I bought this amiibo to try out in Legend of Zelda, but I'm not a fan of them. I don't use these figurines except for gaming, they are quite large and take up a lot of space. And they are expensive and sometimes hard to find. Even a regular amiibo figure is around $20, and good luck finding a monster rider reference for under $100 these days (I bought the reel when it was still cheap). I found the Monster Hunter Stories 2 amiibo on Amazon, just to see what was available.
To my surprise, there was a cheaper option: NFC cards. It's basically the same Near Field Communications chip that powers amiibo on a small plastic card. You can get full sets for the game you're playing (12 for Monster Hunter Stories 2 or 24 for Legend of Zelda) for about $20, which is what a regular amiibo would cost you. I had my doubts if it was legit and would work, but I tried it and it worked.
It is now clear that these NFC cards were made by copying information from the original amiibo. However, this information is not copyrighted, so the copy of the NFC card is completely legal. Only the amiibo drawings are copyrighted, meaning the images on these NFC cards look like a child trying to draw a favorite video game character. You can barely tell who it is, so there are no copyright issues.
This is perfect for me. I will never buy amiibo again. I've always wanted the electronic feature of it and never cared for the statue. Of course, I understand that this will not be true for everyone and that some collectors will want to display the figurines. But for me, a cheap Chinese fake is better than the original.
