With JoeArmory receiving a special supply of two of the more impressive international G.I.Joe figures, I was asked to give them a special review here as part of my usual G.I.Joe Profile offerings for this Web site.

Flint is, next to Duke, one of the best known characters from the animated series, and played a prominent role in the comic book, as well. Although the name "Flint" doesn't seem to carry much meaning, and his official specialty as "Warrant Officer" tends to get a "huh?" from people more used to seeing Commandos and Bazooka Soldiers, given that his real name is "Dashiell R. Fairborne", almost anything is an improvement on that, and Flint is abundantly tough enough to flatten anybody who makes fun of his specialty.

Flint first signed on with the G.I.Joe Team in 1985, although he turned up slightly earlier than that in the 1984 animated mini-series, "The Revenge of Cobra". Flint was outfitted with a black shirt, green camouflage trousers, a black beret, black hair, and a somewhat cocky grin on his face. Fitting enough given his personality at times, especially in the comic book.

When Tiger Force came on the scene in 1988, Flint joined the group. This version of Flint, derived from the same molds, had a brown shirt with black tiger stripes on it, a brown beret, dark green trousers (no camo), and grey boots. It's just as cool a version of Flint as the original, really.

Now, although G.I.Joe is traditionally-known as a Real American Hero, the toy line is certainly a global phenomenon. G.I.Joe, sometimes renamed to some degree, but the figures and concepts, at least, have enjoyed considerable popularity throughout Europe, in South America, India, and elsewhere.

One of the more unusual places that G.I.Joe has turned up was in China. One distinct advantage to these figures is that, since G.I.Joe was already being produced in China for its American market, the Chinese figures are of the same high quality. Some of the Joe product produced in other countries doesn't quite measure up at times (although there's still some cool stuff).

China didn't get in on the G.I.Joe act until fairly late in the game. This resulted in two things. New releases of early characters, which for American collectors who might've worn out their original figures, an interesting opportunity to replace it with a newly-produced edition; and in some instances, where original molds were lost, some interesting cobbled-together incarnations.

Their version of Flint, technically Tiger Force Flint, was definitely one of the cobbled together incarnations. Specifically what happened to the Flint molds is anybody's guess. I, for one, honestly do not know. Certainly molds for G.I.Joe, and other toy lines, have gone missing over the years, unfortunately -- or been broken, or just plain worn out.

China's Tiger Force Flint uses the body of the 1991 Dusty figure, the arms of Tunnel Rat (and THAT took a while for me to figure out), and the head of Lt. Falcon, a Green Beret soldier released in 1987.

In fairness, it's not a bad combination. Certainly they got the uniform colors right. Brown shirt with black tiger stripes, green trousers, grey boots, brown beret, black hair. It's a passable cobbling together of parts to make a Flint-like figure.

Even so, I don't know anybody that owns this figure that doesn't just call him Tiger Force Falcon. He doesn't look enough like Dusty to be Dusty, and the head sculpt is unquestionably that of Lt. Falcon, so most people just call this Falcon, and stand him alongside their standard Tiger Force Flint.

Whatever you want to call him, though, this is nevertheless an extremely distinctive figure, that combines parts in a way and color scheme that was never seen in the United States. And while such figures are certainly not unheard of -- Europe did it with their Tiger Force, Brazil did it with a lot of their special teams, and India certainly did it -- it's also fair to say that these figures are generally not easily located even today.

So -- call him Flint. Call him Falcon. Call him Fred Schwartz if you want. But whatever you might want to name him, the end result us still a very unique and distinctive figure, that will be a special part of anyone's G.I.Joe Collection!

YO JOE!