The Tom Tom Gang (previously the Tom-Tom Gang in TTS) is a group of humanoid pigs that resemble pirates, soldiers, and bikers. They have a love for treasure, and they hate Time Sweepers. They are also the masters of Space Controls, which they commonly use for their operations, that mostly consists of stealing Time Crystals, gold, and on occasion rare relics. These operations usually have harmful side-effects, such as the destablization of Dimension B1Q64.

In Blinx: The Time Sweeper, the Tom Tom Gang serves the role as the main antagonist, while in Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space, they become anti-heroes that are eventually forced to temporarily work with the Time Sweepers to stop the Scissor Demon, and save every dimension from chaos and destruction.

Description

"These time thieves have been seen skulking near the Time Factory. They are suspected of numerous robberies throughout the worlds. They are known to use time crystals in their illegal acts, and they would like to get their hands on more! If you spot any one of them, report it immediately to your supervisor. Caution: They may steal gold or time crystals. Be careful!"
— Time Factory Worker's Safety Guide, Blinx: The Time Sweeper

The Tom Tom Gang is a large group of space pirates that specialize in robbing worlds of their time and selling the resulting crystals to other worlds for profit. Their proficiency in doing so and disregard for the safety of inhabitants of the worlds that they rob has given them substantial notoriety, as they were responsible for inducing both the World B1Q64 and Big Crystal incidents, though the gang also helped resolve the latter.

The gang is entirely contained within a larger population of pigs, at least part of which looks up to the gang's endeavours, resulting in their acknowledgement in news broadcasting. Similarly to the Time Sweepers, Tom Toms are also entirely comprised of males, though in the gang's case this contributes to a particular concept of chivalry championed by Benito, the gang's leader. The gang is most easily recognized by its emblazoning of nearly all related objects and individuals with the Tom Tom Gang sigil, which resembles a pig's face. This appears on Tom Tom technology and is spray painted at the entry and exit point to a world used by an individual.

Tom Toms hold few of the reservations displayed by the Time Sweepers, which is most obvious in their willingness to risk or destroy entire worlds in search of profit. They also show a very strong appreciation for food, to the point that a member's performance is responded to with corresponding food at dinner time, ranging from nothing to at the very least cake, though meat is also likely included considering the affinity that Tom Toms often show for it.

Though the Tom Tom Gang operated from the Tom Tom HQ for a long period of time, an invasion by the Time Sweepers forced the gang to operate entirety from the Benito Battleship, a flying ship, from that point onward.

Appearance

Tom Toms, much like Time Sweepers, are often organized into teams with an emblem, flag, name, and uniform, all chosen by the team itself. Team leaders are (at least in some cases) marked by an additional band on the helmet at eye level. As with Time Sweepers, teams are usually comprised of only four Tom Toms, though larger groups exist. Members can join or leave teams after being registered in addition to registering as part of a team. When performing missions that necessitate an element of stealth, however, Tom Toms normally operate independently.

​The Tom Tom outfit has increased in variation since the World B1Q64 incident, at which point all members wore green helmets, red glasses, red and white striped shirts, blue pants, yellow gloves, and yellow boots. Many Tom Toms continue to wear the same outfit with another colour in place of red on the shirt, but many modern Tom Toms change the colours of the outfit as well as replacing the shirt entirely. Although all pigs always wear glasses of some colour, Tom Toms usually wear red glasses with few exceptions (in which case they are blue). Modern Tom Toms also often have tattoos in black ink on either arm. By the World B1Q64 incident, most Tom Toms are also equipped with a pouch strapped to the leg that is used to store space controls.

Training and Abilities

Unlike the Time Sweepers, the Tom Toms do not have a lengthy process of education and training prior to allowing a member to join. Rather, a pig speaks to Carlos to receive the brief training necessary before being allowed to register their team and is allowed to use any weapon or space control without prior training. A pig may still rise in ranks through training, however, ranging from ranks one to five (also known as Master).

​The Tom Toms owe their formidability to their technology rather than their discipline. In addition to their signature space controls, allowing them to travel through portals from one point to another, forcibly send an opponent to another dimension, or evade detection, Tom Toms possess powerful weapons (mostly in the form of firearms), additional means of transportation while carrying treasure, satellites capable of firing large lasers, and incredibly detailed monitoring of other worlds, the last of which rivals that of the Time Sweepers. The Tom Tom HQ can detect warp signals of Time Sweepers (or related threats) entering a world, seeing specific concrete objects in other worlds such as cranes or pipes, detecting time energy at a specific point in another world, receiving data from Tom Toms on missions in other worlds, calling Tom Tom Bikes to specific locations in other worlds, and communicating all these events to Tom Toms during a mission.

​Not all technology used by Tom Toms was created by pigs, however, as the gang frequently steals and reverse engineers objects such as the time control neutralizer or tanks (which the gang did not possess until the Big Crystal incident) before putting them into mass production. The technology produced can be compatible with Time Sweeper technology, such as when Bombay gave Furball a multi lock-on system that the latter was able to use to defeat the Scissor Demon in World A000. In a similar vein, Tom Toms have very basic time manipulation technology in the form of pause grenades that function identically to a pause control.

The Benito Battleship

The Tom Tom Gang's largest ship, the Benito Battleship, serves a practical role for the Tom Tom Gang by acting as a mobile base during invasions of other worlds, such as World B1Q64 or World 5J7A. The ship was also upgraded during the Big Crystal incident, incorporating the Flight Stone stolen by Bombay from the Sky World and allowing for its use during the gang's escape from the Tom Tom HQ when the Time Sweepers invaded the island. The ship also has some offensive capabilities, as shown when an onboard cannon was used to destroy an oil tank in the Time Oil Well World before Time Sweepers arrived. While onboard the ship, however, the gang faces the limitation of having very limited energy, leading to only Bombay's team being sent to World A000 in place of Benito or other Tom Toms. Following the Time Sweepers' invasion of the Tom Tom HQ, the Benito Battleship will serve as the base of operations for the foreseeable future.

Roles

The following is a list of the most prominent roles in the Tom Tom Gang. There may be others but don't have much content to be concrete.

  • Boss - The leader of the Tom Tom Gang, Benito.
  • Right-hand men - The Tom Toms in closest proximity with Benito, including Ugo, Cino, Matteo and the Fourth Tom Tom.
  • Tom Toms - The primary force of the Tom Tom Gang. Equipped with guns and space controls, they steal time crystals or relics from other worlds for the gang's interests.
  • Shopkeeper - Runs the shop where weapons, items, upgrades and clothing can be bought. They are conduct the rank up exams, offer challenges and organise recruit members. Carlos runs the Tom Tom shop in Blinx 2.

Gallery

Last updated on 14 Jan 2023