Editing The Pen Addict 351/transcript (section)

== TWSBI Aurora Topic Shift ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. Amazing. Amazing. All right. Hard segue. You ready? It's always, we go from emotional right into stuff. And I want to talk about the TWSBI Aurora stuff. Like, so we talked about it on last week's show. And I said I wanted to watch this and see what it was going to do and what the feedback was. So, what it is is a, if you missed last week's show, it's a limited edition swirly acrylic TWSBI piston filler that they're selling directly through TWSBI.com. No retail presence, nothing at all. And, you know, I wasn't interested in buying it. Like, it didn't speak to me on an I have to have it level. But I was very curious at, one, what the price was going to be and, two, how many they have. Well, we found out the price. The price is $100, which I thought was really good. Like, TWSBI has kind of their price points down that they feel like they can do things at. And I feel that's fair. Like, this is a small run, limited edition. They're trying some new materials, some new finishes, and, you know, getting this out there and getting some feedback. And I thought that was a completely fair price. So, the quantities, like I said, we don't know how many there are, but they're not sold out yet. There's extra fine nibs still available, which surprises me. Usually, extra fine is one of the first to go. And with bold and medium. It usually kind of goes fine first, then probably extra fine, then medium, then bold. But extra fine is still left. Maybe they had more extra fine nibs. Who knows? But there's still some available.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And people have already started to get them. Like, I put a link in the show notes. This was, like, two days ago. Someone already had pictures of it. So, at Saitu on Instagram, who I've followed for a long time. Like, this image came up in my feed. I was like, how do you have this already? So, I don't know. Maybe they live closer to where they're shipping from. But it looks cool. So, have you had any more thoughts on this? Not just specifically the product itself, but as Twisby doing this as a whole?

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, one, I think it looks great. I think for $100, that is an incredible price. I actually didn't know the price. Like, I saw the pen. I was like, all right, that's $200, $300. Like, I'm not interested. Right? Like, it's limited edition. They've got, like, an ink window in it. Right? Like, it looks like a fancy material. It looks like it's got nice furniture. Right? Like, it just, you know, looked like a pretty good pen. And we've seen Twisby do some stuff before. Like, they did the micarta pen, which was a little bit more expensive in the past. Stuff like that. And I was like, looks great. Please, they're doing it. I don't want to put money down for it. $100, I would be tempted if I probably saw it in person and liked it. Then I would pick it up. Right? Like, if I saw one of these and liked the look of it, I would get it for $100, I think. Yeah. Because Twisby make quality products more now than ever. And their nibs are good. Right? You know, they make good stuff. And this looks like a fun pen. Green is maybe not so much in my wheelhouse. Right? Like, maybe if they'd done a different color, I would have been quicker to maybe jump on it myself. More than anything, though, I'm pleased that they are selling stuff that's different as opposed to just posting images of things that are different, which is their typical way. Right? Like, oh, here's a thing we made. You can't buy it. But, like, we just made it. It reminds me of, like, car companies with their, like, what are they called? Like, the prototype cars? They've got, like, a specific name that can't, it's not jumping to my mind right now. Yes. No. Concept car. Concept car. Twisby make a lot of concept pens that they never sell. But this is one that they have. I think it's cool. I would like to see them make more stuff like this now. Because, let's be real, I know why they've done this. Right? Like, it's obvious why they've done this. Because they're trying to capitalize on the trend of the small maker. And the small maker trend is focused almost entirely on swirly colored acrylics. In fountain pens, at least. So, they're trying to make something that's like that, that kind of evokes that feeling. This is not a criticism. It's just, like, this is why they're doing it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, this is what we talk about more than, like, the mainstream releases, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm. So, I think that they've done a good job here. I think that the price point is wild. And, yeah. You know, I think if Aurora is a new line, right? Like, or a new net product. Like, it doesn't exist.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, yeah. Unless it's just, like, the specific name of this color and material. Yeah. Right.