Flint
Flint—real name Dashiell Faireborn—is the epitome of the dutiful soldier. Since his childhood, he's been passing up on his own desires and dreams in favor of doing what's required by the people around him; it may not be what he wants, but it's what they need. That reliable sense of duty has seen him become a warrant officer for the elite fighting force G.I. Joe, and he has proven himself to his teammates many times over as a skilled soldier and natural leader; he has even earned enough trust to be placed in charge of his own sub-unit of G.I. Joe, overseeing their valuable, dangerous and untrustworthy asset, Tomax Paoli.
Despite his reliability, though, Flint is not without his flaws. His instincts to prioritise the needs of the many over his own gives him a fear of connecting with others, something that has wreaked havoc on his relationships with colleagues and family alike, and his willingness to "see the best in everyone" can mean that he underestimates his enemies' ruthlessness.
If you're having trouble telling him apart from Duke, he's either the one with the hat or the one with the crew cut.
Fiction[edit | edit source]
A popular kid[edit | edit source]
Dashiell Faireborn grew up in Kansas, raised by his father—who abandoned Flint when he was thirteen—and his alcoholic mother. As a teenager, Dashiell was a member of the local swimming team, acting as their backstroker despite hating it, because it was what the team needed. At home, he mostly took care of his mother by taking part-time jobs, and once he turned sixteen he was able to take her to her alcoholism meetings; however, by the next year she died, and Dashiell was instead taken in by his grandparents. Aged eighteen, he met the 21-year-old Claire Austin in his Russian Literature class at Washburn University, where he was taking college-level classes; they quickly started dating, and Flint took her to his high school prom, where he was crowned prom king. Despite her alcoholism Dashiell loved her, and followed her to Newark, New Jersey after she was kicked out of school, enrolling in Rutgers University; however, Claire eventually broke up with him and married an older man, having a daughter. The Boy Most Likely To... Part 2 Unbeknownst to Dashiell, Claire had been pregnant when they broke up, and the girl, Marissa, was his. Marissa Faireborn's profile
After finishing his studies at Rutgers, Dashiell was accepted for a Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford in England, studying American History at Queen's College. During this time, he toured Europe, meeting his new girlfriend Gianna in Prague; they travelled Eastern Europe together, with Gianna starting a lot of fights in bars that Dashiell took the brunt of, but she eventually phased out of his life. After Oxford, Dashiell returned to America and entered the United States Army, being quickly selected for Special Forces, a place where he excelled thanks to his determination and ability to push himself. He was eventually picked out by the elite G.I. Joe taskforce, serving in their ranks as a warrant officer. The Boy Most Likely To... Part 2
In the early days of the G.I. Joe team, Flint was one of the Joes that responded when Sergeant Marvin Hinton broke into the Pit in search of his cousin. G.I. Joe vol. 3 #11 One of his early missions for G.I. Joe involved a mission led by Stalker, attempting to capture rogue G.I. Joe member Mainframe, who had gone AWOL in pursuit of Cobra, a criminal conspiracy which none of his superiors believed in. However, upon breaking into Mainframe's room, all the Joes found was a laptop with a taunting "better luck next time" message. Origins #7
First contact[edit | edit source]
Around three years after his pursuit of Mainframe, The Betrayers Part 2 Flint took part in a mission led by Duke to intercept an illegal arms shipment aboard the Benin Pearl. Flint aided in apprehending the ZOGC militia members, admitting that his Bulgarian was rusty, but an uncaptured militiaman used a Stinger rocket launcher to destroy the ship, killing the rest of the militia, though the Joes survived. One Word Some time later, Flint was present when a spider robot—deployed against the Joes by Destro in revenge for their sabotage of the Benin Pearl deal—emerged from the maintainence ducts of the Pit and killed Bankshot. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #2 Flint took part in the fighting back against the invading robots, narrowly avoiding a rocket fired by one into the Pit's central complex; after the robot was damaged by a rocket fired by Bazooka, Flint permanently disabled it with his shotgun. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #4 After the attack, Brainstorm determined that components from the robots had been manufactured by James McCullen's M.A.R.S. Industries; Flint travelled to Scotland to investigate, only to discover that Castle Destro had been relocated to Patagonia, Argentina, and relay the information back to Scarlett. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #5
Flint subsequently travelled to the castle's new location in Patagonia on a recon mission, arriving just in time to see multiple unmarked helicopters arrive to carry away the Baroness, Destro, his assistants, and the M.A.S.S. device. When his reinforcements arrived, the helicopters had been and gone, and so Flint led the team into the castle to scout it out, The Betrayers Part 2 and continued to oversee the mission when Brainstorm and Dial Tone came down to investigate what remained of the M.A.S.S. device. The Betrayers Part 4
Flint was part of the G.I. Joe unit that rescued Senator Hopkins from narco-terrorists. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #13 After Cobra agent Blacklight abducted Dr. Gerry Orizama from Robillard College by posing as a member of Youth Against Animal Testing, Flint led a team to break into the animal rights group's offices, but discovered it was only a shell for Cobra. G.I. Joe vol. 1 #15 After G.I. Joe captured a Viper who had been deployed through the M.A.S.S. device, M.A.S.S. Destruction Part 1 Flint was one of the team members who volunteered to have his "data" scanned into a card, in the hope of potentially sending them back through the M.A.S.S. device to the source. M.A.S.S. Destruction Part 3 He never got the chance, though, 'cause Snake Eyes and Agent Helix went through on their own and prompted Cobra Commander to destroy the Section Zero base that stored it! M.A.S.S. Destruction Part 4
Cobra goes to war[edit | edit source]
After Cobra Commander was killed, shapeshifting Cobra agent Zartan infiltrated the Pit in order to destroy it. After Zartan murdered and impersonated G.I. Joe member Shareware, Flint was among those who tried to uncover why Shareware had left his post, and was surprised to learn that the other Joes had seen General Hawk on the base—and even more surprised when it turned out that Hawk was still in Washington. After Shareware's body was discovered, Flint, Scarlett and Helix intercepted Zartan after he killed their captive Viper, only to realise that the shapeshifter must have let the perimeter alarms down to let a second infiltrator, Storm Shadow, into the Pit. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #2 When that infiltrator caused a power blackout by compromising the Pit's nuclear reactor, Flint provided Brainstorm with backup when he went down to the reactor level; when the Fobbit determined that Pit needed to be evacuated, Flint and his team moved to help with the extraction of the captive Zartan. Unfortunately, by the time they got there, the prisoner's guards Lawhound and Screw had been attacked by Storm Shadow. Lawhound told Flint that the infiltrators planned to head for the surface via a vent shaft... but, in fact, Zartan and Storm Shadow had already got rid of the two Joes' bodies and impersonated them to throw Flint off their trail. Flint and his team escaped the Pit before it exploded in a vehicle from the Pit's motor pool, but were unable to prevent the infiltrators from escaping. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #3
Some time after the Pit's destruction, Flint and Scarlett were responsible for leading G.I. Joe's relocation to Fort Baxter. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #4 In order to retrieve data stored at Bear Lake, Flint headed a mission to the facility; though they were attacked by Cobra forces, and several Joes died, Flint's Team Alpha succeeded in capturing the Baroness. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #5 After taking Sneak Peek and Motorhead to Brunswick Naval Air Station for medical assistance, Flint and Team Alpha decided to hunker down in Springfield, the formerly Cobra-owned ghost town, with the Baroness; however on arriving, the team was attacked by a Cobra B.A.T. that forced the team to take cover in the vault of the Springfield Savings bank. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #6 Flint eventually managed to destroy the android by having Hard Drive call in an air strike, levelling the town and finally destroying the B.A.T. while the team and their prisoner survived in the vault. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #7 On the way out of Springfield, Flint and his team recieved orders to bring the Baroness to Fort Baxter, but were unable to prevent her from escaping when the G.I. Joe convoy was attacked by Cobra forces led by Krake. G.I. Joe vol. 2 #8
Following Krake's ascension to the position of Cobra Commander, Flint led the mission to respond to Cobra's invasion of Nanzhao. Though he tried to stand up to Snake Eyes, whose Team Foxtrot insisted on coming on the mission, the ninja eventually pressured Flint into taking him; as it turned out, Scarlett had authorised Team Foxtrot's participation, as Snake Eyes had been on the ground in Nanzhao before. Cobra Command, Part 1 On landing in the country, Foxtrot headed off on their own mission while Flint and Team Alpha liased with the Thai army, tracking the location of Cobra battle mechs so that Thailand's rockets could destroy them. Cobra Command, Part 2 Shortly after Alpine returned from Foxtrot's mission to Team Alpha, reporting both a Cobra armor base and Cobra's distribution of evacuation notices across the country, Flint's team discovered the landing of large amounts of vehicle support in the country, which Flint reported to Hawk; later, after a battle between Cobra and the combined G.I. Joe/United Nations forces, Flint's team rescued a pair of injured Joes from a squad of Vipers. Cobra Command, Part 4 Team Alpha went on to protect refugees and UN forces as they fled across the Thai border, but Cobra responded by setting a unit of B.A.T.s on them; the unit attempted to hold them back at the Rhozo River causeway, but when Tripwire's explosives destroyed the bridge, Flint and Roadblock were swept into the river with their armored car. Cobra Command, Part 7 The two soon realised that the still-active upper half of one of the B.A.T.s was clinging onto the car with them, but it was destroyed when a huge wave threw all three from the vehicle. Flint and Roadblock were subsequently pulled from the river and returned to the United States. Cobra Command, Part 8
A special assignment[edit | edit source]
Mission to Schleteva[edit | edit source]
Family reunion[edit | edit source]
After Skywatch was reorganized into the Earth Defense Command, Claire Austin's daughter Marissa Faireborn—who was by this point aware of her parentage, but believed that her father was dead thanks to G.I. Joe's early policy of having its members declared legally deceased—learned from her second-in-command Ayana Jones that Flint was still alive. The two met, but were unable to form a stable relationship. Dance Among the Shadows Marissa Faireborn's profile
After G.I. Joe was recommissioned for the Revolution incident, Flint joined Talon's unit, and went with them to deal with a Junkion spaceship that had landed on the Matterhorn, intervening in a negotiation between the Junkion leaders and Optimus Prime's forces; Flint was somewhat unnerved when Wreck-Gar tried to pull their Sky Hawk out of the sky, but was saved when its pilot Talon shot the Junkion, blowing him to bits. Later, while Talon and Spike argued over the best way to deal with the Junkions, Flint caught up with Chameleon, snarking about the younger soldiers. The Joes determined that they would need Thundercracker's help with the Junkion ship, A Lonely Pillar on the Plain but one of the ex-Decepticon's conditions was offering Marissa a job with the Joes, as she had resigned her commission after the EDC was absorbed into G.I. Joe. His meeting with his daughter went poorly, though, as she wasn't interested; Flint, meanwhile, was unable to promise her her former command rank or avoid the fact of his previous romantic liason with Chameleon. Very annoyed by his inability to convince her to join back up, Flint protested to Thundercracker that he'd fulfilled his part of the bargain, and had him send his calculations on the Junkion ship to the Joes. Behind My Bleeding Back
Returning to Switzerland, Flint tried to avoid Chameleon's questions about Marissa; fortunately, they were interrupted by a fly-by from Marissa in Thundercracker, who had convinced his friend to have a proper talk with her father. The Joes and Thundercracker landed in Sicily, where Flint and Marissa spoke more openly about their relationship; Flint advised Marissa to talk to her mother, while Marissa explained that she didn't say no to joining G.I. Joe because of him, but because she believed there was no way to win against the Cybertronians, and just wanted to enjoy life before it was taken away. Dance Among the Shadows
After Soundwave convinced the Sharkticons to turn on their Junkion masters, Flint and Chameleon departed Italy with the ones that had been attacking Sicily. Feel Safe Without Regrets After Marissa arranged the construction of the "Little Cybertron" refugee camp on Bikini Atoll, Flint helped Marissa oversee construction, though he found it distasteful and didn't support the plan. The Next Day, and the Next When Talon's team was deployed to capture Jazz during a televised interview with the Autobot, Flint went with them, though Jazz escaped before they arrived. What It's Really Like
Flint and the rest of his team accompanied Marissa to the induction of Earth into the Council of Worlds in Iacon, though Roadblock didn't think much of his fashion sense. When Baron Ironblood and his forces attacked the ceremony, the Joes protected the human VIPs and fought back against the attacking forces. First Strike #1 Flint, Talon, and Spike were pinned down by an absurd number of Red Shadows, but Ironhide came to their rescue, ramming through the cybernetically-enhanced ninja and carrying the Joes to safety in his vehicle mode. First Strike #2
External links[edit | edit source]
- Flint at YoJoe.com
- Flint at the TFWiki