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I love R1s more than any frame. Everyone wants to try them on when they see me. I don't get the same reaction with any other pair.ATTENTION: LONGREAD!
When I first saw the Romeo model, I didn’t like it at all. They looked like stone blocks from the Mesozoic era—massive, ugly, and clumsy shapes that honestly horrified me. And these glasses are from the same series as the elegant Juliet and the refined Penny—and on top of that, among the most expensive in the lineup (at least judging by the prices sellers were asking for them on the secondary market)? I thought to myself. It also killed me that I associated them with Tom Cruise and Scientology (not exactly the best face for an ad campaign, is it?). But time goes on, and things change.
After the recent announcement of the Plantaris Ti, I got fired up with the idea of buying the titanium Plantaris, since I had worn the regular plastic ones (without the nose bridge, of course) and found them quite practical and cool. The huge Plantaris lenses covered all the space around, creating an effect similar to ski goggles, where you hardly feel any stray sunlight leaking in. Of course, after I found out the price of the Plantaris Ti—around 3,000 dollars—I was stunned. I realized it was an ultra-limited release, completely out of my reach (for that kind of money, you could buy a used motorcycle or 100+ other more practical things). Naturally, I was upset, but c’est la vie.
Life turned out so that I had to undergo surgery under heavy anaesthesia, and on the day of the operation, I put on my beloved Eye Jackets and went to the hospital. One of the last things I saw before the anaesthesia took over were my silver Eye Jackets sitting on the dresser next to my bed. And then, under anaesthesia, I had a dream: in the vacuum of space, the Eye Jacket and the Plantaris exploded into millions of micro-particles, and then they fused together into the perfect creation—Romeo. I can’t explain it, but what once seemed like a hideous stone monstrosity instantly transformed into a masterpiece of alien engineering in my mind. The very first thought I had when I woke up was: I MUST BUY ROMEO 1 IMMEDIATELY!
Not long after, I found a seller offering the X-Metal version with Gold Iridium lenses. I made him an offer, and he was kind enough to drop the price by a significant amount. I was over the moon. Then came the hassle with USPS—I even thought the package had been stolen and that I had lost my money, which sent me into a depression—but eventually, it all worked out.
And then I finally received my “creation of xenomorphic engineers.” I swapped out the rubbers for new red ones, cleaning off the greasy oil from the old OEM rubbers in the process. I had spare PRIZM Grey lenses from the Plantaris, and I cut them to fit the Romeo 1, because I felt the Gold Iridium lenses didn’t suit me very well. The combo I ended up with looks similar to the Romeo 1 Jordan colorway. But in the future, I’d like to get Linegear Flash Copper lenses, or maybe cut PRIZM Snow Sapphire (I’m looking for an easy and suitable donor—does anyone know if the new Redux Matte Balsam OO9438-3058 release could work as a donor?).
Now it's my number 3 beloved in the XMetal line (after Penny and Juliet).
Anyway—
Here’s how the glasses looked when I first bought them:
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Here’s how they look now:
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LIVE LONG XMETAL LINE!
More photos to come after I get all the lenses I need
