Editing The Pen Addict 472/transcript (section)

== Pilot x Pokémon Collaboration ==


'''Myke:''' I can't believe how. Just being all silver.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I can't believe how diametrically opposite. I thought we would be backwards on our opinions of this. And I know, I know you're not like saying like you hate it or anything. You're saying it's, it's not for me. I like, I wouldn't buy it. And here's why. And I'm saying like, well, I wouldn't buy it because I'm not into pound and into Pokemon, but I'm like, dang, this is like really well executed.

'''Myke:''' It's fancy,

'''Brad:''' right?

'''Myke:''' Like it is like, it is a fancy pen. I just don't, again, it's like, I just don't really feel like it's, it's what I'm looking for. You know? Yeah. If it was half the price, maybe it would be easy. I will say the Pikachu one, like I'm looking at the, the engraving is my favorite of them. I think they've got, the engraving itself is really good. Like they've chosen like really good action poses and stuff, but like just the body of the pen that it's based on just doesn't really excite me that much either. But if they had put some enamel in there and like put some color on it, yeah, that would be like choice.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. That's a, that's a classic pilot design. I think even like as their standard, as a standard pen with their, their traditional designs at that price point, I think it's still actually a quote good deal, right? I think there's value in this pen. I've used one of the, I own a, like a black stripe model. That's way cheaper than these, not sterling silver with that integrated nib. And it's just,

'''Myke:''' what is it based on? Like what is the pilot pen that it's based on?

'''Brad:''' It's, it's, it's its own pen. It's a bigger elite model. Right. And I can't think of the name of my black stripe model.

'''Myke:''' It says stylo plume. Is that anything? No. Okay.

'''Brad:''' No, no. So yeah. Um, but yeah, I, I love these and, like, I'm not going to get one. I don't even know who Raekwon is or whatever this. Raekwon. I only know Raekwon. I don't think he's a Pokemon, but yeah, I don't know. I think they're killer and I hope to see one, uh, one day and, and, and not buy it. Like, I just, I just want to see it. Like, I really think it,

'''Myke:''' I think maybe I would regret it. Right. Like maybe you put it in my hands and I'm like, Oh no,

'''Brad:''' I should have got this.

'''Myke:''' Actually.

'''Brad:''' I think that would probably be an issue. Yeah. If it went, if it was able to get into your hands, that would probably be more of an issue than it is right now.

'''Myke:''' Here's the thing. If I had someone that could tell me that the writing experience was like my M90, I would drop that money right now. You know,

'''Brad:''' it's a little softer. It's a little, it'll be a little softer cause it's a gold nib. So, but you'd have to get like a medium.

'''Myke:''' It's a gold nib. I thought it said it was silver.

'''Brad:''' I'm assuming it's gold. Now you got me curious. I mean, they don't make, they don't make silver nibs.

'''Myke:''' this was the thing that I felt like I couldn't find out like the material.

'''Brad:''' Oh, it says silver rhodium nib. So I guess it's a plate. Right. See,

'''Myke:''' I couldn't work out what material the nib was. Cause there's something else that I was looking at. I was like, Oh, you know, $600, which is a lot, but if it's like a really good gold nib, I might understand it a bit more. Um, but it would just said like silver rhodium. Like, what does that, what does that mean?

'''Brad:''' It says seven, I'm trying to embiggen cause they don't have really good pictures here. The nib says seven 20 on that. Isn't that silver? I could be wrong. It looks like it has a silver. It's gotta be a gold nib. All the traditional, all the, all of these pilots that they've made are, have been, Oh, I think it's got 18 carat. 18 K. I can 18 carat.

'''Myke:''' So what is it? Silver rhodium plate.

'''Brad:''' It's just rhodium plated silver color rhodium plated. It's, it's bad wording. It's an 18 K nib, just like any sailor, you know, nib you would get with rhodium plating, which again goes to my point that $599 is a good price for these pins.

'''Myke:''' For a limited edition product with such a popular character design on it, with a gold nib, like the pricing checks out for sure. Like I'm not, the reason that I'm not getting it is because it's expensive. Yeah. Just for that money. I don't want it enough.

'''Brad:''' Right. Well, if they, if they ever sell Raekwon for half off, Oh my God. That way I can just keep calling it Raekwon. Raekwon.

'''Brad:''' I got another pin, Myke. It could be a Pokemon, um, pin with a name. Got to catch them all,

'''Myke:''' haven't you?

'''Brad:''' Well, it's called the blizzard. Like, I feel like there could be some like blizzard, blizzes. Pokemon moves for blizzard. Is there? Okay. I figured, I figured as much, but I got that just like we were talking about in the pinch LA ad two weeks ago when they advertised, they had this pin that's been on my radar for the entire existence of the Visconti Homo Sapiens lineup. And that's kind of what I, where I wanted to start with. If you're not familiar with the Visconti Homo Sapiens and you're just getting into fountain pens, it's this really unique material that Visconti makes. And it's basically lava rock mixed in with resin to make these fountain pens. And it gives it a unique feel and a unique finish into the barrels. And I've always loved that idea, that design, and that feel of the pen. But I've never pulled the trigger on one despite wanting one since the moment they launched. And why is that? Why didn't I buy one the moment they launched all these years ago? Well, a couple reasons, Myke. One, the, this was at the time where, when they, when the Homo Sapiens first launched, this was at the time where Visconti had cut over to using palladium nibs for these pens. And while there's nothing inherently wrong, they switched from gold to palladium and nothing wrong with that. Except that switch came along with years of QC problems with these nibs. And all you would hear was, I love this pen. I had to get the nib fixed. I love this pen. The nib didn't work out of the box. I love this pen. I had to send it to Myke Masayama to make it right. And on and on and on and on and on. So it was overwhelmingly negative, I guess. I was going to say that's too strong of a word, but it just was. It kept me from buying a palladium nib Homo Sapiens. Second thing that kept me from buying it is they really mostly came with gold nibs and like bronze furniture. And they were black pens, gold nibs, bronze furniture, gold colored nibs, I should say. And then they'd mix in like a silver ring pen. And if you look at the design of the pen, it's got a couple of barrel rings on it. They do some with silver hardware and, you know, a rhodium plated palladium nib. And of course, that just rose the price, that increased the price, you know, because of the actual silver being used, you know, made it from a $600 pen into an $800 or $900 pen. And I was like, oh, that's just too much to have to fight with a nib. Like I wasn't going to spend that kind of money. Like you weren't on a Pokemon pen. I wasn't going to spend that kind of money to know that I'm walking into a fight with the nib. So I just waited and waited. And then they keep coming out. Like this is one of Visconti's primary lines of pens. They have a few primary lineups of pens. This is one of them where every year it gets a refresh or a redesign. And they've added ink windows and just done some different things like that. And then finally, about a year ago, Visconti as a company decided to go back to the golden nibs. I was like, oh, now we're talking. Now I can see if I can find one that fits my style. And still, most of the Homo sapiens came with the bronze trim.

'''Myke:''' Why did they make the decision to go back to gold? Was it as simple as it seems? Like just the palladium wasn't good enough?

'''Brad:''' I just think that it was too negative. Like they just couldn't beat down, whether rightfully or wrongfully at that time, the story was out. Right? Right? And not obviously with these types of products, like not everyone has issues. Right? But the issues became prevalent enough and loud enough to where it became a thing, whether it was or not. Does that make sense?

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

'''Brad:''' So they went back to gold about a year ago, maybe a little more. And I was like, all right, they're back, back on my radar. And let me find, I'll eventually find one that fits my style. Out of the blue, they came out with these earth tone, homo sapiens. The white one, which I have, the blizzard. The other name, the red and tan one, I think it was the tan one called sand. I'm blanking on the other names, because I don't really care.

'''Myke:''' Because I just had the page up, so I'll be able to tell you what they are.

'''Brad:''' I got them. So it's... Blizzard,

'''Myke:''' Inferno, and sandstorm.