Editing The Pen Addict 431/transcript (section)

== King of Pen Discussion ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I. For some reason I learned it as king of pen. Because I thought originally it should be king of pens.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. This is the king of pens. This is what we're making. We're making like. We're making a statement with this pen. It is the king of all pens. Right. But. It makes a lot of sense.

'''Myke Hurley:''' If you think about it. That it's. The king of pen. The way they word it and phrase it and market it. So I don't know. Anyway. So. With that out of the way. What I was trying to do here. Is just. Kind of have. A. Stream of consciousness. Conversation about this pen. What I think about it. Like. How much I love it. Contrasted. With. How much. I've been on record saying. How it's like. One of the most overpriced pens on the market. Right. So like. That's my two. Kind of. Differing points. I was trying to explain. So. One of the. Ways. I went about it. Was. Trying to describe. What makes up. The cost. Of a pen. Just in. In general terms. And I came up. With. Three. Kind of. Major buckets. That. Are the. Driving price factors. It's materials. You know. Yeah. Not just barrel. Barrel materials. But nib materials. Mechanics. You know. Is. There's a piston filler. Or a vac filler. That has. More extensive mechanics. And then. Craftsmanship. You know. How much. Handwork. Is in it. Like a. A rushi pen. Versus a machine. That comes off a. Injection molding. Line. Right. So.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's always been. The kicker. For me. With. The king of pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Is. There's things. That it's very special. About it. The size of it. It's. It's a. You know. Imposing pen. The.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' What makes it so good. And we said this many times. Is that. It doesn't feel like it's being big. For the sake of being big. Because the entire pen. Is scaled. Accurately. Like. If you took a picture. Like. If I showed someone a picture. Of the. This king of pen. That you've taken here. There is nothing to say. That that is not a regular sized pen. Correct. It gives no hint. Of the fact. That there is. A large size to it. Which is why. The first time I ever saw one. I just started laughing. Because it looked like. Like. A pen for a giant. Or that Brad. Yeah. Was a very small person. Holding a regular sized pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But when you put it in your hand. It's not. No. It's big. But it's not too much. Right. It's. That's almost impossible to. Explain in writing. In writing a review saying. This is a big pen. That. Is one of the best. Writing experiences. From comfort and feel. In your hand. Yep. It just is. That's why I bring this pen. Everywhere. So. I can let people. Test it out. And. That's when you usually go. Oh. I get it. Like. I understand this now. Mm-hmm. Um. It's still extraordinarily expensive. And. Like. That's the hardest thing I have about this. The king of pen. Is. Is justifying the cost. Like. This is not something you can justify the cost. And you'll yell at me. It's like. This is a luxury item. You don't have to justify the cost. And I. I agree with that. Right. Anything over. Over your Bic. Or your G2. Is a luxury pen. You don't have to justify the cost. For buying something that you like. That's very expensive. But. I'm also in a position where. I spend a lot of money on a pen. And I'm expected to say why. And I'm. I'm like. Happy to do that. Like. I want to figure these things out. For other people too. Yeah. And this is one. That it's. Like. I can tell you why. And none of that adds up. To how expensive this pen is. Right. That's the challenge. In doing. Like. A proper pen review. Of the Sailor King of Pen. Right. There's not a technical detail. Review. That can be written about the King of Pen. Right. The King of Pen. Is like an idea. Or a feel. And it's not something that can be really captured. In words. Which is why I didn't review it for so long. Despite being one of my single most used pens. And one we talk about. All the time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because it is super difficult. Because. As you very rightly put. In your review. And as you've kind of said. A little bit here. It's like. It's. It's very difficult. To justify. Why this costs. What it costs. Yes. So. Like. Because it is made of plastic. Right. So. When you're talking about the materials. It's. It's a plastic pen. Right. It's an acrylic pen. And which. You know. That can. Mean a lot of things. If it has a look to it. Which makes it look expensive. But they don't. Right. They look. Quite frankly. Most of the time. A King of Pen. Is just a larger version. Of a Pro Gear. That they are already selling. So. This is. It doesn't have any different look to it. At all. It's just bigger.

'''Myke Hurley:''' This is. This is what happened. In the. In my. Dealings with the King of Pen. I fell in love. With the original King of Pins. That were. The big. Torpedo shaped. They were just called King of Pen. At the time. You can still get those. And they're. Yeah. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mostly. Rushi. Or Ebonite. Or something. Yeah. And they're over a thousand dollars.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Fifteen hundred dollars. And things like that. And those are the ones I fell in love with. And I was like. Oh. I will never own that. Because. Number one. It's very expensive. And number two. They were very. They're honestly very basic. That's. But that's. Those were craftsmanship pens. Right. And then. Sailor. Decided. Well. We're making. These really great colors. Like the Sky. Which. I reviewed. And they're making the Sky. In the Pro Gear Slim. And the Pro Gear Standard. Well. Why can't we just make. An even bigger. Pro Gear. And use the. The King of Pen nib. That we've used for these other. You know. Ebonite and Arushi pens. And have a lower price. King of pen. So it's almost like. They. They marketed to me. Saying. Oh. Brad loves. This fifteen dollar. Fifteen hundred dollar pen. But what if we made an orange one. And charged half the price. And it'd still be seven hundred fifty dollars. Yep. And it's made out of plastic. And Brad would be all over that. And I'll be darned. They were right. Right. So.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But then. You know. Like you're saying about the. I really also liked what you were saying. About the filling system. And your quote. I quote. You wrote. You know. Because you're like. Saying what are the mechanics of the pen. Which is how you. Kind of. Kind of defined it. And you basically. It's essentially a lack of mechanics. There isn't anything. Right. I mean. It has a different look to it. I don't know why. It looks so weird. Like it has that huge. Extension. From the grip section. Which the converter goes into. I've never understood. Exactly what is going on. With that. And why it's so aggressive looking. Compared to other pens. But all you're doing is. Is sticking a regular converter. Into this thing. Yeah. There's nothing special about it. At all.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-mm. Mm-mm. So it's hard to write about. But I wanted to put the thoughts down. So I could at least link to it sometimes. When we talk about it here. Mm-hmm. To say like. You know. If you want me to recommend. The King of Pen to you. You're probably talking to the wrong person. Yeah. And here's why.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I really think this is a pen. That you can only know you want. If you've used it. I would never recommend somebody. Buy a King of Pen. Having never used a King of Pen. Or at least held one. Because until I. I actually tried one. I didn't get it. Didn't make any sense to me. I thought it was hilarious. And then I put pen to paper. And I was like. Oh.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's quite special. Like the nibs. Are so wild. But they're excellent. Mm-hmm. Right. Like what is the size number?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Um. Nine. Right. But I don't know how to relate that to. Well I've never. I've never come across that number before. Mm-hmm. So Pilot has like a number 10 nib. And a number 15 nib. That's even larger. Oh my god. But then like some other companies. Will have make a giantly large nib. And not really call it a number. So it's a little bit hard to. To match up one to one. But just know that it's a very. Very very large nib. And the best part about it. Having used a Pelican. M1000. Which is their largest model. That nib is very very soft. And while a 21 karat gold nib. This size in the King of Pen. Is also soft. It's not really bouncy. It's like the ultimate writing pen. For me. Um. And my writing style. In that it doesn't really bounce around. Like and have the flex. Like a M1000 nib. Which is what it gets compared to some. Right. And also the Montblanc 149 nib. That's close to that too. And it's just a little bit. A little bit tighter. A little bit better feel. Than those.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I feel like. So. I might be getting a little high concept here. But to me. The King of Pen. Is like. One of the ultimate.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Examples. Of what this. Hobby is all about. Because. It's. It's. More expensive. Than you would expect it to be. In looking at it. Which I think is the same. For basically all good pens. If you don't know. About this. If you. If you have no conception. For what it's like. To like fountain pens. All fountain pens. Are too expensive. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It. And it really is. A. Experience. That you feel. It. And I think. That's really. Like. It does something. It does something. In those two elements. Of like. The value. Being so out of whack. Even to people. Inside of the pen community. I think. Makes it kind of like. A perfect encapsulation. Of the entire fountain pen hobby. From the outside. Right. That like. Everything seems too expensive. But once you use it. You'll get it. And I feel like. That is exactly. What the King of Pen is. It seems too expensive. Once you use it. You really understand it. And then you buy multiple ones.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I don't know why. I like this pen so much. Because like. I'm the first. To like. Criticize it. But it just really. Really works for me. In. In. Every single way. Except the cost. But that hasn't. Stopped me. Apparently. So. Yeah. I don't know. Myke. Like. Again. I could just talk about this pen. All day. Because it's just. Such an interesting.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Idea. I honestly. I think sailors. Like super nailed. This pen. Product. Doing. When they. Once they. Expanded it. Into the pro gear. And the 1911. Lineup. Because they were going from. You know. 350. 400 dollar pens. Like if you bought. The most expensive. Rialos. To over a thousand dollars. For the King of Pen. And like. They had this high end gap. That they chose. To fill with this. And it seemed like. It's probably the right answer. Like it certainly. It certainly looks awesome. Like you know. When they show it. And like I said. You know. There's certain pens. If they ever released them. In a King of Pen model. I'd probably buy that too. That's just kind of. One of my things. So. Good stuff.

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'''Myke Hurley:''' So what's funny. About the king of pen. Myke. Is. That we can have. That conversation. And then we can have it. In the same context. As. The product. We're going to talk about next.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Which. I have a lot to say about. And love. And was. A quarter of the price. So like. These are the things. I think about all the time. So. Let's get into. A new to me product. And I'm assuming. New to you product. This is a fountain pen. From a company called. Rockstar. And. What I find. Interesting. Before I even get into. The product itself. Is. How I came about. This pen. And. I did something. That I rarely. Ever do. And. I can't remember. The last time I did it. But. Somehow. One of. Rockstar's. Fountain pen images. Showed up in my Instagram feed. I wasn't following Rockstar. Maybe. I don't think it was an ad. I think someone maybe. It was you know. Like one of the people I follow. You know. Maybe it was tagged. Somehow. Somehow I saw it. And then this one. Do you follow hashtags? Yeah. I follow the pen addict hashtag. So I don't know if they use the pen addict hashtag in there. That's only. That's the only. Like on this picture I'm looking at. The pen addict hashtag isn't in there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So yeah. I'm. I don't know how I found it. Originally. But it was this one pen that I ended up ordering. And. Because it completely. Knocked my socks off. And. The quick version of what I ordered is. It's called the troubleshooter. And it's this black.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Celluloid. Acetate. It's. It's just really finished. The material is really unique. The translucency is cool. It's kind of swimming through the barrel. And it has this red ring. On the finial. We'll have this link in the show notes. And.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know. Well. You can take a look at this. And.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I just. Opened up. Instagram. And saw this. And I went over. And messaged. Rockster pens. And said. I would like to make a purchase of this pen. Please. And. The. The maker. Ash. Who is in Wales. Myke.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I know. I was very pleased to see that. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Nice. Nice. Beautiful area. Of. The kingdom. Over there. And. Ash. Got right back to me. Said. Yeah. I have like a. Two to three week. Waiting list. I said. Just send me an invoice. When you're ready to roll. This is exactly what I want. And he said. What nib size. And. That was it. Two to three.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So you saw this one. Which was a commission. And you were like. I want. Make me that one. Yep. Okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. And like. That was it. Like. I did it. Within like. Minutes. Of seeing a pen. And I haven't. I can't tell you the last time. That I've done that. Made that type of purchase. Online. Right. This is what you do at a pen show.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I can tell you the last time I did it. I did it once. And it was. It was the primary manipulation. Eastman. From Newton pens. Yeah. I saw it. He posted one. Sean Newton posted one. And I messaged him. And said. Sean. I want that pen. Please. Can you make me that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Please. Right. So. Like. My point in all of this. Is this is what we're missing. At pen shows. Right. This is something. I would have ended up at. With a pen show. If I happen to see Rockster. And got to talk to Ash. And got to look at all the pens. On the. On the table. Like I've done with. You know. Matthew Martin. At the Atlanta pen show. And like. Countless of other. Like. Small makers. You know. That I've bought things from. At pen shows. Because you get to see them. You get to talk. You get to handle them. Yeah. And then you can get to decide. Oh. Does this fit. You know. Me. And then boom. You know. The next thing you knew. You spent money on the pen. Like. That's how pen shows go. For this discovery. This is the first time. I just got. Something off of Instagram. That I saw. Knew I had to have. And asked someone to buy it. So. It was a totally different experience. For me. Like. I'm surprised. I don't do this more. Honestly. But you know. I can't buy everything. But this one. Like. I could not buy it. So. Did you go through. These pictures. So. This is like. This isn't my pen. But mine's exactly like this. Did you see. The inspiration for this pen. Myke.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I did. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So. Ash's dog. Is named Rocky. And. If you scroll through. Like. The fourth picture. On this. We'll have it in the show notes. I suggest you go look. The inspiration. Is. His schnauzer. Rocky. Rocky. Who is. Black and gray. And has a red collar. And that's. I mean. That didn't sell me the pen. But that did not sell me the pen either. Right. Do you know. That's true.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because I was looking through. The Rockstar Pens page and stuff. The blanks. Are they buying them? Are they making them? Like the materials?

'''Myke Hurley:''' See. I didn't even get that far. Right. But the materials are such that I don't really see them. My guess. And this is. An unresearched guess. Is that they're buying them. That they're buying rods. And then turning the pens from the rods. Right. Like. I see some. That I've. Some materials that I've seen in other places. Okay. But like this material. I have not seen. And a lot of the materials. I have not seen. But that. You know. I'm. I can be very wrong. On that. Without reading all that. But I knew. Like this material was unique. And. The way the pen was finished. Looked fantastic. And. I love the red ring idea.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So there's one pen called the ring leader. On the page. This is why I asked this question. Because I just assumed that was the case. But it says. This is the first of a new model. And is made from in-house cast. Orange flare resin. Well there you go. But this is. So it sounds like both. I think it's a mix of both. So I wondered if you knew. Because I was just. I was just intrigued. Because some of the. Some of the pens.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They have very attractive.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Acrylic. Yes. So this. This particular one. It's not a knock. If they are buying them. Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Like not by any stretch of the imagination. I was just trying to get the information. Yeah. Yeah. You want all the information. So mine. I'm guessing. Is not. In-house made. Because it's a cellulose. And not everyone. Can just make that. In their garage. That's tricky. I think that's a.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The Edison type stuff. Right. That's a lot of that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Solulose isn't it. Maybe. It's not the basic acrylic. Material. That you get in. Within a lot of the other pens. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So yeah. So there you go. It looks like there are some in-house. But there's definitely some. Bought as well. But. Which is great. So anyway. I don't know why I'm telling you all this about this pen. Other than I love to talk about pens and discovery. And like I'm certainly not the first Rockstar customer. And I hope I'm not the last. Because I like what they make. But I thought it was interesting that I.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Made a purchase like this. That I haven't had.

'''Myke Hurley:''' In a while. And I think it's because we're not having pen shows right now. To be perfectly honest. Like I would totally do this at a pen show. Right. But it was a new experience for me to just see something online. Say wow. That's exactly my type of pen. And hey. May I buy this from you. And that was it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Very nice.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Very cool. Very cool. Nice discovery. So yeah. So I got it. I opened it up yesterday. Inked it up. With a red ink. To match the red ring. At the behest of the Twitch stream. It's Robert Oster red candy. It's a very very good ink. And I've been using this pen. It's got the black. Bach. You know the black. Plated Bach nib. So it's just a really really cool. Look. It's right up my alley. Very happy with the pen. The quality. The price. I want to say. I don't have my receipt. So I don't have the full. The final. Cost. With the currency. Conversions. But I'm guessing it was around. Between 160 and 180 bucks. Like. That's exactly. The perfect price range. For these type of pens. Like. There's. That's. That's an easy decision. To make at that price point. So yeah. It was fantastic. Very happy with this pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Brad mentioned earlier. We have a bunch of us. TPA questions. To do today. And the first one. Comes from Alisio. So Brad. Listening to your show. I often hear you say. I need. Or will buy this pen. Probably now. You consider. New pen. Purchases. Part of your business. But before you were running. This is a formal business. How would you finance. Purchasing so many pens. And stationery. Would you limit yourself. To what you would use. And finish them. Before purchasing new products. Or would you buy over budget. On a monthly basis. So. What do you have? What do you think about this Brad? I have thoughts too.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But what do you think? Yeah. So. They're asking. Kind of in the before times. Like. When I was. You know. This wasn't. My job. Necessarily. But. I was still. You know. Running the blog. And doing all these things. And getting access to a lot of products. So how would I. Basically. Manage my own purchases. And. You know. Stationery usage. It was mostly. Budgetary. Not. My. My ideas have never been. Um. You know. Complete usage. Of everything. Before I buy the next thing. Right. Like with fountain pens. And things. And general pens. Regular pens. Gel ink pens. It doesn't really work that way. I've always been. Very interested. In the discovery. Of a new product. And how it compared to. Existing. Really good products. That I love. And. I would just. Manage. The ones. I thought. I would like. The most. On a list. And then. Just kind of. Tick off that list. As I had. The budget. To make those purchases. So. Never overextend. And I. I never overextended. On anything. You know. I had. You know. A regular job. At the time. And you know. I had the money. To. To buy these things. But I never went. Crazy. You know. I never put things. On credit. Or. Did anything wild. I never. There was never. A product. That I had to have. That was going to break. The budget. And I chose to break. The budget. To. To purchase. So. I'm definitely. Very budget conscious. I still am. To this day. Even though I have access. To a lot more stuff. I get a lot more free stuff. I get a lot of stuff sent to me. So I have access. To a lot of stuff. But then. You know. I still. For my pens. For personal use. Like. I still make decisions. Like. I don't want to spend the money on this. And I do want to spend the money on that. So it's all budget based. For me. In general.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I. I guess. A mix of both. I also. For this kind of stuff. I don't. I still don't subscribe. To the idea. Of like. I'll use it. And like. And then when I'm completely bored of this. I'll buy something else. I think budget is a good thing. To do. To understand. How much you can actually. Really afford to spend on this stuff. And try and stick to it. And allow yourself. To go over. When necessary. But also then. Recoup that. The next month. Right. Like. If your budget is 300. And you spend 500. One month. Don't spend 300. The next month. And trying to have some. Self-control is good.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I. Have been. Having to do this. And pay more attention to this. Now that I'm interested. In another new hobby. Which is. Mechanical keyboards. So I'm being very conscious of that. One of the streamers. That I watch. His name is Alex Otos. He always says this thing. Which I actually really like. Which is. Don't. Buy something. Unless you have the money. To buy it three times.