Now that the excitement of the Nintendo Direct has started to calm down, I can talk about what I think is the most interesting news outside of the Kirby Amiibos for Amiibo collectors.  This article is mostly speculation and I’m going to rely heavily on what Miyamoto told IGN in a interview on their site.  If you haven’t read it yet, check it out.  It is a short, but interesting read.  Please keep in mind that speculation, while fun, does not mean I know anything more than what Miyamoto said and the rest is me guessing and trying to read between the lines.  By making these kinds of educated guesses, we may be able to better understand what kinds of things Nintendo will and will not do with Amiibo in the future.

So as you may have heard, Miyamoto has been designing an Arwing Amiibo that could transfer from the ship to Walker form.  This was a very tantalizing idea, because there have not been any Arwing figures of this kind and it would show that Amiibos will not always be statues on bases in the future which is perhaps already been signaled by the Yarn Yoshi Amiibo though they have been the only ones released to drop the base altogether.  As you can see in the picture above, the Arwing would have had no base and transformed much like the Transformer toys do.

As cool as that would have been, there is an interesting reason for why the Arwing got cancelled.  According to the IGN interview, Miyamoto stated, “Unfortunately, we won’t be releasing an Arwing amiibo,” Miyamoto said in a translated interview. “We did have a few prototypes. There was an Arwing amiibo that transforms into the Walker, but we weren’t able to turn that into a product that could meet safety guidelines for children.”  First, IGN is right to point out that this was a translated statement and we shouldn’t take everything as the word-for-word truth as a result.  Miyamoto has often said things that Nintendo has had to walk back (although many times it is because he said something early before Nintendo was ready to release the news) so there is that to consider.  However, I see no reason to doubt Miyamoto’s explanation because he designed the prototype himself and wanted to see this release happen.  That and toys do have to pass safety standards as well.

So the question is: what about this figure made it not pass guidelines?  I think the answer is actually right in front of us.  Those sharp edges and depending on the size of the ship, would make it a choking hazard for young children.  With the pointy design of the Arwing and Walker, there is simply no way around that.  So the news of the Arwing’s cancellation most likely means that Nintendo has to watch safety standards closely when it comes to Amiibo and it also means that moveable or action figure type features may not be a feature used much with future Amiibo.  The ability to transform the Arwing would have opened the door for Amiibos to have movement and go beyond the statue format if Nintendo wanted to.  With all the other action figure lines like World of Nintendo, Figma, and Nendoroid, Amiibos becoming more like action figures seems unlikely to happen anyway, but I think the Arwing’s cancellation could mean that Nintendo doubles down on Amiibos as we know it at the same time.

This is not a bad thing at all because Amiibos are selling well and are popular as is.  If anything, Nintendo needs to add more functionality to Amiibo and find new characters or games to be added to the current offerings.  Past that, Amiibo have been a huge success and the quality of the figures have improved over time as well.  Nintendo could surprise us pull off more plush type Amiibos like the Yarn Yoshi’s or maybe we will get more of an action figure Amiibo one day, but for the short term, I suspect that the Arwing’s cancellation means it will be strictly statues for a while, if not long term.  While the Arwing Amiibo will be missed, I still think Nintendo will deliver some excellent new figures in the future so don’t lose hope!  After all, we didn’t expect Kirby Amiibos and we have those to look forward to in the near future.  Whenever there are rumors swirling or opportunities for us as Amiibo fans and collectors to discuss news and rumors, NintendoFigures.net will be there to bring it to you!