I first saw an amiibo in action two weeks ago. I was over my friend Dan’s house and we were playing Super Smash Brothers while we were waiting for WWE Fastlane to start, and he tapped a little Samus figurine on a circle on his controller. A new computer player popped up on the bottom of the screen, a level 29 Samus.

I’d like to believe I’m pretty good at Smash Bros. I’m not under the illusion that I’d win, or even come close to winning, any kind of tournament, but that compared to the average twenty-five year old I wouldn’t need to be embarrassed by my performance. I’ve been playing since I got it for the 64 in the 90s.

That amiibo destroyed me. It destroyed the friends I was playing with. The thing was brutal, and it adapted to our styles of play. It wasn’t going to lose to a button masher, or anyone who was too set in their style. It takes serious skill and strategy to beat those things.

The important question for me is what does this mean for the future of action figures?

The amiibos, while mostly nice sculptures, aren’t action figures in the sense that they have no points of articulation. They’re better than Skylanders, which is a similar system with a more pay-for-play slant, but I think they’re at a place where they’re going to encroach a little on the figure market.

It is my dream that things like amiibos would come articulated in a few years. With the backlash video entertainment is getting from some parents for occupying too much of their children’s time and attention, an articulated amiibo would be the best of both worlds. Outside of that fantasy, I think they’re going to take some market share away from the bigger toy companies. And that could be a good thing.

Hasbro has almost no competition for mass-market figures, and it would be great if a combination of amiibos/Skyanders, Lego, and NECA put a dent in Hasbro’s profit margins. Their better figures demonstrate that they’re capable of putting out some great work. A nice kick in the rear would hopefully get them moving toward more consistent and controlled quality.

Whatever the amiibos end up meaning, I admire them as an addition to the toy world. I’d love to see the link between video games and action figures pushed further and in different types of games. I hope all of you spend some time this week daydreaming about how awesome that could be, and looking forward to coming back here next week to see what I’m talking about next time!

Also, thanks to my friend Will White for letting me photograph his amiibos!

A Call to Action (Figures) is a weekly column published on Wednesdays, chronicling my rants and raves about all things action figure. Next week I’ll be talking about I Am Elemental action figures.

Did I get it right? Are amiibos going to push other toy companies to be better? Will they be articulated one day? Let me know in the comments!