Flint (G.I. Joe)
From Transformers Wiki
| The name or term "Flint" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Flint (disambiguation). |
- Flint is a member of G.I. Joe from the G.I. Joe portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Flint is a warrant officer and occasional field leader for the counter-terrorist team G.I. Joe. Although a helicopter pilot by training, he's more than willing to mix things up on the ground. His real name is (usually) Dashiell R. Faireborn. He was born in Wichita, Kansas.
He is (sometimes) the son of Nathaniel Faireborn, the father of Marissa Faireborn and the grandfather of Sue.
Contents |
Fiction
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actor: Bill Ratner (English), Takurō Kitagawa (Japanese), Albert Augier (European French)
In the year 2006, Dashiell Faireborn was still quite active. Although usually busy with his duties (whatever those may be), he occasionally took enough time off to visit with his daughter, Marissa. At least, he did it often enough that young Marissa was not immediately suspicious when a Quintesson used an elaborate hologram of her father to trick her on board its ship for examination and eventual dissection.
Judging from Marissa's reaction when told that her father was visiting, it can be assumed that she and Flint have a very loving, if not particularly close, relationship. The Killing Jar
Japanese cartoon continuity
Kiss Players
Flint and his family were living in New York City in the mid-1990s, but his work was keeping him busy, and his daughter Marissa was starting to resent him. As such, when Optimus Prime saved Flint and Marissa after one of Flint's missions went sour, Marissa began looking upon the Autobot leader as a kind of surrogate father figure... and maybe a little bit more.
Yeah, Flint gave his kid some issues. Kiss Players #34
Story of Binaltech
By the year 2004, Flint had become a member of the Earth Defense Command, working with the Autobots to safeguard Earth. After the Autobots upgraded themselves into Binaltech bodies with the E.D.C.'s help, the Decepticons infiltrated the project and began co-opting Binaltech shells for their own warriors. Arise! Evil Binaltechs Fearful that the unjust suspicions amongst the Binaltech Project collaborators that this breach of security had caused could completely derail the joint venture, Flint teamed with Jazz to head up "Operation: Carwash". This special operations units that would suppress information of the Decepticons' infiltration, and help to weed out the truth behind the infiltration, along with any traitors responsible. Operation: Carwash
Flint's investigation led him to the Concurrence, a group of villainous humans who sought to eventually rid the solar system of all Transformers. He learned that the Concurrence had teamed up with the Decepticons to achieve their goal, and that they had used an advanced combination of Doctor Arkeville's hypno-chips and Bombshell's cerebro-shells to brainwash innocent Binaltech Project scientists into reviving injured Decepticons for them. Flint transmitted this information to the Autobots, noting that it should go straight to commander Ultra Magnus at Autobot City as soon as possible, so that the mind control devices could be found and nullified. Knowing that Concurrence agents would soon be upon him, he signed off by reminding the message's recipients to keep his cover story up by telling his family that he'd be enjoying himself at the Lunar Colony for a little while longer. Expose All of Evil's Designs!
Marvel Comics continuity
Marvel Generation 2 comic
Flint was present at a temporary G.I. Joe base-camp that was set up outside of Milleville, New York. The Joes had been staking out the town after being tipped off about a Cobra air armada being on the move—an armada, they would soon learn, that included Megatron and the Ark. Goin' South
The Decepticon army, under Megatron's full command once more, relentlessly attacked the Earth in an attempt to draw out Optimus Prime. London, Moscow, Tokyo, Washington, D.C.... the Decepticons' carnage was global, the entire planet becoming a smoldering ruin before them.
The U.S. Army was in shambles. The G.I. Joe team, under the command of General Hawk, was given the task of salvaging the dwindling counter-offensive.
Flint was present as Hawk voiced his fears about humanity's chance of survival; unless Skydive could get them significant reinforcements, they were done for. Interrupting Hawk in mid-sentence came both Skydive and Optimus Prime... Tales of Earth Part Three which caused Flint to wonder if Skydive knew that "significant" meant "more than one".
Skydive tried to explain that Optimus was no ordinary Autobot, but Prime cut him off. The Autobot leader went on to explain his reasoning to Hawk and Flint, saying that a full-scale conflict would only make things worse. Optimus hoped to speak to Megatron, to make him aware of an even greater evil that threatened them all... which Flint promptly spat at, figuring the giant killer robot wasn't in a listening mood. The Gathering Darkness
Marvel UK The Transformers comic
Flint was David R. Faireborn, born in Lincoln, England. He wore a US Army belt, an honorary award for his part in a hush-hush mission. As the field commander of Action Force's European operations, working out of London, Flint once found himself caught in the middle of the Autobot/Decepticon war on Earth.
When exploring a mysterious report of giant creatures in the Roman sewers under London with archaeologist Susan Hoffman, Flint and the Action Force encountered first the Protectobot Blades, and then, more ominously, Megatron (sort of). The situation swiftly escaped his control and, when he falsely believed Wild Bill to be dead, he sent in Action Force's Mauler tanks and Dragonfly copters... which Megatron stomped. Horrified by what he'd caused and noticing the Autobot forces couldn't stop Megatron, he ended up ordering a Skystriker air-strike on a gas refinery to stop the mad robot. Autobot leader Grimlock would be killed, but it was his life for countless thousands...
Flint bore witness to the sacrifice of the noble Centurion, who engaged Megatron at the refinery so Grimlock could be safely pulled out of there. After hearing that Centurion had been suffering from concerns that he was an outdated relic, Flint stated that Centurion was more an old soldier, and that he was proud to honour him. Ancient Relics!
G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers
Following the emergence of Cobra, Dashielle Faireborn became one of the three founding members of G.I. Joe, serving as their chief tactician. He was more than a little boastful about his strategic knowledge. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #1 After taking on the codename Flint, he helped figure out where Cobra would most likely strike next, namely the SPS Research Center. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #2 Confident that he had planned for every possibility, he spent the rest of his time watching TV and ended up being late for a meeting. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #3 When G.I. Joe prepared to attack Cobra Island, two generals arrived from the Pentagon and ordered them to cancel the attack and betray their new alien friends, as they were going to nuke the island. Flint protested on the basis that the Transformers were living beings, but his argument fell on deaf ears. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #4 G.I. Joe ultimately ignored their orders and left for Cobra Island. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #5 During the attack, he helped pepper Megatron with bullets. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #6
Roughly two years later, Flint led a G.I. Joe strike force to Cybertron, where they helped the Autobots defeat Serpent O.R.'s Decepticon army. The Art of War #5
Flint and his troops arrived too late to stop Destro from illegally selling S.N.A.K.E.s in Cuba, if only because the Autobots beat them to it. While flirting with an unimpressed Lady Jaye, Flint got a phone call from Hawk, who needed some help with a secret mission in Tibet. After being air dropped in the area by the helpful Chinese military, Flint, Hawk and Optimus Prime started searching for the emitter of a mysterious signal. In the Himalayan mountains, the three were beset by Bludgeon and Cobra-La soldiers, with the latter group easily shrugging off the effects of Flint's shotgun. He eventually managed to wring the helmet off one of the soldiers, and was horrified with what he saw underneath. The team retreated into some caverns, where they found wall paintings describing Unicron, and were in turn found by Joe Colton. Black Horizon, Part 1 of 2
Flint was tangled up by a Cobra-La tentacle weapon and missed out on some action until Hawk freed him. He then called Colton a crazy old coot and pestered him with questions about his imprisonment, neither of which helped gain him respect with the older man. The two were suddenly attacked by Yeti, but saved by the timely arrival of Cosmos. After devicing a plan to use Cobra-La's metal-eating fungus to destroy Unicron, Flint decided to "make like Flash Gordon" and come with Cosmos to make sure the fungus didn't eat the Autobot instead. They flew into space and inside Unicron's head, where Cosmos was shot down and paralyzed. Flint disembarked and fought his way through the planet-eater's "anti-bodies", and ultimately managed to throw the fungus straight into Unicron's brain. As Unicron was devoured from the inside, Flint escaped aboard Cosmos, cracking jokes all the way back to Earth. Upon landing, he was greeted with a kiss from Lady Jaye and words of gratitude from Hawk and Colton. Black Horizon, Part 2 of 2
Transformers/G.I. Joe
In 1985, a G.I. Joe team led by the original Flint's successor attacked a Cobra shipping facility in New York City. While the facility was largely destroyed, Destro and Scrap-Iron managed to escape via Trouble Bubble, an act that led to Flint being reprimanded by his superior, Duke. He apologized, but Duke only told him that "Nathaniel never gave apologies... he gave results." Soon afterwards, the Joes detected the crash of an Autobot shuttlecraft near Portland. Flint and several other Joes were sent to retrieve it, and after meeting with a rookie team led by Spirit, they repelled a Cobra strike team and recovered the unconscious Blaster and Perceptor. Hours later, Flint and Spirit were briefed by Duke, Stalker, and Scarlett on the threat posed by the Transformers. Targets of Opportunity
At some point, Flint and the Autobots launched an all-out attack against Cobra Island to prevent one of Cobra Commander's evil plans from coming to fruition. Divided Front #5 Thanks to Destro's machinations, Flint, his soldiers, and the Autobots became public enemies, making it much harder for them to foil the villain's plot. Divided Front #6
Unit:E comic
Upon approaching the planet Earth, the artificial intelligence Synergy presented footage of the Joes in action so that her crew-mate, the young Acroyear, could learn about his potential allies and enemies on the alien world. Flint could be seen standing side-by-side with Wild Bill on one of Synergy's view-screens. Unit:E
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe
Flint was part of a Joe strike force. Their mission: to raid the town of Springfield, secretly a Cobra hide-out. After rounding-up the Cobra agents in the town, Flint was called back to T.H.E. P.I.T., where the Joes learned that the planet Cybertron was heading towards the Earth. A brief confrontation with the planet's representatives led the Joes to deem Cybertron a hostile force, the Earth went to war against the extraterrestrials. I Saw Three Ships
Flint was in T.H.E P.I.T when Optimus Prime barreled in, intent on retrieving Bumblebee's body, which the Joes had acquired in a previous altercation. He and the other Joes at the ready were handed Colton '45s and tried to repel the Autobot. The conflict spilled out into the streets, and merged with a bigger battle involving, among others, GIJONIN ninjas and the elder god Koh-Buru-Lah. Flint turned his attention and firepower towards Starscream, who had accompanied the Serpentress on an assault on the United Nations. The brawl dissipated as soon as Optimus took to the skies, though Flint had become more determined than ever to take on Cybertron as a whole in its aftermath. Expelled from the Garden
After things got worse following a collision between Earth and Cybertron, the Joes initiated the top secret "Atlas Protocol" that saw Flint seek out and awaken cryogenically frozen Joe Colton, who in turn brought him and the others to another Pit beneath T.H.E. P.I.T. where Atlas waited. When the war ended and the Joes on Cybertron returned home, Flint greeted Lady Jaye with a salute and received a passionate embrace in response. The two went on to join the Ark 2's mission to find the Makers of both humans and Transformers. The War Never Ends
2005 IDW continuity
When Dashiell Faireborn was eighteen, he met Claire Austin in university; they began a brief fling that ended when Claire broke up with him and married Howard Bishop instead. Unbeknownst to Dashiell, Claire had been pregnant with his illegitimate child when they broke up and soon gave birth to a daughter that she named Marissa.
Dashiell eventually joined the army and worked his way up through the ranks to join the best of the best in G.I. Joe, a process that, at the time, necessitated faking one's own death. Marissa Faireborn's profile He had many adventures during this time, even getting to lead his own squad that included Ayana "Mayday" Jones. The Iron Klaw At some point, he had a brief liaison with fellow Joe Chameleon. Behind My Bleeding Back
Following the destruction of Nanzhao, G.I. Joe went public but was eventually decommissioned entirely in favor of the Earth Defense Command. Secret Raiders In the meantime, Marissa had become a field commander in the EDC; Ayana, who had been transferred into the organization, eventually revealed to her that her father had survived. The two arranged a meeting but the two never formed a stable relationship. Behind My Bleeding Back Marissa Faireborn's profile
In the wake of the Ore-13 crisis the EDC was eventually supplanted by an overhauled G.I. Joe that took up the mantle of a UN-chartered peacekeeping force. No longer a leader, Flint was now just following orders and he found that just as satisfying honest. Behind My Bleeding Back
Optimus Prime's annexation of Earth into the Council of Worlds had turned the planet into a beacon for alien arrivals, Secret Raiders and G.I. Joe found itself involved in the dealings of extraterrestrial races when a colossal spaceship touched down atop the Matterhorn; a Joe taskforce led by Zilong "Talon" Qian discovered that the Autobots had beaten them there and opened diplomatic channels with the ship's owners, a nomadic tribe of Junkions. Their eccentric leader Wreck-Gar, curious about the humans, tried to grab Flint's Sky Hawk before the Joes made a show of force against the aliens. Flint told Talon to set down their helicopter before the Autobots invited the Junkions onto Autobot City and derisively commented on the eager young soldiers to Chameleon.
It was decided that they needed Thundercracker's aid A Lonely Pillar on the Plain and so Flint got sent with Chameleon to win the 'bot over, and Thundercracker's conditions included giving Marissa a job with the Joes. Flint did not do a good job, unable to promise she'd have the same command rank she once had and equally unable to dodge that he'd been 'involved' with the much younger Chameleon. Flint pointed out to Thundercracker that he'd technically fulfilled his part of the bargain and had him send his calculations on the Junkion cruiser to the Joe's Matterhorn camp. Behind My Bleeding Back
En route to Switzerland, Flint and Chameleon had a brief argument aboard their Sky Hawk before Thundercracker and Marissa caught up with them; Thundercracker having convinced his friend to have a serious discussion regarding the future. In Sicily, the two had a more candid conversation: though Flint suggested that Marissa speak to her mother, Marissa was more interested in enjoying life before the Cybertronians took it all away. Dance Among the Shadows
Flint, Marissa and Chameleon remained pinned down in Sicily when the Junkions briefly turned on the Autobots and unleashed a horde of destructive Sharkticons, but were able to get airborne after Soundwave's rhetoric turned the Sharkticons against their masters. Feel Safe Without Regrets Flint subsequently joined the efforts to renovate the abandoned EDC base in the Bikini Atoll into a refugee camp dubbed "Little Cybertron," though Flint worried that the rising number of alien immigrants would simply bring their issues with them as they settled on Earth. The Next Day, and the Next
Flint would join a small G.I. Joe taskforce designed to ambush and apprehend Jazz in Mexico after the Autobot was lured into a deceptive interview, but Jazz, forewarned of their arrival, escaped. What It's Really Like
When the time came for Earth to formally join the Council of Worlds, Flint and the rest of the Autobot City unit accompanied his daughter to Iacon, Unification Day: Dawn though Roadblock, watching from Earth, didn't approve of his formal attire. The event was soon thrown into chaos when Baron Ironblood and his forces interrupted the ceremony, forcing Flint and the other Joes on hand to protect their human VIPs. First Strike #1 Flint, Talon, and Spike were rescued from a swarm of Red Shadows by Ironhide in his vehicle mode. First Strike #2
Games
Transformers Roleplaying Game
Flint was transported to the Apex when the evil Lord MindWaveZ merged many realities together into one chaotic realm. Along with Billy Cranston and Windblade, the three assisted a group of heroes as they battled Lord MindWaveZ and attempted to restore their worlds to normal. Worlds Collide: Battle for the Multiverse
Notes
- Because of the romantic relationship shown between Flint and fellow G.I. Joe operative Lady Jaye, it is possible that Jaye might be Marissa Faireborn's mother in the cartoon, but this was never stated in fiction. In an interview on the Sony BMG re-release of The Transformers: The Movie, former Transformers writer and story editor Flint Dille confirmed Lady Jaye as Marissa's mother.
- Marissa's father is not named in "The Killing Jar", the episode in which his holographic double appears, nor in the script for the episode, where he is referred to only as "Civilian". His identity was assumed from his voice actor, Bill Ratner, who played Flint on the G.I. Joe cartoon, and the shared surname between Flint and Marissa; this would later be confirmed by the Sunbow master Cast List, which notes that he is a "60 year old Flint".
- A group shot drawn by Hidetsugu Yoshioka as cover art for Pioneer's Transformers 2010 LaserDisc set mistakenly features fellow G.I. Joe character Duke as a flag-waving incidental character in the crowd rather than Flint. When the piece was reproduced for the art book Transformers Visualworks, Duke was edited out.
- Although voiced by Transformers regular Takurō Kitagawa for his brief cameo in "The Killing Jar", for the Japanese dub of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon, Flint was voiced by a different Transformers regular, Hōchū Ōtsuka. Meanwhile, for the Japanese dub of G.I. Joe: The Movie, Flint was voiced by a different veteran Transformers actor, Masashi Hirose.
- Flint has also been voiced by other Transformers voice actors: Michael Donovan in the DiC seasons of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Brian Dobson in the G.I. Joe Spy Troops and Valor Vs. Venom animated movies, and Charlie Adler in the G.I. Joe: Resolute mini-series.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Faireborn (フェアボーン Feabōn)
