Amiibo

[deoxys]

...

sigh


Please tell me I'm not the only one who has contracted this awful disease with no cure?

It starts so innocently. Your girlfriend gives you two amiibo for your birthday. That's cool! But you want more. You crave more. You DEMAND more. You want your main from Smash Bros. Oh, it's King Dedede? Well be prepared to be very fucking disappointed, son, because I've got some news for you. You look for your secondary mains. Oh, you can't find them either? Whats that? You can import them? Literally everyone but America has the good stuff? You're going to go mentally insane? You're breaking down right now in a fit of laughter? HAHAHA?

I never thought such a craze would completely drive me mad. I mean, all I want are the characters I play in Smash and Fire Emblem, that's not so much to ask, right? RIGHT? HAHAHAHA? HAHAHAHHA?



What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end...

[OkikuMew]

I haven't fell into it, yet, but emphasis on the yet ^^;

At first I thought it was just a gimmick, but then I saw how it could be useful for Smash Bros. and some future games, and just in fact that I'm a collectioner by heart seems something cool to get, and then I have gone gaga over those yarn yoshi amiibo plushies. I haven't gotten a single one at the moment, but my birthday is coming up in a few weeks, soooooooooooo ^^;

[Loki]

I think the bigger problem is that Nintendo is god awful at producing them. For every one Marth we have like 200 Marios and Luigis that no one wants forcing the market to become an absolute mess. Gamestop started putting Amiibos behind locks.

[Lady Kuno]

It's physical DLC, basically. I have a Samus to mess around with (admittedly they are fun) and a Splatoon girl, but that's it. Nintendos forced rarity is the only reason anyone gives a shit about this.

[deoxys]

I just want all of the Fire Emblem characters, King DDD, Ness, Lucas, Mr.G&W, Duck Hunt, and Bowser Jr., and I'll be happy. I don't care that they're rare, I care because I actually love all these characters in Smash (although some of them aren't out yet). Just totally happens that all of my favorites are the rarest ones to get, which blows.

That's all. Until Animal Crossing comes out, anyway. Oh, and Yarn Yoshi, because obviously

[Muyotwo]

I can hunt them for you here, Deo if you'd like

[Talon87]

Don't do it, deo! If you must burn your money on Precious Moments analogues, spend it on Nendoroids instead! *nod nod* [/not helping]

[deoxys]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Don't do it, deo! If you must burn your money on Precious Moments analogues, spend it on Nendoroids instead! *nod nod* [/not helping]

Oh believe me, this is a thing that on some level has already begun to happen and someday I'm pretty sure I will have a Nendoroid collection.

Unfortunately I'll never get a precious bae Ahri limited edition Nendo



@Muyo

I uh, I'll shoot you a PM at some point, possibly >_>;

[Raves]

Thank god I don't own a Wii U, because if I did, I still wouldn't touch these Skylanders clones. Anything resembling the franchise that killed Spyro is the work from the ninth circle of Hell.

That people are robbing others of them makes them akin to drugs.

[deoxys]

Originally Posted by Raves

That people are robbing others of them makes them akin to drugs.

I actually have "a guy" for hard to find amiibo that I want who gets me good deals (just over MSRP). We meet behind a Chick-Fil-A on weekend nights and he brings me the stuff, and it's always good quality.


I'm actually not joking.

[Kuvario]

Ask him if he has any Dark Pit Amiibo. Even if I don't really care for the majority of the Amiibo by lacking a Wii U/N3DS, I need him badly.

[deoxys]

Originally Posted by DarkLucarioADV

Ask him if he has any Dark Pit Amiibo. Even if I don't really care for the majority of the Amiibo by lacking a Wii U/N3DS, I need him badly.

Speaking of, Dark Pit is going to be a Best Buy exclusive, no preorders, limited quantity, one per customer, releasing July 31st.


If you're American.


Have fun with that.



But no I know for a fact he doesn't currently have any Dark Pit. Sorry!

[Kuvario]

It's like Nintendo wants to hate me. Limited quantity tells me, "We're too busy selling three-four versions of Mario Amiibo to care for the rest".

And I was joking about asking your "guy" for a Dark Pit Amiibo thing, still serious about needing it. :p

[Char]

gotta catch em all

[SoS]

I found a Shulk amiibo in GAME the other day. I texted my brother (whose favourite game of all time is Xenoblade Chronicles) if he wanted. His response:

"Yes"

"Yes"

"Yes"

"Good God yes"

"Absolutely"

"How could you even ask that"

"Yes"

[big bad birtha]

I'm surprised these are actually a thing. I've seen Amiibos sitting around Gamestop, but I just assumed they were little collectable figures with some minor additions to the games they represent...which after looking it up, seems I was right.

I also assumed no-one bought them. I remember one time thinking "Does anyone even buy those things?" I guess I was wrong about one thing! I have to admit that a Palutena one seems appealing. Though a Palutena anything is appealing!

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by big bad birtha

I'm surprised these are actually a thing. I've seen Amiibos sitting around Gamestop, but I just assumed they were little collectable figures with some minor additions to the games they represent...which after looking it up, seems I was right.

I also assumed no-one bought them. I remember one time thinking "Does anyone even buy those things?" I guess I was wrong about one thing! I have to admit that a Palutena one seems appealing. Though a Palutena anything is appealing!

While the adults are treating them like Nendoroids / Precious Moments dolls, I think the primary audience for Amiibos are children. It goes like this:

• Skylanders: the original, produced by (of all people O-o) Activision
• Infinity: Disney's answer to Skylanders
• Amiibo: Nintendo's answer to Skylanders

Skylanders are basically "action figures meet Army Men." Their legs are glued to a pedestal, so while you can't pose the action figure however you like, you also don't have to worry about them falling down. Furthermore, because there's this pedestal there, Skylanders can be used as digital toys for a digital era: you put a microchip in the pedestal and it interacts with a USB device that the parent plugs in to a computer or HDTV to let the kid do stuff in the video game. Toss in a "gotta catch 'em all!" mentality and you have a formula for $$$: kids beg their parents to buy them all of the Skylanders because they need all of the Skylanders to have the best possible adventures in the video games.

Amiibos are basically Nintendo's version. Like Skylanders, they have a microchip in the base which allows the child to unlock interactive features in select Wii U software. And like Skylanders, younger children or even older children who just don't care about the digital aspect can also use these toys the way you and I used action figures when we were young ... they just can't pose the legs. (Or, in most cases, any of the doll. I think most of them, and perhaps all of Nintendo's, are solid plastic with zero movability.)

So while it's certainly true that Amiibos and Disney Infinity toys are incredibly hot sellers ... I don't believe that most of the sales figures are to be credited to adult fans. Preeeeeeeeeeeetty darn sure that 90%+ of Amiibo purchases are purchases made by parents for children, and that the children treat the Amiibos as a hybrid action figure by day, digital key by night.

[deoxys]

It's true, I'd be willing to bet the largest demographic for amiibo is preteens, though. For me, I want to collect the characters I like, and I find the quality of these to be surprisingly pretty decent. Between that and the fact that I'm a Nintendo fan and a lot of these characters hit the nostalgia chord with me as well, I caved in. I think that's the reasoning for a lot of people my age who are also getting swept up into the storm.

Skylanders, on the other hand, doesn't have that factor. They are all new characters (save Spyro, initially), that are clearly created and designed for a young demographic. Disney Infinity is probably somewhere inbetween - the character models are much more cartoonishly designed, but there are a large host of characters that would appeal to an adult crowd as well, especially with Marvel out now and Star Wars coming later this year.

Amiibo, the Smash Bros. collection, at least, follow the character art and design model and have a particular quality to them that is aesthetically pleasing and appealing, while using familiar and classic characters. Children are definitely the largest buyers, I'd say, but it's difficult to ignore the lines of twenty-somethings who wait for stores to open on an amiibo's launch day, and Nintendo has recognized that. I think they craftily created a product that can appeal to pretty much every demographic, while still primarily catering to the youngest by principle.

Unfortunately, the majority of stores around here are only carrying characters from the Super Mario series, Sonic, Zelda, Toon/Link, Sheik, Pikachu, and Mega Man - and that's about it. Nintendo has put their more obscure characters on the back burner (the ones your average joe wouldn't recognize), making them difficult to find if you're a fan of them.

[Talon87]

Well that's to be expected. They're selling Leonardos, Donatellos, Michelangelos, and Raphaels. Rat Kings aren't going to be as big of sellers, Vernons even less. It can't be helped that your favorite character is Vernon: he ain't the star. It's a similar problem faced by Fire Emblem stars, Kid Icarus stars, and supporting characters from Zelda or Kirby. Waddle Dee is just going to sit on most store shelves. But Mario or Pikachu? Big sellers.

[SoS]

Here's a song that will adequately sum up the thread.

[Muyotwo]

Originally Posted by DarkLucarioADV

Ask him if he has any Dark Pit Amiibo. Even if I don't really care for the majority of the Amiibo by lacking a Wii U/N3DS, I need him badly.

There are scads of them down here at the moment, I'd buy you one if you want to cover the cost/shipping.

[Zelphon]

Originally Posted by Son_of_Shadows

Here's a song that will adequately sum up the thread.

Alternate ending is best ending.

[deoxys]

Heads up, GameStops all over are getting Dedede and Ness Thursday morning. We're talking healthy amounts.

[deoxys]

And with this, I'm officially taking a break from amiibo hunting.

I feel satisfied with what I have for now. The only ones left that are currently out that I want are Lucario + Fire Emblem series, but I'm just going to wait it out and take a break I think. I feel super happy now that I have Ness and Dedede (even if I had to wait two hours before GameStop opened to make sure I got them [the thirst is real]).

My next goals, whenever I'm done taking a break, are Robin, Lucina, Ike, Marth - and when they're out and for sale, Bowser Jr., Mr. G&W, and ROB.... And in a year from bnow, Mewtwo, Roy, and Lucas (my son). That's pretty much going to be it for me, that's all I need to complete my own personal collection (though Duck Hunt and Falco...)


Until Animal Crossing amiibo are out anyway. Gotta have my dog wife. And KK and Nook.

[SoS]

Yarn Yoshi tho