It has been far too long since I have done a regular Amiibo review and I chose Lucas because he is a newer figure that seems to be relatively easy to find in stores.  So much so that stores have him priced as low as $4-5 lately.  While this is representative of some bigger problems with Amiibo (supply is exceeding demand for one thing), Lucas is actually a great Amiibo in many respects and appeals to the more hardcore Nintendo fan and anyone who likes the Mother series.

Rarity – As you can probably tell from the introduction, Lucas is one of the more common Amiibo right now.  He was easy to pre-order and based on the low prices he is going for as I write this, Lucas is almost too easy to get.  Nintendo seems to have really increased the availability of a lot of the newer Amiibo and Lucas comes from what is an obscure series.  Many Nintendo fans, including myself, know him and Ness through Smash Bros. and that is about it.  That may hurt Lucas’s appeal to the more casual fan and explain how this Amiibo came to be both common and very cheaply priced.  Regardless, you should have no trouble getting Lucas if you’re interested in him.

Pose – Though it is simple in design like almost every aspect of this figure, I really like Lucas’s pose.  It doesn’t require the use of a stand like so many Amiibo do and it looks like he is going to use a move in Smash Brothers.  As a character, Lucas doesn’t have the kind of flexibility that someone like Captain Falcon has so we can’t expect him to have a really dynamic pose.  Instead, it looks like he is about ready to unleash a PSI power which fits the series of Amiibo (Smash Brothers) and Lucas as a character.

Paint – One of the nice things about Lucas is that he has nice and bright colors.  This starts with his hair, but even his shirt and socks really get your attention.  The Lucas Amiibo I pre-ordered (and thus did not carefully look at in the store before buying) has excellent paint with no issues at all.  I’m particularly impressed by Lucas’s shoelaces which are finely painted and free of errors.  The other details that are nice are on his jeans where you can see stitching on his back pockets for example and the texture at the top of his socks.  It would have been easy to not bother with those details since we know Lucas has a simple design, but Nintendo went the extra mile to make this figure as nice-looking as possible.  My only potential critique is that Lucas’s hair has a nice sculpt and if Nintendo had made it more two-tone, it would have made his hair look more 3D.  Nendoroids are excellent at this and of course, they cost a lot more, but it is something that can be done at this scale.

Functionality – Lucas is a middle of the road Amiibo as far as functionality goes.  He is most useful in Super Smash Bros., Super Mario Maker, and Yoshi’s Woolly World.  There are several other games he can be used in like Chibi-Robo Zip Lash and Hyrule Warriors, but Lucas has the same functionality as any other Amiibo in those games.  In the future, Lucas is most likely to either give skins like Yoshi’s Woolly World and Super Mario Maker or have a generic use like in Hyrule Warriors because of the obscurity (at least for now) of the Mother series.  Functionality is probably the weakest part of the Lucas Amiibo, but most Amiibo fans buy them because of the figure and will be happy to look past this.

Closing Thoughts – I opened my Lucas for a number of reasons: to be able to review him on the site, to see if the Effect Burning Flame I reviewed not too long ago would work with Lucas to simulate his PSI Powers (it doesn’t sadly), and because Lucas is common and not worth keeping in the box for me.  I think Nintendo made the most of a simple design and have produced a great looking Amiibo.  Both Lucas and Ness look great and are the kind of figure we have to be happy exists outside of Japan.  Before Amiibo, this would have never happened.  If you’re a fan at all of Lucas then I recommend this Amiibo.  It has a great price, is well-done, and looks great on display.