Editing The Pen Addict 329/transcript (section)

== Retro 51 Release ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Well, the podcasting Don didn't have anything to do with this next one. I did a thing, too, Myke, this week. I released my next Retro 51, the Pink Robots Edition.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Finally. You'd seen this. This one's been in work for a long time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. You know, working with Retro is a process just because like the manufacturing part alone is three months. Yeah. So all the pre-work you do is probably another three months. So it's like a six-month process from the first email to the pins get sold. And that's quick. Like that's as fast as it goes. Right. So I did this pin. It's a very personal addition for me. I wanted to really wanted to do this pin badly. I was really nervous of whether like it's too weird or too personal, too storytellish for a lot of people. A lot of people may not understand it. But I'm so happy with how it turned out. Feedback's been great so far. Sales have been gangbusters. And I wanted to announce it publicly. We announced it to Pen Addict members this weekend. I think we sold about half of them right out the gate. There's only 500 of them available. It's been awesome. I love this pin. I've used this pin more than any other pin. I've had the prototype for a few months. I carry it with me constantly. I am so happy that Matthew Morse agreed to work with me on this project. It's his artwork that the moment I saw it, I knew I had. He did this digital artwork. I don't think I totally relate this story. He did this digital artwork and shared it of this Pink Robots artwork. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is a Flaming Lips album. It's an album I love. Yoshimi is a story I love.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And he did this digital artwork. And he shared it out. I said, this is fantastic. I'd buy a print of that. And he said, really? And I said, yeah. And he said, okay, I'll do some prints. He was just doing this to make art and hone his skills and things like that. And he ended up making like 10 prints of it. And I got one of them. One of them was on my wall.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And this was before my second Retro 51, which is isometric. And I had been talking with Matthew. He had this donut sticker design that I wanted to use for the Retro 51. And I think I have told this story before. The donut, I sent it over to Retro 51. And it was literally the day before their donut dollies pen released. They're like, eh, we can't do a donut. Oh, no. So they actually laughed at me. And they said, just check your email tomorrow. I'm like, really? I was like, I really want to do this. I didn't have another idea. So my backup plan worked out great. So Hurricane Michael Jacobs came through with the isometric. And that pen turned out amazing. But then I kind of left Matthew hanging. And I was like, I think we can make pink robots into a pen. And there you have it. I think we nailed it. And I just love everything about it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think that this is, when I saw the initial design, it was not at all what I expected you to make. Like, it is very, I was like, okay. Like, it's really, is really very attractive. And it's a beautiful piece of art. I love the colors. The finial, the pink finial is beautiful. It's wonderful. But it was a big surprise for me. And then when I read your kind of story behind it all in refill, I fell in love with it more. And I believe you need to publish that story publicly. So people can understand exactly why this piece of art means something to you. I think you should do that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So I'm going to do that on Friday. Great. Depending on power here at the house. We'll talk about that in a minute. I'm going to do that Friday and publish the story that was in refill. That, why this pin means so much to me. And why I hope other people will enjoy it as well. Because it's something you can really make your own. And it's a story you can tell yourself. And there's a lot to this pin other than it just being the Pen Addict Retro 51 for this year. There's a lot, a lot to this pin. So I will publish that on Friday. Kind of put the public launch out there, even though we're talking about it on this show. But yeah, so look for that Friday. If you haven't had a chance to see that yet, I will share that then. So, and I say maybe Friday, Myke, just to give everyone an update while we're recording this Wednesday morning. October 10th, the aforementioned Hurricane Michael is barreling directly at me. Like we are in the center of the path for this hurricane to get here. And it's a really strong and dangerous hurricane that's turned into something greater than even forecasted in the beginning. It keeps picking up steam. Where I live is far enough inland to where we get lots of hurricane remnants passing through. But never a lot of damage because we're not coastal. So they usually have died out by the time they get here. This time it's tracking right now to be a hurricane when it arrives at me still. Like hurricane force winds. So we don't expect any like grave issues here. But I might be hit or miss for the next few days as I can almost guarantee we'll lose power because we lose power pretty easily. Because it's all above ground. It's all above ground wires here. So everyone who is in the path, I hope you've gotten out. Anyone in coastal Florida, this looks really, really dangerous. I know it's too late for you to hear this message now. But I hope everyone got out safe and sound. And, you know, hopefully, knock on wood, it goes well here. And we get through it and we'll be fine on the other side.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Stay safe, everybody, as always.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes, yes, yes, yes. So I have an interesting tweet, multiple interesting tweets all at once to me yesterday. And it goes in relation to the Retro 51 we just mentioned. Have you ever heard of the Schmidt P8120 refill? No, Michael. I had not. So the Retro 51 ships with the Schmidt P8127. The refill I prefer is the Schmidt P8126, which is the exact same refill, except a 0.6 millimeter tip size instead of the 0.7 millimeter tip size. Well, I had a group of people. I had one person mention to me, have you tried the Schmidt P8120? It's my favorite. And I was like, I've literally never heard of that. And then I had more people chiming in saying, oh, it's the one I use. I was like, what are you talking about? Then I went and looked it up. And I was hoping this was something that would really knock my socks off in the other direction. But it went bigger, Myke, and bolder. This is the 1.0 millimeter Schmidt rollerball refill. And while I love the refill that this is and that's used in the Retro, it's definitely a wide refill. And this gets even wider. So that's a no for me, dogs. You know, I thought maybe we're onto something here. But I even got a picture of someone using it. I was like, wow, that looks really wide. I should go look this up and see if it's like a different formulation. What's this zero mean? It turns out it means 1.0. So what do you think about this? How many are you ordering?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't know if this is the right, if this is right for me, you know. I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I want this.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It would be super marker-ish, right? Because this is max line width for me in, you know, a rollerball type pen. Because it's a liquid ink. It has a tendency to spread and bleed if you're not using it on the right paper. And increasing that tip size even more just means more ink. It would be pretty much a marker at that point. So, I don't know. I thought it was interesting because I'm surprised I'd never heard of it. And I'm surprised more people didn't know it was a thing or have used it. But it turns out, big fans of the 1.0 millimeter Schmidt refill out there, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I have no idea how we haven't heard about this until now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's what blew my mind. I was like, of all the love we have heaped on this refill, we've never heard of this one. So, it was cool to see.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm going to find somewhere that sells them here in the UK. I'm going to pick up a couple just for the sake of testing it, really. Yeah. But yeah, very interesting. Again, I really cannot believe it. Dude is in black and blue, right? It seems like it's easy to get. I'm just really surprised this has never come up before. It was almost like when I saw it in the notes, because I saw a couple of people tweeting about it too. I assumed it was you. Right. Same here. But it's not. So, there you go.