Editing The Pen Addict 731/transcript (section)

== Hobonichi Merch ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' To kind of get an idea of the scale of Hobonichi, they are making merch for their merch now. That's where we are, right? Yeah. Like, they are making products that emulate and celebrate their products. Yes. Like, that is unbelievable kind of level of success, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I have one later that definitely hammers that point home. Yeah. But, yeah, 100%. And, like, this is, I don't know. I just look at this Kakamori collaboration. That's, like, pretty big, right? Like, Kakamori is a great shop. Oh, and the Uniball.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, Uniball's, but, like, they get Uniball to make pens for them. Like, it's unbelievable, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And I guarantee you, Uniball's happy for the business, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like. Oh, this is such a big deal, yeah. That's why, like, Uniball's been with them for a while. They'll often do, like, a Jetstream collaboration. Sure. And they'll just do different barrels and different stampings on the barrels. Exterior designs. Yeah. Yeah. Now we're in the ink. Now we're formulating new colors for you. Yeah. Kind of thing, right? Yeah. That's crazy, like, when you think about it. Yeah. And then Kakamori, who, one of their things that Kakamori does is you can mix your own ink. Well, they've made 12 colors. Again, just like the Uniball, it's two sets of six. Yeah. They're very small ink bottles, but they're designed to be used for that month and to match the colors. I think it's just a crazy good idea. Yeah. Like, I'm 0% interested, like, in any of this, but man, it's fantastic.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I love this idea, right? Of having the matching color for the month. I think that's really nice. I think this is very good. I do, too.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I do, too. And I like that they've leaned into it, so that's really good. This is so random, and I think I meant to buy this last year, and this one I did just happen to run across. I really want their stencil set. Okay. They have a cool little five, like, five ruler stencil set. It's very small. It fits. Like, all of these are, like, really tiny, and they have really tiny shapes and designs just to be additive to your notebooks and journals and planners. And they're small enough that they fit in, like, the credit card pockets in, like, cases. You know, they're not that short, necessarily, but they're not, these are not big items, and you can put them in any, like, notebook or system that you have. And I don't know. I've seen these before. These look like a little bit different patterns than the one I was looking at before.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's very funny. Like, one of them is because they've got names, right? So, it's, like, depending on what they are, like, schedule, activities, speaking, like, and they're speech bubbles. And there's one called Travel, and there's a stencil only of Japan. Yeah. I was going to say, what is the Japan one called?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, it's just like, oh, you can travel, but only in Japan. Yeah. It's Japan. Then it's got flower, tree, mountain, ocean, firework, spa, tower, which is, of course, like, Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower, yeah. You know, barbecue, which doesn't look like yakitori. It looks like a candy.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, it's like meat on a bone, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I guess. It's like cartoon meat on a bone. Yeah, yeah. It's a Fred Flynn's. It's a Bronto. It's like the emoji of, there's an emoji. Is it like that? Okay. Then bag, camera, flag, mark. So, anyway, it's, yes, it's travel for Japan, which is great. So, I like that one. This is the problem one, Myke. This one right here. So, I'm relying on other people to show me stuff because of the volume of things, which we've discussed. Right. There is a Hobonichi Techo store in the Tokyo Station.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Ginza? In Japan. Yeah. No. So, Tokyo Station is like the huge, one of the huge subway stations there. Oh, sorry. Grandsta. Grandsta Tokyo. Grandsta. Yeah. I misread it. Yeah. So, and they have exclusive items just in that shop. And what they've done this year is they've done this character called Suica. Suica is their transport card, right? Yeah. Like, you know, other parts of the world have their transport cards. And they have a mascot, obviously. Yeah. So, the mascot is a penguin. Penguin, yeah. Suica penguin. Yeah. So, they have all this Suica penguin merch. Mm-hmm. This is the, I don't care if you're even into, like, the, you know, the transportation, the trains, the Tokyo Station thing. This is just one of the coolest designs, period.

'''Myke Hurley:''' He's just a fun little guy.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's just a fun little penguin guy hanging out there. And this was the merch. We make merch for our merch, Myke. Yeah. They have a Hobonichi key ring for your Hobonichi. So, the little key ring. Oh, my God.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And it's a tiny Hobonichi.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it's a tiny Hobonichi, and it's filled with paper, and that little pen actually writes. Oh, my God. Or it's a pencil. Writes in there. Hilarious. So, it's like...

'''Myke Hurley:''' You could hang one from the Hobonichi. You could hang a Hobonichi on the Hobonichi.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Wow. So, it's like a Hobonichi-ception or something. Yeah. But this, you know, only available at the Tokyo Station Store. And that is one of the hang-ups with a lot of this Hobonichi stuff, which I think the next one is the big one, Myke. Like, they did a big Hello Kitty collection this year. It is one of the best sets of art I've seen. Yeah. Like, this is my kind of artistic style. It is maybe, like, the number one thing that I've seen this year. Like, better than, like, all the One Piece stuff and just all the other things that they've done. And this is Japan only. Yeah. Like, which... I am shocked that the Hello Kitty is Japan only.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, you know that's not Hobonichi's decision.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But still... This is Sanrio. This is Sanrio telling them. Yeah. Like, this is so good. Yeah. Like, everyone should have these. Like, who wants this? Yeah. And, like, this one actually stinks. This is the problem with IP. Right? It is.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Like, different companies hold the licenses in different places. And it's like, you can do this, but it's not going to be geolimited.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. So, they... Like, way down, they have, like, this desk toolbox, which is a popular thing, right? For, like... You know, they... I hate this word. I'm going to say it anyway. Hot desking. I hate that word. Hot desk, baby. Yeah, yeah. God, that is one of the worst words ever. I used to hot desk. Yeah. Good luck. But this is, like, your little portable... You know, it looks like a little lunchbox. Yeah. But it's kind of... You could also kind of fill it with, like, portable stationery, too. This page also doesn't end. If you start scrolling, I have yet to make it to the bottom, Myke. Oh, yeah. It keeps... So, yeah. What do they call this?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They're just calling it a pouch. The names... Oh, no, Myke. I figured out what it's called.