Part of why I made this thread is partly to vent. I also made this post to help my pals. :0)
Nintendo did it again. This is literally the Wii in 2006 all over again.
The thing is, though, it's just like it was in 2006-2007 - it's an artificial shortage due to some botched numbers in a boardroom. Only a set amount of figures are made with each shipment, and chances are all of the amiibo will be available at some point in time. Nintendo isn't discontinuing any amiibo; they probably will down the line, but they're not gonna stop making figurines that are practically printing them money.
Though, if you don't care about that and want them right now, the amiibo that people actually want are so goddamn hard to find. Part of why I made this thread is hopefully helping others find the amiibo they're looking for (of course, without buying or trading). Capitalism at its best.
In the US, at least, the odds of finding a boxed Villager, Marth or Wii Fit Trainer for purchase in a store is about on par with riding a unicorn IRL...actually, the odds of finding any of the characters you actually like who aren't actual flagship Nintendo characters is about the same chance. I've called a few department stores and all of them have claimed there's a nutjob who's been waiting since opening who came in and bought all of that one specific character.
I've also heard in other countries that these same characters aren't really that rare, and in fact, their limited-stock ones are completely different characters (it's impossible to find Kirby in Spain, for example, but Villager is quite abundant). If there's any users in England, France, Brazil, etc. are there actually shortages of different characters from the US, or is it about the same?
So, if you're looking for those hard to find amiibo, here's my suggestions:
- DON'T BUY FROM SCALPERS ON EBAY OR AMAZON. I can't say this enough. Villager is rare, yeah - but he's not $50 rare. He's more like...eh, $12.99 rare. Okay, maybe $14.99 rare. Point being: save yourself some money, and don't feed into scalping.
- If you live near the NY metro area, the Nintendo World Store frequently gets ALL of the Amiibo in stock with each shipment. If there's a particular amiibo you're looking for, they'll post an update on their Twitter account. The only downside is that once they do, people drop everything and flock to the store, which turns into a madhouse as everyone is scrambling for amiibo. So basically, if you don't work in Manhattan and can't take a lunch break around then, you're pretty much screwed. :/
- AMIIBO ARE REGION FREE. So you can buy a Japanese amiibo and create an American profile on the amiibo just fine.
If you're okay with paying a little more for some peace of mind, you can order from Play-Asia (from Japan, I've heard this is cheapest?), or easier yet, Amazon's French or German website (your Amazon account, if you have one, will work on any international site EXCEPT Amazon China or Japan). Most of the figurines there are still all 12.99 EUR and in stock. It's nice, too because it'll calculate your total in USD when you go to check out.
However, if you're buying from Europe, shipping is at least $16 overseas, even for economy shipping...so just be like, prepared for that.
Or, just buy more than 1 and it'll be sort of worth it. Sort of.
I'd suggest this for those hard-to-find amiibo, or even the store-exclusive preorder amiibo if you're having trouble securing those. The foreign boxes are pretty cool, too - what with the Japanese Smash logo, or "Villager" in six different languages going down the side of the box.
The downside though is that if it's being shipped from overseas, you're really gambling on what condition the box (or figure itself) is going to be in. Judging from all those pictures you see on the internet of upside-down and broken amiibo...you're also taking that chance. :/
From experience, I've ordered things from Amazon.de and my items arrived just fine - but I'm just giving fair warning. u_u;
- I suppose you could also follow amiibo communities, like the /r/amiibo subreddit for news on amiibo and if retailers get them in stock. There's plenty of other neat information on there, and I think there's even a spreadsheet of availability that is regularly tended to on there, too.
So yeah. amiibo.
I'll post about my own amiibo in a bit, but I wanted to type a little bit of an informative post for all my pallies on VGR. :0)
I literally bought the Fox amiibo because it's the best costume in MK8, hands down (plus, I can actually play a half-decent Fox in Smash, soooo) I wish I had friends though, so they could come over and spread the amiibo love to my MK8.
I wonder if they'll update the racer outfits though, with upcoming waves of amiibo.
(dibs on Team Duck Hunt in MK8)
Nintendo did it again. This is literally the Wii in 2006 all over again.
The thing is, though, it's just like it was in 2006-2007 - it's an artificial shortage due to some botched numbers in a boardroom. Only a set amount of figures are made with each shipment, and chances are all of the amiibo will be available at some point in time. Nintendo isn't discontinuing any amiibo; they probably will down the line, but they're not gonna stop making figurines that are practically printing them money.
Though, if you don't care about that and want them right now, the amiibo that people actually want are so goddamn hard to find. Part of why I made this thread is hopefully helping others find the amiibo they're looking for (of course, without buying or trading). Capitalism at its best.
In the US, at least, the odds of finding a boxed Villager, Marth or Wii Fit Trainer for purchase in a store is about on par with riding a unicorn IRL...actually, the odds of finding any of the characters you actually like who aren't actual flagship Nintendo characters is about the same chance. I've called a few department stores and all of them have claimed there's a nutjob who's been waiting since opening who came in and bought all of that one specific character.
I've also heard in other countries that these same characters aren't really that rare, and in fact, their limited-stock ones are completely different characters (it's impossible to find Kirby in Spain, for example, but Villager is quite abundant). If there's any users in England, France, Brazil, etc. are there actually shortages of different characters from the US, or is it about the same?
So, if you're looking for those hard to find amiibo, here's my suggestions:
- DON'T BUY FROM SCALPERS ON EBAY OR AMAZON. I can't say this enough. Villager is rare, yeah - but he's not $50 rare. He's more like...eh, $12.99 rare. Okay, maybe $14.99 rare. Point being: save yourself some money, and don't feed into scalping.
- If you live near the NY metro area, the Nintendo World Store frequently gets ALL of the Amiibo in stock with each shipment. If there's a particular amiibo you're looking for, they'll post an update on their Twitter account. The only downside is that once they do, people drop everything and flock to the store, which turns into a madhouse as everyone is scrambling for amiibo. So basically, if you don't work in Manhattan and can't take a lunch break around then, you're pretty much screwed. :/
- AMIIBO ARE REGION FREE. So you can buy a Japanese amiibo and create an American profile on the amiibo just fine.
If you're okay with paying a little more for some peace of mind, you can order from Play-Asia (from Japan, I've heard this is cheapest?), or easier yet, Amazon's French or German website (your Amazon account, if you have one, will work on any international site EXCEPT Amazon China or Japan). Most of the figurines there are still all 12.99 EUR and in stock. It's nice, too because it'll calculate your total in USD when you go to check out.
However, if you're buying from Europe, shipping is at least $16 overseas, even for economy shipping...so just be like, prepared for that.
Or, just buy more than 1 and it'll be sort of worth it. Sort of.
I'd suggest this for those hard-to-find amiibo, or even the store-exclusive preorder amiibo if you're having trouble securing those. The foreign boxes are pretty cool, too - what with the Japanese Smash logo, or "Villager" in six different languages going down the side of the box.
The downside though is that if it's being shipped from overseas, you're really gambling on what condition the box (or figure itself) is going to be in. Judging from all those pictures you see on the internet of upside-down and broken amiibo...you're also taking that chance. :/
From experience, I've ordered things from Amazon.de and my items arrived just fine - but I'm just giving fair warning. u_u;
- I suppose you could also follow amiibo communities, like the /r/amiibo subreddit for news on amiibo and if retailers get them in stock. There's plenty of other neat information on there, and I think there's even a spreadsheet of availability that is regularly tended to on there, too.
So yeah. amiibo.
I'll post about my own amiibo in a bit, but I wanted to type a little bit of an informative post for all my pallies on VGR. :0)
(12-19-2014, 10:42 AM)NICKtendo DS Wrote: Went to the store today to pick up the Captain Falcon and Zelda amiibo I pre-ordered. They didn't have it yet. So I got Yoshi instead.
Now I have Mario, Link, Samus, Fox, Kirby and Yoshi. Just need Peach, DK, Luigi and Captain Falcon and I'll have all race suits in MK8. The Fox suit is my favorite so far, but that'll probably change once I have Captain Falcon.
I literally bought the Fox amiibo because it's the best costume in MK8, hands down (plus, I can actually play a half-decent Fox in Smash, soooo) I wish I had friends though, so they could come over and spread the amiibo love to my MK8.
I wonder if they'll update the racer outfits though, with upcoming waves of amiibo.
(dibs on Team Duck Hunt in MK8)
![[Image: 57d2BGH.png]](http://i.imgur.com/57d2BGH.png)