Vanflint

Vanflint is a human from the Hearts of Steel portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Can't you just hear Hans Conreid's voice?

Vanflint (or Vanfleet) is the greedy, amoral supervisor of a rail gang in the latter part of the 19th century. He looks and acts like [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Snidely Whiplash|{{#if:||Snidely Whiplash}}]], except with a slightly better grasp of long-term planning. His first name is unrevealed.

Fiction

Hearts of Steel

Vanflint was supervising a rail gang (which included John Henry as its spike-driver), when a mysterious yellow locomotive appeared. When the locomotive turned out to be an automated steam hammer, Vanflint ordered Smythe, his assistant, to find out where it came from, so that he could order a dozen more like it and fire all the human track-layers. Hearts of Steel #2 He hired the [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Pinkerton National Detective Agency|{{#if:Pinkertons|Pinkertons|Pinkerton National Detective Agency}}]] to investigate, and they eventually pointed him toward the Decepticons' factory. At that point, Vanflint's superior, Jacob Lee Bonaventure, became involved, and together the two met with Starscream, forging an alliance based on conquest and profit. When Vanflint absently mentioned the "little yellow locomotive", Starscream interrogated him, realizing that the Autobots were awake and active. Hearts of Steel #3 Vanflint was aboard the Astrotrain during the journey to New York City, but offered nothing but color commentary to the running battle. He presumably perished when the Astrotrain plummeted over a cliff. Hearts of Steel #4

"Strange Visitors" establishes that events identical to those of Hearts of Steel and Infestation 2 occur in the 2005 IDW continuity; however, they happened to Maximal explorers brainwashed by Shockwave into believing they were the Autobots and Decepticons of the Great War. {{#if:|'s identity was taken by {{#if:|the Maximal named }}{{#if:|[[|a Maximal]]}}.}}