Sideshow Collectibles - 12" Flint - A guest review by Chris "Mysterious Stranger" Polanski

Coke or Pepsi. Hagar or Roth. The Beatles or The Monkees. Trek or Wars.  North or South.  Dick York or Dick Sargent. What do these all have in common?  They are all “rivalries” that have left fans comparing and debating the merits of their preferred favorite for decades.  In G.I. Joe fandom there is no greater rivalry than that between Duke and Flint.  Ever since their introduction to the Joe mythos, each has gathered their fair share of fans and the comparisons between the two have generated some of the most heated and passionate debates since the internet was created.  Love ‘em or hate ‘em they are both great characters with unique qualities and even though they appear to do the same job, the way they do that job couldn’t be more different.

What does all of this have to do with Sideshow’s Flint figure?  Well I’m glad you asked because the differences and similarities of these two characters are basically at the heart of their respective figures as we look at the first G.I. Joe “repaint” in the Sideshow 12” figure line … Flint.

I never had a Duke or Flint figure as a kid.  The leader of my Joe team was and always will be General Hawk (v.2, coming out later this year from Sideshow) so the debate over who is better never occurred to me.  I won’t go too much further into that other than to say that to me each has their appeal and I have a place for them both in my Joeverse.

But back to the figure.  Flint presents a bit of a conundrum for me to review.  On one hand he’s a new character introduced into the line.  However on the other he uses a lot of the same basic “parts” as Duke and as such there isn’t a whole lot of new stuff to talk about.  First though let’s look at what gets reused here and then move on to the new.

Flint uses the same base body that Sideshow as the others in this line and it works extremely well.  Lots of articulation in all the right places so you can get some crazy posing.  Personally I like to find a nice relaxed but ready pose and leave them there for display but if you want to have Flint sitting cross-legged with his hands behind his head you can do it. I did have one issue with this particular figure that I feel I should mention.  His ankles are a bit loose and his boots spin freely without the pants tucked in to keep them in position.  I contacted Sideshow about this and they sent me new boots but I still have the same problem.  I’m 99% positive this is limited to just my figure and not something line wide but it bears mentioning.  It doesn’t detract from the look of the figure at all and as long as I’m not actively playing with him I don’t even notice it.

He’s wearing the same shirt and pants, boots and hands that came with Duke, only in Flint’s colors.  The difference a change in color makes is amazing.  I had to do a double take on the pants to be sure they were the same because the camo looks so much different from the plain OD green of Duke.  Aside from the color difference, Flint’s pants don’t have the velcro on the knees for the kneepads that Duke has.  And the shirt, in my opinion, looks much better here on Flint than on Duke.  The basic black with the red epaulets and silver badge just looks good.  I should note that in the pictures here Flint is missing one of the red epaulets on his right shoulder.  I contacted Sideshow about this and they replaced it within a couple of days.  I just didn’t go back and reshoot the pictures.

The hands and boots, as mentioned, are the same as Dukes, just in Flint’s colors.  I really like how they detailed Flint’s boots with the green sections on the sides.  Its little details like this that make this line so cool.

Flint gets equipped with the same holster and pistol as Duke but it comes in a matching tan color to go with his bullet belt and web gear.  The belt is another of those little touches that Sideshow does so well in this line.  They could have easily given us a recolor of Duke’s belt and I wouldn’t have noticed.  There are bullets sculpted around the front and it even has the eagle sculpted on the gold buckle.  Going the extra mile like this really shows they are paying attention.

Flint’s web gear might look like the same as the Cobra Troopers but its not.  It’s a simply “Y” back with removable pouches along the belt for ammo and canteens and it has additional shotgun shell bandoliers attached to the shoulder straps.  Getting the shotgun shells into the loops on the bandoliers took some work and they don’t hang perfectly but for the most part I really like how they look.  They also twisted some and are difficult to lay flat against his chest but the removable shells is a great feature and goes along with the level of detail I’ve come to expect from Sideshow.  Something to note, there are more shells than loops so don’t freak out when you end up with extra parts.  There really isn’t anywhere to put the extras unless you want to throw them in a pocket on his pants or shirt but it’s nice to have them. I’ve got mine in the packaging tray for now.  Again, another little detail that Sideshow threw in to make the price worth it.

Some people have complained that Flint’s head sculpt doesn’t quite fit the character.  I’m not sure what they are seeing that I’m not but I really like the look on Flint’s face.  It’s an attractive face and he’s got a determined yet questioning look in his eyes that says “I don’t know about that but I’ll go along with it”.

Unlike Duke, Flint has a nice close-cropped hair cut, almost to the scalp and it works, especially with the molded beret.  The beret is one of those things that might divide some people.  Being molded plastic has some advantages over cloth. For one it holds its shape much better and has more detail showing than a scale cloth beret would.  But its plastic and it looks plastic.  Whereas the weapons and other accessories look more realistic, the beret just look and feels like a toy.  They may have fixed that plastic look with Dusty.  I’m not sure how I feel about their “fix” just yet however.  As it is Flint looks good with and without his cap and I like how he’s different from Duke.

Now let’s talk a bit about his load out.  I picked up the exclusive version which includes the short shotgun on the lower right of the tray but the regular version comes with everything else seen here.  In addition to the grenades, pistol, clips and individual shotgun shells Flint comes armed with a few choices in weapon.

He’s got a more modern tactical pump shotgun that has a sliding pump and sight as well as a strap.

The, now standard, XMLR-3A laser rifle, straight from the cartoon.

And the exclusive shotgun (which would look great in the hands of a certain Colonial Marine, “… for close encounters”).  You can also see his removable wristwatch that fits a bit loose but still works.

Overall, Flint could be considered a repaint but he’s a repaint done extremely well.  Sideshow has utilized their (growing) catalog of parts and is making them work for the widest variety of characters possible.  In a realistic style as these figures are done, the reuse makes a lot of sense.  Using the same pattern for pants but in different colored material is something that is logical and cost effective, both in the real world and in the toy world.  As long as it doesn’t detract from the end product I have no problems with reuse at all.  And Flint is different enough from Duke, with the right unique pieces to make him who he is that the reuse is a non-issue for me.  I’m still not choosing sides in the “Duke vs. Flint” war but I’m certainly glad I have the two of them side by side to make an informed decision, should that day ever come.

GRADE: