Pins for 2016 are already well underway, with new chibis, cereals, characters, Ability icons, and logos lined up for release in the first few months. Additionally, some lines will wind down in 2016 whiles other lines launch for the first time. (Convention Manager Michael Plummer’s IK catline with the likes of Colemeow Stryker isn’t on the list…at least not yet.)

While I love seeing the final product in hand, it’s the brainstorming sessions that really inspire my creativity, and we’ve been talking about pins all the way through Lock & Load GameFest 2016. When we recently began to discuss what pins might make for great trading pieces at Lock & Load, the ideas bandied about were numerous and, in many cases, simply great. I feel comfortable saying with some certainty that we have an idea for a first-time chibi character that will be a pin well worth pursuing by trading with staff members. If you send us at least five ideas (see my call for them below) that I haven’t seen before, you can guess which chibi character we might be doing, and I’ll confirm when someone gets it right.

That said, we still have great pins coming between now and next June, one of which I’m debuting right here: our Chibi Siege 2016 New Year’s pin, which you can get almost immediately from our online store. Who needs a weapon when you have a bad-ass celebratory popping party favor, right?

And now that we’re doing monthly Pinsiders, I see no harm in tipping our hand a bit for Febuary: our next cereal pin (#5), Quakehammer Oats. In any Cygnaran kitchen where boys and girls are being raised to fight endless wars against myriad enemies, it’s part of a complete breakfast. Hammer Up!

And finally, as I mentioned above, we love to hear your ideas—holiday pins, new lines, chibis, whatever you think sounds fun—so, send them to [email protected], and take a guess the first-time chibi character, available only by trade, that will debut at Lock & Load 2016!

Oh, and please: nothing for the catline, eh?