Wilbur is a dodo with blue feathers. He has a large yellow beak, with a brown tip. Wilbur's outfit consists of a pilot's uniform. He has a white shirt with a red tie. Also, he wears a black belt, with a small pouch attached to it. Wilbur wears large aviator sunglasses. He wears a headset to communicate with Orville.
Appearances[]
In New Horizons[]
Wilbur is a pilot for Dodo Airlines in New Horizons, taking the player on island tours and to visit other towns via the Airport. He often speaks in an apparently incomprehensible jargon related to pilots, including the common phrase "Roger!" This includes referring to the player as "bellbottom [music genre] (e.g. bellbottom j-pop)" and himself as "stovetop [item] (e.g. stovetop saltshaker)". All of this is usually interchangeable, as the first 1 or two words will remain the same, ie., "trainwreck frozen (x) is reporting tango (y) is go", where x is usually a kind of food, and y is any random object or thing (ex: "Trainwreck frozen parfait is reporting tango jujitsu is go.") At the resort in Happy Home Paradise, he will tell the player, "(x) is standing by. What is your flight plan, (y)?" Again, X and Y are random words he will say, ie., "Blowtorch is standing by. What is your flight plan, Screwdriver?" He will ask the player if they "wanna bust bunsen burners and bounce back to [Fruittown] (e.g. Orangetown)?" or "punt pontoons and fly Soaring [Flower] (e.g. Soaring Lily) here back to [Town]" amongst other colloquialisms. He also uses the NATO Phonetic Alphabet with modifications to keep the game family-friendly, changing the word for "W" from Whiskey to Whisker. Upon arrival at an island he says, "Alright, we are two down and docked at the target island. Delta Oscar Delta Oscar is go (Dodo is go)." And when leaving the island, saying "Roger! Lifting off November Oscar Whisker (lifting off now)." He maintains a very militaristic and precise relationship with Orville, the ground control to ensure all flights run smoothly. Upon arrival at a deserted island, Wilbur will sell the player certain tools for Nook Miles.
Wilbur's Japanese name, ロドリー Rodrī, is a shortening of ロドリゲス, Rodrigues, which is the island where a relative of the Dodo, the Rodrigues Solitaire, was formerly found. Orville's name is a shortening of Mauritius, which is where Dodos were formerly found.
In Japanese, the Rodrigues Solitaire is named ロドリゲスドードー Rodrigues Dodo, which explains why Wilbur is named as such.
Wilbur has the voice of a cranky villager, except it is a little bit deeper. Orville has a jock voice.
Wilbur refers to his plane as "Soaring Flower", where the flower is any that appear in the game, and changes every visit to an mystery tour island.
If the player talks to Wilbur in the middle of being chased by wasps, he will not show any reaction.
While not visible to players in normal circumstances, Wilbur is always behind the airport gate and wall, on left-hand side.
If the player hacks their way through the airport gate (even when opened, the space beyond the airport gates is inaccessible), they can speak to him. In the player's own town, he will use placeholder dialogue from lazy villagers.
If the game is hacked to talk to him in a friend's town, he will say, “Are you the one visiting from [town name]? You're [player name], yeah? I knew it! When I first saw you, I said, 'I...don't know that person.' I thought you were maybe a spy or something... But what would you be spying on? I didn't know! THEN I remembered hearing we have a visitor who is definitely NOT a spy! Anyway, I'm Wilbur! Welcome to [town name]! Enjoy your non-spying stay!”
If the same is attempted by the player on their own island (while visitors are present), he will say nothing, but a blank speech bubble will appear.[2]
As of November 5, 2021, he can be found at the Roost in the morning. This is the only time where he speaks normally. Also, if he is invited to the Roost via his amiibo card, he will also speak normally.
His birthday used to be December 17, which was Cousteau's birthday, but due to an error on his amiibo card, it is now July 4, Apollo's birthday.
On the player's birthday, there is a chance his message will show up amongst the others'. He ends it with "Bravo-yankee-echo!" which is of course, NATO for "bye".
Sometimes, if he takes you to a Mystery Tour island and it is raining, he will be carrying a special DAL-issue umbrella.
