if they're the villagers I REALLY want, I'm just happy to have them, original or not. For villagers I have and not plan on keeping, I'm usually careful with what I give to them, I make sure it at least matches their personality and/or theme, so people won't be too upset when I give it to them. I'm less careful with my dreamies/permanent villager since their originality only matters to me, and I like seeing them with the things I gave to them. I remember how touched I was when Kiki replaced most of her furniture with the clothes I bought for her in WW ;_;

Out of respect, I also usually warn people about the originality of my villagers, so they know what to expect when they adopt them, and then they can decide if the changes matters or not.

 

[MayorSaki]

I understand in case the villagers have rare furniture or something, but otherwise I don't care about originality at all.

 

[Elise]

Yeah, I've never really understood it either. If you're buying the villager usually they'll be one you want to keep, at least for a while and, unless you don't get anything for them and mail back all the furniture they remove, their houses will quickly become unoriginal. Personally, I'd prefer to be friends with my villagers quicker and do favours for them. Plus, I do their jobs for fun sometimes.

I guess the people that obsess over the state of their villagers houses that are the same ones who have spent hours and hours resetting for the 'perfect layout' and then even more hours plot resetting for every villager so their houses are in a perfect line or something like that. Not that I have a problem with people like that. I admire their dedication actually and their pristine towns are incredible to look at. Still, it's not really my style of play, as I feel it sucks out a lot of the fun of the game.

 

[HoennMaster]

I never really understood it until I went to a random dream town and a villager's house was completely empty except for a shirt and a table. I didn't even know you could get rid of so much furniture and I sure as heck wouldn't want that villager to move in.

 

[Trickilicky]

I actually prefer to receive unoriginal villagers! It makes them that bit more unique, and it sorts of gives them their own 'history' from having lived in another town and having a 'life' before they came to live in mine! I love it when villagers sing their old town tunes and talk about people they've met, it gives them more of a personality imo.

 

[Amissapanda]

I actually prefer to received unoriginal villagers! It makes them that bit more unique, and it sorts of gives them their own 'history' from having lived in another town and having a 'life' before they came to live in mine! I love it when villagers sing their old town tunes and talk about people they've met, it gives them more of a personality imo.

I'm in agreement with this. The villagers have a bit more of a backstory that way and if I ever really desired for them to get any specific furniture back, we live in the age of the internet: it's as simple as looking it up and getting the items. Even if I didn't have said items, posting on a forum like this would make any of it a cakewalk to get.

 

[Skyfall]

I sort of get it, but its really really hard to keep them original. Cyclers will tell you this too, even if you never interact with them, if they stay in your town for a long time, their house gets messed up. They interact with each other, sell stuff in retail, etc. Also, unless its likd Merengue who has a lot of expensive furniture in there, I dont see the point. But to each his own.

 

[Blades]

Every square inch of my village is planned. Doing something like that would still be too much of a pain for me, even with how OCD I am about my village. Don't believe me, you are welcome to come take a look at my village, there isn't so much as a flower out of place(not for longer than a day).

 

[Manzanas]

I actually prefer to receive unoriginal villagers! It makes them that bit more unique, and it sorts of gives them their own 'history' from having lived in another town and having a 'life' before they came to live in mine!

I agree, unoriginal villagers can be very interesting and unique, unless you receive one whose room is full of sea basses and butterflies. I'm pretty sure their previous mayor was a nice person for helping them every time they needed something, but it still looks ugly, it reminds me of that one Awkward Zombie comic...

I received a Chrissy like that a few days ago, her house has insects everywhere and I'm doing my best to replace those glass cages with Polka-dotted themed furniture.

There are some cases in which the original houses aren't of my liking, like Ankha's or Lucky's, where do those poor animals sleep? I always try to send them a bed, even if, by doing that, I'm destroying their originality.

I sort of get it, but its really really hard to keep them original. Cyclers will tell you this too, even if you never interact with them, if they stay in your town for a long time, their house gets messed up. They interact with each other, sell stuff in retail, etc. Also, unless its likd Merengue who has a lot of expensive furniture in there, I dont see the point. But to each his own.

This is true, even if you never talk to them they'll find a way to foil your plans of keeping them original. They may talk to each other and exchange catchphrases or furniture, put their own house furniture for sell, etc. Oh, and you better pray Marshall won't decide to sell his Space K.K.

 

[kassie]

I honestly don't care how original a villager is unless they have:

- A ugly shirt/pattern on
- Excessive fossils/fruit/shirts in their house
- An offensive catchphrase (which can easily be changed but y'know, why should I need to?)

I always try to sell my villagers original though.

 

[Blades]

I just mail Ruby shirts to all my villagers. All hail Ruby.