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Japan: new shipments of Villager, Little Mac and Captain Falcon amiibo in May

L~A

Member
Nintendo just put our a PR to make the announcement.

Basically, Villager, Little Mac and Captain Falcon amiibo getting new shipments in mid-may in Japan. They also say that it takes several months for an amiibo to reach stores after productions has started, due to the complexity of production (some figures are done by hand).

They also reiterates that new shipments will depend on users and retailers demand.
 

DooD1234

Member
This announcement of Little Mac getting reprint just hurt me on the inside.
caved and bought from a reseller...don't ask how much I paid because he was the last one I need

I wonder how many are going to get imported.
 

Ascenion

Member
The question is not "is there demand for amiibo?" but "for which characters is demand the strongest?".

I imagine that is a difficult thing to discern. Scalping has likely created artificial demand on a lot of these.
 
The question is not "is there demand for amiibo?" but "for which characters is demand the strongest?".
I dunno. Did a given character sell out in 15 seconds or 2 minutes? Really, how do you quantify the difference? There seems to be a real thirst for Amiibos. I certainly can't seem to get the ones I want since they're all bought up within mere minutes.
 
I'll do my darn best to try get a Captain Falcon for no more than $20-ish. Not sure if this will be the ticket though due to import costs.

I just want my complete MK8 amiibo costume collection dammit, he and Mario are the only missing ones (and I've had to pay $0 so far, thanks for being an amiibo addict at one point bro <3).
 

ranmafan

Member
Thats good news to hear. I'm going to end up trying to get two of them there for sure if Im lucky enough to catch the online order window whenever they go up. And to think I was only going to get like two amigos total, but have ended up with so many more. Just hope the Marth and Ike ones are restocked in Japan too.
 

Garou

Member
The Japanese says that it is those three "among others", so not just those mentioned in the OP.
 

Garou

Member
One should note as well, that the PR says "additional production for the Japanese market" (&#26085;&#26412;&#22269;&#20869;&#21521;&#12369;&#12395;&#36861;&#21152;&#29983;&#29987;), so I wouldn't assume the same for other territories just yet.
 
Interesting to note the "by hand" part. I'm assuming that's just referring to the paintjobs which are - I believe - done by hand, using templates (so not painted by hand as the preview/prototype amiibo are, but still finished by a worker rather than a machine). Can anyone who knows a bit more about the process say what difference that makes to the timescales involved?
 

Bluth54

Member
One should note as well, that the PR says "additional production for the Japanese market" (&#26085;&#26412;&#22269;&#20869;&#21521;&#12369;&#12395;&#36861;&#21152;&#29983;&#29987;), so I wouldn't assume the same for other territories just yet.

Honestly I think we'll see reprints of these Amiibo in North America and probably Europe as well even though they have only announced them for Japan at this point.

North America is the biggest market for Amiibo, and there is demand for these rare Amiibo in the US. Doing a larger run for these rare Amiibo to sell in Europe and the US as well makes since, since in manufacturing products like this the more you make the cheaper it costs per unit.

There has also been some evidence pointing towards some of the rarer amiibo being restocked in the US such as Gamestop adding in a new SKU in their system for rare amiibo like Wii Fit Trainer and Villager.
 

DryvBy

Member
Hopefully NoA gets some new Villagers and such. I know some people that were hoping to scalp these for a nice penny later.
 

massoluk

Banned
They also say that it takes several months for an amiibo to reach stores after productions has started, due to the complexity of production (some figures are done by hand).

Hope they paid well, this sounds like one of the most boring jobs ever.
 
Some are done by hand? I thought amiibo's were lauded for being low quality?

They're not low-quality; for the price, they're solid, well-presented little figures. Some early ones seemed to have quite variable quality control and odd decisions (the different colours on the supports, occasionally wonky paintjobs, manufacturing glitches) but the most recent waves are solid and attractive.

"Done by hand" almost certainly means a worker has spraypainted them using stencils and masks, not that they've gone at them with and airbrush and spent ages on each figure.
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Some are done by hand? I thought amiibo's were lauded for being low quality?

They're not low-quality; for the price, they're solid, well-presented little figures. Some early ones seemed to have quite variable quality control and odd decisions (the different colours on the supports, occasionally wonky paintjobs, manufacturing glitches) but the most recent waves are solid and attractive.

"Done by hand" almost certainly means a worker has spraypainted them using stencils and masks, not that they've gone at them with and airbrush and spent ages on each figure.

There's a fair amount of hyperbole about how bad amiibos are from the discerning action figure market, including claims that stuff like mass produced World of Nintendo figures are articulated and look better than amiibos, for cheaper. Apparently, it's not true.

Here is the World of Nintendo Link, which retails for $10 to $20:

bN3DC6h.jpg

Here is the non-prototype production amiibo Link, which retails for $12:


The WOW Link is articulated in a few spots, and some people may want articulation. However, the amiibo is more fine-grained in terms of molding, better paint finish and surface texture, and is a lot more on-model with the Link it is referencing (Smash 4 in-game character and trophy pose). Link is also one of the simpler amiibos with fewer parts and a limited color scheme. The official Bad Amiibo is seems to generally be considered Marth. Characters like Dedede look nice and have elaborate, nested construction.


If someone wants very good looking figures that are also articulated, you go up to the $40-$60 dollar range. At that price, the figures should look really great and be perfectly on model. I suspect the idea that amiibos are low quality rip-offs is coming from the crazy scalping market which has spoiled the figures' intent as affordable twelve dollar smash trophies anyone can have in real life. It's as if they're seen as competing with Figma and such because of how much some people with money to blow are paying for them.
 
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