5 years ago this month, Amiibo were released to the general public.

[Zan]

And boy what a ride it's been. With over 180 of them released so far (With more on the way) it's been hard to collect them all. But people have done so, including the rare ones, like BoxBoy which fetches more than $250 US on the likes of eBay.

He looks like this.

There's even printing variants of Amiibo.

And more than 400 Amiibo cards:

(Image by H3iBai of Deviantart )

And custom Amiibo that run the gamut from cool:

to cursed:

But what are Amiibos? They are the last gasps of an older time. Whereas Skylanders, Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions all shined bright and then faded into thrift stores, Amiibo stayed steadfast. Releasing alongside Smash for WiiU, they were/are designed as figures that give you early access to a specific function or mode. Physical DLC to some, collectables to others, they quickly sold out when first released. Many people saw them as the hot new thing for 2014/5, and as such, lined up for them. Since then, the craze has lessened, yet some figures sell out quickly, while others linger on shelves.

Fun Facts:

- A truck full of Amiibo was stolen in the UK, before release.
- Bootleg Amiibo exist. Not just the NFC cards either, but full on figurines.
-

Even if you have every Amiibo, you don't have them all, as there were a number of Gold ones given away in contests. (thanks to Diggeh and Jawmuncher for the image. Go to the community thread to talk with other Amiibo fans.)
-

This is a patent for Amiibo cards. Beth>Your most wanted DLC Fighter.
- One of the Amiibo unlocks are crossover costumes in a One Piece game. They are awesome if you like both franchises.


Do you have any memories of Nintendo's toys to life endeavor?

 

[Fat4all]

id buy some but i dont have anywhere to put them

 

[Phendrift]

Way way way more successful and long-lasting than I thought they'd be.

I love the ones I have of my favorite characters, though I don't have an intense desire to collect them all.

Also great OP!

 

[cdm00]

I will be even more broke if all 4 hero's get an amiibo

 

[Common Knowledge]

I love them. Own a whole lot. Great collectible figures of my favorite characters. The craze has died down of course, but I still hope Nintendo has some plans for future ones here and there for select games.

 

[Clov]

I remember they were so difficult to get when I lived in Canada. My local EB Games only got four Lucina amiibo when they released! Now that I'm living in Japan, they're much easier to find.

I'm a big Nintendo fan, so I love that I can get merch of some of their smaller characters. It's pretty amazing that I can get merch of characters like the Ice Climbers and King K Rool!

 

[Slayven]

id buy some but i dont have anywhere to put them

Click to shrink...

Dogs don't have storage

 

[Phendrift]

I remember they were so difficult to get when I lived in Canada. My local EB Games only got four Lucina amiibo when they released! Now that I'm living in Japan, they're much easier to find.

I'm a big Nintendo fan, so I love that I can get merch of some of their smaller characters. It's pretty amazing that I can get merch of characters like the Ice Climbers and King K Rool!

Click to shrink...

Yeah the smash ones are really the best because of that.

Love getting figurines of Kid Icarus characters and Ridley.

 

[Deleted member 401]

Dogs don't have storage

Click to shrink...

 

[Like the hat?]

The best part of Amiibo was Griffin's Amiibo Corner

https://youtu.be/ZYespfZgeWQ

(i have all of the Zelda ones, all of the Smash ones, and all of the Animal Crossing ones)

 

[Quinton]

The topic title gave me the mental image of amiibo having originally been confined to the rich and famous

 

[BDS]

I've collected:

• Every Smash amiibo including variants (arranged on a series of stair shelves in SSBU character select order)
• Every Zelda amiibo
• Every Splatoon amiibo except Callie and Marie, my missing grails
• The Samus and Metroid amiibo from Samus Returns
• The Rosalina SMB series amiibo because she's my favorite

 

[Fat4all]

Dogs don't have storage

Click to shrink...

 

[Slayven]

Click to shrink...

Well played, well played

 

[Dyle]

I'm still pissed Nintendo never gave us Mike, but at least I have Off the Hook and Chibi Robo, so that's still pretty ok

 

[Slayven]

So are they dead, i haven't heard of a game using them in a while

 

[Ridley327]

The Smash wave coming out on Friday might be some of the best ones yet. Incineroar and Simon look fantastic, and somehow, they improved greatly on Chrom's Smash Amiibo over his FE Amiibo, despite being the same pose. They've come a long way from the first wave, that's for sure.

 

[-shadow-]

Still waiting for a decent restock in the Netherlands to happen of older amiibo...

 

[Ridley327]

So are they dead, i haven't heard of a game using them in a while

Click to shrink...

Three Houses used them, and Smash continues to use them as well, but yeah, their use has been greatly diminished since the Switch launch. They're doing a reprint of the Super Mario Odyssey wave for next week, but at this point, they're put out largely as great little collectibles for fans.

 

[Benzychenz]

The squishy metroid and big ass guardian are my two favourites that I proudly display.

Also the Solaire one just because of how wack it is that it exists.

 

[Slayven]

Three Houses used them, and Smash continues to use them as well, but yeah, their use has been greatly diminished since the Switch launch. They're doing a reprint of the Super Mario Odyssey wave for next week, but at this point, they're put out largely as great little collectibles for fans.

Click to shrink...

shame because it's a great concept just pretty poor execution

 

[James3D]

I love all the amiibo! I have every figure you can buy.

 

[Dary]

My nan collected elephant figurines.
My mum collected foxes.
I have Sold Snake infiltrating Mario and Bowser's wedding.

 

[Piscus]

I've got every single one so far. Even the Japanese ones.

 

[night814]

I have a whole bunch, my kids love playing with them especially Bowser, K Rool, Zelda and Peach.

 

[Ridley327]

shame because it's a great concept just pretty poor execution

Click to shrink...

Super Mario Maker had a fantastic implementation of them, since you could use virtually all of them to unlock skins for SMB1 Mario, but when SMM2 dropped the feature, it seemed pretty clear that Nintendo fell out of love with using them as a gameplay augmentation.

 

[RochHoch]

I have quite a few Smash ones, and intend to grab Joker, Banjo, and Hero once they release.

 

[Deleted member 401]

I've got sixty of these things and I don't want to stop.

Where's my Banjo & Kazooie and Terry amiibos?

 

[Ridley327]

I have quite a few Smash ones, and intend to grab Joker, Banjo, and Hero once they release.

Click to shrink...

It's kinda crazy to think that the Smash line stands to continue on through 2021, what with the second wave of DLC fighters to consider.

EDIT: Slayven I almost forgot that Link's Awakening not only got an Amiibo, but they are used for unlocking special parameters in the Chamber Dungeon mode, as well as being able to save your dungeon for a friend to play it on their system, so there's that!

 

[Coyote Starrk]

Modern Beanie Babies. Well these and funkos.

 

[Papertoonz]

i remember some time into 2015 after the first craze had worn off for a bit store down here in aus just started having stock of all the rare ones, stuff was pretty nuts

i have all the smash ones baring the variants like JP ROB and the 2P versions along side some other random amiibos

 

[overnightnocturne]

I thought they were a gimmick when they first announced them, only for me to end up buying a whole bunch of them down the line.

I never really used them but they made for neat desk knick-knacks

 

[Damn Silly]

I'm surprised they didn't do a bit more with them, but I've collected a handful of my favourite characters.

My favourite story about amiibos though was the dude who bought a shitton of Rosalina amiibos because he supposedly hated the character and wanted to stop people from getting her. How pointlessly vindictive.

 

[Ridley327]

I've got sixty of these things and I don't want to stop.

Where's my Banjo & Kazooie and Terry amiibos?

Click to shrink...

Dark Samus and Ricther are the last of the base roster yet to be released, and they're not coming until Jan 17, so we're likely not going to see the first of the DLC fighters until late spring. It all depends on how long they've been in production for, and if they'll do anything special like P2 variants again. Or in Hero's case, if they want to get real nuts with it, P2-P4 variants.

 

[Deleted member 401]

Dark Samus and Ricther are the last of the base roster yet to be released, and they're not coming until Jan 17, so we're likely not going to see the first of the DLC fighters until late spring. It all depends on how long they've been in production for, and if they'll do anything special like P2 variants again. Or in Hero's case, if they want to get real nuts with it, P2-P4 variants.

Click to shrink...

Mind you, that was a rhetorical question.

I am curious about how they're going to handle Hero, though.

 

[Sovan Jedi]

New Smash characters are especially fun because of the corresponding amiibo, and with them having to dig a little deeper and more obscure with characters to add now, that results in characters you would have never expected to see release as decent quality collectible figures. And that's exciting.

i must admit that some of the craze in the day for the rarer amiibos (like Villager) did result in me tracking them down only because of that. Otherwise I just buy my favourite characters as long as they're not too expensive. There is nothing that will stop me from obtaining that Banjo amiibo once it hits.

 

[ClickyCal']

Amiibo gave ridley and dark samus their first figure or merch of any kind.

 

[Diggeh]

It's been a crazy ride running the OT all this time with so many awesome people in the community. Keep 'em coming!

 

[Illusion]

I somehow managed to buy every single Smash Amiibo for my collection and still manage to get every new one.

I'm terrified of having to go on the hunt if Joker and Banjo prove to be too popular. I know those two might be a challenge when they release.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

I have a ton of Amiibo, I don't want or need to collect them all as things like Animal Crossing I just don't care about but I am a few short of all the Smash line and 2 Zelda ones and then outside of anything new I would have all of the ones I want.

 

[Spectrum]

amiibos got me into figure collecting. I now have over 50 figures, but only ever bought 1 amiibos...

 

[Mizeris Lutz Ether Lanai]

I am so here for a Terry Bogard amiibo.

 

[Nayishiki]

I love them, got like 74 of them. They also turned me into a figurine collector for a while.

 

[deftones r cool]

Used to flip 'em online.

No shame in my game tbh.

Sorry Jesus

 

[Titik]

Pokemon not doing it is such a huge missed opportunity.

Like they literally can create a cottage industry out of Pokemon amiibos alone and singlehandedly keep it going.

 

[QuigleyMcShine]

I get the feeling they'll be done once the Smash DLC characters are done. They didn't even try to do so.e for Luigi's Mansion.

 

[antispin]

I love my 8-bit Mario, wish I could afford more of them.

 

[ZeroX]

I think I've got like 30ish of them

Really wish more games supported them

Also love the Box Boy one

 

[TheBored23]

I missed out on the Wii U, so Amiibos passed me by...but even before seeing this topic I found myself looking at maybe getting a few for reasons I can't quite explain.

 

[VeryBerryPunch]

Do you have any memories of Nintendo's toys to life endeavor?

Click to shrink...

Only of that one guy who hated Rosalina so much he bought a dumbass amount of her amiibo from Target(?) so no else could have them.


I bought some of the Splatoon ones because I like the character designs.