1985 Tomax and Xamot
2005 Tomax and Xamot
1985 Tomax and Xamot Around The Web
Showing posts with label Xamot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xamot. Show all posts
Sunday, February 2, 2020
Palindrome Day - Tomax and Xamot
Today is 02/02/2020. It is the first palindrome day since 11/11/1111, over 900 years ago. It's one of the weird things that doesn't mean anything, but is a fun mathematical anomaly. So, I'll just put this out there with a call out to the mirror image twins of Cobra: Tomax and Xamot.
1985 Tomax and Xamot
2005 Tomax and Xamot
1985 Tomax and Xamot Around The Web
1985 Tomax and Xamot
2005 Tomax and Xamot
1985 Tomax and Xamot Around The Web
Thursday, September 12, 2013
1985 Tomax and Xamot
Tomax and Xamot are two characters who are forever intertwined to me. There simply is no way to separate them. Individually, they are nothing remarkable. But, as twins, the characters begin to step above the Cobra riff raff and have some very redeeming qualities about them. The twins are characters that show that Joe was willing to think even more outside the box. (A trend that would continue until it probably went too far.) The Joe designers were willing to introduce different types of characters who were more super villain-ish without pushing the boundaries too far astray from the base realistic military concept. The twins fit within Cobra, but allowed it greater leeway as an evil organization. Plus, as characters, they were something different that had never been offered as a toy before.
In the spring of 1985, I was on a Joe buying mission. Flush with money from cutting grass all over the neighborhood, I was able to purchase any figure I found with my own funds. As such, on every trip I took with my mother to Target or the grocery store that was near the local Toys R Us, I was able to convince her to let me spend time looking at the Joes. If there was nothing new on the shelves, we left quickly. But, if I found something new, I would buy it for myself. This often lead to fits of jealousy from my younger siblings. But, it also kept my parents off the hook for the large array of G.I. Joe toys that I wanted to acquire every year.
I found my first Tomax and Xamot set in the spring of 1985. This was just after the release of G.I. Joe #37 where the twins were introduced. This comic made the characters very desirable to me and the spectacular mirrored packaging only enhanced that feeling. I purchased the figures on a Friday night and brought them home, placed them atop the Ferret and proceeded to have Footloose and Flint battle them in the Armadillo. All this was on the floor of my parents' living room before they sent me off to bed. The entire next day was spent with those figures out in the yard, replaying scenarios from the comic and me coming up with new adventures.
In time, the Tomax and Xamot characters evolved. When Serpentor was introduced, the twins joined his cadre. (This was counter to the comic where they were loyal to Cobra Commander. But, I just couldn't break up the Cobra Commander, Destro, Major Bludd grouping that had defined so much of my childhood play.) As Serpentor faded out of my play rotation and the new Cobra leader portrayed by the Sea Slug came into light, Tomax and Xamot joined up with him against Cobra Commander. They rarely actually commanded the Crimson Guard. More likely, they were just named leaders who were exceptionally talented and dangerous. I had the twins able to withstand and defeat pain by passing it back and forth. When one was injured, the pain would travel between them, lessening each time. This allowed them to fight through terrible physical beatings, but could also be a detriment as the pain passing between the brothers could be distracting and would lead them to capture or defeat from time to time.
The molds for the twins are very well detailed. The classic combination of blue and red with the silver accents firmly entrench the characters as Cobras. The adornments of their uniforms are very intricately detailed with ridged pads, chained belts and textured cloth. In case you thought these figures weren't combat ready, though, each twin features a knife, pistol and arm communication device sculpted onto the body. The heads are finely detailed to look like each other, but have slight differences you expect in twins. The figures are mirror images of one another with the sashes facing different directions, the arms being reversed and even the pistols and knives on their legs switched. It had to be a fun set to design for this reason. But, it didn't allow Hasbro to save any sculpting cost since each figure is, essentially, a completely unique mold.
I have always felt, though, that Tomax and Xamot were a bit "circus-y" in their appearance. While their uniforms worked for me as a child, as an adult, I have found them a bit more cartoonish than I like. The reality is that had Tomax and Xamot been introduced in the 1990's, collectors would abhor them. But, their classic release date gives them credibility that, perhaps, they don't altogether deserve. This is likely the reason why the twins' role in my collection has diminished over time. The introduction of suited figures in 2005 actually brought them back into a role in my collection since those figures were less outlandish and fit with the characters. But, being so linked to my childhood keeps these figures relevant, even if their look has diminished them a bit to me.
The twin's accessories are unique and both perfect and lacking. Each figure included a large, black pistol. The weapon found ubiquity in the modern line with release with tons of Cobra army builders. But, during the vintage period, it was exclusive to Tomax and Xamot. Also included with the figures was a small length of rope and a two handed hook that the figure's could use to slide along the rope to a quick getaway. While the rope included was too small to be of any real use, the hook became an integral part of my Joe world. In short time after acquiring the figures, my bedroom was strung across with various strings that connected the "building" that was my dresser, to the "light tower" that was a floor lamp. From this, the twins would quickly escape from any Joe captors. (I would also use Stormshadow's nunchucks in the same way. At least until one day when I slid them across the rope too quickly and it sliced the accessory in half!)
In the 1985 Joe catalog, the Crimson Twin figures' pictures are nothing like the actual retail release figures. It's likely the final samples were not ready in time. But, the pictured figures have larger heads and silver weapons. When I got my first set, I compared them to the picture and was actually happier with the released figures. (This was rarely the case. The prototype figures in the 1984 catalog looked much cooler to me than the versions that were actually released.) The mocked up figures are an interesting insight into the designer's vision of the characters. But, the slimmer heads on the production figures are actually better, even if they are not as detailed.
The Tomax and Xamot molds were only used in the U.S. In fact, they, Crankcase, Lamprey, Snow Serpent and Frostbite are the only 6 figure molds released in 1985 that were never released by another country as well. It is likely that this is due to the fact that all of these figures (Except the Snow Serpent which is just an oddity.) were available as mail ins from Hasbro Direct for many years. Since the molds were in production, there was no need to ship them off to Argentina, Brazil or India. The mail away version of Xamot features a scar variant. But, due to the large number of figures offered, isn't really that much more desirable than any Xamot figure. The entire figure molds returned in 2002 as part of the super limited Wave V of the A Real American Hero Collection. These figures are nearly identical to the original versions. In the summer of that year, Master Collector repainted the twins in Crimson and Fuchsia as part of their inaugural Convention set. The heads then appeared in 2005 in the Crimson Guard set. There were long rumors of a white pair of Twins released in Europe. This was simply urban legend caused by grainy photos. But, it does lend credence to the notion that these figures could have been repainted one or two more times in color schemes that collectors would have enjoyed.
On a personal note, the characters of Tomax and Xamot have taken on a deeper meaning to me in recent times. I am now the father of identical twin boys. (They have a fraternal, triplet brother as well!) Seeing how they interact with each other, and how they seem to know what the others are thinking with little outward communication has given me more insight in the Tomax and Xamot characters. It has made them much more real to me since I can see how identical twins and even the triplet have a connection far beyond anything I shared with my brothers of different ages. It lends credence to some of the more outlandish character traits of the twins. And, on mornings where my twins wake up with their hair parted in opposite ways, I always think of Tomax and Xamot!
Mint and complete with filecard sets of Tomax and Xamot can be problematic to price. You will see them sell anywhere between $12 and $30. Usually, though, high quality, complete versions can be had around $20 with consistency. This is down from a few years ago when the Twins were extremely popular and the figures would hit $50 with regularity. Considering that Tomax and Xamot are iconical in both the Cartoon and the Comic and that there was just the one vintage release of the characters, $20 isn't too much to pay. While the molds are a bit clownish, they are also integral to the characters. No Crimson Guard army is complete without Tomax and Xamot leading them.
In the spring of 1985, I was on a Joe buying mission. Flush with money from cutting grass all over the neighborhood, I was able to purchase any figure I found with my own funds. As such, on every trip I took with my mother to Target or the grocery store that was near the local Toys R Us, I was able to convince her to let me spend time looking at the Joes. If there was nothing new on the shelves, we left quickly. But, if I found something new, I would buy it for myself. This often lead to fits of jealousy from my younger siblings. But, it also kept my parents off the hook for the large array of G.I. Joe toys that I wanted to acquire every year.
I found my first Tomax and Xamot set in the spring of 1985. This was just after the release of G.I. Joe #37 where the twins were introduced. This comic made the characters very desirable to me and the spectacular mirrored packaging only enhanced that feeling. I purchased the figures on a Friday night and brought them home, placed them atop the Ferret and proceeded to have Footloose and Flint battle them in the Armadillo. All this was on the floor of my parents' living room before they sent me off to bed. The entire next day was spent with those figures out in the yard, replaying scenarios from the comic and me coming up with new adventures.
In time, the Tomax and Xamot characters evolved. When Serpentor was introduced, the twins joined his cadre. (This was counter to the comic where they were loyal to Cobra Commander. But, I just couldn't break up the Cobra Commander, Destro, Major Bludd grouping that had defined so much of my childhood play.) As Serpentor faded out of my play rotation and the new Cobra leader portrayed by the Sea Slug came into light, Tomax and Xamot joined up with him against Cobra Commander. They rarely actually commanded the Crimson Guard. More likely, they were just named leaders who were exceptionally talented and dangerous. I had the twins able to withstand and defeat pain by passing it back and forth. When one was injured, the pain would travel between them, lessening each time. This allowed them to fight through terrible physical beatings, but could also be a detriment as the pain passing between the brothers could be distracting and would lead them to capture or defeat from time to time.
The molds for the twins are very well detailed. The classic combination of blue and red with the silver accents firmly entrench the characters as Cobras. The adornments of their uniforms are very intricately detailed with ridged pads, chained belts and textured cloth. In case you thought these figures weren't combat ready, though, each twin features a knife, pistol and arm communication device sculpted onto the body. The heads are finely detailed to look like each other, but have slight differences you expect in twins. The figures are mirror images of one another with the sashes facing different directions, the arms being reversed and even the pistols and knives on their legs switched. It had to be a fun set to design for this reason. But, it didn't allow Hasbro to save any sculpting cost since each figure is, essentially, a completely unique mold.
I have always felt, though, that Tomax and Xamot were a bit "circus-y" in their appearance. While their uniforms worked for me as a child, as an adult, I have found them a bit more cartoonish than I like. The reality is that had Tomax and Xamot been introduced in the 1990's, collectors would abhor them. But, their classic release date gives them credibility that, perhaps, they don't altogether deserve. This is likely the reason why the twins' role in my collection has diminished over time. The introduction of suited figures in 2005 actually brought them back into a role in my collection since those figures were less outlandish and fit with the characters. But, being so linked to my childhood keeps these figures relevant, even if their look has diminished them a bit to me.
The twin's accessories are unique and both perfect and lacking. Each figure included a large, black pistol. The weapon found ubiquity in the modern line with release with tons of Cobra army builders. But, during the vintage period, it was exclusive to Tomax and Xamot. Also included with the figures was a small length of rope and a two handed hook that the figure's could use to slide along the rope to a quick getaway. While the rope included was too small to be of any real use, the hook became an integral part of my Joe world. In short time after acquiring the figures, my bedroom was strung across with various strings that connected the "building" that was my dresser, to the "light tower" that was a floor lamp. From this, the twins would quickly escape from any Joe captors. (I would also use Stormshadow's nunchucks in the same way. At least until one day when I slid them across the rope too quickly and it sliced the accessory in half!)
In the 1985 Joe catalog, the Crimson Twin figures' pictures are nothing like the actual retail release figures. It's likely the final samples were not ready in time. But, the pictured figures have larger heads and silver weapons. When I got my first set, I compared them to the picture and was actually happier with the released figures. (This was rarely the case. The prototype figures in the 1984 catalog looked much cooler to me than the versions that were actually released.) The mocked up figures are an interesting insight into the designer's vision of the characters. But, the slimmer heads on the production figures are actually better, even if they are not as detailed.
The Tomax and Xamot molds were only used in the U.S. In fact, they, Crankcase, Lamprey, Snow Serpent and Frostbite are the only 6 figure molds released in 1985 that were never released by another country as well. It is likely that this is due to the fact that all of these figures (Except the Snow Serpent which is just an oddity.) were available as mail ins from Hasbro Direct for many years. Since the molds were in production, there was no need to ship them off to Argentina, Brazil or India. The mail away version of Xamot features a scar variant. But, due to the large number of figures offered, isn't really that much more desirable than any Xamot figure. The entire figure molds returned in 2002 as part of the super limited Wave V of the A Real American Hero Collection. These figures are nearly identical to the original versions. In the summer of that year, Master Collector repainted the twins in Crimson and Fuchsia as part of their inaugural Convention set. The heads then appeared in 2005 in the Crimson Guard set. There were long rumors of a white pair of Twins released in Europe. This was simply urban legend caused by grainy photos. But, it does lend credence to the notion that these figures could have been repainted one or two more times in color schemes that collectors would have enjoyed.
On a personal note, the characters of Tomax and Xamot have taken on a deeper meaning to me in recent times. I am now the father of identical twin boys. (They have a fraternal, triplet brother as well!) Seeing how they interact with each other, and how they seem to know what the others are thinking with little outward communication has given me more insight in the Tomax and Xamot characters. It has made them much more real to me since I can see how identical twins and even the triplet have a connection far beyond anything I shared with my brothers of different ages. It lends credence to some of the more outlandish character traits of the twins. And, on mornings where my twins wake up with their hair parted in opposite ways, I always think of Tomax and Xamot!
Mint and complete with filecard sets of Tomax and Xamot can be problematic to price. You will see them sell anywhere between $12 and $30. Usually, though, high quality, complete versions can be had around $20 with consistency. This is down from a few years ago when the Twins were extremely popular and the figures would hit $50 with regularity. Considering that Tomax and Xamot are iconical in both the Cartoon and the Comic and that there was just the one vintage release of the characters, $20 isn't too much to pay. While the molds are a bit clownish, they are also integral to the characters. No Crimson Guard army is complete without Tomax and Xamot leading them.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
2005 Tomax and Xamot
This is a first where I have profiled two distinct figures at the same time. However, the reality is that these two figures are not all that distinct and must always be considered together. Individually, they make little sense and are difficult to fathom. Together, Tomax and Xamot are an indelible part of the Joe mythos and characters who are difficult to forget. While there have been several versions of the Twins, most of them are simple repaints of their circus inspired outfits from 1985. Rather than focus upon the limitations of that mold, I have chosen the more subdued figures from the 2005 Crimson Guard set. They are a look that was oft requested by fans. Hasbro had little to work with to make the figures a reality, but the result is a version of the Twins that gives them the versatility that was always missing from their original incarnation.
Tomax and Xamot were introduced as Twins who were mirror images of each other. They had a near supernatural link that allowed them to share thoughts and physical sensations. Their characters were hinted as being part of the "Corsican Brotherhood". But, they're true claim to fame was as businessmen. They were the financiers who made the big arms deals for Cobra possible. From the early days, they were portrayed in business suits. This is also largely due to the fact that the Twins' outfit, though, looks like something a circus performer would wear. In their first comic appearance, they were at a circus and they performed some acrobatic moves. As such, it's possible that they were intended as Cobra acrobats. But, the longevity of that idea was realized and they were given deeper characterizations even though their look did not denote them. At least not until 2005 when Hasbro finally offered the Twins in suits colored a metallic Cobra blue. Rather than the outlandish sashes and medallions, the Twins finally had a look befitting their character.
The origin of the Twins and their odd portrayal of finishing each other's thoughts is not known. When recently reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's masterpiece "100 Years of Solitude" though, I discovered that he had two twins who displayed the characteristics of Tomax and Xamot. The could finish each other's thoughts, were mirror images of each other in their actions and were even able to sense physical sensations experienced by their sibling. Whether this was the inspiration for Tomax and Xamot is not known. But I find it interesting that an idea that seems so ludicrous to "normal" people was featured so prominently by a Nobel Prize winning author in his master work. It infuses a sense of culture in the idea of the Twins and makes their existence a bit more interesting to me. I always felt that Joe's longevity can be directly traced to its depth. Characters had issues. Heroes were not perfect. Villains had interesting backgrounds that spoke of a worldliness that seemed exotic to the 9-11 year olds of the day. Joe wasn't dumbed down at the beginning. Finding a literary reference like this gives me more insight into why a toy line remains so large a part of my life more than two decades later. But, things like this show that it was much more than a toy line and that is why this hobby remains so dear to me: despite some of the rubbish that fandom brings with it. :)
In my collection, the role of the Twins has evolved quite a bit. As a kid, I was enthralled by issue #37 of the comic that Introduced the Twins. I distinctly remember the Friday night I came home after finding my first set of Twins at the local Toys R Us store. I spent a great deal of time opening the package so that I didn't damage it. The unique cardback was something that I saved for years and it remained intact in my collection until very late in 1987 when I finally decided it was time to purge the large stack of toy package trash that was in my room and I proceeded to cut out the filecards and threw away all the superfluous packaging. Once they were open, I pulled out my Ferret, Armadillo, Footloose, Flint and Alpine and tried to enact out the comic book plot. I've said before that due to circumstances surrounding their addition to my collection, certain figures are always linked together. In this case, those vehicles and those figures became a collection unto themselves and would always be used together. Flint, of course, was the ultimate enemy of the Twins and one who would always end up fighting them. However, I took the Twin's ability to feel each other's pain to a new level. I had them share the pain, but made them able to diminish the pain slightly with each passing. As such, even the most painful hit was quickly absorbed though the swapping done by the brothers. This made fighting them rather difficult for one man. Flint usually ended up fending the Twins off, but they always escaped to fight another day.
In time, though, I downplayed that aspect of the Twins and, instead, made them out to be just military commanders. The Crimson Guard were my elite army as a kid since I had 3 CG figures and the Sears SMS. So, the Twins saw a lot of use at the forefront of their CG army. When Serpentor came along, the Twins sided with him. For some reason, I simply could not see the Crimson Guard loyal to Cobra Commander. So, they sided with Serpentor. Once Serpentor got played out, the Twins sided with my own character named Rector who had designs to take over Cobra. The Twins used the power of the CG's to put Rector in a position of power. In return, the CG's remained the elite power brokers on Cobra Island.
Now, the Twins have found themselves in trouble. After Ramen (Cobra's South American Commander) arranged for the original Cobra Commander to be killed by the Joes, Rector assumed the role of Cobra Commander and set about establishing his own hierarchy on Cobra Island. The Twins moved from field commanders to their true calling of politicians and financiers. They were responsible for wining and dining potential Cobra clients. The oversaw the vast Cobra casino empire and were responsible for the majority of Cobra's financial enterprises. Without the oversight of the Twins, though, the Crimson Guard became corpulent and corrupt. The CG's set about establishing their personal power at the expense of the traditional military establishment in Cobra. This lead to great resentment as the CG's were not shy in using their authority to belittle and betray the combat Cobra troops. This lead to severe unrest within Cobra. Rector felt his power base eroding and he could sense that the military was primarily loyal to Ramen. He feared an outright coup and had to act.
Thus was invented the Crimson Guard Rebellion. It's not known if the "conspirators" in the Rebellion really wanted to assassinate Rector, but the evidence sure made it look like a well orchestrated plot by the entire Crimson Guard. Rector immediately began rounding up the Crimson Guard and executed most by firing squad. Tomax and Xamot were made enemy number one. In an attempt to save their lives, the split up. But, Xamot was captured as he was about to board a Night Raven to freedom. Rector had him beheaded. Tomax, though, was never found and many of the best bounty hunters in the world are after the $10,000,000 bounty that Rector has put on Tomax's head. Shortly, the Crimson Guards were emasculated and those who re-pledged their loyalty to Rector were sent back to basic training for one year where they were at the total mercy of the combat troops they had so belittled. Meanwhile, Rector has yet to be seen in public without two members of his personal guard. It's been noted that both of these men have the same gait. And, despite the disruption at the top of the Cobra financial empire, things have been very stable and many of the deals that Tomax and Xamot were working on have gone through with the acumen that was often accredited to the Twins and their ability to get the impossible deal done.
As figures, though, Tomax and Xamot are a bit hard to use. They aren't the most exciting action figure and their appearance doesn't really lend itself to most combat roles. Most people don't build exciting boardroom dioramas where the Twins engineer a hostile corporate takeover. So, it is somewhat hard to use these figures beyond background dressing in Cobra hierarchy dioramas. But, that isn't a bad thing. As characters, Tomax and Xamot are indispensable to Cobra. It's important to have them around. As such, even a somewhat boring figure like this has value to any Joe collection. I know that my specimens pretty much stand around. But, were they not there, they would be conspicuous by their absence.
The Tomax and Xamot molds have only been used by Hasbro. After their release at retail in 1985 and 1986, Hasbro offered various production runs of the Twins as mail away premiums for several years. (These figures have slight variations in coloring and can be distinguished by hues of hair color and Xamot's scar.) The characters were not revisited until 2002, though, when Hasbro included them in the infamous Wave V. However, these figures were nearly identical to the original figures and didn't really offer collectors anything new. Master Collector, though, came through with the first version of the Twins in Crimson colors in the highly desirable 2002 convention set. (They also released fuchsia versions that are much easier to find, but not as well colored as the Crimson figures.) The heads were then used for these figures and that is the extent of the mold usage. There is a long running rumour in the Joe world that Tomax and Xamot were offered in Europe in exclusive color schemes. The most often mentioned is white and green. This rumours are false and the figures do not exist in any color scheme at this time beyond what was mentioned already. Every now and then, a custom Tomax and Xamot appears in a poorly photographed lot from Europe and this rumour comes back around. But, it is false and there are no foreign versions of Tomax and Xamot.
These figures use the body from Headman. It is pretty much the only body in the Joe line that is in anything resembling a suit. Unfortunately, that has meant that Hasbro got quite a bit of use out of it in the modern line. It was used for Headman in 2002, General Flagg in 2004 and these Twins in 2005. It isn't a bad mold and it works for the look Hasbro was trying to create. Each of the Twins includes a two pistols and a knife. They lack a briefcase which would have been a nice addition. But, at least the included pistols are not the buffoonish pistols released with the original figures and every modern version of the Alley Viper. Really, that's all they need. The Twins aren't used in traditional combat so having smaller weapons makes sense for them.
The Crimson Sets were somewhat well received when they were released, but not to the extent that one would have expected just a few months earlier. While the sets were very well done for what they were, they were also plagued by problems. First off, the set was conceived as an army builder. While Crimson Guards remain the second most expensive vintage Cobra army builder, the mold that Hasbro used for their modern take on the Crimson Guard had been rather easy for collectors to acquire in the months before this set's release. It had first been used on the mail away Agent Faces figures that collectors had purchases en masse. It was then used again on the KB Toys exclusive Operation Crimson sabotage. This was a set of 3 racially distinct Crimson Guards, a Hiss Tank and a red ASP that was sold for $20 and ended up on clearance in many markets. As such, when the Crimson Set was released in early 2005, collectors were somewhat Crimson Guarded out. This lead to decreased purchases by many as the sheer volume of Hasbro's army builders were finally starting to defeat even the most aggressive retail army building collectors. The set was also plagued with another issue. Originally, Hasbro split up Tomax and Xamot. This made sense since that allowed collectors to buy 2 packs for the Twins and not accumulate tons of superfluous Tomax and Xamot figures as they army built Crimson Guards. But, for some reason, Hasbro then included a red Firefly as the 6th figure in the set.
All of the reason for splitting up Tomax and Xamot was instantly rendered obsolete by the inclusion of Firefly. If you look at the box art, though, it seems that Firefly was the absolute last figure to be included in the set. Logically, it would have made sense for Hasbro to include a Crimson Guard Immortal figure in the set in lieu of Firefly. It seems likely to me, though, that this was the plan. However, the mold for the Crimson Guard Immortal was wanted by Master Collector for their convention exclusive Destro in 2005. As such, it seems the CGI mold was taken out of the Crimson Set and used for Destro and Hasbro threw the Firefly mold into the retail set since they knew that the mold was usable and that Firefly was a major character. This was made all the more frustrating by the fact that Master Collector had the 1988 Destro mold available to them and even ran test shots of it. But, they concluded that the '88 Destro was not that popular and they went with the CGI body Destro instead.
The result of all of this was the Crimson Set was readily available at Toys R Us stores around the country well through the summer of 2005. Toys R Us ordered a full run of 20,000 sets. However, it is not known if that was 20,000 of each set, or 20,000 total sets leaving 10,000 of each Twin figure. If it was 20,000 of each set, then they outsold all other Joe exclusives. But, once the set dried up it has taken a second life on the aftermarket. These days, a MOC set with either Tomax and Xamot will run anywhere between $30-$35. Some even go higher. The effect of Hasbro splitting up the Twins seems to have been a worthwhile gambit as collectors were not able to acquire huge quantities of duplicates like they did with the Firefly figures. As such, both Tomax and Xamot will easily fetch $6 or more on the second hand market. It's a price worth paying as the figures are probably the most useful editions of the Twins and it is doubtful that Hasbro will ever produce a superior version of them in ARAH form.
Tomax and Xamot were introduced as Twins who were mirror images of each other. They had a near supernatural link that allowed them to share thoughts and physical sensations. Their characters were hinted as being part of the "Corsican Brotherhood". But, they're true claim to fame was as businessmen. They were the financiers who made the big arms deals for Cobra possible. From the early days, they were portrayed in business suits. This is also largely due to the fact that the Twins' outfit, though, looks like something a circus performer would wear. In their first comic appearance, they were at a circus and they performed some acrobatic moves. As such, it's possible that they were intended as Cobra acrobats. But, the longevity of that idea was realized and they were given deeper characterizations even though their look did not denote them. At least not until 2005 when Hasbro finally offered the Twins in suits colored a metallic Cobra blue. Rather than the outlandish sashes and medallions, the Twins finally had a look befitting their character.
The origin of the Twins and their odd portrayal of finishing each other's thoughts is not known. When recently reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's masterpiece "100 Years of Solitude" though, I discovered that he had two twins who displayed the characteristics of Tomax and Xamot. The could finish each other's thoughts, were mirror images of each other in their actions and were even able to sense physical sensations experienced by their sibling. Whether this was the inspiration for Tomax and Xamot is not known. But I find it interesting that an idea that seems so ludicrous to "normal" people was featured so prominently by a Nobel Prize winning author in his master work. It infuses a sense of culture in the idea of the Twins and makes their existence a bit more interesting to me. I always felt that Joe's longevity can be directly traced to its depth. Characters had issues. Heroes were not perfect. Villains had interesting backgrounds that spoke of a worldliness that seemed exotic to the 9-11 year olds of the day. Joe wasn't dumbed down at the beginning. Finding a literary reference like this gives me more insight into why a toy line remains so large a part of my life more than two decades later. But, things like this show that it was much more than a toy line and that is why this hobby remains so dear to me: despite some of the rubbish that fandom brings with it. :)
In my collection, the role of the Twins has evolved quite a bit. As a kid, I was enthralled by issue #37 of the comic that Introduced the Twins. I distinctly remember the Friday night I came home after finding my first set of Twins at the local Toys R Us store. I spent a great deal of time opening the package so that I didn't damage it. The unique cardback was something that I saved for years and it remained intact in my collection until very late in 1987 when I finally decided it was time to purge the large stack of toy package trash that was in my room and I proceeded to cut out the filecards and threw away all the superfluous packaging. Once they were open, I pulled out my Ferret, Armadillo, Footloose, Flint and Alpine and tried to enact out the comic book plot. I've said before that due to circumstances surrounding their addition to my collection, certain figures are always linked together. In this case, those vehicles and those figures became a collection unto themselves and would always be used together. Flint, of course, was the ultimate enemy of the Twins and one who would always end up fighting them. However, I took the Twin's ability to feel each other's pain to a new level. I had them share the pain, but made them able to diminish the pain slightly with each passing. As such, even the most painful hit was quickly absorbed though the swapping done by the brothers. This made fighting them rather difficult for one man. Flint usually ended up fending the Twins off, but they always escaped to fight another day.
In time, though, I downplayed that aspect of the Twins and, instead, made them out to be just military commanders. The Crimson Guard were my elite army as a kid since I had 3 CG figures and the Sears SMS. So, the Twins saw a lot of use at the forefront of their CG army. When Serpentor came along, the Twins sided with him. For some reason, I simply could not see the Crimson Guard loyal to Cobra Commander. So, they sided with Serpentor. Once Serpentor got played out, the Twins sided with my own character named Rector who had designs to take over Cobra. The Twins used the power of the CG's to put Rector in a position of power. In return, the CG's remained the elite power brokers on Cobra Island.
Now, the Twins have found themselves in trouble. After Ramen (Cobra's South American Commander) arranged for the original Cobra Commander to be killed by the Joes, Rector assumed the role of Cobra Commander and set about establishing his own hierarchy on Cobra Island. The Twins moved from field commanders to their true calling of politicians and financiers. They were responsible for wining and dining potential Cobra clients. The oversaw the vast Cobra casino empire and were responsible for the majority of Cobra's financial enterprises. Without the oversight of the Twins, though, the Crimson Guard became corpulent and corrupt. The CG's set about establishing their personal power at the expense of the traditional military establishment in Cobra. This lead to great resentment as the CG's were not shy in using their authority to belittle and betray the combat Cobra troops. This lead to severe unrest within Cobra. Rector felt his power base eroding and he could sense that the military was primarily loyal to Ramen. He feared an outright coup and had to act.
Thus was invented the Crimson Guard Rebellion. It's not known if the "conspirators" in the Rebellion really wanted to assassinate Rector, but the evidence sure made it look like a well orchestrated plot by the entire Crimson Guard. Rector immediately began rounding up the Crimson Guard and executed most by firing squad. Tomax and Xamot were made enemy number one. In an attempt to save their lives, the split up. But, Xamot was captured as he was about to board a Night Raven to freedom. Rector had him beheaded. Tomax, though, was never found and many of the best bounty hunters in the world are after the $10,000,000 bounty that Rector has put on Tomax's head. Shortly, the Crimson Guards were emasculated and those who re-pledged their loyalty to Rector were sent back to basic training for one year where they were at the total mercy of the combat troops they had so belittled. Meanwhile, Rector has yet to be seen in public without two members of his personal guard. It's been noted that both of these men have the same gait. And, despite the disruption at the top of the Cobra financial empire, things have been very stable and many of the deals that Tomax and Xamot were working on have gone through with the acumen that was often accredited to the Twins and their ability to get the impossible deal done.
As figures, though, Tomax and Xamot are a bit hard to use. They aren't the most exciting action figure and their appearance doesn't really lend itself to most combat roles. Most people don't build exciting boardroom dioramas where the Twins engineer a hostile corporate takeover. So, it is somewhat hard to use these figures beyond background dressing in Cobra hierarchy dioramas. But, that isn't a bad thing. As characters, Tomax and Xamot are indispensable to Cobra. It's important to have them around. As such, even a somewhat boring figure like this has value to any Joe collection. I know that my specimens pretty much stand around. But, were they not there, they would be conspicuous by their absence.
The Tomax and Xamot molds have only been used by Hasbro. After their release at retail in 1985 and 1986, Hasbro offered various production runs of the Twins as mail away premiums for several years. (These figures have slight variations in coloring and can be distinguished by hues of hair color and Xamot's scar.) The characters were not revisited until 2002, though, when Hasbro included them in the infamous Wave V. However, these figures were nearly identical to the original figures and didn't really offer collectors anything new. Master Collector, though, came through with the first version of the Twins in Crimson colors in the highly desirable 2002 convention set. (They also released fuchsia versions that are much easier to find, but not as well colored as the Crimson figures.) The heads were then used for these figures and that is the extent of the mold usage. There is a long running rumour in the Joe world that Tomax and Xamot were offered in Europe in exclusive color schemes. The most often mentioned is white and green. This rumours are false and the figures do not exist in any color scheme at this time beyond what was mentioned already. Every now and then, a custom Tomax and Xamot appears in a poorly photographed lot from Europe and this rumour comes back around. But, it is false and there are no foreign versions of Tomax and Xamot.
These figures use the body from Headman. It is pretty much the only body in the Joe line that is in anything resembling a suit. Unfortunately, that has meant that Hasbro got quite a bit of use out of it in the modern line. It was used for Headman in 2002, General Flagg in 2004 and these Twins in 2005. It isn't a bad mold and it works for the look Hasbro was trying to create. Each of the Twins includes a two pistols and a knife. They lack a briefcase which would have been a nice addition. But, at least the included pistols are not the buffoonish pistols released with the original figures and every modern version of the Alley Viper. Really, that's all they need. The Twins aren't used in traditional combat so having smaller weapons makes sense for them.
The Crimson Sets were somewhat well received when they were released, but not to the extent that one would have expected just a few months earlier. While the sets were very well done for what they were, they were also plagued by problems. First off, the set was conceived as an army builder. While Crimson Guards remain the second most expensive vintage Cobra army builder, the mold that Hasbro used for their modern take on the Crimson Guard had been rather easy for collectors to acquire in the months before this set's release. It had first been used on the mail away Agent Faces figures that collectors had purchases en masse. It was then used again on the KB Toys exclusive Operation Crimson sabotage. This was a set of 3 racially distinct Crimson Guards, a Hiss Tank and a red ASP that was sold for $20 and ended up on clearance in many markets. As such, when the Crimson Set was released in early 2005, collectors were somewhat Crimson Guarded out. This lead to decreased purchases by many as the sheer volume of Hasbro's army builders were finally starting to defeat even the most aggressive retail army building collectors. The set was also plagued with another issue. Originally, Hasbro split up Tomax and Xamot. This made sense since that allowed collectors to buy 2 packs for the Twins and not accumulate tons of superfluous Tomax and Xamot figures as they army built Crimson Guards. But, for some reason, Hasbro then included a red Firefly as the 6th figure in the set.
All of the reason for splitting up Tomax and Xamot was instantly rendered obsolete by the inclusion of Firefly. If you look at the box art, though, it seems that Firefly was the absolute last figure to be included in the set. Logically, it would have made sense for Hasbro to include a Crimson Guard Immortal figure in the set in lieu of Firefly. It seems likely to me, though, that this was the plan. However, the mold for the Crimson Guard Immortal was wanted by Master Collector for their convention exclusive Destro in 2005. As such, it seems the CGI mold was taken out of the Crimson Set and used for Destro and Hasbro threw the Firefly mold into the retail set since they knew that the mold was usable and that Firefly was a major character. This was made all the more frustrating by the fact that Master Collector had the 1988 Destro mold available to them and even ran test shots of it. But, they concluded that the '88 Destro was not that popular and they went with the CGI body Destro instead.
The result of all of this was the Crimson Set was readily available at Toys R Us stores around the country well through the summer of 2005. Toys R Us ordered a full run of 20,000 sets. However, it is not known if that was 20,000 of each set, or 20,000 total sets leaving 10,000 of each Twin figure. If it was 20,000 of each set, then they outsold all other Joe exclusives. But, once the set dried up it has taken a second life on the aftermarket. These days, a MOC set with either Tomax and Xamot will run anywhere between $30-$35. Some even go higher. The effect of Hasbro splitting up the Twins seems to have been a worthwhile gambit as collectors were not able to acquire huge quantities of duplicates like they did with the Firefly figures. As such, both Tomax and Xamot will easily fetch $6 or more on the second hand market. It's a price worth paying as the figures are probably the most useful editions of the Twins and it is doubtful that Hasbro will ever produce a superior version of them in ARAH form.
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