>People claiming Nintendo is bound to eventually shove Pokemon down the Amiibo/Skylanders routine and force people to buy small plastic figurines to unlock new Pokemon

I dunno, would Nintendo be this stupid to shoot themselves in the foot? We're talking about a game whose main mechanic is interacting with other people around the world and exchanging Pokemon. I know Skylanders are popular, but applying that mechanic to a game like Pokemon is suicidal.