Not that well known? It's Flint. One of the main characters from the toon and has one of the best outfits of the line with is shotgun shells and such.
I'm not disagreeing with you. I personally think he is the coolest Joe of all, but apart from the original series, he hasn't been around all that much. For instance, Duke was featured in the original series, the animated movie (Flint shows up for about 3 seconds), the DIC series, the Sigma Six cartoon, the computer generated animated film (or whatever it was), the Resolute series (where Flint had a bit part), and the feature film. So, unless fans are familiar with the original series or the comics, Flint is someone they probably know of but don't know much about because in all these other shows, he wasn't there or was only barely there.
Sculpt looks fine to me. Brings off the Bad A$$ look just fine. I am totally fine with the Joes not looking like they stepped out of the cartoon. Real world Joes that look like any average trigger puller you might run into in a forward deployed area works for me.
My point is not that the sculpt is bad necessarily, but that it isn't similar enough to the Flint from the cartoon or comic to tap into nostalgia for the character. Also, something more traditionally "handsome" would probably sell better. I'm not saying women or homosexuals are interested for that reason, but not everyone is into GI Joe for the hardened, pissed off, gritty look that this line seems to be focusing on, and that Flint seems to embody better than Duke.
I like the sculpt as well, but would have personally preferred a cleaner, arguably more generic and traditionally heroic look like the card art/Palisades bust/cartoon. I think others would be more inclined to buy if he looked that way, but maybe not. . .
If someone else has a better idea for the slow pre-sales of the exclusive, however, please share. I can't think of what else it might be.
Also, I think there is something about this pose that makes him look bad:
He looks like he has a skinny neck and huge head, and the beret looks a bit awkward from this perspective, IMO. The main pose they show for the regular edition looks much better, I think:
