You know the feeling. You’ve spent hours terraforming your island, laying down custom paths, and planting the perfect hybrid flower garden. Then, you see a move-in plot. Your heart sinks. You walk up to the house, enter the door, and there he is. It’s Barold. Or maybe it’s Jambette with those massive, unsettling lips. Suddenly, your five-star paradise feels a little cursed. Animal crossing ugly villagers are a rite of passage for every player, whether you’re a New Horizons veteran or you’ve been getting yelled at by Resetti since the GameCube days.
But beauty is weird in this game.
It’s subjective, honestly. While the community generally agrees on the "top tier" cuties like Raymond or Shino, the basement of the popularity polls is a chaotic place. It’s where the character designers at Nintendo clearly had a little too much fun. We aren't just talking about a bad color palette. We are talking about sentient trash cans, monkeys with neon-pink bums, and clowns that look like they haven't slept since 2001.
The Hall of Shame: Who Actually Counts as Ugly?
Defining "ugly" in a game full of bipedal, talking animals is tricky business. For most players, it comes down to a few specific design sins.
Take Pietro. Some people adore the sheep-clown hybrid because he’s vibrant and unique. Others find him terrifying. If you have a phobia of clowns, Pietro isn't just a "bad" villager; he's a nightmare living in a house full of balloon furniture. Then there’s Rodney. Poor, sweet Rodney. He’s a hamster with a bowl cut and a smug personality that just doesn't sit right with most people. He’s become the unofficial mascot for the r/fuckrodney subreddit, which, yes, is a real place where thousands of people vent their frustrations about a digital rodent.
It's usually the eyes. Or the facial hair.
Beards on villagers often feel "uncanny valley" adjacent. Beardo, the grizzly bear, has a stomach-patch of fur that looks suspiciously like... well, it’s a lot. Then you have the "human-like" features. Jambette and Diva have features that mimic heavy makeup or surgical enhancements, which clashes with the soft, simplified aesthetic of favorites like Goldie or Beau. When a character looks too much like a person wearing a costume, the community tends to recoil.
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Why Does Nintendo Keep Making Them?
You might wonder why developers bother putting animal crossing ugly villagers in the game at all. Why not just make everyone a cute cat or a tiny cub?
The answer lies in the philosophy of "wabi-sabi" and the need for variety. If every single villager was a pastel-colored dream, the world would feel flat. It would lose its texture. The series has always been about living in a community, and real communities have people you don't necessarily like or find attractive. It adds stakes to the gameplay. If you want that perfect island aesthetic, you have to work for it—or get lucky.
There’s also a long-standing tradition of "weird" humor in Japanese media. Characters like Coco, the rabbit who looks like a Haniwa funeral statue, aren't meant to be "cute" in the traditional sense. They are meant to be interesting. Coco has no eyes or mouth—just three empty, black voids. Is she creepy? Absolutely. Is she one of the most popular villagers in the game? Surprisingly, yes. Her design is so distinct that it transcends the typical "pretty" barrier.
The Strategy of the Eviction
So, you’ve got a villager you can't stand. What now?
Most players turn to the "bullying" method. They hit them with nets, push them into pitfalls, or complain to Isabelle. Here’s the cold, hard truth: none of that actually works for moving them out faster. In New Horizons, the move-out bubble is mostly random. In fact, some data-mining suggests that having a higher friendship level might actually make a villager more likely to ask to leave because you’ve "completed" your journey with them.
The most effective way to purge animal crossing ugly villagers remains the Amiibo method.
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By inviting a specific villager via an Amiibo card at the campsite for three days, you can choose exactly who gets the boot. It’s the only way to bypass the RNG gods. If you don't have cards, you’re stuck playing the waiting game. You have to look at Al the gorilla’s weird green fur every day until that white thought bubble finally appears.
The Cult of the Underdog
Something funny happens when a villager gets labeled as "ugly."
A counter-culture forms. People start adopting Barold specifically because nobody else wants him. They see his little cubicle-themed house and his weird facial hair and think, "He’s so pathetic that I love him." It’s the "Pug Effect." These villagers become "so ugly they’re cute."
- Hazel: Her unibrow is a point of contention. But her catchphrase is "uni-wow," and she owns it. She’s become a symbol of self-confidence for many players.
- Wart Jr.: He’s a grumpy toad covered in bumps. He looks like a literal potato. But his cranky dialogue fits his face so perfectly that he becomes charming in a "get off my lawn" kind of way.
- Tabby: She’s a cat that looks like she’s seen things. Many things. Her wide, toothy grin is haunting, but she’s also one of the most expressive villagers in the game.
The Psychological Impact of a "Bad" Roster
Believe it or not, having a few "ugly" neighbors actually makes your favorites feel more special. It's a contrast thing. When Marshal or Ione finally moves into your town, the joy is amplified because you spent the last month staring at Quillson.
Social media plays a massive role here, too. The "dreamie" culture on platforms like Twitter and Instagram has created a narrow definition of what a "good" villager looks like. If a villager isn't pastel, celestial-themed, or a cat, they often get tossed into the bin. This has led to a weirdly homogenized look for many islands. You visit a "top-tier" island and it’s the same ten villagers every time.
The "uglies" provide the spice. They provide the stories. Nobody talks about the time their cute villager sat on a bench, but everyone remembers the time Hippeux wouldn't leave their plaza for three hours.
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Finding Value in the Unconventional
If you’re currently stuck with a villager you hate, try this: look at their house interior.
Nintendo often hides the best personality traits in the decor. Some of the "ugliest" villagers have the most unique homes. While the "cute" ones often have generic wooden furniture or "Cute Set" items, the weirdos have labs, space stations, or trash-filled alleyways. They tell a story that isn't just "I'm pretty and I like flowers."
Ultimately, the obsession with animal crossing ugly villagers says more about us than it does about the game. We want control over our digital environments. We want perfection. But Animal Crossing was originally designed to be a game you couldn't fully control. It was about making the best of what you had.
Next Steps for Your Island
If you are ready to overhaul your island’s population, don't just start whacking people with nets. It's a waste of time. Instead, try these specific steps:
- Check the Move-Out Cycle: A villager will typically ask to move every 15 days. If the "wrong" person has the bubble, do not talk to them. Close the game without saving, and the bubble will likely transfer to someone else the next day.
- Embrace the Theme: If you have an "ugly" villager like Cephalobot or Ribbot, don't try to make them fit a cottagecore theme. Build a sci-fi area around them. Sometimes a villager only looks bad because their surroundings don't match their vibe.
- Give Them a Makeover: If you have the Happy Home Paradise DLC and have completed 30 vacation homes, you can eventually redesign your villagers' houses on your main island. Sometimes, changing a villager's terrible wallpaper is all it takes to make them tolerable.
- Gift with Care: You can't change their face, but you can change their clothes. A well-placed pair of designer sunglasses or a stylish coat can do wonders for a villager with a questionable default outfit.
Stop looking at the tier lists for a second. Talk to the "ugly" guy. You might find out he's actually the funniest person on your island. Or, you know, just keep hunting for Shino. No judgment here.