Editing The Pen Addict 731/transcript (section)

== Kickstarter Campaign ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' And this kind of gives me, this is very loose, but this gives me kind of visionary vibes. In, like, 2,300 people have backed this thing because it looks good. Mm-hmm. And they, I don't think that 2,300 people here fully understand what they're going to be doing when this thing arrives with them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' One of my early offhanded comments when I was going through all this was, this has to be the most highest percentage customer service product I've seen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Because this is a, like, me and you, experts, I'll say, right? Mm-hmm. I don't want to do this. And, like, I could tell you weren't enjoying it. Right? Like, it wasn't working in the way that you wanted it to, really. Like, it was, you know, there was air in there. You seemed quite hesitant about how to do it. Like, it isn't, it really feels, like, high expert level. But even then, just, like, hard to execute in a way that is satisfying.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, the mental challenge I had, and I mentioned this as I was going through it, were expectations. Yeah. Right? My expectations of how to fill a fountain pen, I had to throw all that out the window. Yeah. Because this didn't behave like any other pen that I've tried to fill. That doesn't mean it didn't work. It meant that it's, like, why don't, why can't I get, like, 80 or 90% full? Like, why is there air in the tube on this side? Why do you only fill one side? And those are just, like, questions I had while I was going through this. Yeah. So, like, I just had to be resigned to the fact. It's, like, okay, this is not, like, I'm never going to have ink all the way through all the tubes. Which, you know, maybe that's an issue for some people. Like, you want it to look pretty. But, like, as soon as you write and get air in there, it's not going to write unless air is passing through this stuff. Right? Like, it cannot flow. So, the flow actually worked spectacularly. Like, I've picked it up this morning and it worked just fine. It, like, flows very, very well. So, but yes, it's kind of a mind meld of a, you have, if you ordered this pen, hopefully you had some, some, like, playful expectations of what you're going to need to do. Because this is far and away not, not your standard fountain pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But it writes that way. I will say that. I got the architect nib on it. That was another, like, you know, all my little upgrades. I made this, made my $89 pen, $129 pen. But I was fine with that. I don't love the nib. It is an architect with almost no variation. Which is very weird. It's fine. Like, it's enjoyable to write with. But it's not really an architect grind on it. There's no, the vertical lines are supposed to be thin on an architect nib. And they're practically the same width as the horizontal lines. There's no variation. I do like it in that it writes kind of with an edge, right? We always talk about how I like to write nibs that have an edge on it, whether that's a stub or a cursive italic or something fine and in very good shape. Not a rounded tip. But it's, I wouldn't, like, this is not an architect nib. It's just, it's just basic. It's, it's fine. Okay. But it flows well. It's super wet. And, like, this is the, where I ended up with this is, like, I'm glad I got it. But, like, there's no way I can review this pen unless I put, like, months of use into it. Because it's got so much going on. You know, we haven't cleaned it yet, right? You know, am I going to pull my hair out trying to clean this thing, right? Where are we at with that type of thing? So, there's just a lot, a lot going on with it. I mean, they delivered a good product for what you paid for it. Yeah. It's just, do the consumers, are they going to understand it? And I feel like they will because I feel like you wouldn't have backed it unless you were up for the game that they're asking you to play here, right? So, so far, so good. The build quality is nice. You know, it's an acrylic pen. It's large. It's weighted well. Like, all the feels stuff about it are very nice. It's just whether you're going to enjoy the fidgetiness of it in the long term. I doubt I will. But we'll see. We'll see how it goes. I'm actually going to see if I can swap out the nib. I'm not loving the nib at all.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Where does the nib come from?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't know. It's just one of their nibs. I don't know. I got to see if it's, like, compatible with anything. Like, it's totally fine, but it's basically just writing with, like, a broad nib. Okay. So, I want to write smaller with it. So, we'll see. We'll see if I can figure something out for that or get it modified or whatever. But, yeah, it's good. Who's this for, do you think? That's a really good question. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I mean, it's obviously for someone because they sold two, three thousand of them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't know. Like, if I'm making that list. You sell it because it looks good, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Like, it looks really cool. Like, it's a cool looking, very unique pen. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's for, like, the nerdy visual type of person that wants to, like, be a little bit showy. But I don't know.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I feel like if you are a scientific researcher who likes pens, you know what I mean? This is, like, a good, like, you know, this looks very science-y, I think, you know? Like, I feel like it would be a nice talking point. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This is, like, the sharper image pen. Are you familiar with the sharper image? I'm aware of it, like, tangentially. Where they make, yeah, where they make just, like, the very specialty niche gift products. Yeah. Right? It's very popular during the holidays for gifts. Oh, you know, Bob likes pens. Bob's an engineer. What can we get him for Christmas? Yeah. You get this pen. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And that's, like, the whole premise of the sharper image catalog. It's not necessarily the best pen or the most functional pen, but it's one of the more unique pens, and you give it to someone to see, like, the surprise on their face. Yeah. Type of thing. I don't think this is, it's not a daily driver type of pen for me. Because I'm looking, it's, that boils down to the nib. And I still wonder, like, we haven't gotten into cleaning it yet. Again, I just, I've had this inked up for less than 24 hours at this point. So, we have a long way to go. I will say, like, I'm not knocking this at all. I think they executed it well. Right. Like, for what it is. Right. And so, now we'll see long term how it goes. That's the other thing is, like, what do you do next? Is there a next type of situation for this? Right. Like, you kind of, this was like a full send type of project.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And, like, I'm wondering, like, okay, we did good. And, like, we'll continue to sell, like, a few of the patterns, like, going forward. But I don't know what else we can do here to change things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It raised a lot of money, though. So, people wanted it. They did. They did really well. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It was good that they, so, it was good that Arc Layer and Endless, like, kind of teamed up to do this. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, yeah. It's good. It's good. I don't know that it's great. Like, it's totally fine. It's just, it's a pen and a long lineup of pens that I have.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. What I would like for something like this, I would like to see, I think this pen would work if you could find a way to get it to operate with a more standard filling system. Like, can you make a vacuum filling system version of this pen or something? Like, I have no idea how you would do it, right? Sure, sure. But, like, is there some way to fill this pen that doesn't include a syringe?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, like, this is an eyedropper only fill. You're not drawing this up. Yeah. It doesn't have a converter or a cartridge. Yeah. Like, you have to get messy with this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, and I think if there's some way to do it differently, I think they're on to a winner. But I just think it's really complicated when you've got to introduce another element, like a new instrument, to be able to make it work. Yeah. That becomes quite complicated, I think. Yeah. You're asking for a lot.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think what I would like to see in the future is, like, they, like I said, they full-scent the Kickstarter with all the patterns. I'd like to just, like, see a heavy focus on a singular pattern and then, you know, maybe tweak the filling system for the normals or something like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Simplify it some way. And just use one of the Helix patterns or something.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's cool. It's fun. I'm glad I have it. But it's not going to rate, right, against, like, every other pen that I own. Like, it's fine. Like, I'm totally happy with it. And the best, like, I wanted to make sure it worked. Yeah. Like, that's all I cared about. And so far, it has succeeded on that front. So I think that's a good place to start from, right?

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