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0 downloads
Over the last year, I've become a pretty dedicated collector of Romando Toys' old Kinnikuman toy line. It's one of my absolute favorite lines in existence at this point - I've never seen a line based on any property (Besides maybe Playmates Toys' World of Springfield) that covers such a comprehensive amount of characters. One thing with collecting Romando though, is there aren't really many English language reviews of the figures available anywhere online. As many of these figures have huge problems (despite their overall awesomeness), I figured maybe I would start posting reviews of the ones I own to this forum. Without any further rambling: My review of Romando's manga color scheme Bikeman figure
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2 downloads
Bikeman is one of the many awesome characters introduced in the final story arc of Kinnikuman, as a participant in a huge tournament that would result in the winning team's captain becoming the new ruler of Planet Kinniku. Personality wise Bikeman is a relatively bland villain, but he has a really fun battle with Ramenman and a really interesting design with neat abilities: He's a motorcycle chojin, so he's basically a motorcycle with a head, who can transform into a bipedal robot that's half motorcycle. Sort of like the Kinnikuman version of a transformer. He was one of the later figures Romando released for their Kinnikuman line, and he was released as a "Extreme" figure under the EX banner (which was Romando's version of a "deluxe" figure), in 2 different color schemes. I have to say, despite some issues (A few unique to Bikeman and a few issues that are just classic Romando weirdness that effect the whole line), Bikeman really does live up to the "Extreme" name.
Sculpt: 5/5
I hate to seem like I'm gushing right off the bat here, but this figure's sculpt is about as close to perfect as you can get with a Romando. Romando was known for being a pretty inconsistent company on many fronts (Articulation, quality, packaging, etc) but their sculpts for figures were generally spot on. I don't know too much about the company, but whoever they had on staff in that department was very talented.
bike 3.jpg 60.02K
5 downloads
Bikeman has a lot of really nice detailing on his torso, arms and head. They didn't really cheap out at all when it came to Bikeman's appearance. Even the "750" on the left side of his torso is sculpted, not painted on. That's some really nice attention to detail. All the parts on his torso - the tailpipes, headlight, and motor - look awesome, and are intricately sculpted. Bikeman's 3 different heads are also super nice, each one oozing with personality to the point where it's hard to decide which one you want to even display him with - A smooth head with angry eyes (Which is my preferred head), a helmeted head with glasses and a visor, and his exposed skull which is his "true" face. Bikeman pretty much looks like they grabbed him straight out of the pages of the manga.
bike 1.jpg 58.85K
6 downloads
The way this figure was designed is simply great. He's very easy to transform and rearrange his parts, and he looks equally awesome in his bike or bipedal form. He is rotocast, as many Romando were, which does give him a slightly light feel. I wouldn't go so far as to say he feels "cheap", just lightweight but solid. He doesn't feel like he's going to break or fall apart or anything like that. Overall just a solid sculpt that Romando really knocked out of the park, that displays nicely with multiple options.
Packaging: 4/5
Bikeman comes in a really nice collector friendly window box that's completely resealable. It just has a really nice look to it, as most Japanese figure boxes tend to. The colors pop and Bikeman looks great if left in there and displayed while boxed. The window is just the right size to be able to totally appreciate the sculpt. Romando generally had really aesthetically pleasing packaging, and this is definitely one of my favorites by them. Having the figure in a resealable box like this rather than on a card also goes a little ways towards making it feel more like the deluxe release that it is.
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6 downloads
Accessories: 4/5
Unlike many of Romando's figures, Bikeman comes packaged with a fair amount of accessories that are actually useful. He features 3 heads, two giant tires for displaying him in bike mode, and a stand that supports him in said bike mode. It's really cool to get accessories with a Romando that actually serve a purpose. All 3 of Bikeman's heads are awesome, as mentioned earlier, and it was particularly cool that Romando included his "skull" that was shown after he was defeated.
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4 downloads
Articulation: 2/5
Honestly, articulation is really the only major flaw of this figure. As you can see from the photos, Bikeman's arms are solid pieces with no hinges or cuts. His torso is also a solid piece with no hinged ab (Which was standard for Romando. 90% of their figures have no waist or abdomen articulation). The only real articulation he has is his legs. The articulation there works pretty well. Standard hinged knees, rotating ankles and I believe his thighs are ball jointed to his waist which allows for a pretty decent range of motion. Bottom line though, this is not a figure you will be getting into any cool poses. He either stands there neutrally or just exists as a bike. Neutrally.
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4 downloads
To be totally fair, most of Romando's figures are like this. They feature limited articulation and really are not the type of figures you'd do any crazy posing with or anything. But even for a Romando, Bikeman is extremely limited.
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4 downloads
I understand why they did this: They wanted the figure to be able to "transform" between bike and bipedal forms, and they had to design it in such a way that the transformation feature both functioned properly and didn't interfere with the sculpt, and either option for displaying still looked good. I think they did achieve that - Though Bikeman's arms protrude a bit awkwardly and he's stuck in that one neutral pose, he looks pretty great on the shelf either way. I can accept the sacrifice of arm articulation (on a figure that was never going to be heavily played with anyway) for the sake of more variety in the display.
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4 downloads
However, when viewed objectively, Bikeman is just not up to even Romando's sometimes lacking standards of articulation. Bikeman's articulation issues really shouldn't bother collectors all that much, but they are worth noting and stand out as the figure's only real flaw.
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3 downloads
Paint: 4/5
As I mentioned earlier in this review, there are 2 versions of Bikeman floating around. The one you see pictured here is the "B" version, which depicts the character in his manga color scheme. Both versions are tough to find, but this is the more rare of the two. Honestly, I can see why. The colors on this figure are just amazing.
I love the simple bright reds on his helmet, torso and trunks. And the look of his flesh toned limbs against the line green kneepads/hand covers and the bright yellow boots is just awesome. This figure just has some awesome color combinations, and for the most part the paint is applied very well. There is some mild slop around his visor or on his torso, but nothing glaringly obvious. Romando was surprisingly decent with paint for how slapdash a lot of elements of their production were.
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5 downloads
As you've no doubt already noticed, my Bikeman unfortunately has some white blotches on his trunks near his groin. This bugs the hell out of me, but I know it's a problem specific to my figure so I can't really hold that against him.
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6 downloads
Value: Subjective
It feels wrong for me to attempt to assign a clear cut numeric value to an out of print figure that fetches an enormous aftermarket price. If you are a diehard Romando fan like myself, who is neck deep in the line at this point and has accepted Romando for the awesome yet deeply, deeply flawed wave of figures that it is, I'd place his value around 4 or 5. Bikeman is a great looking figure with a decent number of accessories and a nice variety of posing options, two things that are NOT common for a Romando. He's far from perfect but he looks amazing in a display, and having him in hand I can understand why he's one of the absolute most sought after things in this whole line.
bike 14.jpg 58.68K
7 downloads
On the other hand, for a budding Romando collector or a Kinnikuman collector who doesn't have a lot of experience with the line, Bikeman is in no way worth it. He is a weird, limited-articulation figure of a pretty obscure character, and he's rotocast to boot. The figure is very nice for a Romando, but is nowhere near the quality of other Kinnikuman collectibles that fetch a similar price. He is a figure for the absolute diehard, and for me personally he really feels worth it because he fits in to a display that has over 20 figures and is growing. If I had paid what I paid for this figure and he was my first grab for the line, I don't know how I'd feel about him. An absolute must have for the avid Romando collector, but a figure that needs to be compared to others by Romando to be appreciated.
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4 downloads
Where to Buy:
He is an insanely tough get, one of the hardest things to find in the whole line. I only grabbed him because I stalk sites like Mandarake and Anime Jungle literally every single day. Checking those sites daily is your best bet for Romando at a fair price.
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4 downloads
Overall: 4.5/5
Again, this is coming from someone who is an absolute Romando nut. This figure just totally blew me away. As I've mentioned numerous times, the rarity and popularity of this figure are totally understandable. While not flawless, Romando attempted to go above and beyond their usual shtick and give us something that does feel like the "Extreme/deluxe" figure it's advertised to be. If you can track him down for a semi-reasonable price, Bikeman is definitely a must own for any Romando collector.
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2 downloads
Edited by unclevatred, 13 March 2017 - 08:09 PM.
