Editing The Pen Addict 244/transcript (section)

== Baron Fig Alphabet ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Cool. Cool. Yeah. I like it. So going from the bright and bold to the black and classic, we got the Baron Fig Alphabet release this week. What were your first thoughts when you saw? This is the new Squire limited edition from Baron Fig. Same shape, same, you know, overall style, aesthetic in a new matte black finish with the alphabet etched up and down the barrel. A through Z on one side and then just the Baron Fig name on the other side. What were your thoughts on this?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I like it. I like it. Yeah, me too. Me too. I'm not blown away, right? Sure. I'm not like taking my wallet and throwing it at the screen. Right. But I also don't have any ill feeling toward it at all. Right. You know? Right. I think that what they have done is what I was asking for.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know, like what I wanted to see from it, basically, which is it is good looking. They haven't done anything completely wild. And there is a good theme that runs to it. Right. Right. The alphabet is a good theme for a pen. It looks pretty and it's in a color they've never made the Squire in. So, like, for me, I'm like, yeah, okay, I'll buy this. Like, you know, I haven't bought it, bought it, but I mean, like, I'll buy it. I probably will get it, actually, because I do really like this pen. Like, the Squire in general is a very, very good interpretation of a pen that uses that refill, the Retro 50-way refill, which of which there are many pens now. And of all of the ones that I've tried, the Squire is the best that I've tried that fits that refill other than the Retro 51. Right. Like, there are many, many pens that try and use that now. And I think that this is the company that's made the best other option for it, like the more expensive, more premium option for it. So, yeah, I mean, I like it. I like it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But, yeah, I think that's fair across the board. Like, where with the Askew release, the range of opinions was fully to the left side of the ledger and fully to the right side of the ledger. I mean, like, pinned. Like, all the way love, all the way hate. All the opinions on this are very refined right into the middle. Right? It's either, okay, I like it. Okay, maybe not for me, but it's good looking. And so, it's a very, you know, in the middle pen, which I think is good. The feel of the pen, it feels...

'''Myke Hurley:''' Are you a gold one?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I do, yeah. All right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Tell me what you think.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, I love it. I like it better than the original. The finish of this one feels slightly different, even though I think it's probably just the color. Like, I think they attempted to finish it the same, like kind of that satiny. I wouldn't call it matte, but it's more like a satiny finish. I like the fact that they've committed to the 8126 refill instead of the 8127, so it's a little bit finer. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's basically the same performance, but just a finer line.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Which, it's still a wide line if you're used to micro gel pens. Because it's liquid ink, too, so it spreads differently. Anyway, it's the preferred refill for me. The etching is really, really nice. All right, so it is etched. You can feel like a... Okay. Yeah, you can feel like the texture of it as you run your finger up and down the alphabet. And same with the Baron Fig logo. It almost feels raised, but I think it's just because you're just feeling the difference in level there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So what are the logos on it? Aside from the alphabet, how is it branded?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Just the name Baron Fig on the 180 degrees from the alphabet. No sword.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think I would have preferred the sword. Yeah. Because I really like that little logo. Well, the sword logo is really cool. Yeah. But I'm cool with it just being the one thing, right? Just like Baron Fig on one side of the alphabet, on the other side, that's totally cool with me. Right. But it's a shame to lose that sword. Like, I love the little sword. You know what I'd really love to see? Like, I think it would totally work to put the sword on the end, like on the very tip of the pen. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think you call it a finial, right? Because it's not that... But I don't know what you call it. The twist mechanism. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah, I could see that. So yeah, it's good. Like, I have two squires now. This is the one I will pick up every time. Oh, interesting. I just like it better. All right. I mean, you know how much I love the other pen. But the black on this looks really good. So I enjoy it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I think I'm going to get one of these. I do. I like it. I'm toying now whether to subscribe or not. I don't know. I think I'm going to buy this one and then still wait and see.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. I'm holding off on the sub. I did sub to the pencils, which is the last release, but it should be coming next. So that's my one subscription to Baron Fig Products is the Archer pencil. So we'll see how that goes. But if they keep doing something like this, yeah, it'd be cool to have a set of squires.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I'm cool with that. They did a good job of it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. So I am heading to L.A. tomorrow, as you know, as I won't shut up about. And we're going to do a couple of topics kind of related to that. But the first one is some new products that I'm hopefully going to get to see in L.A. Two of them for sure. One of them I'm not positive I'll get to see. But this first one for sure is the Aurora Flexnib that Aurora is introducing. This is compelling. I haven't seen the price on it. They're going to be showing it off at the L.A. Pen Show. I think it might be available for preorder, but I haven't seen the price for it. I've become a fan of Aurora pens. I don't know. Oops. As I click play on the video, there's a link to the video in the show notes. Autoplay YouTube. Thank you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So you can see it in action. And so I'm anxious to play with this a little bit to see what the level of flex is. Right. Because you have something like the Pilot Falcon, which I don't really think is a flex nib. I don't think it's fair to call that a flex nib. It's more of a soft nib. You get some line variation with pressure. It doesn't compare to a traditional Waterman 1930s flex nib, which is probably an unfair comparison. It's just not super, super flexy. So I want to see how you can push this pen a little bit with my own hand. You know, what's the feedback and firmness or softness of it like. And we'll get to talk to Aurora about the pens. Kenro's bringing in some of the Aurora people to the show. And I'm going to get to sit down and interview them for the blog for a later date. So I'll get some hands on time with the flex nib. And we'll be able to report back. But now that I've drank the Aurora Kool-Aid, I want to see what this nib is all about and see if it's something that'll fit my style. Because I've had the Omos Extra Flexibile nib. And I didn't like it for me. It's an awesome nib for a lot of people. But it was pretty flexy and pretty wet. And it just kind of didn't fit my writing style. And in general, flex nibs don't fit my writing style per se. So I would like to see where this falls in the line of something like the Pilot Falcon compared to the Flessabile nib. Compared to, you know, an older flex nib and see where we're at. Because Aurora's gold nibs in general are thick. Like they're firm, which is why I fell in love with them. So where this flex nib lands, it'll be interesting to see. The product I don't know if I'll get to see or not. But I'm maybe the most interested in is Aurora Blue Black Ink. Which Aurora makes essentially two ink colors, blue and black. They're two of the most widely respected blue and black inks on the market. Everyone praises Aurora Black especially as the darkest black ink. So it's very, very popular. So for them to combine these two seems like something they should have done a long time ago. But I'm glad they're doing it now. And that'll be very, very high on my radar given my love of blue-black inks. I want to see this in action because I love Aurora Black. I don't love Aurora Blue. But that's because I don't use standard blues very much. And it's a very saturated, pure, rich blue. Combining these two and seeing what the ratios are like in Aurora Blue Black. They've teased some images and it looks very dark. It's kind of hard to see. So I want to see that in person. I don't know. They were mentioning like in some of the marketing stuff that it's coming out in March. So I'm guessing they have samples though. They've taken these pictures. Kenro has. So I really want to try that out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And then...

'''Myke Hurley:''' Are they ramping up some stuff at Aurora?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I mean, that's what I want to talk to them about. Like...

'''Myke Hurley:''' What's going on over there?