Topic: Amiibo Hunting is Discouraging

I didn't jump into the Amiibo craze until about two weeks ago when my wife picked up Link for me at our local toy-r-us. Now I want to start collecting, but it's a bit discouraging since I can't find any of the ones I'd really like to have. To add to it, The ones I want are ones I can use in various games. For example, I was only really interested in Codename Steam because you can add Marth as the playable character if you have the Amiibo, and the extra puzzle in Toad Treasure Tracker, but now I'm missing out on content because you can't find them in stores, and no one should support scalpers. Anyone else frustrated by this?

I've been frustrated since December. My oldest son had Little Mac as his #1 item on his Christmas list but I refuse to overpay for stuff through scalping and every local store I checked told me the same thing, "we didn't even get them in the store". Now, you can't find Amiibo that are being utilized in games!

We do have a bunch of common Amiibo that we really wanted (Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Fox, Pikachu, Yoshi, Toon Link, Diddy, Zelda, & DK). But we're also not able to find Little Mac, Ike, and Captain Falcon. I saw on the first day Villager & Marth, and about a week later Wii Fit Trainer but at the time we weren't interested. We're not trying to buy them all, just the ones we like and ones that add content to games we like. The Captain Falcon is my favorite and the fact that it adds the really cool suit to Mario Kart 8 only makes me want it more.

We did get to see them all at Nintendo World in NYC. They had every figure on display but they only had the same figures every other store has for sale.

I had a right mess trying to get Shulk. I pre-ordered on GameStop and Argos and within a week both of them got cancelled so I had to go to ebay where I paid 3 times as much. That didn't come (though the seller was defend and I got my money back) so I resorted to importing from Japan. Luckily that order was sound and I got my Shulk but you're not wrong, there's been a good few occasions where I wanted to chuck it all in.

It got so bad that I made a Twitter account just to keep up to date, fyi I dislike having multiple social network accounts since it's just one more thing to keep track on. The worst news imo to happen is the discontinue one that people spread around. Before that it was easier finding the rare ones somewhat in-store and online. Even pre-orders was alot easier to get a hand on back then compared to now.

Luckily I live in NYC but even so it's like an endurance battle to see who wants it more. I commend the people who live out of state that make the commute and wait more than 5 hours standing in the cold to get the amiibo they want.

I still want Lucario but I don't have the fight in me to check and possibly wait in line early in the morning.

I would normally be interested in collecting Amiibo figures, but availability has been so limited that my interest was basically killed off before it was really even piqued. Instead of making an effort to find and buy these rare figures, I've decided it's just not worth the effort to buy into Amiibo at all - turning me off the figures and any games that require/support them.

So yeah... discouraging is a pretty valid description.

Excess Lucario in GAME stores in the UK.

Locally I see only the most common amiibo so I import from Amazon. Either the European Amazon sites or through their other sellers in the US site. I currently have all 4 store exclusive amiibo (Shulk is on the way), all of them Japanese except Lucario who I got from Europe. The most I paid is $32, that I did not mind for being a Japanese version of a rare amiibo.

Now the one that has been a headache is Little Mac, as that one seems to be rare on all regions. I will wait until May when apparently Japan will be restocked so I can import again. Haven't had any luck with Wave 4 of the Smash amiibo except for Wario.

I really wish we could purchase direct, so we could get put on a waiting list until orders fill then have it shipped to us.

I was in Japan earlier and I couldn't find any amiibo that I already could find here... (Aside from Shiek who I did get and the Super Mario ones since Mario Party is already out there now). I think all I really want now are Ike and maybe Robin, I may take a look online to see if I can find some.

I don't really care for Little Mac. I have Robin on pre-order and hasn't been cancelled (yet), but the one I really want is Lucina.

Yes, I imagine it's very hard and annoying for people who want to buy the whole collection. I personally have not had too much trouble as I only aim for the ones I'm really interested in and for the most part have succeeded. The only one that gave me "trouble" was Dedede but I went for broke and ordered a Japanese one, so I'm satisfied for now. That said, Pac-Man, Robin and Lucina are next on my list... so we'll see how that goes. Can't imagine how stressed I'd be if I was aiming for the whole shebang.

Yet there are some countries that supposedly don't have the same stocking problem that everywhere does...

Lol, I revived the Twitter account I never ever used just for keeping track of amiibos. I've never done something like that before so that says something about the state this amiibo situation is in.

I managed to get first 28 with no issues until my meta knight was cancelled due to it being discontinued in uk (according to zavvi, toysrus and argos).
So finally got him today via ebay (japanese version). I've got 2 on preorder for next wave but cant preorder other 4 anywhere so might have to do similar. Think it will be a struggle from now on...

I haven't had a chance to order from here yet, but this place is woryh a try.
http://www.kalahari.com/

is there a difference between the Japanese and U.S. version aside from packaging?

Nah they look and work the same across the board mate.

Can confirm that this is the case for [Japan <-> Europe] as well.

Amiibo are not region locked in any way. You could buy one from anywhere and it would work just the same everywhere else.

Thanks, I may have to jump on the import train, I don't mind spending a little more to get the ones a need, but I really would rather support a store out of the country, pay a bit more for shipping, than support the marketplace stores on Amazon that are jacking up the price.