 Hello everybody, HoodedCobraCommander78 here and I'm back with another VintageGiJoeToy review and we are back on track now. I wanted to do Tomax and Xamont last week but I didn't have everything I needed, now I'm ready to go. So this time we're going to review the CrimsonGuard Commander's Tomax and Xamont. But with this video I had a little special help behind the camera so let's meet the film crew. This is Audrey, say hi Audrey. This is Tomax and Xamont, the CrimsonGuard commanders also known as the Crimson Twins. They were first sold in 1985, they were also available in 1986, they were discontinued after that, but they were available in 1990 as a mail away offer. They were worth one flag point despite the fact that you bought these two guys together, obviously they're supposed to be twins, they were dual packed, they came in the same package, but you still only got one flag point. Really I think you should have gotten two flag points, two figures, two flag points. They were the first G.I. Joe action figures to be double packed like that. The next multi-pack G.I. Joe action figures was Special Missions Brazil Five Pack in 1986. Tomax and Xamont are supposed to be the CrimsonGuard commanders and these were the CrimsonGuard, these elite Cobra Troopers in these bright red uniforms, really cool looking Cobra Troopers, but Tomax and Xamont's connection to the CrimsonGuard was kind of tenuous. They didn't really play that role very much in the various G.I. Joe media, but on their file card it does specify that they are the commanders of the CrimsonGuard. There is a slight connection between the Twins and the CrimsonGuard in the file card but I'll get to that later. You can tell these guys are supposed to be twins, but they're not copies of each other, they're more like mirror images. This is Tomax and this is Xamont. You can tell the difference because Xamont has a scar on his left cheek. I'll look more at the differences between these action figures when I look at their sculpt. Let's start out as we usually do by looking at the accessories and they both came with this very large laser pistol that doesn't want to come out of the hand. This exceptionally large laser pistol which kind of looks more like a Star Wars gun to me than a G.I. Joe weapon. It's not based on any real-life weapon that I know of. It really is a completely fantasy weapon and it's really oddly oversized for these guys. It doesn't have any kind of foregrip for it to be used kind of like a submachine gun. I guess you can imagine it as a machine pistol or something like that but it's not really designed that way. This is supposed to be a laser pistol. As you know I'm not a big fan of lasers in G.I. Joe but you know what are you going to do? It's a laser pistol. They came with one other accessory that also doesn't like to fit in their hands very well. This skyhook which came with a long black string which I have kind of wound up here. Now this skyhook has a pair of handles. I guess they could both hold onto this if you wanted to do it that way. But basically you use this string to kind of repel them down the string using this pulley system. It's not a real wheel in there. It's just a solid piece of plastic and the string just kind of glides through there. I'll go ahead and demonstrate how this is used. Just demonstrate how the skyhook works. You just string the string through this loop here. You put the handle in the action figure's hand and you just zip them along like so. The skyhook is so frustrating because it really does not want to go on the hands very well. I find myself having to force it and I do not like to force this old plastic. I feel like I'm going to either break the thumb on the action figure or break the handle on the accessory. Let's look at the articulation on these guys and let's just look at Zemont here because the articulation is the same. They have the typical articulation that was introduced in 1985 meaning that they can turn their head from left to right but they can also look up and down. Their heads were on a ball joint. They can lift their arms up about so far and they can swivel them all the way around. They can bend at the elbow about 90 degrees and they can swivel their arms all the way around. The figure was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside and that allowed him to move at the torso a little bit. He can move his legs apart about so far. He could bend at the hip about 90 degrees and he could bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's look at the sculpt and the color of Tomax and Zemont and although of course they are supposed to be twins, they are not copies of each other and actually there are no parts common between them. They both have completely unique parts. They didn't just stamp out the same action figure and put a scar on one of them. As I said, Zemont has a scar on his left cheek. This is kind of a pink colored scar. There is a variant of Zemont that has a longer darker red scar but of course I don't have that one. I have what I think is the more common one. They have this very unusual looking armor on their shoulders and on their arms which reminds me a little bit of jousting armor oddly enough. I'm not really sure what that would have to do with these guys but that's just what it looks like to me. Of course the armor is on opposite sides of the action figures and they have this red sash which I think is very good looking. It's very striking against the dark blue of their shirts and of course they have this very nice looking silver cobra symbol. Now as you're probably aware, any of this silver paint on these action figures is not very robust and it tends to rub off fairly easily and you can see that's kind of happened on Tomax here. His cobra symbol is slightly worn away. This silver sash reminds me a little bit of a Girl Scouts sash so I'm assuming that they sew their cobra merit badges on there as they earn them. These guys apparently haven't earned any merit badges yet so why do they get to be the Crimson Guard Commanders? Look, even the Crimson Guard has merit badges. They both have black gloves and they have these unusual electronics on their gloves of course on opposite gloves and they have on the front in their waist piece this kind of cod piece looking thing even though it looks like these waist pieces might be identical they're not because this red ridged holster here is on opposite sides of them so even these waist pieces are unique parts they don't share those parts between them. They both have these sculpted on pistols with these red ridged pistol holsters and of course they're on opposite legs. The reverse legs are pretty plain but as you can see they have these amazing tall cobra themed boots with these nice sculpted cobra heads on top and of course knee pads and as you might know I am a fan of knee pads I love that but these boots again are not, they don't share these boots because they have knives on one side of course the opposite side so no parts at all shared between these guys they are completely unique but they are as you can see mirror images of each other. Let's take a look at the file card and thanks to an interview that Mark Balomo did on the podcast Watson Joe Mind I have taken a closer look at this file card and there really is a lot of unique and interesting information here. It says Crimson Guard commanders codenames Tomax and Zamot and of course Tomax is Zamot spelled backwards so their names are also reversed. Their portrait here has both of them. They're both on the same file card and of course the top one looks like Tomax, the bottom one with the scar looks like Zamot. File names are classified and it says their specialty is infiltration, espionage, sabotage, propaganda and corporate law. Since I've actually taken a corporate law course I can say that that is probably more difficult than any of those other things. Their place of birth is Island in the Mediterranean. That's very nonspecific. I did check a map of the Mediterranean and I think this might be referring to Corsica which was the birthplace of Napoleon. So there might be a little bit of a French connection here which follows through with the rest of their file card. This section says spell out the name Tomax in capitals and hold it up to a mirror. It reads Zamot. The name holds true for the actual brothers. Each is the mirror image of the other except for a scar on Zamot's face. Both twins served with the foreign legion paras in Algeria before the officers push. This is referring to the Algiers push of 1961 also referred to as the generals push. It was a failed coup d'etat to overthrow the government of Charles de Gaulle. They honed their mercenary skills in the Bush Wars of Africa and South America which may be a connection to Wild Weasel who also fought in the Bush Wars of South America. They were too smart to be soldiers forever. Went to Zurich to become bankers. This line is referring to the Zurich bankers also known as the gnomes of Zurich. They're Swiss bankers that are known to be secretive and manipulative. They quickly found the ins and outs of international finance to be too haphazard for their tastes. They preferred a situation they could control. Cobra was willing to give them access to that control. Now they command legions, but their legions wear three-piece suits and fight their battles in executive boardrooms. This reference to their legions and three-piece suits is probably the connection to the Crimson Guard. Now these Crimson Guard troopers are elite troopers but they also work undercover and they often wear suits and they basically disguise themselves as normal members of society. These then are the most fearsome of the Cobra adversaries. They don't fight with steel and claw backed with muscle and honest sweat. They chase you with paper, wound you with your own laws and kill you with the money you loaned them. I guess it's a well-worn cliche that people who deal with money and laws are dishonest whereas people who work with their hands and they sweat and they fight with their fists, they're the honest ones to be trusted. Essentially, Tomax and Zemont are the financiers of Cobra. They fill an important role in a terrorist organization and a role that you wouldn't think about necessarily if you're playing with these toys, but of course Cobra has to have some way to get their money. It's kind of similar to the way Destro is Cobra's arms supplier. You might not think of how a terrorist organization would get its weapons, but of course they have to have some method and Destro fits that role. Essentially, Tomax and Zemont get the money that is used to buy the weapons from Destro. Tomax and Zemont are twins and they are some of the most cliched characters in all of G.I. Joe and that's saying something because there are a lot of cliched characters in G.I. Joe. As they were depicted in the cartoon and the comic book, Tomax and Zemont feel each other's pain and they can read each other's thoughts. They kind of communicate telepathically. A very close friend of mine has an identical twin and he talks about some of the weird things that people say when they find out that he has an identical twin brother and some of the things they say are like, do you feel each other's pain? Can you read each other's thoughts? Things like that. I mean, it's ridiculous. And here it is. They embody all of the cliches surrounding identical twins. A bit more subtlety in handling the characters would have been nice, I think. Let's look at this design. It is a very weird design. It's so strange. All the bright reds and blues, the armor on the shoulders, the silver boots. I mean, it looks beautiful. I mean, it's a gorgeous design. It just looks so impressive. But it's hard to imagine anyone dressing like this under any circumstances in the real world. When they were introduced in the comic book, they were in a circus setting, which I think actually fits their costumes better than a financier. You could see them as circus performers, more than you could see them as bankers. If you ever walk into a bank and you're greeted by somebody dressed like this, turn around and walk out. I don't really see these guys as Crimson Guard Commanders. I think they were kind of shoehorned in that role. I see them more as their own independent characters getting money for Cobra through any nefarious means necessary. If I were to rate these guys, even though I really prefer more realism in G.I. Joe and even Cobra, although Cobra gets a little bit of a pass, they can go a little bit more science fiction than the G.I. Joe team, I still rate these guys really high. They just look so cool. I love this look. They're very impressive looking. That was my review of Tomax and Zemont. I hope you liked this video. If you did, make sure you give the video a thumbs up, subscribe, and like the Facebook page. Thanks again to Audrey for helping. So Audrey, what did you think of this review? It's... The leaders of the Crimson Guard, the evil twin brothers, Tomax and Zemont, and they're getting away in the Cobra Baron. The Juggles, Gotham. With the G.I. Joe Minitank. G.I. Joe. The brothers sold together, Cobra Baron, G.I. Joe Minitank, and Joe figures sold separately from Hasbro.