Anyone avoiding Amiibos

[kilenem]

Quite true. I think Nintendo of Japan's original reasoning was that splitting the Pokemon into two games meant players would socialize to collect them all. Japan's dense population and popularity of portable games there (because of the train/bus rides and small apartments with shared TVs) lent to this being relatively easy over there. I'd bet NoA and other regional offices saw that marketing plan and thought to themselves "I'd bet a lot of people will buy both games, and maybe another Gameboy, too." The socializing aspect might work almost as good in congested cities in the west, but, for the less urban kids, finding friends who had Gameboys, the right version of Pokemon and the right critter to trade was really hard. I gave up and used my sister's Gameboy and her copy of Red (Admit it. We all did.) to get the rest, as she had given up months (years?) ago.

The difference, however, is at least you could find the games. (I remember a GBC shortage for a couple months in the late 90s, but I don't think Red or Blue was scarce. Correct me if I'm wrong.) If you wanted to get all of the 'mons and were willing to spend oodles for the MSRP of 2 games, 2 Gameboys and the link cable (minus anything you could borrow from a friend), you could go out and drop cash right on the counter and be walking out with the goods. Now with Amiibo, good luck finding even the rare ones you wanted (without paying a shady guy halfway across your region way too much extra), much less collecting all of a set.

Luckily we have hackers know who are figuring out how to make Amiibos for Unreleased charters. So I can't wait for My off brand amiibos. I wonder if they'll just sell the chip so you can unlock in game content.

 

[kilenem]

Its freakin hard to avoid Amiibos because I'm a scalper..

Should I be reporting you to the police then? Seriously don't freaking admit you are a scalper dude. No one likes them.

No one likes scalpers but likes the company that has their products made in a plant where people commit suicide so much they have to have nets over the building. This is capitalism people.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

In Super Smash Bros. they seem to work a lot like Pokemon. You can train/level/customize a certain character, then save that character's data into the Amiibo, allowing you to carry it over to other consoles and have it fight other players/Amiibos. You have no direct control over it. So it's essentially a pen drive that exclusively stores a certain kind of data, and doubles as a figurine.
I think the reason everybody and their mother went crazy about this is because there's supposedly so few of them.

So it has a less pratical use then saving the info in the cloud or hard-drive (to then copy to a pen) like every other game ever?

Are people getting hyped about being fucked in the ass?

Yeah. You're basically paying money for something you used to do for free (and should still be able to, technically). A lot of people seem to rationalize it as if the figurine is where it's at, and everything else is secundary. Others are mind-blown by the possibility of not-saving in the cloud, and the figurine isn't as important. I don't know. It's a fickle crowd.

 

[sageoftruth]

Currently, I have no reason to, since I don't have a Wii U right now, but if I did... I probably still wouldn't. If I got into Smash Brothers, I might, but for other games, those bonuses don't really sound like the sort of thing I'd go wild over anyway.

If I also had a bunch of friends who had Wii Us and who also played Smash Brothers, then I'd start getting them or at least desiring them. It does sound useful for couch gaming with friends in multiple locations. Otherwise, it sounds like too much of a hassle to need to rely on something larger and heavier than a disc for such things (how big are these Amiibos by the way?)

For now, I'm not too bothered by it. I suppose I need to do some more research.

It sounds like their worth depends on the pros and cons of the physical over the digital.

 

[kilenem]

How the fuck do you avoid Amiibos? Those fuckers are like mystical unicorns, you've got to preorder them months in advance if you want a specific one. It's not like they're even remotely ubiquitous in stores. If you don't want to get (or even lay eyes upon) any Amiibos just go about your day and that'll happen as a matter of course.

I'm reading this in Dr. Krieger voice because of your profile pic. They totally need a amiibo of his wife.

I read a lost gaming Blogs, and belong to a couple of video game trading groups on facebook and visit websites that post deals on videogame related material. Its pretty difficult to avoid them.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Amiibos are by far one of the coolest and most-frustrating things to hit gaming in a long time.

For one thing, they serve as a product that doubles as physical swag like a normal figurine and as in-game DLC. And what's so cool about Amiibo is that, for every character in Smash, we get a figure of them. Not a lot of characters within smash get physical merch so it's an opportunity for fans of a certain series to get a figure of a character they really love and also use it for their games.

As for me, I only have one amiibo at the moment. It's a Pikachu because I've been a super fan of pokemon ever since I was a little kid. Something I was suprised with when I purchased him was how tiny these amiibo figures are. They are all roughly the same size and are about as tall as a nendoroid, which are notoriously small figures for those that don't want to shill that much.

Now, with all that in mind, I still fucking hate amiibos what they have essentially become.

With the rising popularity of the WiiU, more and more people are buying into the craze of the amiibo. Now this is pretty much a good thing - more people buy the product which shows to Nintendo that people have an interest in the product, but here's the thing: Nintendo doesn't seem to be producing more of the unique figures in order to meet up with the demand.

Because Nintendo isn't matching market demand, figures like The Villager, Little Mac, and so on are being sold at ludicrous prices like $40 and upwards. Not to mention scalpers feel the need to buy these items in bulk and sell then at bullshit prices, not helping the craze at all. Effectively, amiibo have become an item for selling instead of using, which really annoys me. I want as many people to own amiibo as possible because I want them to be able to own little figurines of their favorite characters for a reasonable price, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

Because of this bullshit I have a keep a constant eye on twitter to be sure I can secure a Lucina and Robin amiibo before they go extinct. I'm waiting for those two and Jigglypuff, then I am done with the whole craze (unless they happen to re-release Shulk. Then I'm game for one more. And maybe Splatoon ones because cute squid girls).

So yeah. That's my shtick with amiibo.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I ain't buying what is essentially glorified DLC with a crap plastic model on it. None for me, thanks!

 

[Sticky]

I can understand the purpose of buying any of the products in the OP.

I can't see the ultimate purpose of Amiibos unless you just really, really want a figure of your favorite character.

Right now they're expensive Smash/Mariokart DLC as well as being currency for scalpers. The number being artificially kept low by Nintendo specifically so people preorder the second they announce a reprint. Furthermore, best of luck to anyone who buys an Amiibo of a character who only has one game compatible with it. Good luck to all those people with Pit Amiibos, or Mega Man Amiibos. I'm sure those things will have great use collecting dust on your shelf.

Which is sad coming from someone who was looking forward to the possibilities. It's a great idea for a company that makes lots of games, crossover or otherwise. It's just been executed terribly.

 

[Jodokh]

I honestly have no idea what the hell they are. I mean, I get that they are Nintendo branded statues of Nintendo characters, but like, what do they do? I mean, these things are being hyped all over, and are being scalped left and right, so they must do something spectacular, but what?

Nintendo's latest gimmick.
So far it's compatible with 3 Wii U games.
In Hyrule Warriors they unlock weapons, in Mario Kart 8 they unlock skins.
In Super Smash Bros. they seem to work a lot like Pokemon. You can train/level/customize a certain character, then save that character's data into the Amiibo, allowing you to carry it over to other consoles and have it fight other players/Amiibos. You have no direct control over it. So it's essentially a pen drive that exclusively stores a certain kind of data, and doubles as a figurine.
I think the reason everybody and their mother went crazy about this is because there's supposedly so few of them.

Ya that's why I don't get them. Seem like a waste of time, that takes control away so why?

I agree big time on the gimmick statement.

 

[small]

OHHH its a collectable figurine and has dlc purposes with multiple games, that sounds alot better than i was expecting, frankly ive been ignore the whole thing and thought they were just toys.

seems like a good extra bonus if you get one of your favourite characters as a collectable

i havent really been paying attention to them as i havent played a single nintendo game

 

[Alfredo Jones]

I only go for ones that have some actual use in the games I play, like Link and Zelda for Hyrule Warriors. Any others I get will be because I like that character, like Luigi or Ness when he comes out. My only gripe right now is trying to find a Rosalina amiibo since they are Target exclusive. I think I'll just wait until the inevitable Mario Series Rosalina amiibo.

 

[marioandsonic]

I'm not against the idea of buying an amiibo.

It's just they don't have any I want yet.

I want my Ganondorf amiibo, damn it!

 

[lapan]

The quality tends to be pretty low and i'm not interested in the features.

For less than the price of 2 amiibos which could give me weapons in hyrule warriors i can purchase the entire dlc in that game so far which is a ton more content than amiibos would ever get me

 

[Random Encounter]

Wasn't really that interested until I came across some hard-to-find ones inside a department store in a rural town. Not even sure if they're rare or not but I haven't been able to find them anywhere else so I figured it was worth the purchase. Gonna start keeping an eye out for them now.

 

[PlayerDos]

I got a Yoshi, Kirby and Pikachu, and my GF got a Little Mac, Peach, Luigi and Captain Falcon ones.

So yeah, all up we have spent about $150+ on Amiibo, since mac and falcon were pretty expensive.

So yeah, haven't avoided them too well.

 

[FPLOON]

I've been avoiding amiibos because I'm still pissied about how Nintendo handled the E-reader. Which was pretty much the foundation of this if you go back far enough. E-reader, then Hyper scan, Sky landers, Disney infinity, pokemon rumble and now Amiibos. Nintendo just let the E-reader die, and didn't make it useable to the next GBA redesign. Still mad about how that went down.

Is it TOO too late to say that I thought that the E-Reader was the shit and it's main menu theme was boss as fuck?

OT: It's not like I'm avoiding Amiibos or anything[footnote]Baka Nintendo desu?[/footnote]... I'm just waiting until I can get my own R.O.B-miibo... Then again, it's tough seeing one my friends frustrated about still not having his own Rosalina-miibo...

 

[Liquidprid3]

I got a Yoahi on because Yoshi is my main in Smash and he's kewl.

That's it really. I have them because I think the figures are cool. The ingame stuff is just a bonus for me. I did love training my amiibo though.

 

[mmmikey]

At this point it's more like the merchandise is avoiding the people who genuinely want it. At least in the American market. The most recent wave seems to be the most exasperating for true Nintendo merch fans. I've seen tons of the usual amiibos you can find online as well, but not one Toon Link, Rosalina, Sheik, or anyone but Bowser. And that was on the release day which has been spotty too since retailers have put them out whenever and delays have happened with certain models. All of this has been further complicated by retailer exclusives. Essentially if you want one outside of the main Nintendo cast you have to pre-order as soon as its listed (which has been dodgy), wait outside retailers before opening the day they're selling them, get incredibly lucky, or pay scalper prices.

Nintendo only makes things more frustrating since they're not even commenting on whether or not there will be any production runs on any of the released waves. I'm banking on them not. And it's a bogus situation since they were never marketed as a limited edition collectible that they've been bought and resold as. They've given no clear indication on what production numbers are. It's a shitshow. And with the recent announcement of Gold & Silver Mario variant amiibos it's a situation I have the believe Nintendo is fostering now.

I'm not a Nintendo diehard fan but this situation stacked with their other production fumbles (GC controller adapter, Hyrule Warriors Limited Edition, Majora's Mask special edition) turns me off from even considering owning a Nintendo console if they can't deliver on commodities of their popular IPs.

I've personally only gotten the Mario and Bowser smash sets. I think they're the most impressive looking of the characters released so far (no plastic supports, nice detail, fairly dynamic poses, the translucent fireball). I'm not really going out of my way for this, and no chance I'm paying over $20 on these.

 

[Dragonbums]

I already have two and I plan on buying a few more of my fave characters. I don't blame them for not keeping up with stock seeing as how 6 million units sold is a very tall order to keep up with.

I just want the scalpers to fuck the hell off already. Like shit they are really ruining it.