1988 Tiger Force Flint

The 1985 Flint figure is my favorite release in the entire history of the Joe line.  He had the distinction of being released right during the height of my childhood and bridging the time between when toys were played to death and the time when they were cared for.  To this day, that figure remains one of the most important to me and a version of that Flint will be among the final figures that I ever own.  Because of Flint's popularity in the comics and, especially, the cartoon, though, Flint himself didn't really get many retakes on his original design.  In the world over, there is really only one vintage version of the 1985 Flint mold that is materially different from the original: the 1988 Tiger Force Flint.

In 1988, I was done with Joe.  I bought three figures very early in the year: Hardball, Hit and Run and the Tiger Force Roadblock.  I bought the Roadblock just because our 1984 Roadblock accessories had long been destroyed and I could not pass up the opportunity to get Roadblock's weapons back into my collection.  Lost accessories were a staple of Flint, too.  I had lost several 1985 Flint rifles and had acquired no less than three versions of the vintage figure: vowing each time to not lose the shotgun that defined him.  But, inevitably, the shotguns were lost.  (The final one was lost in my grandparents' basement when my younger brother kicked it away while picking up some carpet squares.  I tore their basement apart, but never fount it.)  So, had the Tiger Force Flint been on the shelves that day in 1988, I'd have surely purchased him instead of Roadblock.  Destiny intervened, though, and this Flint didn't join my collection for another decade.

When this Flint finally did show up, though, he struggled to find a role.  With the 1985 Flint so prominent for me, that was always my first choice of figure to take out and photograph.  I ended up giving this Flint's shotgun to a custom law enforcement figure that I had lying around at the time.  It turns out that the shotgun will fit into Chuckles' holster.  So, this custom got both pieces of equipment.  In 2001, though, this holster and shotgun combo was transferred to the Funskool Supercop figure.  He still wears them in my display today.  The figure itself still doesn't get much use.  While the 1985 Flint still finds his way into tons of my photos (The Funskool Flint, too!) this 1988 version is less popular.  I only had one or two photos of him in my archive.  Which, when you consider that I got the 1988 figure drawer out for many photo shoots in the past three year, was even more surprising.  But, favorites usually win and my obsession with the 1985 figure has let a quiet gem slip by me.

One of my main points of interest on the Tiger Force Flint is that he showcases many of the details that are actually painted onto the 1985 Flint, but are usually long worn away.  The 1985 Flint features quite a bit of gold paint on the chest and belt buckle of the figure.  Even on otherwise mint figures, though, this paint tends to be either heavily worn or even gone.  Most collectors aren't aware that the 1985 figure is supposed to be adorned with the golden color.  And, you see huge numbers of Flints advertised as "mint" that have almost no golden paint on the figure at all.  But, the Tiger force version makes us for this with a much stronger blend of gold paint that is not nearly as susceptible to wear as that used in 1985 and 1986.  Because of this, you can more clearly see the adornments on Flint's chest and the details of his belt buckle.

As Tiger Force figures go, Flint is one of the least ostentatious.  While he does feature subtle black cammo lines on his shirt, they are not overly obvious.  His base colors are an excellent muddy brown for the upper body and a distinctive dark green for the legs.  He is accented by grey gloves and boots.  Out of the Tiger Force context, this Flint works fine intermingled with other Joes.  Were it not for the near perfection of the original, the Tiger Force Flint would work as a stand alone figure.  The painted details add to the quality of the figure overall.  In short, this Flint is every bit as useful as the original Flint colors.  It was exceedingly rare for a repaint to accomplish that.

Flint's gear is the same as the 1985 figure.  He includes just a backpack and his iconic shotgun.  Both are now, though, colored in an off grey hue that is easily distinguishable from the 1985 and also, at the same time, more realistic than the green version from three years prior.  Flint's lack of gear is interesting.  He's one of only three 1985 releases to include just two accessories.  (Torch and the Crimson Guard are the others.)  It's likely that some of these lower accessorized figures were small cost cutting moves by Hasbro so that figures like Alpine, the Eel and the Snow Serpent were able to have all the gear that makes the figures so compelling.  But, Flint's gear is iconic to the mold.  His shotgun is for him and the pack is one that I can only use with a Flint figure.  So, if you're not going to get much, at least make it memorable.  And, in this case, Hasbro accomplished that.

I now have a shout out to The Attica Gazette.  In his review of this figure, he points out that the Tiger Force Flint card art now shows Flint wearing a neckerchief.  There's no real reason for this piece of flair.  And, the coloring was not transferred to the figure.  We've long known that Hasbro overpainted the original artwork of the Tiger Force figures to create the Tiger Force artwork.  So, maybe this addition was to cover up a flaw on the original that was introduced after it was used to make the 1985 and 1986 Flint cardbacks.  Now, I can't unsee that neckwear.  It affects my view of the artwork.  But, I'm grateful that it was not carried over to the figure.

There are also some changes to Flint's filecard.  While most of the text is verbatim from the 1985 release, the Tiger Force version features a few changes. First, Flint's rank was changed from an E-6 to a W-3.  Though, I suspect this was to correct the discrepancy between his title of Warrant Officer versus his E-6 rank. Flint's attendance of Flint Warrant Officers School is changed to Warrant Officers Flight School.  Flint's name is in all caps to begin the body of the Tiger Force card, too.  The most significant is a change in the last line of the body.  While the general tone of the final sentence remains the same, the "let alone admitted to" reference is all gone from the 1988 figure.  This changes the filecard from 8 lines of text to 7 lines of text.  There's no real reason for this since the Tiger Force card now features empty space at the bottom.  So, the card wasn't made more readable by omitting it.  It's possible that the discovery of the Iran-Contra affair between the releases may have lead Hasbro to be a bit more careful about implying that the government undertook truly secret missions.

Flint was released all around the world and if you've read the multitudes of other Flint profiles on this site, you know all about his US, European and Japanese releases.  And, you are fully aware of the subtle exclusive versions available in India and Brazil.  In short, Flint appeared a lot.  But, this Tiger Force version is really the only different color difference for the mold.  Hasbro gave us two repaints in the 2000's.  But, neither really caught on.  There's tons of potential left in this mold and I'd love for a series of factory customs that finally give us a desert Flint, arctic Flint and an Action Force green Flint.  But, those are pipe dreams that will, simply, never come to be.

Tiger Force Flints are expensive.  I'm not really sure why.  He's no more rare than any of the other single carded Tiger Force figures.  He doesn't have any easily lost accessories.  And, he's not really any bigger of a character than Duke or Roadblock.  Yet, a near mint version of this figure that's complete with his filecard will run you between $40 and $50.  Note, I said near mint.  Those prices usually still mean cracked elbows and even some paint wear on the easily rubbed golden details.  For this reason, carded Tiger Force Flints are $150+ affairs these days and truly mint figures could approach ridiculous prices.  And, there's not much relief available.  Good conditioned, incomplete figures will still fetch $20.  Heck, the shotgun alone will sell for $20+!  Again, there's no reason for this.  But, this Flint got expensive a few years ago and hasn't come down.  For the money, buy either a 1985 Flint or a Chinese Flint or a couple of Funskool Flints.  To me, they are better figures.  But, better is relative and this Tiger Force version holds up on its own fairly well.