ThoughAnimal Crossingfans love its recognizable NPCs, cozy gameplay, and distinct visual charm, it’s arguably the game’s many cute Villagers that have proven the most essential to making the series a hit. As soon as players create an island inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsor start up a town in the older titles, they likely have an idea of the Villagers they want to pursue. Maybe they want to make their island a home to wolves or a gathering place for Snooty personality types, or perhaps they simply want to gather up the characters they think are the cutest in a single place.
With Villagers being such a vital part ofAnimal Crossing’s DNA, it’s no surprise that certain ones have emerged as fan favorites, leading fans to regularly debate who is the best and most desirable Villager. Intriguingly, though, fans may have an official answer to point to now. While one would expect such info to be provided through charts of behind-the-scenes data gathered by Nintendo over the years, that’s not the case. Instead, fans can get some potential insight by looking at who the company has chosen for two recent collaborations - LEGO sets and the newly announced Crocs team-up. While the LEGO Villager choices could have been written off as random picks that suit the aesthetic of each set,Nintendohas doubled down on three of the same Villagers for its upcoming pair of Crocs, which suggests the company knows that these three characters are highly sought-after.
Marshal, Bunnie, and Rosie May Be Animal Crossing’s True Dreamies
ThoughAnimal Crossing’s LEGO collaborationhas since expanded to include more sets based on characters like Celeste, K.K. Slider, and the Able Sisters, originally there were only five packs available. One of these only offered the NPC Julian, while the others featured four Villagers: Fauna, Bunni, Rosie, and Marshal. While these characters are certainly popular in the eyes of theAnimal Crossingcommunity, none of them are typically considered “Dreamies” outside of Marshal, the Eminem-looking Squirrel. As such, players just assumed that Nintendo had picked Villagers at random, avoiding characters like Sherb because they are too new or Bob for being too strange. However, the series’ latest crossover has made Nintendo’s LEGO picks feel a lot less random.
Dreamies inAnimal Crossingare Villagers that players are desperate to get, and they tend to be popular characters like Judy, Raymond, Audie, etc.
Alongside a special pair ofAnimal CrossingCrocsthemed aroundNew Horizons’ colorful islands, fans of the series will be able to snag some special jibbitz for their clogs. For those unfamiliar with Crocs’ jibbitz, they are essentially charms that can be easily slotted into the holes on a pair of Crocs, and there are a number of fun designs that fans of the series will be able to pick up. In addition to the base charms, which include K.K., Isabelle, a tree, a house, the Nooks, and a bell bag, the extra jibbitz will be:
It’s the three Villagers at the bottom of the list that stand out, and not only because they can be purchased in their own 3-pack of jibbitz. Out of the hundreds ofAnimal Crossingvillagersit could have chosen, Nintendo doubled-down on three of the four characters featured in its initial LEGO run. It could have made some of the other fan favorites who didn’t show up in the LEGO collab available, but instead, it chose these three characters once again. That says something.
If Marshal, Bunnie, and Rosie Are Nintendo’s Top 3, Who Would Be Behind Them?
Going off this theory that Nintendo is selling merch based on only its most popular Villagers, then it would be worth looking at the other LEGO cameos to determine the other characters it views favorably. Fourth place would go to Fauna, the other character from the original run to receive aLEGO minifigure. Next up would be Maple, who received her own set shortly after the initial five, while Tangy, Audie, Poppy, and Sasha would follow. Though some of these names do rank highly on player-made Tier Lists and sites like Animal Crossing Portal, many would expect to see names like Ankha and Stitches before a character like Poppy. While Marshal currently tops theAC Portal community Tier List, Rosie is at 33 and Bunnie is all the way down at 102, making Nintendo’s focus on these characters incredibly interesting. Regardless, thanks to LEGOs and Crocs, fans may finally know who the most popularAnimal CrossingVillagers really are.
