The Rotring 600 Ice Mint Blue Isn't A Special Edition

Nathan Ma -

The eye-catching, Nonble special edition ice mint blue Rotring 600 was supposed to only be attainable at certain Kinokuniya stores. Yet, I found one in the exact same color outside of Japan. What's up with this?

I remember my feeling of resignation after realizing I'd probably never be able to lay my hands on this exotic colored Rotring, especially with the ice mint blue commanding prices close to $100 online. However, after wandering around a YoungPoong bookstore in Seoul, I found essentially the same pencil with one change. The special edition has "NONBLE" engraved right under the Rotring logo, while this one has lacks any special features.

All the Ice Mint Blue Rotring 600s I have seen online feature the NONBLE branding under the Rotring logo. Credit: @kinokuniya_taiwan on Instagram.
My pencil that I found at YP Books. It seems to be the same exact color, but doesn't feature the special branding.

After scouring the Internet for any information about a general release of the ice mint blue Rotring, the only thing I found was one stationery store online in Thailand called Pen & Gift that happens to have the same model.

It seems like this color way is not a one-time deal with Nonble, but rather more-so of a Asia-specific release. However, during my visits to various stationery stores in Korea and Japan, I only encountered the ice mint blue in one bookstore chain.

This could be caused by many different factors, and one of my theories is that a general release of this color is just starting (Pen & Gift has only sold 1 of these colors on Shopee as of 6/29/24 and YP Books doesn't have any Rotrings on their web store). However, this doesn't explain the strange choice of smaller retailers getting this pencil. I couldn't find it at Itoya, Loft, Tokyu Hands (Hands), ArtBox, or many other well-known stationery stores in East Asia, but I found it online at Pen & Gift.

I'm not really sure what to think of this. What's happening is similar to Loft rereleasing their Yellow limited edition, where buyers are initially drawn by the exclusivity of the pencil, only for the essentially the same thing to be restocked shortly later.

On one hand, this allows for people who really want the color to be able to get it for an attainable price. However, on the other hand, it disappoints original owners and lowers the market value of the product, leaving people who bought the product for its rarity out of money. For reference, after the Yellow Loft Rotring 600 was restocked, it fell from a peak price of over $150 to being attainable today at just over $30 on eBay.

Of course, there were no direct promises that this color would be exclusive to Kinokuniya, but many people in the community perceived it that way.

In the end, I still think it's great that this color is still attainable to those who want it for a good price.