It’s been a crazy year already for these things
The first bit of 2015 amiibo news is the juicy rumor that Toys”R”Us may be holding an “amiibo event” on the 15th, with rare figures such as Captain Falcon and Pit going on sale that day. According to this post, the retailer is holding stock until then, which is why you won’t see any restocks on the shelves. Toys”R”Us has denied this after my inquiry, but anything could happen. If you’re free that day and are amiibo crazy, think about giving the store a call, or at the very least checking online in the morning.
Having said all that, I strongly suggest you move all your current pre-orders at Toys”R”Us over to another location if possible — as I’ve stated in the past, GameStop and Amazon are by far the best outlets for amiibo, since Target, Walmart, Toys”R”Us, and Best Buy have all had non-isolated cancellation issues. Speaking of Best Buy, our own Bill Platt informed me that his order of Captain Falcon was canceled, among other readers who had the same issue.
As far as discontinued news goes, a new Reddit AMA with a Nintendo rep has shed some light on the situation. According to the rep, the discontinued amiibo will operate similar to the “Disney Vault,” where they will come back later. This semi-contradicts statements made in the past, so we’ll see what happens. Wave 4 is said to launch “as soon as spring,” and the 3DS amiibo reader is projected to release somewhere around Waves 3 and 4. When asked about retailer exclusives, the rep stated that “retailer exclusives will be around as long as stores put the money up for them.” Awful.
So what are the cancellations? So far the rumors seem to indicate that in addition to Villager, Marth, and Wii Fit Trainer; Captain Falcon, Little Mac, and Pit are the next to be gone. In fact, they may be mostly gone already, hence Toys”R”Us holding stock. I have confirmed this with multiple GameStops in my area, but Nintendo continues to deny it. I sense a pattern.
In summation — move over your pre-orders if you can from Toys”R”Us, and if you see the above six rare amiibo, you might want to pick one up. Also, the hilarious picture below kind of sums up the amiibo situation at retailers right now.
