Kwinn is a name I heard quite a bit throughout the G.I. Joe show room area, which I think is a good thing, because I’m not entirely convinced everyone within the Hasbro design team realizes just how much the fans want this figure.
I spoke with Derryl DePriest at length about Kwinn today at the Hasbro event, and he remained adamant that Kwinn was tooled up and that they are determined to find a place for him in the line. Toy production is always a give and take process, whether you’re in finance, manufacturing, management, or design, and sometimes you have to give a little to get a lot. I’m under the impression that they are still in “give and take” mode with Kwinn and sort of battling to figure out where to get him into the line.
Obviously, looking at the new figures we saw today, Kwinn just doesn’t seem to fit among mainstream retail offerings. He doesn’t have next gen body armor, he is clearly from a different era in G.I. Joe’s history, and he really doesn’t mesh with the whole G.I. Joe: Retaliation concept.
That being said, there is still the possibility that we’ll see Kwinn at New York ComicCon as an NYCC exclusive. That rumor has been going around quite a bit over the past several months, and the fact that GIJoeClub.com mentions an NYCC Exclusive only seems to confirm the possibility. Time will tell, but rest assured, folks within the G.I. Joe design team are trying like heck to get Kwinn to retail, hopefully they will succeed.
The panel report on TNI made it sound like the mold was getting used in the second round of three packs as Airborne. Haven’t seen any pics to confirm this though. Did it look like him to you Justin?
No, not at all. From what I could tell, Airborne was using Skydive parts from PoC Wave 4…
Well, chalk it up to tni’s always stellar reporting then. Does Mouse at least get a new head?
I honestly couldn’t tell. It was a pretty crappy press pic and not the best lighting. I was hoping they’d give it to us tonight, but they didn’t…
Thank you for all the coverage Justin.
Seems to me that with so many of the “off-screen” figures that RoC had and the wide array of aesthetics in those (not to mention that various updates and differences within the PoC/30th/Rengades assortments), I am not entirely convinced that he would need a spot to “fit in”. Much in the way the Marvel movie figures had “Comic Series” & “Movie Series” figures, what would be the issue in doing a similar amalgamation for this line in order to allow for this character to be released?
I honestly think that Kwinn could have appeal to more than just the fan set as well. The differences he has could be just as appealing in the retail markets. Many of the gripes that RoC figures had (even by non-fans) was that they all looked too similar and as such were not easily differentiated. Part of what made the ARAH line so successful (in my mind, at least), was the diversity of characters. Even with the O-13 there were enough differences to make characters out as individuals. Once that line blow up in the following couple of years, it had as much to do with recognition of different characters as it did with advances in articulation and accessories.
Anyway, that’s just my 2 pennies on the subject. I’ll likely be getting some change back on that investment.