Resolute Flint

by KansasBrawler

I find it kind of amusing that I’ve professed my Flint fandom a few times on this blog, yet I’ve never actually reviewed my favorite modern Flint from the Resolute box set. The Resolute set really showed how impressively customizable the new figure construction could be. Using a bare minimum of new parts, Hasbro managed to create seven figures based on the rather distinct look the characters in Resolute had. While there were some flaws in the set, it was overall a home run in my books and Flint is easily my favorite figure out of that set since everything comes together so well on him.

Most of Flint’s parts are reused, but the parts Hasbro used come together really well for the most part. His arms and legs come from the 25th Anniversary single pack Resolute Duke while his chest and torso come from the Rise of Cobra single pack Hawk. They work very well together and are surprisingly cohesive considering they’re from two slightly different eras of the Joe line. However, having Flint off a figure stand to man the missile launcher on the VAMP did reveal a surprising flaw I never picked up before, his legs are incredibly uneven. I’m not sure if this is a flaw of the molding or because they don’t seat properly into Hawk’s torso, but it’s an issue and it’s rather offputting. It took me quite a while to get him properly situated in the VAMP. In fact, my original plan was to have him man the rear gun, but he couldn’t do that because the legs didn’t rest evenly on the floor of the back end. My other issue is something that stretches back to the leg mold’s original creation. For whatever reason, when they designed Resolute Duke, they decided to take a step back and give him a non-functional holster. Considering how good Hasbro had gotten with functional holsters, even by that point, that step back is a bit maddening, especially when both figures have pistols that could fill the holster. It’s one of those decisions that’s a bit of a head scratcher and I’d prefer seeing a functional holster as opposed to a static one at this stage of the line. Despite the legs’ problems, the Hawk and Duke parts come together very well as a relatively generic military look. To make the figure look more like Flint, he also gets some great add-on pieces. He gets a brand new set of webgear and it looks great. As a nod to Flint’s original look, he’s got shotgun shells on one strap of the webgear, but to make it more modern, it’s got more of an element of body armor built into it. Flint is far more protected than he used to be. To spice things up a little more, the front of his webgear also has a few sets of pouches attached as well. The webgear really helps make Flint look like a more modern soldier. Having gotten up close and personal with some modern  military gear at the museum I work at, it’s been kind of surprising how much more Hasbro’s design team has tried to make gear like this look more realistic. Flint’s other add on piece is something I find really cool. Flint originally had two bandoliers of shotgun shells on his webgear, however this webgear only had one. To offset that, Flint now wears a gauntlet with shotgun shells attached to it on his left arm. As a fellow lefty, this makes a lot of sense. Flint could still hold his shotgun in his shooting hand while reloading it with his offhand. It’s little details like this that make me smile. All the way back in 1985, Flint’s figures established he was left-handed by his wristwatch. They’ve kept that detail all this time and again, as a lefty, I appreciate that Hasbro decided to switch it up and make some Joe characters left-handed as well. Topping off the figure, Resolute Flint also gets a new head sculpt. This is my favorite Flint head sculpt ever. The eyebrow gives a hint of his cocky personality while not being quite as overstated as a grin. He also looks a bit older and more experienced while not having the overly gaunt face that most of the 25th Anniversary era Flint figures had. Hasbro finally managed to give me a Flint figure that satisfies my needs. I’ve always loved Flint’s character and in my opinion, this sculpt captures everything I like about it.

Even with his new look, Flint’s colors still capture his original style. Flint’s most basic look is always based around a black shirt and green pants and that’s exactly what Resolute Flint is wearing, just with a little more flair. The legs have two tones of green, one for the pants and one for the spats and kneepads. The green is carried up to his upper body as well through his gloves and elbow pads. The pouches and straps on his legs are a gray. Flint’s shirt is black or probably more accurately a very dark charcoal gray. The webgear is predominantly a yellow-ish tan like you’d see on work gloves. Flint’s beret insignia also get some attention which doesn’t always happen with a detail that small. My only real complaint with the paint job comes from his legs, which don’t really match up that well. The green on his lower legs (between the kneepad but above the spat) should be the same color as his upper legs, but the green is a bit bluer and that’s a little odd. Paint mismatches always throw me off a bit and I wish that the paint quality control people would have noticed this. Beyond the color issues, though, there’s not really any paint bleed anywhere, so that’s always a plus.

Flint really doesn’t get a lot in the way of accessories, but at least unlike his other packmates, he does get something a little more unique. Rather than being equipped with the standard Resolute submachine gun, Flint gets a throwback to his old kit, a green shotgun. It’s the more modern assault shotgun mold Hasbro first used during the new sculpt era, but it’s still a shotgun. That’s all you need to make a good Flint figure in my opinion and I’m glad he’s still carrying a shotgun nearly 30 years later. Since the Resolute set also had a few random pistols
that didn’t really belong to anyone, I figured I’d give Flint a sidearm as well. It’s a good pistol mold and I’m glad Hasbro got away from that kind of terrible pistol they gave everyone during the early days of the 25th Anniversary line. With nothing but a shotgun and a pistol, you’d think Flint looks a little underprepared for combat, but between the solid accessory choices and the nicely designed webgear, he really doesn’t look that under equipped. The Resolute set figures proved less can sometimes be more. Don’t get me wrong, I love everything Pursuit of Cobra did for the line, but at times, the figures seemed almost a little too overloaded. However, Flint, even thought a metric ton of gear, looks quite appropriately ready for action in the field.

I really found myself enjoying the Resolute mini-series. Do I wish it was more than one batch of five minute shorts? Most definitely, but they managed to successfully walk a relatively fine line of making it adult enough to appeal to older Joe fans while still successfully paying homage to the history of the brand. Let’s be fair, Cobra Commander using the HAARP as a Weather Dominator is a straight-out-of-Sunbow move. But at the same time, the stakes were actually high enough to create a degree of tension in the cartoon, something that’s always been a little lacking. The character designs also reflected this sensibility. If you knew Flint from the old days, you’d have no problem picking him out in the line-up, but it was still a different and more real-world take on the character and his design. I’m very glad I ran into both Resolute sets at a brick and mortar store because they really were great additions. While unsurprisingly, I found the Cobra set to be better just because there was a little more variety in the figures’ looks, the Joe team looks like it stepped right off my screen for the most part and that’s always good to see. What’s more impressive is that they managed to do that through clever parts reuse for the bodies, new heads for everyone and character-specific webgear. I realize the modern construction style has its faults, but I think had Hasbro had to completely remold everyone’s torsos to achieve the more specific looks, we probably wouldn’t have gotten these figures is any form. I know the Joe designers lamented being unable to do a full Resolute roll out between the end of the 25th Anniversary line and the start of Rise of Cobra, but the modern construction style made it possible for them to throw us this bone.