Device” mini-series here, but Chris Lara’s voice for the character has evolved a lot. We’re only two years removed from the “M.A.S.S. I love Cobra Commander just randomly screaming everything he says in this ad. PS the link to the commercial video is no good, and I really wanted to hear those amazing lyrics belted out in song. I honestly think the visuals might be a big part of Flint's popularity: he has everything Duke has (a leadership position, a voice that rings with quiet authority, a love interest, which is what passes for character development in the cartoon), but with his beret and green camo, he more looks the part of a prototypical US military man, especially in the 80s. I always much preferred Duke in terms of my square-jawed, somewhat-square, Cyclops-esque leading men (in part because I liked Scarlet more than Lady Jaye). I was never terribly into Flint, despite the cartoon's insistance that he was, as you say, the guy to care about it. People like his relationship with Lady Jaye, and the character design is cool, but.why is Flint specifically the Joe you're supposed to care about? I am still not entirely convinced that twins DON'T have special powers, despite knowing some in real life.Īlso, I was entirely too old before I first realized that "Tomax" is "Xamot" spelled backwards. I genuinely believed as a child that this was a real experience between twins. But I don't know what's better: these lyrics, or your biogrphy of the writer. Oh man, rhyming "hard" and "guard" is just.that's amazing. Okay, perhaps the worst of the song lyrics so far. During the early production of the Joe live-action film, Hasbro and Paramount pursued Mark Wahlberg for months to play Duke.in spite of the fact he'd be far more appropriate, physically, as Flint. Over the years, Hasbro seems to have settled on the idea of Duke as the face of the franchise, nudging Flint into the background. (You can check out an interesting interview with Ratner over at the Who Did That Voice? Youtube channel.) I suspect much of the affection for Flint comes from Bill Ratner's performance on the animated series, which had a friendly yet tough tone to it that spoke to kids. The cartoon's Flint is serious, heroic, and free of the quirks that defined many of the other Joes. People like his relationship with Lady Jaye, and the character design is cool, but.why is Flint specifically the Joe you're supposed to care about? His established personality from the comics and action figure dossier has him as a gruff intellectual who doesn't relate well to others, but this didn't translate at all to the small screen. To be honest, looking back, it's hard to articulate just what makes Flint so special on the show. Dille recently stated he's not entirely sure this is true, but he did say that people at Sunbow used Flint to persuade him to take a job on the daily series, claiming (seemingly as a joke) they'd named a character in his honor. It's become a part of the lore that Flint was named after animation writer Flint Dille, who worked on some of the earliest episodes. In the animated series, meanwhile, Flint is clearly meant to be the star of the show once the daily series begins. Most of the 1985 Joes never received their fair share of attention from Hama in the comic, but he didn't seem to have a problem using Flint on a semi-regular basis. Speaking of Flint, you only see him from the back on the comic cover, but it's becoming evident by now that he's the new golden boy of the team. In fact, I could swear that shot early on of Flint leading the charge of attacking Joes was later recycled for the cartoon. Likely the closest we've come so far to the true look of the cartoon. This one is not quite to that level, but it looks decent. The previous commercial ( originally attached to issue #30, but so nice Hasbro used it for a later comic as well) was possibly the finest looking one to date. (There actually is a scene in the issue featuring the Guardsmen in a hall of mirrors, though they were incorrectly drawn as H.I.S.S. The brief flash of businessmen transforming into the Guard through the funhouse mirrors is a cute touch. They're still appearing to this day, either infiltrating corporate America or the political realm. In the comics, Hama seems to have little affection for the twins, but he sure loves the Crimson Guard. Aside from introducing Tomax and Xamot, we also see the Crimson Guard for the first time in animation here.
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