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[OmegaFax]

This always impressed the hell out of me.

Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/2bx5li/gave_happy_meal_bower_an_upgrade/

Anyways, Amiibo figures are definitely a step up from McDonald's Happy Meal toys.

 

[fabricated backlash]

Explain to me how they're not comparable. You have early marketing tools in both cases that look vastly different from and are lower quality than the final product.

I'll grant that there could be different groups of people, but I feel like I've seen some familiar faces.

Game prototypes aren't affected by mass production realities, or physics, or stress test results, or material orders, or manufacturing shortcomings.
They might be comparable if Nintendo had ever said that the prototypes were anything but prototypes (hint: they didn't).

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

It's not that bad to be honest. Peach is the only one that really stands out as a downgrade.

 

[Sandfox]

What factors in play? Lighting? Lighting dosn't have anything to do with the lack of detail and cheap painting, or Kirby eyes not even properly aligned.

The fact other prototypes dosn't met the quality of the actual product, when has been pointed is not always the case? The price when other similar priced products have better quality?

Yeah, all laughable.

You're ignoring a lot of factors as to why there would be a drop in quality and if anything its laughable that you would use the newest Skylanders line and a random AC figure for your "argument".

 

[Prax]

Most of them look okay. Pikachu's face actually looks BETTER proportionally in the the mass produced model. lol
It's the more "human" figures with daintier details that come out worse. (Which is often par for the course! It is VERY RARE to actually find any decent human figures of ANY series, no matter the price! Also that AC figure is also ugly.. detailed but ugly.. so.. lol)

And I can definitely see why they would remove Peach's fancier embossments/engravings and just use gold paint because it would be too much time/effort compared to other models, probably. It's too bad, because it looks really nice on the prototype.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

You're ignoring a lot of factors as to why there would be a drop in quality and if anything its laughable that you would use the newest Skylanders line and a random AC figure for your "argument".

Hows is using similar products in the same price range to compare laughable?

 

[checkeredknight]

Yeah, that's how mass producing toys works. Glad I didn't order any.

 

[Alx]

Apart from Link and his yellow pole, and maybe the sword from... the sword guy, I wouldn't have noticed any difference.

 

[DVCY201]

Still picking up Link and Samus. When I first saw those promo shots, my first thought was "these are going to be downgraded", and I'm actually surprised that some of them have turned out well. So, yay for realistic expectations?

 

[HardRojo]

I love my Zero Suit one.

Pic

Been wanting to get this figure for a while now but I can't justify the price, plus I recently quit my job to finish university so I need money for the weekly quota of partying
It's a great figure I've been told. Will try and get it some time next year.

 

[Sandfox]

Hows is using similar products in the same price range to compare laughable?

AC figure:
- Less figures obviously being produced for a short period of time and it looks like they are only sold in the US
- No NFC

Skylanders:
-Has already sold over 175 million figures so its obviously going to have more money going into it
- had four years worth of waves to improve their toys

Amiibo figures obviously aren't going to look like Skylanders figures when its so new and the AC figure comparison is just stupid.

 

[spyroflame0487]

For comparison, here's a Skylander Trapmaster Wallop. It's $15, but it also gives you a character for use in Skylanders vs an AI buddy/training partner, so I'm not sure if that adds more value to the cost or what versus the opposite. Skylanders stuff also goes on sale pretty often too.

What looks like a RENDER from Amazon's store page :

What seems like the final product in two different lighting conditions (not 100% sure though that they're both final versions, so if anyone could confirm that'd be nice) :

Yup, that is actually the final product of Wallop.
Skylanders stuff ends up generally looking exactly like the final product. There's not much of a different from the renders to the final except maybe slight color differences. I think the only change was LightCore Pop Fizz where they actually changed the pose.

If I remember correctly, Skylanders are 3D printed from models (the renders) in house at first to make sure they're good before final production (at their factories or whatever)

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

AC figure:
- Less figures obviously being produced for a short period of time and it looks like they are only sold in the US
- No NFC

Skylanders:
-Has already sold over 175 million figures so its obviously going to have more money going into it
- had four years worth of waves to improve their toys

Amiibo figures obviously aren't going to look like Skylanders figures when its so new and the AC figure comparison is just stupid.

What have to do all that with production cost?, actually the fact it was sold in a limited quantity means that their costs were higher (the more you produce the cheaper it is) and NFC is just a cheap chip.

All these is irrelevant, Nintendo wanted a certain margin with each figurine and that could only be achieved with a considerable cheap production values even in the price target they were aiming. That's all.

Nintendo went cheap, unlike Activision and Ubi. In the same way some phone companies goes cheap in their build materials even if the cost the same that better built phones. Is not bad calling that as consumers.

You might think that these cheap plastic figurines is enough, but is stupid to think they COULDN'T be better. Specially using terms and reasons you don't fully understand.

 

[y2dvd]

Dang, those figma figures are nice. Now do I want to shell out for them is the question.

 

[Madao]

the swords look like flaccid dicks.

i guess they looked themselves in a mirror and were disappointed too.

 

[Mbrill82]

I'm not gonna dis the Amiibos here but I just wanted to say that the Disney Infinity 2.0 Marvel figures I've looked at in Gamestop have looked much higher quality than these. So I think it's doable in the $12-$15 price range.

 

[CentroXer]

am i only one who thinks that amiibos are a terrible gimmick?

 

[Tom_Cody]

Yup, that is actually the final product of Wallop.
Skylanders stuff ends up generally looking exactly like the final product. There's not much of a different from the renders to the final except maybe slight color differences. I think the only change was LightCore Pop Fizz where they actually changed the pose.

If I remember correctly, Skylanders are 3D printed from models (the renders) in house at first to make sure they're good before final production (at their factories or whatever).

NWR recently did a great feature on Toys for Bob and their process for developing new Skylanders characters/figures:
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/...tch-to-game-exploring-the-world-of-skylanders

They fully consider how the final figure will look in real life while they are developing the character. From the sounds of it, they are more concerned with how the figure will look than how the in-game model will look.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

am i only one who thinks that amiibos are a terrible gimmick?

I think the use of them is quite gimmicky, I was just hoping for some decent looking small cheap figs to add to my shelf, unfortunately their quality is low for even their price

 

[Neo Dark]

NWR recently did a great feature on Toys for Bob and their process for developing new Skylanders characters/figures:
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/...tch-to-game-exploring-the-world-of-skylanders

They fully consider how the final figure will look in real life while they are developing the character. From the sounds of it, they are more concerned with how the figure will look than how the in-game model will look.

That's pretty cool. They really are trying to sell the toys more whereas Nintendo probably didn't finish finalizing amiibo until late and by then the artwork was done and Sakurai wanted to make them based off it.

It's really not that bad especially when compared to what Europe threw out an extra 80 bucks (USD) for and got with Bravely Default.

Official picture that they purposely zoomed out and threw a bright background in to make it look nice

The actual product (picture by ThePeoplesBureau)

 

[Sorcerer]

Iwata: We really struggled with HD resoultion when it came to doing these figures.
Please Understand!!!


Reggie: But they are the same Amibo's we showed in the promotional shots!!!

 

[EscapingJail]

I think Yoshi looks better than the render but that's about it.

 

[Tom_Cody]

That's pretty cool. They really are trying to sell the toys more whereas Nintendo probably didn't finish finalizing amiibo until late and by then the artwork was done and Sakurai wanted to make them based off it.

Without question that is what occurred with regards to Amiibos in Smash. They are essentially companion statuettes more than an integral part of the Smash 3DS/WiiU project. If Amiibos are still a thing one year from now, I really hope that their design processes become more integrated into the actual game development process. I am one of the people hoping that there are Amiibos made for all of Nintendo's major releases going forward.

That said, in their defense, all of those poses are very deliberate and well chosen (at least in 2D form). I mean, look at the interface for the Wii U version of the game:

Each character is instantly recognizable from their silhouette alone.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

These shouldn't sell more than $5.99. Nothing but a McDonald toy.

False, i just have here McDonald's toy Peach.
It looks a thousand times worse and uses cheaper materials than the amiibo one.

Less shit overreacting please.

I bought the Disney Infinity first batch figures, there are exactly the same quality as the amiibos. Some look worse, others look better. The thing is, I was like 40 minutes looking for imperfections to buy the best one, and they look ok, the ones that were left for the ones I bought, lokked literally shit. Just as some of this ones.
Theres probably 10 Peach's that look better and other 10 than look worse in the same store aisle.

 

[Zubz]

A prototype, one-off crafted showcase amiibo under professional lighting, versus mass produced final products in someone's house, with pesky things like gravity in effect.

Colour me surprised that there is a downgrade in quality. Honestly I'm pretty impressed that the final ones look as close as they currently do. But then I've watched so many Ashens videos of supremely dodgy action figure paint jobs that anything feels like an improvement over that.

Sounds about right. I'm surprised that people didn't expect them to look like this; advertisers do this all the time, so I thought it was common knowledge by now.

 

[Konosuke]

Those bent swords ...

 

[Wickerbasket]

They look like cheap crap now.

Glad I didn't preorder any, but also disappointed.

 

[batbeg]

I'm seeing a minor downgrade for Peach, but not enough to convince me not to buy Peach, Mario, and Link just as I've been planning to all along.

 

[PadWarrior]

I'm still excited for these

 

[RumblingRosco]

I ended up preordering Smash and a free Villager Amiibo through the Toys r Us deal after the most recent Direct got me hyped for grabbingn an Amiibo.

Now? Still hyped. I suspect Villager will still look fine, and if not, fuck it, the "psycho Villager" meme makes me laugh so hard and I'll think of that each time I'm loading up my Villager.

 

[Neo Dark]

Without question that is what occurred with regards to Amiibos in Smash. They are essentially companion statuettes more than an integral part of the Smash 3DS/WiiU project. If Amiibos are still a thing one year from now, I really hope that their design processes become more integrated into the actual game development process. I am one of the people hoping that there are Amiibos made for all of Nintendo's major releases going forward.

That said, in their defense, all of those poses are very deliberate and well chosen (at least in 2D form). I mean, look at the interface for the Wii U version of the game:


Each character is instantly recognizable from their silhouette alone.

Definitely. Also with the recent announcement of amiibo support for Hyrule Warriors, I'm hoping Zelda becomes usable as well and that more amiibos based off the Hyrule Warriors will be created since I have an eye on a certain character that I want made.

And yeah it's pretty well done artwork. The only exception is probably Peach's which I thought looked a bit weird even when I first saw it on the website but she's still definitely recognizable and they definitely want you to feel that what you have matches up a little bit to what you're seeing on the character select screen to make you feel a part of that world.

 

[big_erk]

Actually it looks like Link's sword is pushing on math's sword.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

*sigh*

And of course the one I wanted the most is the one that looks the shittiest (Peach).

I'm considering cancelling my preorder. I suddenly feel like these aren't going to be as hard to get as I did previously.

 

[jackdoe]

Wow, the Peach and Marth faces look awful now. And it's not due to a difference in painting. It looks like the mold completely changed.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

They would probably be a lot cheaper if they didn't have the video game functionality. So I'd hesitate to call it "Nothing but a McDonald's toy."

That doll doesn't have nfc

You do know NFC can be had for around $1, right? I'm sure when these come out someone will tear out the chip so the exact chip is then known. I'm also aware assembling it also has a cost but surely it doesn't triple the retail price of the figure.

It's really not that bad especially when compared to what Europe threw out an extra 80 bucks (USD) for and got with Bravely Default.

Porcelain Agnes was truly a tragedy. In a twisted way it made people glad to miss out on that limited edition.

 

[axisofweevils]

I've actually cancelled my pre-order because of this. I was only interested in the Link amiibo and as it is by far the worst, I want to see it in the flesh before I decide.

 

[Diablohead]

The UK's Mortal Kombat 9 CE statue was a load of shit, i'll take some photos soon but compared to the US and their book ends, the statue I have is terrible in quality.

I only just remembered that I have the thing hidden behind better, nicer models on my shelf.

That nice looking statue? hollow bendy plastic with a paint job which would make a kinder egg toy blush.

 

[Hikami]

Not sure what I was expecting when I saw their price.
Wasn't interested in the NFC thing or whatever, but now I'm even less interested in collecting some if they look that bad..

 

[BY2K]

Samus, Villager and Fox.

 

[trixx]

Doesn't look too bad to me.

 

[Brannon]

All the good tech stuff is in the base, so if you can buy premium amiibo models that you can paint yourself and attach them to the base, BAM.

Dat miniature modeling money.

Nintendo is so devious

 

[DVCY201]

Samus, Villager and Fox.

Oh nice! These ones turned out pretty well it seems

 

[Nicktendo86]

Peach and link are the only ones that really bother me, they look terrible next to the insanely detailed press shots.

This was to be expected but the ugly yellow stick holding up link is really upsetting.

Edit: samus and fox actually look really good!

 

[Glass Rebel]

Fox looks actually alright.

 

[EulaCapra]

Eh, it's how toy production works. They don't look bad regardless but to me they were never lookers in the first place. But compared to Infinity and Skylander figures, these Amiibo's already look like the knockoff versions of themselves you can find in flea markets.

 

[Santar]

I'm a bit disappointed, they look like some cheap budget toy and not something of quality.
When they showed off the actual figurines of course I thought that was the way they were going to look. I don't think most people's first reaction was "yep, that will surely be downgraded for the actual product".
Skylanders look a lot nicer I think.

 

[UnlovedJew]

Villager's eyes look too far apart. Either way, all of them look like they shouldn't be over $5.

I'd be all over these at that price.

 

[nobodyshero]

Fox actually looks quite good. I think I'm most annoyed at the glossy plastic (aside from things like Samus' armor), matte is almost always a more attractive option. Shame that Link has to be one of the weaker ones

 

[KojiKnight]

The pictures in OP are slightly blurred (especially noticable on the Kirby one), and is being compared to staged shots that have been touched up for promotional purposes.

That said, welcome to mass production. They are still very detailed and look very good to me, especially considering they are only $15 and have a function besides display.

 

[Einbroch]

I didn't know Nintendo hired Griffon.