Flint (G.I. Joe)

Flint is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero series. He was originally created as a character for the Sunbow G.I. Joe cartoon series in 1984, and later introduced into the comic book and produced as an action figure in 1985.

Profile
Flint is the Warrant Officer for the G.I. Joe Team. His real name is Dashiell R. Faireborn, and he was born in Wichita, Kansas. He is a Rhodes Scholar and holds a degree in English literature. He graduated with top honors from Airborne School, Ranger School, Special Forces School and Flight Warrant Officers School. As a master tactician, he also oversaw several strategically important rescue missions. Because of his credentials, Duke brought him in to the G.I. Joe Team.

Flint's action figure card describes him as a "Warrant Officer" but his character profile states his grade as E-6 for his original release. All subsequent releases give him a Rank of WO-2.

Toy history
As of May 2009, Flint has had 15 different 3$3⁄4$" figures and at least 2 different 12" figures.

Vintage/Modern
Flint was first released as part of series 4 in 1985. Common elements of many of his appearances are his beret and his choice of a shotgun for a weapon. The figure was repainted and released as part of the Tiger Force line in 1988. For his 1991 release as part of the Eco-Warriors, Flint's body was molded from color changing plastic that would change to show sludge damage when hit with cold water.

A new version of Flint was released in 1994 as part of the Battle Corps line.

A version of Flint with no accessories came with the Built to Rule Ground Striker in 2004. The forearms and the calves of the figure sported places where blocks could be attached.

Sigma 6
Flint never appeared in the G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 TV series, though a Sigma 6 action figure was released near the end of the line.

25th Anniversary
Flint was released in 2007 with the first wave of single packs, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. In 2008, he was released disguised as a Cobra officer with a removable mask.

Flint was also released as part of the Hall of Heroes series. The figure came packaged on a blister card and in a special collectors' box. The first wave was released in April 2009.

Marvel Comics
In the Marvel Comics G.I. Joe series, he first appeared in issue #37. He helps save the lives of Ripcord, Gung-Ho and Blowtorch.

Flint is a featured character in the Special Missions back-up story for issue #50. Along with Beach-Head and Lady Jaye, he successfully infiltrates a terrorist held airplane. All of the adversaries are neutralized.

Flint takes some private time to try and romance Lady Jaye. He thinks she is accepting his advances when she pulls him into some bushes. She is hiding from Cobra Eels, underwater troopers who are providing backup support for a Cobra invasion of Joe Headquarters. Flint takes on all of the Cobra soldiers by himself, allowing Lady Jaye to warn the others. There are tears in her eyes as she runs off. Flint escapes an EEL executioner and is seen later, injured and bleeding but still mobile.

Flint, Lady Jaye, Scarlett and Snake-Eyes take a vacation in the island country of Grenada. Flint witnesses what seems to be the death of the latter two; they had actually faked an explosion so as to go rescue three Joes the USA had written off.

Flint's relationship with Lady Jaye hits an important point in issue #67. Scarlett and Snake-Eyes come back with the Joes. Flint is angry they had not been let in on things. Lady Jaye punches Flint and lectures him that the other two did what they did because they cared. Flint replies "Like you do?" Scarlett then escorts Snake-Eyes away from Flint and Lady Jaye hugging.

Flint briefly leads the Joe sub-team, the "Eco-Warriors". With Ozone and Clean-Sweep, he confronts the Cobra agent Cesspool, who is causing a pollution disaster from an abandoned oil platform.

Flint also had his more brutal side, as shown in a mission in war-torn Wolkekuckuckland. He and Lady Jaye stumble upon two Cobra soldiers. Flint is forced to kill his opponent. The other man, a Cobra Viper, surrenders to Lady Jaye. Flint says they cannot take prisoners, and offers to kill the man if she is not able to do it. In the end, the prisoner lived. The two soldiers also have to deal with Wolkekuckuckland's leader and the man's traitorous assistant.

Reinstatement
When G.I. Joe disbands, Flint and Lady Jaye marry. When G.I. Joe is reformed, they both return to the team, just as Flint is starting to write a book on his experiences in G.I. Joe. Many of their teammates comment that Flint's marriage to Lady Jaye seems to have a positive effect on him, causing him to mellow out a great deal. Flint's book, Fight For Freedom, becomes popular, and he goes on a book tour for it.

Flint resumed his duties as the team's primary tactician, while Lady Jaye eventually became the Joes' Head of Intelligence and a field commander. The murder of Lady Jaye by Red Shadows member Dela Eden in front of him, causes Flint to go up against the Red Shadows alone. In reality, it was a set-up allowing Snake-Eyes, Duke, Scarlett and General Ray to attack. Flint was able to confront and defeat Dela Eden, yet he could not kill her.

America’s Elite
When G.I. Joe re-formed with a smaller roster and covert status (in G.I. Joe: America's Elite), Flint was called back to active duty. However, the death of Lady Jaye had caused him to seemingly become a new person. His face now bears scars possibly due to his more aggressive approach in battle. The charismatic, well-spoken and confident to the point of arrogance Warrant Officer, was replaced by a sullen and brooding man who rarely speaks (when he does, it is usually to suggest maximum force against any size threat), and trains to become a better warrior at the cost of his humanity.

Flint would eventually walk out of the team to pursue his vendetta against the Shadows. However, he found something else entirely - the Baroness, alive and dealing with the Red Shadows. Torn between duty and revenge, Flint chose to go after the Baroness, confronting her on her plane. Unable to shoot for fear of ripping open the plane, the Baroness defeated Flint one-on-one, promising that he would join Lady Jaye soon.

Flint is rescued after this by members of the G.I. Joe team, before the group as a whole is captured by Cobra Commander, who is strong arming Baroness and Destro. Baroness helps the Joe team escape by slipping Flint a key as she "kissed him good-bye," saving Flint and the Joe team members from execution.

Sunbow Series
Flint's first animated appearance was in the second G.I. Joe miniseries, The Revenge of Cobra, in which he was presented as the second in command, filling in for Duke as G.I. Joe team leader, after Duke is captured by Cobra. Flint then became a recurring character throughout the first season, often alternating in the commanding officer role with Duke. When General Hawk was introduced, Duke was made second in command while Flint became third in the chain. Flint's romance with Lady Jaye was a common piece of the storyline throughout the show, and one of the few things the cartoon had in common with the comic book. Flint was the only G.I. Joe character to have 3 PSA appearances. He was voiced by Bill Ratner.

G.I. Joe: The Movie
In G.I. Joe: The Movie, Flint appears in the movie as leader of the rescue team that is searching for Roadblock. Like many of the characters from the previous seasons, he does not have a major part in the movie, but is seen throughout most of the movie.

DiC series
Flint makes a reappearance later in the second season of the DiC cartoon, as the leader of the "Eco-Warriors". He fights with his team to stop Cesspool from destroying the world with toxic waste. As with many characters from the Sunbow era, Flint's personality was changed. The series didn't refer to his relationship with Lady Jaye (who appeared in the first season, paired up with Captain Grid-Iron).

Transformers
Flint also has a connection to the Transformers series. Fans speculated for two decades that the character Marissa Faireborn in Transformers is his daughter, since they both share the same last name. In "The Killing Jar," she encounters an illusory version of her father, who was voiced by the same actor as Flint in the G.I. Joe series, Bill Ratner. The writers of both shows remained coy whether Marissa Faireborn was actually Flint and Lady Jaye's daughter or not. However, cast notes for "The Killing Jar" refer to Marissa's father as being "a 60-year-old Flint". The mystery was finally solved on November 7, 2006, with the 20th anniversary DVD release of The Transformers: The Movie. On an interview on the DVD, Flint Dille, story editor for Transformers, confirmed that Marissa Faireborn is indeed Flint and Lady Jaye's daughter.

Direct-to-video movies
Flint appeared in the direct-to-video CGI animated movies G.I. Joe: Spy Troops and G.I. Joe: Valor vs. Venom, voiced by Brian Dobson. He had a minor role in Valor vs Venom, working on a remote station in the jungle, with Gung-Ho, Beach Head and Tunnel Rat under his command.

G.I. Joe: Resolute
In G.I. Joe: Resolute, Flint is second-in-command during the HAARP crisis. When Duke is personally seeing to the Siberian strike, Flint takes command on the USS Flagg, overseeing the gathering of information by the support staff and the deployment of Joe squads to HAARP and a stratalite formation. When Cobra's secondary HAARP targets the USS Flagg, Flint leads the evacuation and, on board a mobile HQ in a Globemaster, hands command back to the returned Duke. He then joins in the raid on Cobra's base at Springfield.

G.I. Joe: Renegades
In G.I. Joe: Renegades, Flint is a commissioned officer (First Lieutenant) in Army Intelligence rather than a warrant officer (although the "file-card" image in the show's title credits still lists him as a warrant officer). He is also opposed to the Renegades and is assigned to arrest them by General Abernathy following the destruction of Cobra Pharmaceuticals. He uses Lady Jaye as his contact to capture the Renegades, but is unaware that she is actually supporting Duke against orders and against Flint. He is aware she's sympathetic to Duke, however, and believed this would make her more willing to bring him in safely (in the episode "The Descent"). In describing his character, Duke refers to Flint as a "blowhard," but one who is "clean" (episode 7, "The Homecoming, Part 2").

In a flashback as seen in the two-part episode "Homecoming," Flint was a football player who led his team to victory with a play that ended up breaking Duke's leg. Flint was happy to rub this in until he realized how serious the damage had been and that this ruined Duke's chance to get a football scholarship to college. To help him out, Flint got him a job in the army. In a later encounter, after seeing Duke save another soldier's life, he pushed to get the man a medal. Despite his overbearing and arrogant manner, Flint in "Homecoming Part 2" claims that he is Duke's friend and has only ever tried to help him. When the Renegades are briefly in custody in "Homecoming", Flint interrogates Duke: he doesn't believe the truth about Cobra Industries but as he knows Duke is a good man, Flint believes he was coerced into destroying a Cobra factory on behalf of unknown backers who will now want to silence him. Because of this belief, Flint has the Renegades' families under armed protection so they can't be targeted. When the Baroness attacks the prison transport train, he reluctantly recruits the Joes to fight her off; when they escape afterwards, he deliberately doesn't shoot Duke when he has a clear shot.

While Flint is an antagonist, he's still shown to be one of the good guys. In "Busted", Flint launched a raid on a prison where the prison's corrupt warden was holding illegal fights between the inmates. Before he raided, he had the guard at the gate tell the warden to "surrender his fugitives and himself" or they will be coming in by force. When the warden told the guard that contacted him to retaliate by attacking Flint's group, Flint started the raid.

In "Knockoffs", he showed distrust of and distaste for Baroness' Cobra troopers at the time when he and Lady Jaye were using Zartan to track the Joes. When Zartan escaped with the Chameleon Mold meant for Cobra Commander, Baroness stated to Flint that she though he was with the Joes. Flint had to call in Wild Bill to help them track down Zartan.

In "Prodigal," the Joes had to arrange for Ripcord (who was discovered to have been turned into a Human/Bio-Viper Hybrid) to surrender to Flint's group. Flint was surprised at the fact that Ripcord had survived the explosion of Cobra Pharmaceuticals. When a Cobra Drone got near the helicopter that Ripcord was one, Ripcord ended up turning into his Human/Bio-Viper form and jumped out knocking out Flint in the process. Due to Flint being knocked out, Lady Jaye had to call off the pursuit.

In "Cousins," Flint and Lady Jaye bring in Heavy Duty to track down Roadblock.

Live-action movie
It was announced that actor D.J. Cotrona is cast as Flint in the sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

Video game
Flint appears as one of the characters in the first Action Force video game.

In other media

 * Bill Ratner reprises his role of Flint in the Family Guy episode "North by North Quahog." Flint appears in a parody of the "Knowing is half the battle" public service announcements that were common after the end of many G.I. Joe episodes. He appears out of a bathroom stall in Chris Griffin's school to talk about the downsides to abusing alcohol. He was never mentioned by name.
 * Flint appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Toys in the Hood." He is shown carpooling with He-Man, Lion-O, and Superman. Bill Ratner reprises his role of Flint in the episode "Day at the Circus". Flint later makes a cameo in the episode "More Blood, More Chocolate" where he and the other Joes storm Cobra Command and plant an American Flag in Cobra Commander's butt. In "PS: Yes In That Way," Flint was among the G.I. Joe members mocking their newest member Calvin AKA Doctor Fumbles. He is untimely sniped by Fumbles in the throat when the Joe Team were ambushed only leaving Duke alive. In "The Ramblings of Maurice," Flint was present at Junkyard's funeral.
 * In the webcomic Least I Could Do written by Ryan Sohmer, the main character, Rayne Summers, has once fallen asleep while playing with G.I. Joe action figures and played the role of Flint in a hallucinated battle between him and Cobra forces. During his hallucination, Summers is referred to by the other G.I. Joe soldiers as "Flint".
 * Pages 148-150 of the non-fiction e-book Diary of an American Boy has one young child's re-imagining of Flint's romance with Lady Jaye. Diary of an American Boy: A Poet, Athlete, Stud, and a Liar by Charles Pratt.