DAY 21- Amiibo, Wave 2

January 21th, 2015. Day 21 of 365.

Amiibos themselves, regardless of their usage and what they can do in the games, are genuinely not worth the trouble of hunting them down.

The biggest problem in the Amiibo line so far is easily how Nintendo has handled case assortments and distribution in the entire line so far, echoing the similar issues that Activision faced when the original Skylanders line was released in 2011.

The biggest problem has easily been poor distribution of several key characters in the Smash roster, specifically certain ones that Nintendo themselves were unsure of their popularity and demand: Marth (who IS getting a reissue), Animal Crossing Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Pit and Little Mac.

(For those who don't know: when a toy is given low amounts of product inside of a shipping case that toy stores receive in comparison to other toys also in the same case, it is called being "shortpacked".

No. Not the garbage webcomic.)

Depending on the market and the crowds surrounding a specific line, shortpacked figures in cases are either a smart decision (For example, when the market of a specific line such as Power Rangers limit the number of female rangers in each case due to market research and sales figures to as low as possible to prevent shelves from clogging while still keeping the figures available to any of those who are interested such as collectors, female fans and collectors) or a misguided attempt at trying to figure out what people are interested in. As such, if demand is actually higher than what the toy company originally expected, value skyrockets and the biggest problem that's facing the Amiibo line happens: Scalping.

The concept of scalping is far from a complex one: When demand is high for something that is rare either by design or by accident, a scalper would come in and buy as many as he could find for the desire of either hoarding the product and wait for the demand to peak, selling them as soon as he can to cash in while the demand is currently hot, or to just be a human piece of trash. And as people buy them in bulk to cash in, rarity technically begins to get higher and higher as less product hits the market, and through accident or genuine planning the demand for the product does nothing but increase.

And that's the biggest issue with the Amiibo line: the rarity that now follows the majority of the line bar a select few has begun to personally outweigh what the figures represent or actually do for many people that set out to collect them, such as myself. For as good as the line may be, and as fun as the interaction of having a single figure work with multiple games in multiple ways is, if the hassle of hunting down the figures begins to effect the actual enjoyment of the grander scope of things? Something is clearly messed up. As of now, Amiibos are mostly a supplement to Nintendo's video game products, but depending how Nintendo decides to approach the distribution and release of the figures and also depending on how essential the Amiibo figures may become in various games? Nintendo clearly has some thinking and replanning to do when it comes to the entire line.

Just... the entire line is a bummer, you know? The sculpts are so great and the detail some of the toys have despite of the size of the actual figures themselves is incredible and it shows Nintendo DID put some level of thought and love into each release, regardless of how they have misjudged how the toy market works after 30+ years of being inactive as a toy company.

I would love for the Amiibo line to correct itself as the year continues, I really would. If it ever does I might just have to jump back in, but for now I can't recommend this line to anyone unless they are willing to put up with an insane amount of garbage to track down each figure.

Day 21 Complete. 344 Days Remain.