With apologies to Rokk, JKaris, and myself, here's my honest review.
Monsieur Cheeks (Puri-puriman [Smelly, Mad Man])
Company: Romandoh
Packaging: Cardboard box printed with Japanese words and a 29th anniversary logo
Size: 8" tall or so. This guy is about two inches too tall to be in line with the Bandai of America Ultimate Muscle figures. Scale him down by two inches and he'd fit right in. Since I dont' have any other Romando to compare him to, he may be the correct size for the Romando versions of the figures.
Packaging and Materials:
seems to be made out of the same stuff they use to make dolls out of fourty years ago, a cheap-feeling hollow plastic that you don't want to move much in fear that it will break. A huge dissappointment. Another dissappointment was a 'slide-out' box. Yes, a cardboard box. No display potential there, no Mint-On-Card-Opened for me. Just slide him out of the box, undo a twist tie, untape his pair of acessories, and unwrap him from the plastic bag. He's open, and he's... falling over, if you sat him on his feet.Price Range: $97.00 with shipping and import fees. I had to pawn twelve Revised Dual Lands from Magic: The Gathering to get this guy, as I was expecting him to be about $35, +/- $5. The economy has made Romandos EXTREMELY expensive.
Sculpt (6 out of 10): The sculpt is basic, as the character is fairly basic. However, even though the waste doesn't rotate at all, the corsette-like thing moves around like it's two pieces-- because it is. It doesn't need to be, and though you can't really tell it's two pieces from five feet away, it's inconvienient and makes the figure seem even cheaper. Other than that, he looks as he should, though if you look you can see the joints of the top and the torso quite badly-- it looks like it's ment to come off, but I don't dare try.
Paint (8 out of 10): The paint job is well done, though instead of paint it looks like the sculpt itself has the detailing-- it may be a wash, and if so, it's impressive. No complaints here
Articulation (4 out of 10): His arms. His elbows. Right below his elbows you can spin his armbands. His hands are removeable, but as a coincidence, you can move them.
His hips may be suppose to move at the ball-and-socket joint of the legs, but I'm not sure and I don't want to break 'em trying. His upper leg twists. He has knees.
For a Romando, legendary for articulation and posability, I feel cheated. I doubt you could even pose M. Cheeks with Dikdik van Dik for the classic 'spanking' scene from the anime.
Accessories (1 out of 10): A Pair of SHOES. W-O-W!
There's just so much that could've been done with
. A pair of hands, a pair of feet, and then a change of expressions by swapping out his top bumpart-- winking, with one eye lower than the other and closed, laughing-- both eyes closed, supprised, mad, and last (and the only one included) default typical. As is, a SINGLE PAIR OF SHOES that feel like they're easier to break in half than BARBIE'S SHOES.Action Features (N/A out of 10): The ability to change his hands for feet. W-O-W.
Coolness (7 out of 10): In the end, this is
. Apart from a little bubblegun pack in, there's only this Romando of my favorite character from Ultimate Muscle. That is extremely sad; he hasn't even gotten his own KENKESHI yet. Since this is one of two 
toys, I've got to give it at least a seven. This is very similar to a McFarlane figure-- get it to pose and leave, not to enact dioramas with.Value (.25 out of 10 [1 out of 40]): The coolness aside, THIS THING WAS A HUNDRED FRIGGING DOLLARS. I nearly blew a fuse in my brain when I saw that!
Overall (4 out of 10): I love
, but this guy really soured me on trying Romandos. I was thinking about getting Skullduggery and Slab when I found 'em on card for under $30, but this guy just made me really, REALLY skeptical about the overall value of Romandos. I'm treating 'em like simiposable statues from now on.
Edited by TheOrgg, 12 February 2011 - 05:52 PM.
