General Flagg (deceased)

Powers:

(none)

Equipment:

Colt M1911A1 Semi-Automatic Pistol (a): his standard, Army-issue pistol, this hand cannon can be used as a +4 weapon in battle when firing a single shot, raised to +5 overall if James fires a semi-auto spread. He can fire eight shots with this weapon before it needs to be reloaded.

Hindrances:

(none)

Skills:

Boxing (s): James' military training has provided him the basic tools of self-defense, which essentially come in the form of an offensive talent (in James' case). In unarmed melee, he can divide his pre-cardplay action score between two attacks, the last of which will occur as a contingent action.

Espionage (i): the master of covert ops as far as the Army is concerned, James naturally has this talent. Due to his position, he usually uses it to enhance the planning stages of 'hush hush' missions, those that involve infiltrations and exfiltrations concerning enemy territory, and the like.

Marksmanship (a): James has been trained in the use of all kinds of assault rifles and pistols, whether they be automatic or not. As such, when wielding one in combat, James can reduce the difficulty of any attack he attempts with one (save for the classic cold-cock) by one difficulty level.

Military (w): having made a career out of his Army life, James knows military protocols like the back of his hand. He benefits from this skill whenever attempting to lead a body of troops, plan a combat mission, or otherwise interact with fighting men.

Calling:

Soldier: the quintessential military man, James was preceded by four generations of military men, and has grown to love the Army life - and even excel within it. While he won't sacrifice his principles to allow a mission to succeed, he has no qualms about blowing terrorists and the like to bits.

Costume:

While 'on the job', James was always seen in full military dress; he had no field uniform to speak of, for he rarely participated in Joe missions. He wore the typical, green officer's uniform, complete with black boots, a black belt w/honorary officer's belt buckle, black sunglasses, and a green General's cap.

Personality:

James was an honorable and hard working man, doing his best to excel to the extent that he was practically the best there was at what he did, seconded only by Colonel Hawk himself. His 'bag of dirty tricks' was legendary, yet he wouldn't go so far as to put innocent lives at risk in order to succeed.

Real Name: General James Longstreet Flagg II ; also identified as Lawrence J. Flagg
Occupation: U.S. Army General, Leader of the Gi Joe team
Legal Status: American citizen with no known criminal record, legally deceased
Marital Status: Married
Alias(es), if any: none
Group Affiliation: Gi Joe

Height: 6'
Hair: black
Eyes: brown
Weight: 170 lbs
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: none

Story:

James is the fifth in a line of Virginia Military Institute graduates, and hasn't let the family name down any. He has worked long and hard in the Army, becoming the captain of its pistol team early on, and further excelling by becoming one of the youngest men to ever attain the rank of General; this is a testament to his hard work and sheer tactical capability.

You see, General Flagg is a master of covert ops, and this skill put him in the unique position to form a specialized team to deal with the growing threat of terrorism world-wide. This team, officially christened Special Counter-Terrorist Group Delta, is really a reactivation of the Gi Joe team that saw action in the sixties thanks to then-President Kennedy.

Liking the name and purpose of that group, Flagg used it as his template for forming the new team, a duty he specifically charged to one Colonel Abernathy, a man who would come to be known by the code-name Hawk. While Hawk would form the team and lead it in the field, General Flagg ran things behind the scenes, although he sometimes got caught up in the action himself.

On one such instance, Flagg was present with several other Generals during a parade in New York City, primarily to prove that the Joe team's M.O.B.A.T. tank was pretty indistinguishable from other tanks - namely by driving it past them without their knowing what it was. Of course, Cobra caught wind of this, and tried to capture the fighting vehicle as it wound its way through Manhattan.

Thanks to Steeler, Breaker, and Clutch, the three resourceful Joes who were driving the tank for the parade, this plot was exposed and defeated. As the trio of Joes wheeled their prisoners up to General Flagg's position, Clutch used the M.O.B.A.T.'s sensors to detect the Cobra control center that had orchestrated the whole debacle - it was right under Flagg's feet!

Driving the M.O.B.A.T. through the control facility, Clutch inadvertently revealed that Cobra Commander himself, along with the Baroness, were present for the operation. When the two attempted to flee, Flagg drew his .45 in an attempt to capture the Commander, but when the villain hid behind the cover of a Girl Scout troop, Flagg was forced to lower his weapon - and took a shot to the head for his trouble!

The next time General Flagg got directly involved in a Joe operation proved to be his last, as Cobra had determined where the Joe's secret base, the Pit, was located. Knowing that the terrorists would attack the facility with everything they had, Flagg showed up to oversee a plan by Hawk to obscure the true nature of the base, done by building a prefabricated fortress over the Pit itself.

As Cobra attacked, the Joe team threw the book at their opponents in an attempt to feign a final stand, which went off without a hitch. To perfect the ruse, the Joes brought their current prisoners, Major Bludd, Scar-Face, and a heavily burnt Baroness to the prefabricated base in order to make it appear to be the Joe's true headquarters - they were locked away in the brig.

When the tide of battle turned to the Joes' favor, Flagg checked on the prisoners to ensure that they were behaving, only to find that Major Bludd had overpowered Doc and was preparing to leave. Pulling his gun on the mercenary, Flagg himself was disarmed by Scar-Face, and Bludd then shot him square in the chest; when Doc recovered from his own defeat, it was too late to save him.

Though they celebrated their victory at first, the Joes learned its price when they found out that Flagg was a casualty of the conflict, as was Kwinn, Snake-Eyes' Eskimo ally. Days later, after the mess of their battle was cleaned up, the Joes held a funeral for their deceased leader, even though it was marred by a Cobra ambush. Furthermore, they honored his memory by naming their aircraft carrier after him.

Not too shabby, that.

* Note: while General Flagg died in the early 1980s, he received a 'flashback' figure of sorts in the year 2004, which happened to be the first action figure actually made of him (and not his son, who actually had two produced in the early 1990s.) Though he was (obviously) not active during this time, I included it simply so one could research him if necessary.

Extra Goodies:

Gi Joe directories featuring a version of General Flagg: