GI Joe Makes Kwinn the Eskimo a Reality !!

KWINN. I've been waiting a long time for this figure. The Eskimo mercenary that graced the pages of the Marvel GI Joe comics from issues 2 - 19 finally gets made into plastic reality.

 

While I am not a fan of the new figures, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get Kwinn. The packaging is nice. He sure is packed full of stuff and it will display well. Roadblock on the cover looks really weird to me .......

 

Some neat action shots on the backer. A brief bio in the corner replaces the old "file card" that used to grace the back. I miss that. The file cards, along with the awesome card art gave the package a purpose back then. This is generic packaging and would be thrown out.

The figure is detailed. Looks great and captures Kwinn's look very well, with a few added accessories. His .30 caliber is a bit off though. The handle is not comic accurate but it is able to insert the ammo belts so all the same it is nice. It just sucks that this figure is not of a vintage O-ring type design. The rubber construction sucks. It takes too much effort to make him hold the weapon and the ridiculous amount of articulation actually gets in the way of poseability. Honestly, if the vintage figures were of this construct, I may have not been so into them. The playability get lost in these figures. Its like they were constructed to be posed on a shelf instead of being able to be played in a realistic fashion. One of my biggest memories of Joe play was being able to quickly pose battle situations where the figure held his gun well. Yes I love the holsters, detail and accessories, but how I lament the vintage style.

Yes, there are a TON of accessories. Tripod, rifle, shotgun, pistol, 2 ammo belts, Eskimo tools, a backpack that opens to store stuff and a bear trap. The backpack reminds me of the old 12" Gabriel Lone Ranger accessories that stored gear and snapped up. Seeing it on this smaller scale is pretty amazing and big kudos go out for sculpting it.

Oh, that's right. He comes with a bear trap, or a Viper trap in this case.......

I'll state it right now: I absolutely loved the Marvel GI Joe Comics.

Larry Hama has probably heard this a billion times but I say to him THANK YOU for developing this comic and making a huge impact in a creative little mind. The fact that this could have been a paper commercial for toy sales but instead was a tremendously creative, serious and realistic story holds such great memories for me.

Kwinn was a supporting character introduced in issue #2: "Panic at the North Pole." He had a good introduction to the Joe team, outsmarting them until the end of the story where he is shown to be a mercenary with a sense of honor.

His adventures and relationships with Dr. Venom and Snake Eyes were explored in several issues culminating with .....

Issue #19.

 

This issue really made an impact on me. As a young reader I was not anticipating what the fate of Kwinn and two other supporting characters would hold.

I still remember the shock I felt when Kwinn was killed at the hands of Archibald Monev. In a comic sense, they were probably sewing up story lines that could now shift focus to new characters (actual figures). But man, that stung. I actually thought that Kwinn would be made into a figure eventually. That ended with a bullet from a Ruger and a dropped grenade.

Such is life. I made all kinds of customs back then trying to recreate the Eskimo to adventure with ol' Snake Eyes. But now I have one. Do I wish he was a classic O-ring; yes. Do I wish the Dr. Venom wasn't an awful, overpriced pile of crap; yes.

But after almost 30 years, "trouble and his little brother" can kick some Cobra butt !!