Let's Talk Amiibos!

[mrgilder]

I am curious. Is anybody planning on buying any of Nintendo's Amiibo figures? I've been on the fence myself for quite a long time.
I've been an avid toy collector on top of being a game collector for most of my life, but now space and money issues have forced me to choose one thing, and games won the fight. I've been actively purging my toy hoard on ebay while resisting buying any new toys for some time now. But then Amiibos happened, and I don't think I can resist them. I've been struggling to behave myself so as it is with my love of the aesthetic of the Marvel figures from Disney Infinty 2.0, despite my total lack of interest in the actual game. The possibility of a uniform set of soooo many beloved game characters is so very tempting. Indeed, most of the toys that have survived my various ebay purges have been game-related toys (Neca's Street Fighter IV and Castlevania sets, my Kotobukiya Final Fantasy 8 Gilgamesh, etc). I like me some game-toys, and to my knowledge, there's never been a figure of Fox McCloud. And there's never really been a way to get a Samus toy in the West without shilling out loads of cash for a Japanese import Figma.

As with Disney Infinity, I have close to zero interest in the way that the Amiibos actually interact with any games. Everything seems pretty hokey and forced to me. My fascination is more with them as toys. They just look so perfect. Brightly colored, and well sculpted & painted. And I love figurines with built-in bases. A recent impressions article on USGamer affirmed that the build quality of the figures is excellent, and they seem to be of a higher quality than Skylanders (which I've always thought were quite nice in the first place).

I was honestly doing a great job of telling myself that I didn't need any Amiibos until yesterday's announcement that both Mega Man and Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles would be coming in February (sucks that Shulk is Gamestop exclusive though). This news prettymuch clinched things for me. I certainly cannot afford to collect them all, but here's a shortlist of the ones I'm interested in:

- Mario
- Samus
- Fox
- Marth
- Ike
- Bowser
- Mega Man
- Shulk
- King DeDeDe
- Meta Knight

What about you guys? Any Amiibos in your future?

[A.I Impaired]

I am impressed by the quality of these. I do not currently own a Wii-u as such, but I live among some who do. It really depends on the pricing as to whether I would be interested. I have cut down on my basic figurine/sculpture stuff for years. I mostly only display my metal gear figurines atm. Big Daddy had an unfortunate tumble. Maybe I should just keep with my growing minimalist trend.

[mrgilder]

Maybe I should just keep with my growing minimalist trend.

I'm with you on this. I've purged literally hundreds of toys from my collection in the past 2 years, and I don't want to go backward on the progress I've made. I think I've managed to talk myself down from Amiibo fever and settle on just one. It's always been a dream of mine to own a figure of oldschool chubby Mega Man that looks as perfect as the newly announced amiibo does.



He'll look handsome on my computer desk.

[Grant Heaslip]

I've ordered Yoshi, Kirby, Mario, and Pikachu (as well as King Dedede, whenever he comes out) mostly for shelf display purposes. I'll mess with the Amiibo integrations, but none of them seem all that compelling at the moment. I considered others, but I ended up whittling down my order to figures with smooth lines, simple paint jobs, and no ugly support pillars. I'm also a fan of (and have a fair bit of nostalgia for) the character designs of the ones I ordered.

I don't think the production models of the more realistic-looking ones look very good, and I ordered better-looking Figmas of Link and Samus (as well as the Nendoroid Toon Link) when Good Smile announced new production runs.

[mrgilder]

I am VERY fond of the Dedede. Good choices.
Unfortunately, an unexpected $900 car maintenance bill that I got slapped with today reaffirmed the importance of my "I'm just buying Mega Man" stance. Such great timing.

[ek6891]

I do want an Amiibo or two, but I am unsure which ones I want to get. I think I definitely want a Pikachu one.

[mrgilder]

So how 'bout them Amiibos, eh? Shortages. Limited availability. Preorder weirdness. It's exhausting.
Even if I decided that I definitely wanted them now, I wouldn't be able to get the ones that I want anyway. I don't know which is more worth lamenting - Nintendo's failure to understand how popular these items would be, and make sufficient stock, or the garbage nature of internet scalping culture. I guess I'll lament both.

[Beige]

I.... I just don't get it. I'm sorry.

[mrgilder]

I.... I just don't get it. I'm sorry.

What don't you get? The interest in/furor over Amiibos in general?

I can't really speak for the gaming community at large, but my interest in them is based on my status as someone who has been a toy collector and a game collector simultaneously for his entire life. I have absolutely zero interest in the ways they interact with whatever games they're compatible with. All of that business seems hokey, and it doesn't really enhance any of the games in a way that I find meaningful. I'm solely excited about the fact that Amiibos are well-made figurines of iconic game characters. The plastic isn't light and cheap. The sculpts are smooth and detailed. The colors are bright and vibrant. The paint applications are crisp and clean. They're genuinely nice toys (with built in display bases!) of characters that I've wanted to own good figurines of for my whole life - Fox, Samus, King Dedede, Mega Man.

However, the other thing I'm a huge fan of besides video games and toys, is not stressing myself out over things that are supposed to be fun. So I'm pretty much giving up on Amiibos, 'cause this business has gotten out of control.

[Grant Heaslip]

I'm glad I got my picks (Kirby, Mario, Yoshi, and Pikachu) right off the bat -- the shortages, cancellations, and scalping sound like a nightmare. If my pre-ordered Dedede comes through, I'll pretty much be happy with what I have. Good-looking, support pillar-less renditions of Jigglypuff and Olimar would be nice as well.

Like mrgilder, I barely care about the game features. I've only used an Amiibo once in Smash Bros., and I unlocked a bunch of Mii costumes in Mario Kart that I'll never use because who plays as a Mii? The four I have are sitting on my desk and I think I'll get enough enjoyment out of that (and maybe some other game integrations) over the years to justify the price. As someone who's been flirting with figure collecting a bit lately, $13 is practically pocket change compared to a lot of what's out there, especially since most of the good stuff isn't even available outside of Japan.