Fridge / amiibo

Fridge Brilliance

• The amiibo Store Exclusives (North American, at least US), aside from the store-exclusive Link amiibo, tend to depend on certain factors.
  • Target's Store Exclusives (right now) are Rosalina, Dr. Mario, and formerly Lottie and Jigglypuff.
    • Rosalina, Jigglypuff, and Lottie are feminine characters, and according to demographics, the majority of shoppers at Target are female. Rosalina also resembles Elsa, who is a highly marketable character with tons of merchandise.
    • In Dr. Mario's case, not only does his store contain a pharmacy, but a hospital is often symbolized by a red cross, similar to Target's red logo.
    • All of these characters are from popular franchises with large amounts of mass appeal, which is fitting considering Target is the largest of the stores that regularly get store exclusives (i.e. every store on this list minus Wal-Mart & Amazon), and supplies a large amount of non-video game products.
  • Gamestop's (right now) are Ness, ROB, Mr. Game & Watch, Duck Hunt, Ike post-restock, Roy, Cloud Player 2 and formerly Shulk. All seven of these characters except Cloud belong to obscure franchises that are not that notable to the mainstream, due to either being too old or cult classics, and while Final Fantasy has brand-name recognition in the mainstream, Cloud's Player 2 outfit is from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, a film that fell into relative obscurity outside of gamer circles. Furthermore, Shulk's previous exclusivity made a lot of sense as his game (The original Wii version, the 3DS version was mass-release) was a Gamestop exclusive.
  • Toys 'R' Us' Store Exclusives (right now) are Bowser Jr., Dark Hammer Slam Bowser, the Mii Fighters, Villager post-restock, Mega Yarn Yoshi, and formerly Lucario and Greninja.
    • Bowser Jr. is a young child himself, with his own plethora of toys (Mechakoopas, a hammer, wrecking balls, etc.). It also makes sense since Toys 'R' Us' just so happens to be a sister store to Babies 'R' Us', and consider that Bowser Jr. looks a lot like Baby Bowser.
    • Dark Hammer Slam Bowser is exclusively bundled with the Dark Edition of Skylanders Superchargers Racing for the Wii (the 3DS version doesn't have a Dark Edition); not only is Skylanders popular with kids, but Superchargers Racing on the Wii is the Daddy System counterpart of Superchargers on HD consoles - a little brother on what is as of 2015 a hand-me-down console, if you will.
    • The Miis, while aimed toward everyone, appeal to young kids the most with their customization gimmick, and the Wii series is often seen as a Gateway Series to Nintendo in general. In Smash 4, you can customize the Mii Fighters with many kinds of costumes and headgear, akin to embellishing dolls and action figures with accessories. Fitting that their store specializes specifically in toys, isn't it?
    • Villager is the main protagonist of Animal Crossing, a series that is not only popular among children but is seen as lighthearted even by Nintendo standards. Like Bowser Jr., he has his own plethora of toys such as gyroids and bowling balls; like the Mii Fighters, he's a customizable avatar in his home series. It also helps that he looks like a child despite allegedly being old enough to live on his own.
    • Mega Yarn Yoshi, as the largest amiibo we've seen so far, reflects his store's status as the most prominent dedicated toy store chain in the country. Beyond that, the word "mega" fits well for Toys "R" Us itself because it's usually seen as the one with the most stock available out of the five retailers (even though Best Buy has recently had a large restock as well).
    • Finally, Lucario and Greninja are Pokémon, yet another franchise very popular with kids, as most customers are parents of young children.
  • Best Buy's Store Exclusives (right now) are Meta Knight, Dark Pit, Bayonetta Player 2, and formerly Falco. All four of them are dark, "edgy" or "violent" characters, as, according to demographics, the majority of shoppers at Best Buy are male. Both Meta Knight and Falco are also dark blue in color with some shades of black and yellow, similar to Best Buy's colors.
  • This all has another layer of brilliance: It's modeled after a Nuclear Family. Mom/Target, Dad/Best Buy, Older Sibling/GameStop, and Younger Sibling/Toys 'R' Us.
  • Even Amazon's store exclusives, Palutena and Corrin Player 2, is fitting when you take wordplay into account. One of the definitions of the word "amazon" is "a tall, powerful, aggressive woman" - aside from the "aggressive" part, Palutena and female Corrin fit all of those descriptors.
  • Walmart's exclusive is a variant of Mario (Gold Mario), as is former exclusive Modern Color 30th Anniversary Mario. Walmart is well-known for distilling its merchandise into the most popular selections, and Mario's role as Nintendo's mascot fits right into this marketing strategy.

• I just noticed some Fridge Brilliance for when certain figures were released:
  • The 2014 figures (Waves 1 and 2): Nintendo turned 125 in 2014, so it made sense for the figures of Mario, DK, Luigi, Peach, Link, Zelda, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, and Pikachu; Nintendo's most well known characters. Punch-Out turned 30 in 2014, so releasing Little Mac then made sense. Hyrule Warriors also released that year, making sense for Link and Zelda. Diddy Kong debuted in Donkey Kong Country which was released in 1994, so Diddy turned 20 last year. Fox and Captain Falcon come from historically important games (F-Zero was the game to use Mode 7, which made Mario Kart possible. Star Fox 1 was the first 3D game, and Star Fox 64 pioneered voice acting and rumble). Marth is an important character because him being playable in Melee led to Fire Emblem being published outside of Japan. So, releasing his figure on Nintendo's 125th anniversary made sense Pit, Villager, and Wii Fit Trainer were among the first characters announced for Sm4sh. All figures released in 2014 have at least some Fridge Brilliance behind why they were released then.
  • The 2015 figures (Waves 3 and onwards): Bowser's debut game, Super Mario Bros, turns 30 this year. Makes sense to release Bowser then. Bowser Jr has the Koopalings as his alt. Their North American debut was Super Mario Bros 3, which was released in 1990 for the US. (The Fridge Brilliance for the Koopalings is exclusive to nations outside of Japan) Rosalina also releases in this year. Shulk's debut game, Xenoblade Chronicles, released in Japan in 2010. His amiibo came out on the 5th anniversary. Plus, that game just got a remake and a sequel this year. Ike's debut game, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, came out 10 years ago. Plus, Robin and Lucina also hail from Fire Emblem, which debuted in 1990. So; Ike, Robin, and Lucina have amiibo released when Fire Emblem turns 25 (plus Codename: STEAM being released at this time). EarthBound came out in 1995, Ness's amiibo came out in May 2015. Meta Knight and Dedede came out when Kirby and the Rainbow Curse released. Duck Hunt was often combined with Super Mario Bros in one cart, so releasing it's amiibo this fall makes sense. Dr. Mario came out in 1990. ROB was a peripheral made for the NES so that retailers would adopt the console after the North American crash. ROB turns 30 this year. Mr. Game and Watch and Pac Man debuted in 1980. Their amiibo release when these two turn 35. Falco's amiibo releases close to Star Fox Zero coming out in Japan.
  • DLC Characters: If released in 2016, Mewtwo and Lucas will turn 20 and 10 respectively. Roy would turn 15 in 2016, while Ryu's would be released in the same year as Street Fighter II 's 25th anniversary (even if it's not Ryu's debut game, it's still the most popular & well-known title in the series). Cloud's amiibo will be released in 2017, 20 years after his debut in Final Fantasy VII.
  • Previously cut veterans and Ultimate newcomers: Ridley was released on December 2018, which coincidentally added the special version of Metroid (which starts before the Ridley battle) in the Nintendo Switch Online: NES library. Snake will release in 2019, 15 years after the release of the well-known Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (ironically doesn't feature Solid Snake). Daisy amiibo will release on April 2019, 30 years after the release of her debut game Super Mario Land in Japan (April 1989). Kink K. Rool will release in 2019, 25 years after the release on Donkey Kong Country for the SNES. Pokémon Trainer, Squirtle, Ivysaur and Pichu will release the same year as Pokémon Sword and Shield in 2019.

• The European name for amiibo tap: Nintendo's Greatest Hits is amiibo Touch & Play: Nintendo Classics Highlights. As in, amiibo Touch And Play.