Review: Every LEGO Animal Crossing Minifigure (March 2024)

February 23, 2024 | 18

To kick off an entire week of LEGO Animal Crossing review goodness, I’m so excited to finally share a closer look at all* the LEGO Animal Crossing minifigures from the first wave of Animal Crossing sets, which are set to be released on 1 March 2024!

Me and my family had a lot of fun building these, and I was impressed by how well-suited these sets were for all ages, especially younger fans. If you’re a fan of Animal Crossing and LEGO, you’re gonna have to take a loan from Tom Nook, because you’re likely going to want to get all the sets.

I say first wave because LEGO are clearly going to make more Animal Crossing sets. You don’t chance upon a Tier 1 IP (intellectual property) like Animal Crossing, for a once-off wave of sets, plus, looking at the Northern Hemisphere seasons (approaching Spring and Summer), the sets suit the upcoming seasons, and you just know that we’ll likely get a Autumn/Winter wave – because Animal Crossing is all about seasons and the slow meandering passage of time.

To start off my LEGO Animal Crossing set reviews, I really want to focus in on the minifigures found in the first five sets, because they’re simply the best thing about LEGO Animal Crossing, and are as charming, delightful and cute as the villagers and NPCs you encounter in the game.

We are introduced to 8 characters from the game – Rosie the Cat, Julian the Unicorn, Marshal the Squirrell, Tom Nook the Capitalist Tanuki, Isabelle the Dog, Bunnie the umm… Bunny, Kapp’n the mythical Japanese cryptic, and Fauna the Deer.

And in case you want to go villager hunting (no NMTs required here!), here’s an overview of which characters are found where.

• Julian: 77046 Julian’s Birthday Party – US$14.99 / AU$19.99 / £12.99/ €14,99
• Bunnie: 77047 Bunnie’s Outdoor Activities  – US$19.99 / AU$29.99 / £17.99 / €19.99
• Marshal & Kapp’n: 77048 Kapp’n’s Island Boat Tour – US$29.99 / AU$39.99 / £24.99/ €29.99
• Isabelle & Faune: 77049  Isabelle’s House Visit  – US$39.99 / AU$69.99 / £34.99/ €39.99
• Rosie & Tom Nook: 77050 Nook’s Cranny & Rosie´s House – US$74.99 / AU$119.99 / £64.99/ €74,99

Special thanks to LEGO for sending these sets over for review. If you’re considering picking these sets up, please use the affiliate links in this post as I may receive a small commission with each purchase that helps support the work I do on the blog!

This minifigure review doesn’t include the Maple’s Pumpkin Garden polybag, which I’ll definitely check out when I’m able to get my hands on it!

Oh and one more thing before we start. Every decoration in LEGO Animal Crossing is PRINTED. Yes, prints on everything like the Drop-Off box for afterhour bulk fish or tarantula sales!

Notice board? Printed too.

Fish Bait, Flower Seeds and DIY Recipe Cards? All printed! Every single thing is printed here, which is just astounding to me, and such an excellent move from LEGO!

Isabelle

First up, let’s take a look at Isabelle, the mascot and girl-boss of Animal Crossing! In New Horizons, she works in Resident Services, heading up the Civic Consultation Counter, and has previous experience as a mayor.

Isabelle is THE face of Animal Crossing, and LEGO have absolutely nailed Isabelle’s design, with her navy skirt and iconic gingham-print cardigan.

Her head is moulded exquisitely, and you’ll find me saying this for all the minifigures, but the minifigures squat, blocking proportions translate so well for Animal Crossing!

Here’s a look at her back print.

But really, the moulded head, and super sharp print for her expression is just perfect here. I also love the dual-moulded action going on on her top bun.

Oh and here’s a look at the Nook Phone tile! If you’ve played Animal Crossing New Horizons, you’ll be very familiar with this interface which contains all sorts of functions, achievements and features.

Tom Nook

Look out because this shifty looking yet brilliantly entrepreneurial Tanuki is going to enslave you into a lifetime of debt that you’ll spend forever paying off!

Meet Tom Nook, who runs the Shop (monopoly, really) in all versions of Animal Crossing. He’s missing his twin sons, Timmy and Tommy Nook (which I hope to get in future sets), but he’s in his New Horizons outfit, with the teal leaf Hawaiian shirt.

In New Horizons, he works in Resident Services, moving into Infrastructure and Town Planning, after his sons Timmy and Tommy have taken over the family business.

Like Isabelle, LEGO have nailed Tom Nook’s minifigure, especially his sleepy looking eyes, and lackadaisical expression. I’m sure if you dangle some bells at him, he’ll perk right up.

Here’s a look at his back printing, and tail included!

Oh and we also get a Bag of Bells as an accessory!

Look at that face? How could you not want to borrow millions of bells and overextend yourself just to put a roof over your head?

Kapp’n

Animal Crossing New Horizons with its deserted island theme saw the return of Kapp’n, who takes you on boat tours to visit mystery islands, filled with treasure, fruit and sometimes Scorpions and Tarantulas.

You really want the Scorpion and Tarantula islands because they’re worth a lot of money when sold to Timmy and Tommy. Yes, really.

Kapp’n is a turtle, and is based on the Kappa, a mythical Japanese creature that’s fond of cucumbers and drowning people and animals (yes, really), and in the games, will not hesitate in breaking out into a sea shanty.

His singing is actually really good, and you can even enjoy a 4-hour version to sleep and relax to.

Here’s a look at his back printing, which has his turtle shell on it!

Kapp’n is a fan favourite character and makes for a fantastic minifigure. 77048 Kapp’n’s Island Boat Tour might seem like the weakest set in the wave, but him and Marshal make for a potent duo of desirable minifigures.

Bunnie

Next we move on to Villagers you can meet, befriend and may become your neighbours in the game!

First we have Bunnie, a peppy rabbit villager (Villagers have different personalities) that’s a fan-favourite as she’s been around since the very first game.

Her cheery upbeat personality is on full display here, with a massive smile, cute blushed cheeks and big round eyes. I love her checked outfit, which is quite iconic and you can’t help but feel a little peppier when looking at her.

Here’s a look at Bunnie’s back.

So cute. I’m 100% inviting Bunnie to my island if there’s a vacant plot and I find her camping. I’ve got a special connection as Bunnie is one of my villagers in New Horizons, so I feel a pretty strong affinity with her.

Fauna

Up next, we have one of the most popular and most desirable villagers, Fauna the Normal (that’s the personality-type btw) Deer! She’s perennially one of the most sought-after Villagers (13 on this Tier List), so it makes sense for LEGO include her in the sets.

The Fauna minifigure is also quite excellent – I like her tunic, and also her cute expression, and how nice her printed ears are.

Fauna from the back is also equally impressive, with white spots on the back of her head.

How could you not love this face?

Rosie

Next we have Rosie, a Peppy Cat Villager. Cats are a pretty popular and sought-after species in Animal Crossing, although Rosie isn’t like S or even A-Tier when it comes to popularity.

She is one of the OG characters though, so I can see why LEGO would include her.

Here’s a look at Rosie’s torso, which has a cool checked pattern.

In all my years of playing Animal Crossing, I’ve never actually had Rosie as a neighbour, so I don’t feel as strong a connection with her. My Cat picks have always been Olivia, Kiki or Tangy, but hey, Rosie does add some nice colour and variety here.

Julian

Next we have Julian, a Smug unicorn/horse villager that we first meet in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, so he’s a relatively new villager.

He’s having a birthday party in his set, and you can tell that he’s way too cool for school, and he knows it.

I really love his Galaxy-themed hoodie, which has iridescent properties and looks super sick. It’s a nice nod to Julian’s house – which has one of the best furniture and designs in-game, filled with rare Zodiac-themed furniture.

I have him on my Island, so I’m very happy to get a Julian minifigure!

Marshal

And last but not least, we have Marshal, the Smug Squirrel that’s an absolute superstar villager. Because of his grumpy face, bad-boy haircut and cute pink cheeks, as well as the Smug personality type, it’s made Marshal into a star and one of the most in-demand villagers in Animal Crossing New Horizons.

Not bad for a debut character!

The Marshal minifigure, just like his in-game character is absolutely precious, with his puffer vest and adorable expression.

We get a new bushy squirrel tail-piece with him which is also super awesome.

Look at that face. LEGO definitely are aware of the legions of Marshal fans, who won’t hesitate to pick up the 77048 Kapp’n’s Island Boat Tour purely for him.

And that’s it, a closer look at all 8 of the new LEGO Animal Crossing villagers! LEGO have done an absolutely brilliant job with the minifigures, and they’re the biggest draws of the theme, so I hope this gives you a better idea of what they look like, and how well designed they are!

There’s incredible attention to detail, near-perfect printing and of course, plenty of new exciting head moulds to get excited about.

The lineup is a little lacking, which is natural as there are just so many villagers and characters in-game that missed out. The biggest miss for me is not having enough Villager personality diversity – no jocks, snooty, Uchi, cranky or Lazy personalities is weird, especially when you have 2 Smug and 3 Peppy villagers.

Give us Bill the Duck for Jock representation!

Anyway, I think these are absolutely adorable minifigures, and they will do all the heavy lifting when it comes to selling these sets.

They’re super cute and Animal Crossing just works so remarkably well as LEGO Minifigures that now that I have these in-hand, they feel like absolute no-brainers.

Keep an eye out for more in-depth reviews of all the LEGO Animal Crossings sets on the blog soon – I just really wanted to share how good the minifigures look!

LEGO Animal Crossing will launch on LEGO.com, your local LEGO Store and most toy stores from 1 March 2024 onwards!

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