Editing The Pen Addict 459/transcript (section)

== Five Year Celebration Pen ==


'''Brad:''' I can't believe it's been 5 years. It simultaneously feels like 10 years or 2 years. Mm-hmm. Right? So I remember back, if you'll let me digress for just a second, I remember now that I have the correct 5-year anniversary math in my head. It was actually 6 years ago that I met Hugh for the first time at the DC Pen Show. And he asked for a minute of my time. We scheduled a meeting just for him to tell me he's got this idea.

'''Brad:''' And I heard him out, and I was like, yeah, cool. Like, this sounds great. And, like, he kept working, and he stayed in touch, and, you know, we just talked about Pen stuff and doing things and, you know, about his idea. And then 2016, so 5 years ago, they launched at the DC Pen Show, so a year after I talked to him the first time. And I still remember the – I remember exactly where their table was in that ballroom, exactly where my table was with Van Ness Pens in the atrium. And people walking back and forth discussing, look at these pens, look at the one that I picked out. Which one did you pick out? Look at this one. Look at that one. And, like, I still remember, like, all the exacting details of that day and how, like, by the end of the first day, there was just gaps in the table because they were sold out of some of the models. And it's cool to see what they've done over these five years. I still – I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around that the five years has passed since we first talked. And then you turn the corner over into this pen. What's the name of it again, Myke?

'''Myke:''' I'm just going to go with Hanukkah Lani. Because that one I know I can say. I feel like – I feel confident in that.

'''Brad:''' Hanukkah Lani. I feel good about Hanukkah Lani. So this is exactly what they should have done for the fifth anniversary. Yeah. Like, this is a level-up pen for the Canalea brand, right? Now, it's got more features. It's got more design work. It's got a greater cost. But there's a reason for all that because they're marking this, you know, landmark in their business. It's a special edition. It's a – Yeah.

'''Myke:''' It's a thing.

'''Brad:''' And I'm glad to see that it has these extra features like the Melee band, right? So I did not expect this. No. When I saw the pen. Like, we don't get a preview of this until the box shows up. Mm-hmm. So I opened it up and I was like, oh, my God. What is happening here?

'''Myke:''' I couldn't believe it. It was – It felt – I was – I kind of got an idea because we – You know, like, you open the package and there's, like, imagery, right? Mm-hmm. Right. And I was like, oh, this is going to be good. You know, everyone loves the blue ones, you know? Yeah. Like, the beach ones have always done really well for them. And I opened it up and I was like, oh, my God. Like, I really couldn't believe it. Like, the band that goes around it because we've both got the one with the band on it. Mm-hmm. And it really is –

'''Myke:''' What I like about it, what I like about this pen is that they've saved this idea, which I'm sure they've had for a while, to signify a special occasion. Like, and knowing that this pen was to celebrate the fifth anniversary, it was like, oh, yeah, you know what? You know what? Like, this is a really good idea. Like, this is exactly what you should be doing to mark an occasion like this. Whilst also I feel like that there is a little bit in both ideas of, like, going back to their roots for the types of pen that they've made in the past, you know? Mm-hmm. Like, the beach ones, as I say, they've always done really well with the blue translucency and stuff. But the – again, the acrylic work on this pen is amongst the best that they have ever done. The black swirls that signify the kind of sand, it's just unbelievable and so deep. And it's got that effect, again, where there are parts of it that look like they, like, impossibly go into the pen forever. Like, there's, like – it's this pearlescent effect that they're able to do with it where it just feels like there are these little pockets of, like, ocean inside. It's unbelievable. It really is. The whole package incredibly special.

'''Brad:''' So the best – I obviously love this pen. Completely adore it. I think they knocked it out of the part. I have the one with the clip version, too, which I had been talking about wanting one with the clip.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, I have no clip. And this is my first in the classic style where the cap is a bit larger.

'''Brad:''' It's a big pen. It's a big pen. Yeah. So the material – my highest compliment I can give the material is this looks like something I would make for myself, right? Right. Like, I would choose this brightness of the blue, have it translucent. And the black swirls show the sand that the inspiration picture's from, but it doesn't overwhelm the pen. It literally just swirls through the pen. It's not – it doesn't take over the pen. That's why I like the Kona Cherry so much, right? Because it has a massive amount of translucency. That's what I like in my pens. And this one has even more translucency in the blue than that. And it – I don't know. It's great. This is exactly what you should do for a celebratory pen, right? I feel like this is never going to be your number one seller because of the price point, right? But what it's going to be is a representation of what you can do and a culmination of the successes you've built upon for the previous five years. So you do something special. Yeah. You do something for, like, your super fans. So, like, it tells a little bit of different stories. Like, hey, this is what we do as Canalea. And this is what we've built into. And this is the culmination of these last five years. And that's the story that I think they're telling with this pen. And I think they executed it just about perfectly for me.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. So the regular one, the one without the band on it, is $395, which is their typical price.

'''Brad:''' Their standard, yep, standard price. Which you can get the all blue pen, like, in your standard price.

'''Myke:''' And the My Lele version is $555, which, again, five years. Mm-hmm. But I just wanted to say that, like, whilst that is a high price, I personally completely believe that Canalea belong in that category. Right. When they give, like, you know, so they give you an extra here, right, that the silver band makes it more expensive. Mm-hmm. So, you know, you can see you're getting your value if, you know, if you're looking at it. It's like, okay, this is a different, this is like an addition. Mm-hmm. But I just mean, like, from a visual perspective and from a crafts perspective, this kind of tier, this over $500 tier, I think that this is a tier that they can play in if they can want to continue doing that. Like, not that I'm telling them to increase the prices of their current pens. Right. But if they have things like this that they want to do, I feel like this is a company that can do that personally.

'''Brad:''' Right, right. Exactly. And one last thing on the band, just from a technical perspective, it does add a little bit of weight to the pen, right? This is not like a... I like that. ...like a aluminum-feeling band. It's not like airy and light. Like, it's substantial. Like, you can feel the band.

'''Myke:''' I find the cap very satisfying to hold. So, like, because, you know, I uncap my pens, right? And I've been noticing when I've been using this pen that I hold this cap in my hand, in my other hand, just because it really, it feels great. And the band itself, I mean, it's so well integrated into the cap. Like, it looks... Yeah. It just looks excellent. They've, you know... Surprise, surprise, they've done it again.

'''Brad:''' Yep. So, yeah, I'm thrilled with it. It's great. It's great. So, yeah, there you go. I don't... If I continue talking, they'll just be me fawning over it even more. So, yeah, really, really good job. Very proud to see this fifth anniversary. That's not an easy thing to do in the market these days. And congratulations to Kenalea Pinko, for sure.

'''Myke:''' Yep.

'''Brad:''' All right, we're going to take a big turn here and catch up on something hilarious I saw on Twitter that was sent to me by a good friend of the show, Becky. She sent me a tweet from... Or a Twitter thread, I should say, from Forever Agend. I don't know if I'm saying that right, but we'll have it in the show notes. Are you familiar with the Ace Attorney? Are we calling this an anime?

'''Myke:''' No. Well, Ace Attorney is a video game. Video game. It's a video game series. Maybe there is an anime, but I know it is a video game series. Okay.

'''Brad:''' So, I don't really know it, obviously, right? Because I can't talk about it. But I know Phoenix Wright. I know the memes and the character. And it's very popular. If you don't know this and you go look at this link, you'll go, oh, I kind of recognize this kind of art style and this character. But what... Oh, maybe it's Foe Ratchet. I don't know. I can't pronounce their name. Don't worry about it. Anyway, they took all the characters of this game and this series and matched up pins to each character. Did you go through this thread and look at this?

'''Myke:''' Yeah, I'm familiar with this meme style. Yeah. So, like, you know, it's such and such person in the shampoo bottles and it's like you're picking colors and maybe something in the style of a product that matches with either a person or a series of people.

'''Brad:''' Right. So, like, the Phoenix Wright is always kind of in this blue suit and just kind of classic put together looking, you know, outfit. And so they match them with the bright blue Lamy All-Star with like this... It's just a clean pin to kind of match this clean suit. And then you scroll down and then there's a character, Maya Faye, who matches with a Jin Howe with that Fude nib because, you know, the nib resembles her hair bun and things like this. I just thought I got a lot of enjoyment out of this thread. It's just silly. And I think it's hilarious. Athena Sykes, TWSBI Eco Yellow, looks like a cool gadget that is also commonly mistaken as a vape pen. So they were very funny in putting all this stuff together. So we were talking about this and I was challenged, Myke. I was challenged. What part of pop culture or meme culture or music or TV or anything could I put together and assign pins to? That's a really difficult challenge. I should have made you do this because it is not easy.

'''Myke:''' I'm pleased that you didn't. When I opened the document today and saw that you'd done it and there wasn't a request for me to do it, I was very pleased.

'''Brad:''' I wasn't going to do that to you without much, much advance notice. Yes. So the one thing I couldn't get out of my head is I'm obviously a huge Ted Lasso fan. I've talked about it on the nib section. It seems to come up all the time. And you've watched Ted Lasso, right, Myke? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I said that that was the only thing. Like I could have gone to, you know, like the office, you know, TV series or sitcom or just pick like some really, really huge pop culture thing. And Ted Lasso is pretty huge on its own. So it's like, I love Ted Lasso. I'm watching it again right now for the third time. So let me see what I can do. And I thought about it for a second and I got like two of the characters really quick. I was like, okay, I know two of them. Like I want to do this. So let me see if I can figure out the rest. So let's do this. What do you think?

'''Myke:''' Go for it.