Tiger Force Flint (25th Anniversary)

by KansasBrawler

To this day, Flint has always been my favorite Joe character. I loved his portrayal in the cartoon as someone who was kind of cocky, but he clearly had the skills to back it up as soldier and as a leader. However, growing up, I was a little too young to have had the original Flint figure. Thanks to the Tiger Force subset, though, I didn’t have to miss out. Tiger Force Flint was one of my go-to figures back in the day and I thought that design for Flint was so great, I never really felt the need to replace him even though there were a couple of good versions of him later in the line (unlike either Dress Blues Gung-Ho or Tiger Force Roadblock who eventually did get replaced by later, better versions). I’ll admit, I was kind of bummed that I never did find the first 25th Anniversary version of Flint, but then I got really happy when I learned that they were going to be re-releasing him, this time in the Tiger Force colors. I liked Flint’s original look, but I was even happier that I could add a version of Flint that looked like my version.

I’ll freely admit, the early 25th Anniversary stuff was pretty weak. Looking back, I’m actually not all that disappointed I couldn’t find the Wave 1 Flint because comparatively, he’s pretty inferior. Tiger Force Flint still has some flaws, but they’re not nearly as bad as the standard Flint because unlike the Wave 1 Flint, he actually gets more new parts than just his head. Tiger Force Flint still shares his torso and legs with 25th Anniversary Duke, but he gets new arms and (at least according to YoJoe) a new head. I’m not sure the head is different from the first 25th Anniversary Flint, but since I don’t have him in my collection, I can’t really do a side-by-side comparison. The anatomy on Flint’s arms is a bit strange to say the least, however, I vastly prefer them to the gimpy Duke arms that the first 25th Anniversary version had. Yes, by the line’s current standards, they’re dated but in 2008, they were a huge step up from those awful Duke arms (fixed or slit-wrist version). I do have a little bit of a problem with his hands as well. While I like the fact that Hasbro designed his hands in a way to reflect the fact that Flint has always been left-handed (another fact that appealed to me as a kid since I was also a lefty), he has a little bit of the same problem 25th Anniversary Roadblock does—he can only hold his weapons one way that works. His hands work really well to hold his signature shotgun in a two-handing firing position, but that’s really about it. The grip on his right hand is just too loose to securely hold anything other than the front part of a shotgun. I like that he can realistically hold his weapon, but I also wish he could hold both his shotgun and his pistol at the same time. I’m glad that Hasbro eventually got back to giving characters a bit more neutral hand grips so they could effectively hold weapons in both hands. To help hide the fact that Duke and Flint have the same torso, Flint is also wearing great character-specific removable webgear. Flint’s shotgun shell suspenders look great in the modern form. That was one thing I always really loved about Flint’s original look and the Hasbro designers did a great job replicating them here as a removable piece. I’m unfortunately of two minds about Flint’s head sculpt. It’s a very nice piece, but another defining feature of the original Flint mold (at least to me) was his cocky grin. It was an understated smirk (since apparently Hasbro learned their lesson from “Grinning Like An Idiot” Duke) but it really screamed Flint. However, the more serious look he has now is a bit better analog to the comic’s take on Flint. He was still a bit cocky in the comic, but it was toned down a bit compared to the cartoon because the characters didn’t have to be nearly as broad in the comic to get their traits across. I kind of miss the smirk, but that being said, it’s still a good look for Flint and it took quite a while for Hasbro to make a modern Flint that I actually felt was good enough to replace this nostalgic favorite as my default Flint.

Of course, Tiger Force is all about repainting figures, so the real change between Flints comes from the paint job. Tiger Force may not have been super unified in how they represented their tiger colors, but across the board, I’ve always thought original American Tiger Force figures probably had the best repaint color scheme. Flint wears a brown shirt with black stripes and a matching brown beret and dark green pants. The color scheme works well not just on him but it actually fits decently with the only other original Tiger Force character released in the 25th Anniversary line, Tiger Force Duke. They’re wearing similar colors just with their positions reversed. The paint detailing on the webgear is also very impressive, with each visible end of the shotgun shell getting some color to make it clear they’re shells and not just a random bulge in the suspender. The other real difference between Tiger Force Flint and Wave 1 Flint is their skin tone. Tiger Force Flint’s skin is molded in flesh tone rather than it being painted on. Ever since the SpyTroops era, I’ve always preferred molded flesh tone rather than painted because the detailing is a bit sharper. This skin tone also gives Flint a little tanner look. The Wave 1 Flint looks rather pasty in comparison to this Flint who picked up a pretty deep tan while on assignment with Tiger Force. I actually prefer the tanner look just because it looks a little more realistic. Sometimes it doesn’t work (just look at the Crimson Twins from the 2009 Joe Con set) but for Tiger Force Flint it doesn’t look that bad.

I’ve already mentioned most of Flint’s gear, but I’ll still review it here quickly just for the sake of completeness. Looking back at the 25th Anniversary line, it’s amazing how satisfied we all were with light gear loads. Compared to later Joes, they all look rather underequipped and Tiger Force Flint is no exception, but what little gear he does have is good and is a great representation of his classic equipment. Flint’s primary weapon is a shotgun, but rather than the old-school pump-action shotgun he used back in the day, he has upgraded to a more modern assault shotgun with a pistol grip and a backstock that can be folded down (at least in the real world). It looks great in Flint’s hands and I’ve always felt that the shotgun for Flint is just about as iconic as Buzzer’s chainsaw. If you’re not going to bother giving him that weapon, why even do it? To fill his holster, Flint also gets a pistol. It’s a good piece, but it’s shame he can’t hold it that well because of how his hands are designed. That’s really all he gets, but that’s fine. That’s about all he came with back in the day. I did initially find myself wishing that 25th Anniversary Tiger Force Flint had a backpack since pretty much all carded Joes back in the day came with one, but I don’t know if I miss the backpacks all that much anymore. Yeah, if I was having the Joes on a mission where they were away from the base for a long period of time, they’d all need backpacks, but I still really don’t remember using the backpacks all that much as a kid after I first got the figures. Now that they’re on display most of the time instead of being played with, I’m not sure all Joes need backpacks. Guys like Tunnel Rat or Low-Light need them in my opinion, but I’m not sure Tiger Force Flint has to have a backpack to be considered a complete update.

Tiger Force Flint is probably my favorite nostalgic purchase from the 25th Anniversary line. I have very fond memories of my original Tiger Force Flint and this 25th Anniversary recreation really recaptured the memories I have. They did a great job replicating the original look and I’m very glad they invested some money into tooling up some new arms for him. Yeah, they’re dated by today’s standards, but they’re still way better than the Duke arms. This is a Flint that’s ready for action and even though he’s not on display in the shelf, he has been dusted off to fill a seat in my Eaglehawk since I got it just about the same time as IDW was doing the Darklon mission arc where Flint led a team from the Tomahawk. I tried to recreate the team, but when I learned my Lady Jaye was the older version that can’t really sit, I had to re-evaluate the mission team, but even after re-evaluation, Tiger Force Flint was still a good enough figure to be team leader of my Eaglehawk strike force.