 It's Sunday Cobra Commander 788 here and it's time for another vintage GI Joe Toy Review and we are rolling along with Tiger Force Month and this week we are looking at what I think is an important Tiger Force figure because he's an important character in GI Joe. Flint really made a splash when he was introduced in 1985 so I'm eager to look at the second version of Flint from 1988, the Tiger Force Flint. Flint was kind of a fan favorite and I can see why. This guy was a leader and the first version of his figure looked really cool. HTC 788 presents Tiger Force Flint. This is Tiger Force Flint, version 2 of Flint, first available in 1988 as part of the first wave of Tiger Force action figures, the sub team of GI Joe. This figure was also available in 1989 and was discontinued for the year 1990. Version 1 of Flint was introduced in 1985 and version 2, the Tiger Force Flint, reuses exactly the same mold as version 1, just recolored with his Tiger Force colors. Flint was part of the command structure of GI Joe and in the GI Joe cartoon they pretty clearly laid out that structure. The pecking order had General Hawk at the top, followed by Duke, represented here by the Tiger Force version of Duke. Flint was after him and then fourth in line was Beachhead. In the GI Joe comic book that command structure is less defined. You definitely still had General Hawk at the top, followed by Duke, but after that you had maybe Stalker, even though Stalker was a non-commissioned officer, he did lead a lot of missions and Flint led some missions too, so he definitely was somewhere in that command structure, but you also need to fit Lieutenant Falcon in there somewhere. The command hierarchy in the GI Joe comic book was just less defined. Tiger Force had its own internal command hierarchy and we will talk about that later in this video. In both the GI Joe comic book and the cartoon, Flint is shown to have a romantic involvement with Lady J, and although I don't think it's absolutely necessary for GI Joe's to pair off as boyfriend and girlfriend, nonetheless I do think they make a good couple. They fit well together. Let's take a look at Tiger Force Flint starting with his weapon and he comes with this riot shotgun, I-12 short barrel. Combat shotguns do exist, and they are used by the US military, but it's not so easy to nail down whether this is based on a real-world weapon or not. Tiger Force Flint's shotgun is molded in grave plastic, and it is exactly the same as Version 1's shotgun, except Version 1 of Flint's shotgun was in green instead of gray, and I have to say I think I prefer the green. Let's take a look at Tiger Force Flint's backpack, and this backpack, like the shotgun, is an exact copy of the original backpack, would just have a gray plastic instead of green, but it is exactly the same mold. The backpack features a couple of grenades, a canteen that is very nicely sculpted, beautifully detailed, and a couple of sticks of dynamite. Now, this is something that struck me as a little bit odd on Version 1 of Flint's backpack. Now, because he didn't seem to have a background in demolitions, but the file card for Tiger Force Flint kind of changed that. Let's look at the articulation on Tiger Force Flint. He had the standard articulation of 1985 G.I. Joe action figures. The year Version 1 of Flint was released, but that was pretty good articulation. He could move his head from side to side and look up and down, although it's pretty tight on this one. He could lift his arm up at the shoulder about so far and swivel it at the shoulder all the way around. He could move at the elbow about 90 degrees and swivel at the bicep all the way around. The figure was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside, so he could move at the torso a little bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could move his leg at the hip about 90 degrees, and he could bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's look at the sculpt design and color of Tiger Force Flint, starting with his head, and this is where we really have to start comparing him with Version 1. He has a brown beret and black hair. He has a little painted, looks like a gold painted badge on his beret. Version 1 of Flint had, still had black hair, same head sculpt, but he had a black beret with a red beret flash. I know they wanted to change the colors for the Tiger Force version, but I think that black beret on Version 1 looks a lot better. I really think you lose something when you change the black to brown. On Flint's chest we have a brown shirt and we have green straps with shotgun shells for his shotgun. I think that's very nice. We have some gold paint on the shells and some gold paint on his parachutist badge. They did not leave that detail unpainted, so that's very nice. I appreciate that. We do have that brown shirt with some black Tiger Stripe camouflage. That same basic design continues on the back. On his arms he has rolled up sleeves for that brown shirt and more Tiger Stripe camouflage. He has kind of beefy arms, which looks kind of cool. He has gray gloves and on his left wrist he has a green watch, and that is a painted detail. I do appreciate the fact that they did paint these small details on Tiger Force Flint like they did on the original. Not all Tiger Force figures did that. Some Tiger Force figures had fewer painted details than the original figure did. These arms were also used on the 1987 Malloway exclusive Starduster, and really I was just looking for an excuse to put Starduster in this video. Here again I have to say, I prefer Version 1's chest and arms. I really think that black shirt really sold that first action figure. I just think that black adds depth and dimension to the color scheme with that really dark inky black and the brown just doesn't do that. On his waist he has a double belt painted green instead of the original brown. He has a gold painted belt buckle and that's very nice. Looks like it's stamped with a U.S. Belt continues around the back. He has a dark green trousers, a couple of pockets on the front of his thighs. He has a gray pistol in an unpainted pistol holster, but to be fair, the pistol holster on the original was also unpainted. Those dark green trousers continue down to his lower legs and he has some gray boots. Now, Version 1 of Flint had jungle boots and that's something I really liked about that, but these look more like just regular combat boots in gray. Let's take a look at Tiger Force Flint's file card and of course we will compare it with Version 1's file card. It has this faction as G.I. Joe and it has a portrait of Flint here and this portrait is almost the same as Version 1's file card portrait, but they did a little more than just change his colors to the Tiger Force colors. They added this little ascot or scarf that he's wearing that is not present in the original. It is also not on the action figure so I don't know why they bothered to do that. Also, I don't think the portrait of Flint on the file card looks very much like the action figure. I think the action figure, the facial expression looks a bit more sly and devilish, whereas the portrait on the file card looks more like old Hollywood hero. His code name is Flint and he is the Tiger Force Warrant Officer Special Forces. Flint's code name may have been inspired by G.I. Joe animated series writer, Flint Dilly, but I'm not sure that origin has been confirmed. That's more of a rumor. His file name is Dashel R. Fairborn and this name requires some explanation. Flint's first name, Dashel, comes from Dashel Hammett, an American writer of hardboiled detective stories and the author of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man. Flint's family name, Fairborn, is a modification of Fairbairn, named after William E. Fairbairn, a British soldier and police officer and co-inventor of the Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knife. So Flint's real name is both literary and military reference. His primary military specialty is infantry, his secondary military specialty is demolitions and remember the dynamite on his backpack that kind of fits with that. However, on version one of Flint's file card, it has his secondary military specialty as helicopter pilot and that fits with him being a warrant officer. A warrant officer is someone who specializes in some technical area and if he attends warrant officer's flight school, that would make him a helicopter pilot just like on version one file card. But on the Tiger Force file card, the references to him being a helicopter pilot are scrubbed off and now he's a demolitions expert. His birthplace is Wichita, Kansas and his grade is W3 and this actually fixes something that was wrong on version one's file card. Version one had his grade as E6 but that's not correct for a warrant officer. A warrant officer has a pay grade of W1 through W5 and so that is correct for Flint. G.I. Joe did have another warrant officer who was a helicopter pilot from 1986 lift ticket who was the pilot of the Tomahawk helicopter. According to his file card, he was a warrant officer with a grade of W02, I think that mean W2. So his rank comes in behind Flint as it should. This section says Flint was a Rhodes scholar and earned his degree in English lit. The Rhodes Scholarship was established by the British mining magnate Cecil John Rhodes and the purpose is to bring a non-British students to study at the University of Oxford. So Flint spent some time in the UK studying at a prestigious university. Bored with the groves of academic, he enlisted in the army and applied the tenacity and concentration he had used so well scholastically to grind his way through airborne school, ranger school, special forces school and finally warrant officers flight school. So Flint is a helicopter pilot graduating each with top honors. This bottom section has a quote and it has a nice little story. It says, we thought Cobra had us in the stinking dungeon for goods so we didn't know what was going down when we heard that chopper coming in and all the heavy hardware going off like the fourth of July. Then somebody kicked down the door to our cell and when the smoke cleared, there was Flint with that lopsided grin saying, come on boys, we're going home. I think this is a well-written little story and I think it would sound lovely read by Garrison Keeler. It was a desperate time in Lake Wobegon. We had thought Cobra had us in that stinking dungeon for good so we didn't know what was going on when we heard that chopper coming in and all the heavy hardware going off like the fourth of July. Then someone kicked in the door to our cell and when the smoke cleared, there was Flint with that lopsided grin saying, come on boys, we're going home. Okay, that wasn't a great impression of Garrison Keeler and by the way, if you don't know who Garrison Keeler is, shame on you. Flint was very prominent in G.I. Joe media. In the G.I. Joe cartoon series, Flint first appeared in his version one uniform in Revenge of Cobra part one. Though it's worth noting that in the cartoon, Flint had a green shirt instead of a black shirt. Flint made many other appearances in the G.I. Joe cartoon series but only in his version one form. Tiger Force came out in 1988 and that unfortunately was in the gap between the Sunbow animated series and the Deke animated series so no Tiger Force Flint appearances. In the Deke animated series, Flint did appear as the leader of the eco warriors. In the G.I. Joe comic book series, Flint first appeared in issue number 37 and that was a so-so first appearance but he had a lot of good moments in the G.I. Joe comic book series including leading several important missions. Even though Tiger Force did appear a couple times in the G.I. Joe comic book series, there were no appearances of Flint in his Tiger Force uniform as far as I've been able to find out. Now Flint did appear in a Tiger Force vehicle in the Tiger Force Tiger Cat but he was still wearing his version one uniform. I mentioned earlier that Flint was romantically involved with Lady J in both the cartoon and the comic book series and I think this is a good fit. They are both scholars. Flint was a Rhodes scholar and Lady J attended Bryn Mawr and Trinity College and after these guys retire from the army, I could definitely see them both going for their doctorates and ending up as professors at Ivy League universities. Let's talk about the command structure of Tiger Force. Tiger Force was led by Duke and that kind of makes sense. At one point, Duke was the field commander of the whole G.I. Joe team so I could see Duke as being permanently assigned as the leader of a sub team of G.I. Joe like Tiger Force but the problem I have with that is that Flint was also a leader on the G.I. Joe team and I could also see Flint as being assigned as the permanent leader of a sub team like Tiger Force. I don't think you necessarily need two leaders for Tiger Force. Tiger Force is a small unit. It could be led by either Duke or Flint. I don't think it needs both. I could see Tiger Force maybe being commanded by Flint and then maybe Duke being assigned as the permanent leader of another G.I. Joe sub team. I just don't think it makes sense to have both of them on Tiger Force. That brings us to the lineup of Tiger Force which I think we need to talk about. Tiger Force is kind of a mish-mash of different specialties that don't all necessarily fit together. I mean, there isn't really a common theme that runs through the whole lineup of Tiger Force. I mean, you have Tripwire on the same Tiger Force team as Roadblock and Bazooka and Dusty, a desert trooper and even an Arctic trooper and a pilot. It doesn't really necessarily fit together and there isn't really an in-universe explanation that's very satisfying to me. I really honestly think the lineup of Tiger Force was dictated by the molds that Hasbro had readily available so they could cheaply stamp out new action figures. That may be a little cynical on my part but I really think that is how the Tiger Force lineup was decided. So what do I think of Tiger Force Flint overall? Version one of Flint I thought was an excellent action figure. I really liked the black beret and shirt. I thought that gave the figure some nice depth and a feel of quality. Tiger Force Flint's color scheme is not bad. It's certainly a lot better than a lot of other Tiger Force figures color schemes. It doesn't have bright colors, no bright orange. It still has pretty good military colors and camouflage. The problem is it isn't as good as the original, changing the black from the original to brown makes it look more dull. Also I think it was a mistake to put the Tiger Strike camouflage on the shirt which leaves the legs mostly unpainted and very plain. So I do prefer version one of Flint. Now if we did not have version one of Flint to compare this figure to, it would be an okay action figure but Tiger Force was entirely reissued toys. So if you're gonna ask kids to buy toys that they already had, you really need to add something and Tiger Force Flint just doesn't. As some of you may know, 1988 was my last year for collecting G.I. Joe as a kid and I did get some Tiger Force action figures. None of the vehicles but I did get some of the figures and I was even excited about getting Tiger Force Duke because Tiger Force Duke replaced my original Duke action figure which had been lost or broken long before then but I'm pretty sure I did not get Tiger Force Flint. For one thing I'm pretty sure I still had my original Flint action figure and so there wasn't really any reason to get a replacement especially the Tiger Force Flint which didn't look as nice as the original but looking at these toys for Tiger Force Month gives us a chance to learn about Tiger Force overall. It also gives us a chance to have another look at characters that I really like and I really like Flint and next week we're gonna look at another character that I really like so stay tuned. That was my review of Tiger Force Flint. I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to check back next week for the final review of Tiger Force Month. You don't wanna miss that and don't forget to do the things that I always ask you to do. Just go to YouTube and push all the buttons. Like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter and don't forget to check back next week for another Tiger Force toy review and don't forget until then only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe.