Tomax & Xamot (2003)
Also known as Scalpel and Leplacs. Those who were buying Joes in the early to mid aughts should remember that corny joke. The head mold from these two originated with the Cobra medic, Scalpel. I think it was an ingenious choice to represent the crimson twins.
The Crimson Command Chopper, of which the twins were pilots, was an absolute bugger for me to locate at its time of release. I never found it at retail and ended up lucking out and getting it cheap through the Kay Bee Toys website. I miss the site more so than the store; there were quite a few closeout deals to be had before they went belly up.
I like the overall choice of the CLAWS Commander mold for the twins, as it gives them a kind of command look and even recalls a bit of their business suit attire.
The brothers suffer from a debilitating inward facing arm condition thanks to the mold; one that does not allow them to hold much of anything realistically, aside from their flight helmets. I’ve never understood the reasoning behind the arms being positioned in this way. A few figures at the beginning of the era had this weird affliction. Thankfully, the arms were replaced when this same mold was utilized for the DTC Crimson Guard a few years later.
Scalpel and Leplacs. I missed that joke along with these figures the first time around. They’re wearing actual CeeGee red for once. Those haircuts also make them look more like officers somewhat. Not too shabby an idea.
How weak was it that when all new GI JOE basic figure releases were two-packs, the only version of the twins (the original Joe two-pack) made were kitbashes packed with redecoed helicopter?
I hated these two, the weird arms and the re-used scalple head just killed it for me. I hated claws commander for the arms as well.
I could see an easy fix for the arms–just dip the forearms in warm water for a little bit to soften them up, use an Exacto-knife to slice the hands off, re-position the hands while also re-attaching them with superglue, and presto.
Great molds!
How with those skirts (long jackets) are they able to sit in the chopper they came with? And I miss the “mirrored” look to their outfits. That bugged me about the suited figures, too. I never cared for the finish-the-other’s-sentences shtick, but it was kinda cool that their appearance was similar, yet different.
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