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What Got You Into The X Metal Line? And Your 1st Pair.......

My first pair was a pair of Plasma Juliets. At the time they were selling on eBay BNIB for $200ish (this was 2005). Not sure what attracted me to them per se...I'd had Flaks and the like and could afford something more pricey and they just leapt out at me as cool and different (because as we know, that's exactly what they are). Started there...had a number of Juliets come and go, then really got back into X Metals with the XS because it brought the first new thing to the table in awhile and was exciting. Funny thing is I was a late convert to the Romeo cult though now that I am I finally "get it"...current count....4 Juliets, 3 Romeo 1, 1 Romeo 2, 2 X Squared with a third coming.
 
Jordan fan growing up, so for me it was....

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AMEN brother!
My first pair was back in 05, i longed for a Pair of juliets for the longest time but never could justify the price at that time. I was on my lunch break and was hitting some pawn shops and what did i see sitting in the glass case with the jewelry but a Brand new pair of Plasma Juliets with fire iridium complete in box. $70 freaking bucks! Its been my best find yet.
 
My first pair were Polished Juliets with ice iridium BNIB. I was on vacation with an ex-girlfriend and she bought them for herself. After wearing them for a few hours she couldn't stand the way they fit. She tried to return them to the store but they were not open and we were leaving the next morning. So..... she gave them to me and said "enjoy" I never wore them, and sold them to a friend. I then kick myself, because less then a year later I was buying them like a maniac!
 
for me it was X-men. I saw the Juliets in the first one, but the Penny from 2 and 3 are the ones that really appealed. Just looked so badass. At first i didnt know the difference, and snapped up a Juliet in Xmetal/Black Iridium (my third ever pair; first was a Zero 0.7 which i abused then lost, and my seconds were the livestrong Radar which I am getting watertransferred now). I had to get the Ruby lenses too of course.

Then I found out more about the Xmetal line. i discovered the difference between the Juliet and the Penny, and the Romeo1.. and the rest is history. I now have one piece from each of the 8 Xmetal models, and all in Xmetal colorway (except the Penny.. ironic that the piece that got me going still eludes me). In total I have about 10 Juliets, 3 Pennys, 2 Romeo 2.0s as well as the previously mentioned one of each model.
 
For me it was finding the Jordan mars. I fell in love with them. I found a few years later my first Juliet's polished fire. My first pair got lost in a move. I bought a plasma emerald for retail from sunglass hut. I was then hooked. Not until last June did I buy another pair. I got my polished fires back. Then come November of last year I started collecting.
I can't see myself spending the money on a pair of plastic glasses.
If Oakley really does scrap the xmetal line I will be only buying used pairs.
You will not catch me buying O-matter frames unless they are for my wife or a super limited run.
 
I was in my final year of high school in 2000. A couple of guys in our group wore Fives, and some others (including a couple of girls) had Minutes. They were telling me how good Oakleys were. One guy brought in the 1999 eyewear catalogue, and in the first few pages it had the X Metal collection. On one page it had the above Jordan pic in the Juliets, and on the opposite page it had a picture of the Romeo and Juliet (only available colours for both were X-Metal and Titanium!) I was absolutely blown away at the design, especially the Romeo. The design with the screws holding the frame together just looked amazing. Then about a week later, we all went to see M:i-2 and bloody hell, there's Tom Cruise wearing those Oakleys I'd just fallen in love with!!

I ended up getting a pair of Black Eyejackets which i wore in my final year of high school. Also, X-Men came out and the big marketing push for the Ruby Juliet was all over the Oakley website. Towards the end of 2000, I was looking at getting my second pair of Oakleys (the bug had bitten!) and wanted a bit of a flashier pair than Black/Black Iridium, so was looking at a pair of Twenty FMJ/Ice Iridium.

I went to the local shopping mall where they had a 20% off sunglasses sale, and in the tower they had the Ice Twenty, but also on the top shelf - Plasma/Fire and Plasma/Ice Juliet. (First generations obviously as this was late 2000). I was just a 17 year old kid, and the Juliets were AUD $440 and $480 respectively before discount. Pretty steep, but I thought f*** it, I'll get a pair of X-Metals. It was a real tough choice between the Fire and Ice, as the Fire in those days was that beautiful deep orange, and in person it was breathtaking. Plus it was a little cheaper than the Ice for some reason. But I bought the Plasma/Ice Juliets (serial number JI025649).

Wore the **** out of that pair, still have the frame and it's discoloured to all hell, but that's what I love about it. It was my first X-Metal (and only pair I've bought retail!) and all the marks on the frame were put there by me during my formative years.

I recently just bought a pair of first gen Plasma/Fire which kind of completes that day for me, when I couldn't decide which colour to get. Now I have both.
 

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