Editing The Pen Addict 392/transcript (section)

== Last Week's Discussion ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So last week, we talked about the Platinum Curidos, and that became a whole thing after the show, Myke. That was an enjoyable day for me after we discussed the Platinum Curidos, which we will follow up on momentarily. But it reminded me, and then a post this past week on the blog, Chronikos Estilophilographicos, don't quote me on that, reminded me that there is another new retractable pin coming on the market this week, and it is the Pilot Capless LS. It may sound familiar, Myke. It may look familiar to Pilot Vanishing Point and Capless users. Capless is the Japanese name for what we call the Vanishing Point here in the States.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's like one of the only times where there's a worse name in Japan. Right. I agree. I agree. For some reason, the Capless was, I think, the original name, and it's just kind of stuck through, but they've morphed it into a better name, as you say. The Vanishing Point is a really, really good name. But what they've done, Myke, is they've kind of mashed up the traditional Vanishing Point. I'm just going to call it that for sake of my sanity. The click mechanism of the Vanishing Point, right? You know, it's got a big thud click, click, click, click, click, which I think is a feature. And then the Fermo, which is a retractable twist mechanism pen from Pilot that really never took off, right? It's a good pen. It costs more than the Vanishing Point. How do you spell that? F-E-R-M-O.

'''Myke Hurley:''' F-E-R-M-O. Okay, cool. This one doesn't ring a bell for me at all.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They've really never pushed it. It's a higher standard price point than the Vanishing Point. And it's a good pen. It just never got the hype that the Vanishing Point did. I know this, man.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so it's got the longer, extended, kind of faceted twist mechanism on the back end of the pen. Otherwise, it generally looks like the whole front end looks like a Vanishing Point for the most part. It's a little bit different shape, a little bit sleeker, but longer. So anyway, good pen. Never really hit that marketing sweet spot that the Vanishing Point did. So the new Kapless LS, I guess, is trying to be both. And I'm not sure that they have succeeded in any way, shape, or form.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Get you a pen that can do both, Brad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Number one, I don't know what's going on with the design. So it's basically take your existing Vanishing Point and remove the knock mechanism and integrate a twist, a different type of twist mechanism. It's almost like a lever twist. It's like a push, a tab twist, I guess, if you will, like a push tab, right? You rotate the tab, you know, a quarter or a halfway around to deploy the mechanism.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I really don't understand how the mechanism of this pen works. I've looked at this picture a bunch of times. I've read the explanation that you put in the document. I've heard what you just said. And I'm still not completely sure how you activate this pen because it looks like it has both a knock and a twisting mechanism.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I cannot fathom how it works. The biggest problem I have with the pen is the visual design of it. So let me read what I put in. I copied this bit from the marketing, translated, of course, through our friends at Google Translate. And I wanted to read these couple of sentences to you because it's fascinating. The new Capless LS is a fountain pen equipped with a newly developed knock and twist type that retains the features of the capless type that can be quickly written with one knock like a knock type ballpoint pen. When knocking out the pen tip and turning the knob just below the knocking part to store the pen tip, there was no knocking or knocking sound realizing a smooth and quiet operation feeling.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's brilliant. Oh, no, thanks. I'm so pleased that you read that because now it's all cleared up for me. Right. I mean, I don't know what else you need from me at this point, Myke. What about the knocking twist type? What knocks when you twist a knock type? Does that twist when you twist a type type knock? I mean, it's not fair to criticize what Google Translate is saying. Yes, it's not. Yeah, because that pilot is specifically not given an English press release yet. So, like, when they do, it will be great. But, like, that it is mind-numbingly confusing to try and work out what's happening from the translation.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Nor is there an internal drawing of the pen, right? Yeah. We don't see the internals. We just see the externals. I don't like how it looks, right? It's fine. It's not an ugly pen. But the vanishing point is so integrated into what Pilot does. And this is so close visually with these little, you know, like the connection in the middle of the pen where you twist it apart, right? It's different. I think it's uglier, but it's different. You know, they made that design different. And then the knock twist area or the twist fake knock area is obviously visually different. But I don't think it's improved in any way, shape, or form. The biggest problem, though, Myke, is the cost. So, vanishing points generally run, your basic vanishing point runs around $150,000, I think. I hadn't even looked at them. Between $140,000 and $160,000, I think. This is not offering you very much more besides a twist. And it's $322,000, 35,000 yen. I don't understand.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do you think it's because it's like a new thing and the mechanism is unnecessarily complicated?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't. I think they've probably done something with the Firmo mechanism and maybe surely had to modify it. And the Firmo is already more expensive. But there is a price jump level that seems kind of outrageous here.