John Cena vs Shinsuke Nakamura

You’re telling me this will be on SmackDown LIVE for free?  Vince McMahon has lost his mind.

World of Nintendo: The Wind Waker Toon Link (Wind Waker version)

When I first started collecting World of Nintendo figures from Jakks Pacific I never imagined the toy line would go so deep as to include various versions of Link.  Especially considering Nintendo having such strident restriction on licensing Nintendo figures other than Super Mario in the past.  Thankfully the prosperous toy line has been allowed to blossom and we’re now getting Toon Link from The Wind Waker game.  Actually to be correct, we’re getting two versions of Toon Link; one with the Wind Waker accessory and another one with just his shield as an accessory.

This version of Toon Link with the Wind Waker was the only version I could find in my city.  Unfortunately World of Nintendo figures are unpredictable and difficult to find when a new wave is released.  Sometimes certain figures that are abundant in the US, aren’t even released in Canada.  Regardless of that, I’m just so happy to finally add Toon Link to my collection.  The quality of this toy is astonishing because the only way you can get toys like this now is through importing them from Japan.  So it’s amazing that Jakks Pacific is delivering this high quality for a reasonable price of $12-$17 in Canada.

The Wind Waker:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_The_Wind_Waker

Jakks Pacific:

www.jakks.com

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN6nX0bdKpQ

Nintendo Disappoints me Again

Tomorrow is the release day of the next installment of the 30^th anniversary Zelda amiibo which features 3 different versions of Link which are from Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword and Majora's Mask.  For some unknown reason Nintendo decided to release each amiibo as a store exclusive to EB Games (Twilight Princess), Best Buy (Majora's Mask) and Amazon (Skyward Sword) here in Canada.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to reserve any of these amiibo, and most likely won’t be able to buy them.  While I was aware of the pre-order dates, I decided to not pre-order because as a collector I prefer the experience of entering a store and selecting the best version I want.  It’s something I have been doing ever since the first amiibo released.  I never imagined that Nintendo Canada would make these so limited that they would sell out on pre-orders.  Online they sold out within minutes, and in-store some stores received between 8-10 figures while other locations didn’t receive any at all.

I’m now left angry and disappointed by Nintendo for using these evil marketing strategies to garner hype for its brand.  And I do mean hype because it’s not about the money.  If it were about the money, the NES Classic Edition would have been released in large quantities and made Nintendo millions.  While I’m sure Nintendo must have some reasoning behind its marketing strategy, I feel like there are times when intentionally depriving the market of some popular item can have negative consequences.  Beyond disappointing loyal fans, and leaving profits on the table I feel like it consequently creates a need for piracy.

As a disappointed Nintendo fan I now feel justified in looking for NFC enabled amiibo cards.  NFC (Near Field Communications) cards are unofficial Nintendo cards that contain all the data from one particular amiibo figure.  You then basically scan the tag on the card and it works as if it were the original amiibo figure.  If you can’t even buy the original figure in a store, then this is the best option for people who want to enjoy the full amiibo experience from their Nintendo games.  So this is my only option now, especially because the resell market is too expensive and profits don’t support Nintendo either.  I can imagine this is how people who weren’t able to get the NES Classic Edition must feel when they resort to getting a NES Raspberry Pi in order to play those games.

By the way, how can Nintendo consider itself a kid’s company when in order to get Skyward Sword Link amiibo you need to have an Amazon account, linked to a credit card, with a shipping address?

Tim Hortons Nanaimo Bar Donut

With Canada celebrating its 150^th birthday this year (1867 confederation), Tim Hortons has decided to partake in the celebration by releasing Canadian food favourites.  Of course I was most interested in the nanaimo bar donut; a delicious brownie-like treat that was invented in Nanaimo, B.C.  The Tim Hortons version is also delicious and manages to capture the right balance of chocolate and custard.

Nanaimo Bar Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanaimo_bar