Flint the Time Detective

Way before Fox.

Flint the Time Detective (originally known in Japan as Space-Time Detective Genshi ^[1]) was a children's anime which greatly combines elements from Mons Series and Yatterman.

Young caveman Flint Hammerhead (Genshi) and his father Rocky Hammerhead (Dad-tan) were turned into fossils by the villainous time traveler Petra Fina (Time Pilfer). Luckily, they were found in the 25th century by Tony Goodman (Tokio Yamato) and his sister Sara Goodman (Sora Yamato) who brought them to their uncle Dr. Bernard Goodman (Professor Yamato). He managed to restore Flint but was unable to fully restore Rocky, so Rocky was fashioned into a hammer which Flint could use.

Flint, Rocky, Sara and Tony then join the Time Police with the purpose to travel to different historical eras to recover mechanical creatures called Time Shifters while opposing Petra Fina and her henchmen Dino and Mite. Joining our heroes was the mysterious Merlock Holmes (Kyoichiro Narugami), who was rather attracted to Sara.

Tropes used in Flint the Time Detective include:

• A Boy and His X: Some of the Time Shifters become friends with young boys: In the first place Flint and Getalong. Other examples are a young Auguste Rodin and Artie, a young Babe Ruth and Batterball, the young Wright brothers and Wing, a young Jean Henri Fabre and Bugsy, and a young Marco Polo and Dipper.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The English theme song is different from the Japanese version.
• Appease the Volcano God: Subverted in the episode with Moah. Virgins aren't used, but the citizens of Easter Island prayed that Moah reverts back to his normal self.
• Badass Adorable: Flint
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Only when Sara uses Muscles does it just turn her giant instead of muscular,
• Big Eater: Flint
• Bishoujo Line: Bindi when becoming Bindi-master
• Broken Aesop: The Time Police work under very specific guidelines -- recover all the Time Shifters, no exceptions, and never disrupt the fabric of time. But reanimating two cavemen in the modern era? Allowing Bindi and Get-a-Long to roam free? No problems there.
• Care Bear Stare: Getalong
• Christmas Episode: The very last episode of the series. However, it apparently takes place before the Grand Finale.
• Circling Bunnies: Happens to Dino and Mite, after taking a giant mallet to the head.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Bindi to Merlock.
• Dancing Theme
• Dhampyr/Our Vampires Are Different: Merlock
• Dreadful Musician: Merlock's singing is awful.
• Drop the Hammer (Flint's Weapon of Choice/Father)
• Dub-Induced Plot Hole: Early on, it's clearly shown that the cast lives in Japan. In the Columbus episode, though, Sara tells us they're from the US.
• Eenie Meenie Miny Moai: Moah, the largest of the Time Shifters. When possessed by Petra, he turns into a floating Moai head that can shoot magma and cause volcanic eruptions. As the golem-like Moah-master, he can call the giant stone Moai to summon a seawall to prevent a tidal wave from washing up the island.
• Enemy Mine: Used in the penultimate episode where Petra and her minions ally with Flint in fighting the Dark Lord. Only works once.
• Four Is Death / Quirky Miniboss Squad: Great Four, the Dark Lord's minions.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: Super Ninja
  • Feathered Fiend: Nascal
  • Fungus Humongous: Ominito
  • The Imp: Uglinator
• Four-Temperament Ensemble
• Gotta Catch Em All: The Time Shifters
• The Grim Reaper: The Dark Lord is a close example.
  • One of his minions, Uglinator, is a skull-like imp with pale yellowish teeth, dark blue horns, and bloody red eyes, complete with Sinister Scythe. His appearance is extremely menacing to the point of Nightmare Fuel (especially his evolved form), and can also possess people just like what he did to Merlock.
  • The Cardians' Con form also looks like one.
• Irony: Merlock's only heroic moment that goes right is him defeating the evil Sara, but on pure accident. He's extremely overjoyed that he finally did something right.
• Kid Hero
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Done Once an Episode to the various historical figures the group meets.
• Mons: The Time Shifters.
• Monumental Damage: When Petra Fina goes back to Ancient Egypt, she takes over the local mon, and uses its influence to change the Sphinx's face to her own.
• Non-Lethal KO: Flint doesn't attack the Con forms of the Time Shifters with brute force. He just convinces them to return to becoming good mons.
• The Power of Friendship
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Pokémon-Speak: Played straight in the original Japanese version, where the Time Shifters speak this way.
  • Subverted in the English dub, for they are capable of speaking like a normal human.
    • Coconaut was one exception, however, as all it could say was its own name and a buzzer-like sound (in case Christopher Columbus was about to make a bad nautical decision).
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Most of the Con forms of the Time Shifters have that.
  • Petra Fina, who attempts to possess them, has natural red eyes herself.
• Riddle of the Sphinx: Used in the Ancient Egypt episode.
• Running Gag: Merlock constantly screws up his heroic moments.
• Run the Gauntlet: The last two episodes. Flint and company fight against the Con forms of all the Time Shifters (except for Getalong and Bindi), all possessed by the Dark Lord.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Sara and Tony.
• Something About a Rose: Merlock.
  • Dark Lord as well, who combines it with Green Thumb on at least one occasion.
• Spiritual Successor: To the Time Bokan Series.
• Stalker with a Crush: Merlock.
• Super Mode: Most of the Time Shifters' Master forms which they access on their own, usually with the help of Flint and company.
  • Even Nascal, Ominito, and Uglinator also have their own evolved forms. Nascal's has three heads a la Cerberus, Ominito turns into a giant parasitic mushroom, and Uglinator into a demon skull.
• Super-Powered Evil Side: When possessed by the Dark Lord (through Petra Fina or Uglinator), the Time Shifters can turn into hideous monsters called Con forms.
• Super Sentai: one set of Time Shifters are basically a parody of the genre. Their combined Master Form resembles a Humongous Mecha, even!
• Team Pet: Pterry the robotic pterodactyl.
• Terrible Trio: Petra Fina, Dino, and Mite.
• Three Amigos: Flint, Sara, and Tony.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Pizza. Flint even asks for it in Ancient Japan.
• True Companions
• Two Guys and a Girl: Flint, Sara, and Tony.
• Verbal Tic: Uglinator ends his sentences with "-dasu" in the Japanese version.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Merlock and Sara. More or less on Merlock's side than Sara's.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Green hair in Ptera Fina's case.
  • Not to mention Sara's pink, Merlock's lavender, Dark Lord's blue, quite a few.
• Younger Than They Look: Based on the series art style, one would imagine that it was from the late '80s, or at least a contemporary of Dragonball Z. It was actually made in 1998.

1. ↑ Jikuu Tantei Genshi-kun