Some habits are hard to kick. They start off simple — trying something new and finding you like it. Next thing you know, you are broke, living in a Motel 8, and frantically searching eBay in hopes of scoring your next fix. For me, this bad habit has taken the form of Nintendo’s Amiibo figures. Try as I might, I can’t stop buying these useless little things.
It’s easy to understand why Amiibo are so seductive. They are exquisitely designed and wonderfully reproduced. It’s clear when you first hold one that a lot of thought went into each character’s pose and look. In a lot of ways, they are beautiful figurines, perfect for display. They are collector’s item, or at least that is what I keep telling myself. There is, no doubt, a certain amount of rationalization going on. Still, I love them with all my heart.
The truth is, Amiibo don’t really do anything. They pitch themselves as “A new way to play!†but there is really not a whole lot of “playing†going on. They unlock some basic colors and costumes or store data using NFC (near-field communication) technology to talk to your console. Amiibo certainly are not required to play any aspect of a Nintendo’s first-party games and, in all honesty, they don’t really add much to the games. Certainly not enough to justify the amount of money people – including myself – are paying for them.
Look at all these beauties.
When it comes to paying for them, things are getting out of control. On eBay, these little guys can easily go for fifty bucks, with some creeping into the hundreds. Let’s not even get into the guy who was so mad about the Rosalina figure he decided to rage-buy one hundred of them to get them off the market. The Amiibo black market is growing bigger by the day, with people becoming more and more intense in their hunt. I personally bought a Sonic the Hedgehog Amiibo off of a guy on Twitter because I could not find the damn thing anywhere.
What Nintendo has tapped into here is that collector’s mentality. It’s the same thought process that drives us to buy variant covers of comics, hunt down limited edition toys, and catch all the Pokemon. It’s a primal urge that drives us to feel whole. We definitely aren’t buying the Wii Fit Trainer figure because we love the character, but rather to see our set complete. There’s a need to see this thing through to the end. I can’t stop buying Amiibo. Not until I have them all.
I’d wager I’m not alone. We’re all collecting addicts, draw to something that we feel we need in our life. What do you obsess over? What fills your shelves and serves no real purpose other than to warm your heart and ease your collecting soul?
I have shelves of Harley Quinn figures and statues. I may have a problem.
i found 3 sonic amiibos at gamestop today. i only bought 1.
When these were announced I was super jazzed for them, but North American supply shortages and online scalping have ruined them for me. I’ve always collected toys and figures, and I was thrilled to finally have physical collectibles of some of my favorite characters that had either never received merchandising, or had older unappealing (and now in my opinion overpriced secondhand) figures. Marth in particular was one of the first amiibos I was excited about, and I ran out and bought him even after seeing how narrow his head had turned out in the production mold. I wouldn’t necessarily say that amiibos are useless, though I would say it’s a little cheap of them to only hold one game.
I would recommend trying to import them directly from Japan as they’re not region locked, unless you ‘live for the hunt’. AmiAmi is a great shop, just fair warning that amiibos tend to sell out quickly but are periodically restocked.
Vinal figures in general!
“Amiibo certainly are not required to play any aspect of a Nintendo’s first-party games…”
You obviously don’t know about Mario Party10, which you CANNOT play without Amiibos.
You can play it. There are just a few modes that use Amiibos as well.
I’ve been doing fine with collecting just one of each, but then I started making customs. I needed to see a Paper Mario set… so I made them!! I enjoy making these things as much as collecting the official characters.
SuperAmiigos on Etsy.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SuperAmiigos
You didn’t even get into the whole amiibo customization underworld..
I have this exact same problem with my Disney Infinity figures. I started out getting the ones I thought would be fun, the ones I liked the best, but then somewhere along the way I lost control. I needed the full collection. My bank account doesn’t agree, but that won’t stop me. Not yet. I am truly a collector at heart, and at least I can tell myself these serve a purpose, I can play with them. But I only use a few. It’s true. I try to make it fair, but most of them simply fill a hole in my collection. Because I need it complete. Oh well. Such is life, and when I get them, I will be immensely excited!
Actually, I love wii fit trainer in smash bros. Sucks I can’t actually get one to use for its intended purpose.