Toys R Us cancelling all Amiibo orders, including LUCARIO (their exclusive)

So I'm a sucker or perhaps just a glutton for punishment....

Despite having the Lucario pre-order I made on the 12th canceled I went in store and pre-ordered a Lucario. Fingers crossed I don't get screwed again.
 
tim_pkmn89 said:
Can we hop off the bandwagon for that and maybe consider their retail and eBay shops are run by independent teams?
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Woudn't they still pull from the same stock though? In either case, they need to get the two sides to work together if they're really that independent from each other.

In other news, Joystiq is reporting that the figures are NOT canceled and that is was a technical glitch:

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/12/19/toys-r-us-lucario-amiibo-pre-orders-not-being-canceled/
 
I bet scalpers who pre-ordered a bunch of Lucarios have sold multiple pre-orders on eBay already. What happens now that Toys R Us cancelled those pre-orders and you can only order one?
 
thecouncil said:
I bet scalpers who pre-ordered a bunch of Lucarios have sold multiple pre-orders on eBay already. What happens now that Toys R Us cancelled those pre-orders and you can only order one?
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They inform the buyers they're unable to fulfill the orders, refund all money received, and put up with any negative feedback they may get.
 
Gonzo The Great said:
Well done, Nintendo. Well done.

They're not creating artificial shortages, you silly conspiracy theorists. The problem is the lack of shelf space.
lol

aagckoAl.jpg
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I'd be pretty pissed as a retailer if i'd given Nintendo that much space for this product and now it's just sitting there bare coz they're not gonna make anymore.
 
metsallica said:
What I ended up doing, and this has been twice now, is going through a European Amazon to order the exclusives. I bought Rosalina and Lucario at Amazon.FR. It's a little more expensive, but maybe about $10 all-told (with shipping). Worth it for the piece of mind. You can even log in with your American account, shouldn't have any issues. Just remember to hit that little Chrome translate button if you get lost (you are using Chrome, right?!).
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Leave my french amiibo alone ! If my order is cancelled, I'll know who to blame.

not really serious. Just a bit.
 
Slermy said:
Woudn't they still pull from the same stock though? In either case, they need to get the two sides to work together if they're really that independent from each other.

In other news, Joystiq is reporting that the figures are NOT canceled and that is was a technical glitch:

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/12/19/toys-r-us-lucario-amiibo-pre-orders-not-being-canceled/
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No way that we'd know that.

Stores are big entities that work in complicated manors. For example Amazon's digital game division is 100% separate from it's physical game division.
 
I'm pretty upset at this point. I don't have a Toys R Us near me and the only Amiibo that I don't have pre-ordered or own is now going to be Lucario. I should also note that I pre-ordered Lucario in November, well before the Amiibo craze was in full effect after the announcement that some were discontinued already.

The only other Amiibo I ordered from them (LUCKILY) was Diddy Kong. I was able to get a second order into Target. Still this is NOT cool at all!

Edit: I'm going to be emailing Nintendo regarding this. If they are incapable of honoring pre-orders placed 3+ months in advance I don't think they should be rewarded with Exclusive Figures. These are clearly hot items and they either need to get it together or let someone that can handle get the exclusive figures.
 
JoeTheBlow said:
I can't believe Nintendo fucked up this golden opportunity to virtually print money, at least for a while.
I just can't believe it, they are a truly clueless company.
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It is clear something went wrong in production, either they misjudged how quickly these things would sell or they are experiencing problems in the production line.
 
So what do amiibos do in various games? Is it clearly stated what they work with?

I know it's an ignorant statement, all I know is they are "like skylanders but are not like skylanders".

Not added characters or anything right?
 
JoeTheBlow said:
I can't believe Nintendo fucked up this golden opportunity to virtually print money, at least for a while.
I just can't believe it, they are a truly clueless company.
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It's not clueless. They do this for the initial run. Then demand has skyrocketed, because of word of mouth, for the future waves.
 
tim_pkmn89 said:
Stores are big entities that work in complicated manors. For example Amazon's digital game division is 100% separate from it's physical game division.
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You do have a point. I guess it's just like how Verizon Wireless != Verizon (phone/FiOS).

BannedEpisode said:
So what do amiibos do in various games? Is it clearly stated what they work with?

I know it's an ignorant statement, all I know is they are "like skylanders but are not like skylanders".

Not added characters or anything right?
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I'm not sure there is a clear list anywhere. Right now they're primarily "buddies" that you level up in Smash, and they unlock a few things in various games. Skylanders are way better as a "game add-on" , but I do enjoy the sculpts of some of these (and I think is the only reason anybody should be buying these).
 
jwhit28 said:
These things have to be many more times successful than Nintendo planned for. Is it the same way in Japan? Have they talked about N3DS games getting Amiibos yet?
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New 3DS recently got an update supporting an Amiibo menu. I don't know about Japan, but I do know that Captain Falcon is sold out in Chadstone at EBGames, I don't know about JB Hifi though.
 
ostrichKing said:
WTF...how did Toys R Us suddenly have the stock to do this but cancel everyone else's orders....ridiculous...
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Because they are making more money on the shipping. They are charging between $4 to $5.22 per Amiibo to ship and are limiting quantities. On Toysrus.com you could get free shipping. (Plus on the online store they had a 2 for 22 deal- on ebay they don't have it) That is my theory
 
BannedEpisode said:
So what do amiibos do in various games? Is it clearly stated what they work with?

I know it's an ignorant statement, all I know is they are "like skylanders but are not like skylanders".

Not added characters or anything right?
Click to expand...

Nope. They were probably afraid of sabotaging smash by making figures a necessity, so they are basically customizable, trainable AI pets in that game, and give minor bonuses in other games. Most substantial bit of playable content behind one so far is the weapon/moveset that you unlock in hyrule warriors with the link figure.

Lots of gaf figured they'd flop because their functionality is so disposable, but the collector market and a business strategy that's either cautiously low production or beanie-baby style active manipulation manipulation has them selling far better than would be expected.

Maybe they'll make a full game of skylanders-style "this character is only playable when you scan its figure" stuff next year.
 
It's about scales of economy. There aren't that many Wii U owners and even less Wii U owners with games that can support Amiibos. Nintendo is going to keep this thing limited, and will continue to keep it limited with their current lack of growth strategy around the toys.

Honestly, I don't know how Amiibos will ever be as popular as skylander figures given the severe population cap on Amiibos.
 
God I love Nintendo. They stumble upon a market that could be a fantastic source of important revenue and fuck it up by spectacularly misjudging demand. Good going.
 
Nicktendo86 said:
God I love Nintendo. They stumble upon a market that could be a fantastic source of important revenue and fuck it up by spectacularly misjudging demand. Good going.
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But would you want half of these RIGHT NOW if you knew they were easily available? I think a lot of people want them because of the scarcity. I thought it would be easy to get a villager so I waited and then they were like catching a leprechaun with his pot of gold and I had to have one in the fear that I might never get one.
 
LowSignal said:
But would you want half of these RIGHT NOW if you knew they were easily available? I think a lot of people want them because of the scarcity. I thought it would be easy to get a villager so I waited and then they were like catching a leprechaun with his pot of gold and I had to have one in the fear that I might never get one.
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Yep. Their lack of messaging from the beginning started the "panic" run for scalpers. If their messaging had been clear from the beginning, this would not have been this bad.

But Best Buy, Target and TRU haven't exactly been blameless, with all the shipping errors, not understanding street dates and outright canceling orders.
 
Crom said:
Because they are making more money on the shipping. They are charging between $4 to $5.22 per Amiibo to ship and are limiting quantities. On Toysrus.com you could get free shipping. (Plus on the online store they had a 2 for 22 deal- on ebay they don't have it) That is my theory
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Yep, my pre-order had free shipping on it. I'm curious how any others were also cancelled with free shipping.

I contacted Toys R Us chat and was told they are investigating the cancellations and will communicate to those affected individually. I feel like we will have to re order without the option of free shipping. They also claimed they have no control over the eBay store and said its run by eBay...

Edit: I think reordering is the best case scenario.
 
Yep, they told me the same thing. I have an eBay order and a Amazon.FR order at this point, though I'm only going to wind up keeping one. At this point I'm just trying to cover bases.
 
My face no one remembers Skylanders first year. They were sold out in stores til like May after the new year. They just couldn't make enough to keep up the demand and that seems to be what's happening here.

Even the thing with the "discontinued" figures seems similar to me. skylanders characters are rotated out of waves and reappear later on in different assortments.
 
I originally had free shipping on TRU.com but got the cancellation today, I ordered on eBay and even though I have to pay for shipping, peace of mind is well worth $4.
 
I haven't played or watched Pokemon in years, can someone tell me why Nintendo went with Lucario for this? I haven't heard of it before, is it one of the major Pokemons now?
 
DragonSworne said:
It's about scales of economy. There aren't that many Wii U owners and even less Wii U owners with games that can support Amiibos. Nintendo is going to keep this thing limited, and will continue to keep it limited with their current lack of growth strategy around the toys.

Honestly, I don't know how Amiibos will ever be as popular as skylander figures given the severe population cap on Amiibos.
Click to expand...

They won't have mainstream popularity at this rate but I guess that's the goal. What else can Nintendo do given the size of the Wii U's install base?

The reason why anyone is talking about Amiibos is because there are figures that are hard to find. Nintendo doesn't have an Infinity/Skylander game that would draw people into buying these things.

Besides they are already considering ideas for cheaper version of Amiibos (cards having the same function) for people who miss out on these figures. So keeping them limited for the niche hardcore/collector's market may be the best course of action.
 
NateDog said:
I haven't played or watched Pokemon in years, can someone tell me why Nintendo went with Lucario for this? I haven't heard of it before, is it one of the major Pokemons now?
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He's a character in Smash Bros, therefore, amiibo.

If you're asking why he's in Smash Bros, he was put in Brawl (and carried over to 4) as he was one of the most popular Pokemon at the time, coming hot off the heels of Diamond and Pearl just a year earlier.
 
ChrisD said:
He's a character in Smash Bros, therefore, amiibo.

If you're asking why he's in Smash Bros, he was put in Brawl (and carried over to 4) as he was one of the most popular Pokemon at the time, coming hot off the heels of Diamond and Pearl just a year earlier.
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Plus, he starred in a Pokemon movie. :P
 
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