As I’ve already said in this review, the VAMP Mk II was one of the reasons that I snagged this set from ToysRUs.com the very morning it went on sale. I’m now going to talk about the other reason—the updated 50th Anniversary release of Flint!

I’ve had a soft spot for Flint ever since his debut in the Sunbow animated mini-series “G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra.” Voiced by the talented Bill Ratner, Flint leapt onto the scene as a calculating focused leader capable to guiding the Joes to victory no matter what scenario they faced. This dynamic leader was an instant hit with this particular Joe fan and I’ve been a fan ever since. While his previous 25th Anniversary release was decent, it was saddled with the “dreaded Duke arms” that plagued the 25th Anniversary line. Thankfully, an updated version was shown in Hasbro’s “Concept Case” display at two separate Joe Cons and I was able to first see it in person at the 2013 Con in Indianapolis. Standing two down from my favorite Joe Gung-Ho, I knew that I had to own this particular version of Warrant Officer Faireborne if he ever saw release.

So, how does one build a 50th Anniversary Flint action figure? The recipe is simple:

• Torso, legs: Firefly v26 (most recent use)
• Arms: Agent Mouse
• Head: G.I. Joe Resolute Flint
• Web gear: new tooling

I might be simplifying the overall parts combination a bit but considering how much of the body came from Firefly it’s easy to go with the shortest parts list. The recipe works quite well to replicate Flint’s original look from 1985 and yet still make use of existing parts. For the most part the Firefly torso works although I find that the turtle neck throws the design off somewhat to my eyes but that’s more of a personal preference. The arms from Agent Mouse offer a good range of motion as to the legs and it’s nice to have a functioning holster on the left leg as well as a knife sheath on the right ankle.

The new web harness is a nicely sculpted piece with two rows of shotgun shells for the included SPAS-12 as well as slew of sculpted pouches and detailing. I especially like the dual buckles on the front which appear to have been lifted right off of the 1985 design. The harness also has a sculpted knife sheath over the left hip which means that Flint can actually stash most of his gear on his body! Sadly the sheath is positioned a bit low and it tends to rub up against his pistol when holstered on the left leg.

So far I’m pretty positive about this figure and yet there’s a two ton pink elephant sitting in the room that needs to be addressed. (No, not literally—quit looking around!) The paint applications on this figure are sloppy—really sloppy. We’re talking some of the worst I’ve seen in the Generation 3 era of G.I. Joe. The back of the web harness has browns that don’t entirely cover the intended areas and the forearms on Flint are—well, they’re pretty awful. Between the paint bleeding onto the sculpted rolled sleeves to the uneven coating of the forearms, the quality control on this line is pretty low. Honestly, the paint on the arms is something that I would expect on a knock-off dollar store military line—not from G.I. Joe and certainly not from a convention exclusive piece. Looking around at pictures on the web, my figure is not a unique occurrence—the paint apps on this entire 50 th line have been pretty sloppy. So, the old adage of “buyer beware” comes to mind. Sadly, with a convention piece ordered online fans will not have the option to inspect multiple sets to find the best paint job and, quite honestly, for the 50th Anniversary line of the world’s most famous action figure, they shouldn’t have to.

One other point of interest-- the only thing that denotes this figure to be part of the 50th Anniversary is a single gold star on his left shirt pocket. Most of the time it's hidden by the web gear.

Flint is a solid update with a great parts combination—but he’s saddled with some pretty awful paint applications. I still like the figure quite a lot and I’m glad I own him but it’s one of those things that really shows how low of a priority the G.I. Joe line is for Hasbro anymore. This type of shoddy quality control wouldn’t have slipped into release five years ago.

As the saying goes “But wait… there’s more!” Click the link below to check out the remaining pieces in this SDCC set!