The Post Office Ladies— Pelly and Phyllis

[QueenCobra]

New Horizons is my first Animal Crossing game, so I didn’t get to know these two, but from what I’ve seen— they’re adorable! Also I love the idea of writing letters in the game.

Do you wish the post office was in New Horizons? Why or why not?

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

Yes, because it's a shame we don't see the Pelican Sisters outside amiibo or what have you. It was a good dynamic — a cheerful mail worker by day; a cranky one by night, and there was somewhat of a love triangle between the two and Pete (see the Episodes in WW for proof). And despite finding her attitude pre-NL tiring at times, Phyllis was more relatable because of it, and goes through some sort of character development in the Café in the game proper. I could post some screenshots, but it'd take me a while to go through my catalog to look for those specific pictures, and I don't have time for that at the moment.

 

[Xara]

oh man, i miss my favourite pelicans and the post office so bad, for a lot of reasons. pelly and phyllis were as different as can be, but they both brought so much heart and character to the franchise. pelly was an absolute sweetie who was lovely to talk to and always happy to help, whereas phyllis was as sarcastic, mean and bitter as can be lol. both were a treasure to interact with, but tbh, i especially miss phyllis’ snarkiness. she was so entertaining LOL.

the post office itself had such a homely, comforting vibe, and i much preferred the mail system with the post office. letters were free to send back then, and a 4-pack of stationery only costed 80 bells. now sending just 1 letter costs 200 bells. i also miss the different stationeries and being able to buy them from nook’s.

pete was also great, and i miss occasionally being able to see him wandering around in the mornings, or him coming to tell me that my mailbox is full. the love triangle between the 3 of them was also pretty interesting (pete likes phyllis, who does not like him back, and pelly likes pete, who does not like her back).

they helped give the series a much more community-based vibe to it, which i miss. i definitely prefer them over the dodo brothers.

 

[QueenCobra]

Riiiight! I forgot about Pete! As much as I adore the Dodo bros (and their clever names) I wish New Horizons had a post office.

 

[Croconaw]

I love them, but I prefer Pelly. I love the idea of the post office.

 

[zissou]

Ahhhh, the Post Office was so nostalgic. I loved the music, the relaxed atmosphere, the recycling bin, Tortimer dozing in the back, and the energies of the two sisters. Pelly as the helpful, friendly face that reassured you and brightened your day. Phyllis as the eyeshadowed raincloud that sassed you for absolutely no reason.

I agree with the commentors above re: the real issue here is the loss of a sense of community. The "episodes" from Wild World breathed lifeinto the NPCs, and that made them feel like "real" characters that lived in your town, versus lifeless lines of code designed to carry out specific functions. The Pete/Pelly/Phyllis love triangle, Tom Nook's backstory, the Able sisters' tragic past...

Instead, we have the dodo brothers, who basically just ferry you around and that's it. At least give me their haunting tale of woe, dang it!

I also miss buying letters from Nook's, or getting paper from your villagers. And then taking it to the post office to send. I think what made Animal Crossing very charming for me was the cute tediousness of doing these tasks, just as in real life. I don't necessarily want everything to be streamlined through a menu. (Although there are certainly some things that should be. Sigh.)

I'm kind of rambling now, but this is yet another reason that New Horizons feels a bit incomplete to me. Bring the fleshed-out characters and cozy administrative spaces back!

 

[nightglow]

New Horizons is my first Animal Crossing game, so I didn’t get to know these two, but from what I’ve seen— they’re adorable! Also I love the idea of writing letters in the game.

Do you wish the post office was in New Horizons? Why or why not?

Yes.
I'm always in favor for more NPCs with purposes and more functional buildings. It makes the game feel cozier and more lively.
I enjoyed the post office in wild world. Also it was free to send letters unlike new horizons.
Something I'd like to see in the future is the option to insert quick phrases or common words.

 

[returnofsaturn]

I'm kind of rambling now, but this is yet another reason that New Horizons feels a bit incomplete to me. Bring the fleshed-out characters and cozy administrative spaces back!

Yes.
I'm always in favor for more NPCs with purposes and more functional buildings. It makes the game feel cozier and more lively.

100%!! This is what I feel like a lot of longtime players mean when they (and I) say that the game feels incomplete, it's the lack of core npc's, interacting with them on a deeper and more fleshed-out level, and their cozy yet functional atmospheres. Previous games had so many buildings and places to go (like all of the shops not to mention their upgrades, the post office, club lol/the marquee, auction house/Retails, happy home academy/nooks building exterior shop, leifs shop, the observatory, kicks shop, police office, the island and it's hut with kappn's family, the dream suite, hh streetpass showcase, the external roost, shampoodle, gracies, katrina's tent, the reset centre, the photobooth for your town pass card lol, and even off-screen locations you could contribute to such as boondox) and in NH we just have nooks, redd's ship, the museum, the town hall, and the able sisters, and Harv's plaza. Imho the plaza doesn't compare at all, they don't have their own environments and they barely say anything. Tortimer is also literally just an inventory slot now? Seems to me that they put more care into the development of New Leaf because of all the backlash for City Folk, but seeing as New Horizons is one of their best-selling switch games I'm scared it's going to get the Pokemon treatment and that we won't see a better developed game. At the very very least I appreciate that they've shown us that harv and harriet are a couple lmao cause that is cute, but they're useless after she finishes unlocking all the rest of the hairstyles. If they wanted to give us the option to change our hair at whim, they still could have still brought back shampoodle and let us only customize it there (just to make use of her).

 

[nightglow]

100%!! This is what I feel like a lot of longtime players mean when they (and I) say that the game feels incomplete, it's the lack of core npc's, interacting with them on a deeper and more fleshed-out level, and their cozy yet functional atmospheres. Previous games had so many buildings and places to go (like all of the shops not to mention their upgrades, the post office, club lol/the marquee, auction house/Retails, happy home academy/nooks building exterior shop, leifs shop, the observatory, kicks shop, police office, the island and it's hut with kappn's family, the dream suite, hh streetpass showcase, the external roost, shampoodle, gracies, katrina's tent, the reset centre, the photobooth for your town pass card lol, and even off-screen locations you could contribute to such as boondox) and in NH we just have nooks, redd's ship, the museum, the town hall, and the able sisters, and Harv's plaza. Imho the plaza doesn't compare at all, they don't have their own environments and they barely say anything. Tortimer is also literally just an inventory slot now? Seems to me that they put more care into the development of New Leaf because of all the backlash for City Folk, but seeing as New Horizons is one of their best-selling switch games I'm scared it's going to get the Pokemon treatment and that we won't see a better developed game. At the very very least I appreciate that they've shown us that harv and harriet are a couple lmao cause that is cute, but they're useless after she finishes unlocking all the rest of the hairstyles. If they wanted to give us the option to change our hair at whim, they still could have still brought back shampoodle and let us only customize it there (just to make use of her).

I do feel like the DLC had alot of care put into it though, however that came after a large backlash about how NH was.

 

[Jhine7]

Whenever I think way back of playing the original game on the Gamecube maybe 20 years ago, I think of Apollo first, but then I think of Pelly and Phyllis. Just the environment surrounding these two make it memorable. Can't forget about Pete of course. I always loved going into the Post Office at different times of the day to mail letters, always made a great experience! If only the newest game still had them around, wasn't a fun of the new mailing system.

 

[-Mars-]

I don't play the older animal crossing games but I really like the Pelicans
I really love poor Phyllis she's such a good sister to Pelly, I wonder why they got rid of them in New Horizons so it's just a genetic post office stand in the airport now

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

Finally got these screenshots ready to be posted, here! These were scattered by several months, after all:

What Phyllis says to the player in this initial interaction is determinant to the PC's sex:

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This is how my Mayor responds to the immediate shut down:

Here's her confiding in Brewster (which I believe she does in City Folk, as well), and ordering coffee for both herself, and Pelly, showcasing there's more to her underneath that sass and crass:

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Second interaction with Phyllis — this one isn't determinant:

Now, here's some continuity that pays tribute to the DS/Wii era of the series:

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That was the variation of this exchange if the player wasn't the Mayor. Here's the original:
View attachment 471457

Here's Phyllis being cold to poor ol' Mayor Dren, again:

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She starts becoming nicer after this, thus leading to these five following photos.

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For the final one, I opted to make this screenshot the last one, to illustrate just how frustrated she is with her job. My workload for each day isn't even a third of hers, but it still resonates with me because I'm placed an environment that I find distracting and mentally-taxing:

I haven't unlock The Roost in New Horizons, but if you have the realization that these characters used to be sitting there during specific hours of the day, rather than having to use amiibo to invite them over, it echoes the "lack of community" criticism many people have towards NH. I don't want to unceremoniously bash NH (nor do I want people to derail the topic just to illustrate what's wrong with it), this has been a staple since at least Wild World. I don't understand why the developers want to do less than the bare minimum of giving these characters... well, character.

With that said, Phyllis in New Leaf wasn't as brusque as she was before. That's true, and while I don't really miss the faded gray lines of spite in the textbox, it unfortunately made her character a bit stale as a result. However, I believe what she had in The Roost, more than makes up for that. She somewhat had something similar to this in CF, but here, it's obvious she's used to seeing the player at that particular time — to the point that she's casual and chatty, rather than reluctantly acknowledging your presence. New Leaf has better writing than people give it credit for.

I've only a few screenshots of Pelly, which mainly shows that her character just isn't as explored as her sister's. Not a bad thing, though. These characters were written the way they are for a reason; I wish this series cared more about its special NPCs.

 

[Belle T]

I love these two so much, particularly Phyllis. I suppose that I just really like Oscar the Grouch style characters. I was quite saddened when I heard that they didn't return for New Horizons. The Dodo Airlines birds are also fun, but outside of the (admittedly funny) joke of a completely flightless species of bird running an airline company, I don't see why they couldn't serve the same niche. If you think Phyllis can't drive a plane, then I think you're underestimating the power of her sheer, unadulterated hatred for all living things.

 

[PoppyPumpkin]

New Horizons is my first Animal Crossing game, so I didn’t get to know these two, but from what I’ve seen— they’re adorable! Also I love the idea of writing letters in the game.

Do you wish the post office was in New Horizons? Why or why not?

Yes, I miss them so much
I just loved their personalities, honestly.

 

[JKDOS]

the post office itself had such a homely, comforting vibe, and i much preferred the mail system with the post office. letters were free to send back then, and a 4-pack of stationery only costed 80 bells. now sending just 1 letter costs 200 bells. i also miss the different stationeries and being able to buy them from nook’s.

My favorite part was you could write up all the letters at once and then take them to the Post Office and mail them out all together. Whereas in New Horizons, now you have to go through a mountain of dialogue for each and every single letter you send out. It kills the vibe, and I never send letters now. I only did so in the beginning for the NM Achievement.

 

[nightglow]

I kinda wonder if maybe they are moving away from letters. I feel like writing letters had a bigger role or purpose in past games than NH. With the options of decorating and cooking, I wonder if Nintendo will move towards local trading of ingredients and tasks with characters. Perhaps we will see the pelicans retire or move on to a new job. Maybe Phyllis will be more content. After all, ACNH airport operated with a computer.... And email has effected the real world post offices.

 

[JKDOS]

I kinda wonder if maybe they are moving away from letters.

I certainly hope not. I think sending/receiving letters to/from villagers is a part of what makes Animal Crossing special.

 

[nightglow]

I certainly hope not. I think sending/receiving letters to/from villagers is a part of what makes Animal Crossing special.

It does feel special, but I have to say the most I used them was in wild world. It seemed like a larger focus.
Email would be free though.

 

[Firesquids]

I'm not sure if New Horizons really needs a post office but I wouldn't mind having one. The pelican trio were an interesting group but I don't miss Pete telling me to empty my mailbox every freaking day and Phyllis had quite an attitude.