G.I. Joe: Retaliation - Flint

G.I. Joe: Retaliation proved that there are some inherent struggles with making a G.I. Joe film for mass media consumption, and one of the largest issues was simply the huge cast of characters. There are so many different characters on both sides of the G.I. Joe and Cobra conflict, and so many of those characters are fan favorites, it can be extremely difficult to narrow down a list of vital personnel for a film franchise. For many of those top characters, though, I have to say Flint is probably one of my favorites, so I was thrilled that he was elected to join the film. As a big fan of the Detroit 187 television show as well, I was familiar with DJ Cotrona, and excited to see him play one of my favorite G.I. Joe officers.

I've heard many fans complain about how Flint was treated in the film sequel, but I'm not sure I am 100% on board with those complaints. Certainly the Hollywood character doesn't have that intellectual foundation of the Rhodes Scholar character from the comics and toyline, but I do think he showed a heavy capacity for the smarmy arrogance that seeps through in Flint's filecard. I loved how he challenged Roadblock's command in several instances and I could definitely see the beginnings of leadership starting to rise there. His interactions with Lady Jaye were nice and understated, and I think DJ Cotrona did a really good job in this role.

Part of my love of the film version of Flint, too, was that they elected to make him a Parkour specialist. I know the whole free-running craze is kind of a fad and a totally ineffective mode of combat in the real world (especially in the military) but for some reason I'm infatuated with that style of running, jumping, and fluid combat. The small sequences in the film where Flint vaults over something, shoots someone in the face, then slides and swings over something else really had me geeking out, and the idea of Flint being an accomplished hand-to-hand combat guy as well as an officer and a soldier was a really neat element. To say I was excited to get a film accurate version of this character in my toy collection was an understatement.

The action figure delivers on all levels as well. Much of the figure's foundation is from Agent Mouse, which is a good thing... no, a great thing as Agent Mouse was an early highlight for the Retaliation line. I loved the figure so much I bought an early sample and didn't regret it for a second. The main difference with Flint is that he has short-sleeved arms (from Renegades Duke and Law I believe) instead of the G.I. Joe Trooper upper arms, a fact which actually increases range of motion and gives him a little separation from the other figures. One thing I'm not a huge fan of is that his neck is actually tooled and attached to the cloth around it (because he uses the G.I. Joe Trooper torso) so that scarf around his neck is not removable. That is a minor complaint, I suppose, but it is a complaint, because without that cloth he would look much cooler without the vest and there would be more flexibility for other webgear if you so choose.

For paint applications, Hasbro went with a pure black t-shirt which matches the characters look in the film, and also is a nice call back to his vintage figure, who wore a black shirt with rolled up sleeves. The camouflage pants are desert themed instead of jungle (for obvious reasons) but like with other figures, the digital camouflage is extremely well done, looking quite real and breaking the figure apart nicely from other contemporaries. This camouflage also ties him in quite nicely with Duke and Lady Jaye, and the desert themes bring Agent Mouse into the squad perfectly as well. Great design, great actor-likeness head sculpt, and excellent paint makes for a very cool looking figure that manages to be quite film accurate as well.

ACCESSORIES

Like other figures in this series, Flint comes with a veritable arsenal of equipment, from two flavors of automatic shotgun, to a couple of submachine guns, and even a Rise of Cobra era pulse rifle! Once again there is evidence that the same tooling source is used for all four of the gray weapons above, as they were included with RoC Paris Pursuit Baroness, PoC Beachhead, and now Flint, and you can almost assume if the figure gets one of these weapons, they'll get the others.

I love the paint applications on one of the automatic shotguns as well, as it adds some nice detail, and matches Lady Jaye's SCAR, too.

Flint also comes with a knife that slides into the sheath at the small of his back, the trusty battle vest, helmet, and even a separate parachute pack and parachute. The parachute has a very nice G.I. Joe logo emblazoned on it, and was a very cool addition. And it's going to sound strange, but I didn't even realize this vest (as well as Agent Mouse's) was the same as Duke's vest, just with some more distinctive paint applications. Yes, apparently, I don't pay attention very well.

Was Flint somewhat overshadowed in the Retaliation film? Yeah, I think that's safe to say. He wasn't The Rock or Bruce Willis, or a bad ass ninja flying down a mountain...but I do think for being a fringe character that he was, he got a fair amount of personality, and some awesome moments in combat. I think this version of Flint is pretty excellent and a great tribute to the film character of the same name. I will happily put this bad boy on my Retaliation shelf.

GRADE: