Editing The Pen Addict 520/transcript (section)

== Tastemaker vs Influencer ==


'''Myke:''' Yeah, please don't eat the ink. All right, so the next pen that I wanted to talk about is another Ultem product that came out last week and that I don't have in my hands yet, but I hope to one day soon. The Shown Design Smoltem, which is one of the greatest names ever. I like that you like it. All right.

'''Myke:''' Let's be perfectly honest. It's not a good name, right? Because it's hard to say, but it's a very correct and fun and accurate name for what the product is. Is fun written down? Yes. Yeah. I love this name. You know, I don't know that I... Even for someone like myself who likes to have fun with products and all of this stuff, I don't know if I could have actually pulled that trigger. I would have called it the, you know... I mean, he does it kind of like the AKA, right? Pocket Engineered Plastics Ultem, AKA the Smoltem. I mean, we're all going to call it the Smoltem, right? Yeah.

'''Brad:''' I mean, I would say Shown is great with this. Like, what was the... Is it Peak? Is that the little ghost one? Yeah. Yeah. Love it. That's the one at the top of my list. Memorable names. Memorable names, for sure.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. Yeah. So, this is... What this is, is Ian at Shown Design made, like, full-size eyedropper-able Ultem pens. Again, black and the standard, you know, Ultem Amber. And this is a smaller, kind of pocket six size, pocket pen Ultem barrel fountain pen, which is really great. So, it's a little small eyedropper guy. And I just adore it. So, I still... I'm kind of making a mental list for when I go to San Francisco. I'm assuming Ian's going to be there. If not, I'll order it. I still want the Peak first, right? That's... I have the Ultem. I want the Peak barrel, which we'll put a link in the show notes to the Peak, if y'all don't know what I'm talking about. And then the Smoltem is probably after that. But, like, I still want the Peak ahead of this one. But I kind of love it. And, you know, I like that these manufacturers are messing around with, you know, interesting materials. Ultem's become very popular these days. It must machine well enough for people to keep making things from it, right? Like, we talk about how when makers experiment with new materials, not all materials are manufacturing friendly, right? Like, there's damage that can be done to either the materials or the machinery, depending on the types of materials. And Ultem looks like it's kind of become a pretty good option to make things from. So that brings up a question, Myke, from NeighborVillain in my Twitch chat. Is Ultem a fad? And they asked me this on stream yesterday. And I said, I'm going to hold that and talk about it. Since I knew we were talking about the tactile turn and the shown design, I said, let me take this on the podcast. Is Ultem a fad? And the answer, my answer, is yes. I don't know if that's what people would think I would answer or they would think I would say no. It's absolutely a fad. Can I correct you?

'''Brad:''' May I correct you? Sure. It's a trend. Fad.

'''Brad:''' Okay. Is there much difference? Yes. Fad is a derogatory term, I think. Okay.

'''Myke:''' I think people take it that way. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

'''Brad:''' That's just a fad. Like, it's rubbish. It comes and goes. Nobody wants it. Like, fad kind of has this idea of like, oh, it's crap. And like, no one wants it. And we're all going to forget about it. And it's going to be done. Like, Ultem is just a trend. Like, it's just popular right now because it's new and people are doing it with pens. Eventually, it's going to calm down. But it will remain an option that people will continue to use. Like, it's not going to go away. It's just in vogue right now.

'''Myke:''' That's how I would answer. I'm trying to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not disagreeing with any of that. I'm just trying to think about my idea of Ultem as a platform for stationary. It is currently trendy. And it's currently good. Like, I'm not saying, like you're saying in a derogatory way. It's not trendy like, oh, God, can we stop with this Ultem stuff? No. Like, I love it. I think there's a cap to it. I think it's limited. Yeah. Just like, just in the color discussion we're having, there's only so much you can do. So, it's never going to be crazy popular. And I don't think it's necessarily going to have a long tail either because there's going to be something else. Exactly. And this is what I'm saying. That's going to come out.

'''Brad:''' You are, like, for me personally, describing a trend. Okay. You know, that, like, it's having its moment in the sun right now. Yes. But this excitement is going to fade away. But I don't think it's like, then there will never be Ultem pens again.

'''Myke:''' Right, right, right. Right. Okay. I think you're saying what I'm thinking. Yeah. I was thinking about it in a different way. I was thinking of it more as, is there, like, a termination point in Ultem? There's not, but it's not going to be as popular as it is right now, like, you know, a year from now. Right.

'''Brad:''' It's like shimmer inks were a trend. And now that's calmed down, but it's not like they're gone. But for a while, everyone was doing them.

'''Myke:''' I mean, they still are. Like, shimmer inks have staying power that, like, Ultem does not have staying power, right? They're different categories.

'''Brad:''' But this is what I'm saying. It's like, the shimmer inks are still around, but it's not, like, all we're talking about anymore. They're just, like, you can still buy them. People still make them. But they had that moment where it was, like, you couldn't move for people introducing brand new shimmering lines, right? Like, but now it's, like, okay, this is just a staple of what exists. So, like, trends, like, the items in a trend, like, they stick around. Especially, you look like fashion and furniture, right? Something becomes trendy. People buy it. They still own it. Yeah. You know? Where I feel like fad products tend to be, like, you just get rid of them.

'''Myke:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad:''' You know, like, we all saw, like, fads when we were kids and toys and stuff like that, right? But it's, like, eventually it's just, like, nobody wants this thing and they just get rid of it. I'm trying to think of something that I would consider a fad in pens and I'm struggling with that at the moment. But if I think of something, I'll let you know. Okay.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. So, like, and Alan's bringing up the point, like, the real point why I think it's, like, a trend and doesn't have, like, this long-term thing. Unless there's some kind of, like, color additive that can be done, then, you know, the two basic colors just, they have a limited shelf life of creativity. Like, they don't have a limited shelf life for my personal usage, right? Like, I bought the pen. I love the pen. I'm going to continue to use the pen. That's also the only one I need, right? Sure. Like, I'm not going to get the purple one or the swirly one, right? Because it's not a technical feature of Ultum. Like, if that becomes a feature of Ultum, then I think we're in business. But, again, Ultum is not made for the pen industry. Like, we have custom makers making acrylic, right? It's a commercial product. And, like, I don't know that there's necessarily a need for them to make purple or magenta Ultums as a business model. So, we'll see. I would love it if they did because I love the material for what it is. Like, that kind of very, like, tough to destruct plastic. Like, I'm down with that. But, yeah. So, there you go.

'''Myke:''' All right. What's this next thing we got in here? Recording.