diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/data.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/data.py
index e828c1a8d2b9ea..72f27fc7d5aba7 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/data.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/data.py
@@ -79,9 +79,6 @@ def _create_implicit_localhost(self, pattern):
         else:
             new_host = Host(pattern)
 
-            # use 'all' vars but not part of all group
-            new_host.vars = self.groups['all'].get_vars()
-
             new_host.address = "127.0.0.1"
             new_host.implicit = True
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/host.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/host.py
index a92835290a6629..647e00dc1cd8e8 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/host.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/host.py
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ def get_magic_vars(self):
         results['inventory_hostname_short'] = self.name.split('.')[0]
         results['group_names'] = sorted([g.name for g in self.get_groups() if g.name != 'all'])
 
-        return combine_vars(self.vars, results)
+        return results
 
     def get_vars(self):
         return combine_vars(self.vars, self.get_magic_vars())
diff --git a/lib/ansible/vars/manager.py b/lib/ansible/vars/manager.py
index a29b186db614a2..0a50261a888766 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/vars/manager.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/vars/manager.py
@@ -319,14 +319,15 @@ def plugins_by_groups():
                     data[group] = combine_vars(data[group], _plugins_play(group))
                 return data
 
-            # Merge as per precedence config
+            # Merge groups as per precedence config, if not implicit localhost
             # only allow to call the functions we want exposed
-            for entry in C.VARIABLE_PRECEDENCE:
-                if entry in self._ALLOWED:
-                    display.debug('Calling %s to load vars for %s' % (entry, host.name))
-                    all_vars = combine_vars(all_vars, locals()[entry]())
-                else:
-                    display.warning('Ignoring unknown variable precedence entry: %s' % (entry))
+            if not host.implicit:
+                for entry in C.VARIABLE_PRECEDENCE:
+                    if entry in self._ALLOWED:
+                        display.debug('Calling %s to load vars for %s' % (entry, host.name))
+                        all_vars = combine_vars(all_vars, locals()[entry]())
+                    else:
+                        display.warning('Ignoring unknown variable precedence entry: %s' % (entry))
 
             # host vars, from inventory, inventory adjacent and play adjacent via plugins
             all_vars = combine_vars(all_vars, host.get_vars())