Editing The Pen Addict 420/transcript

{{Infobox podcast transcript
| name            = The Pen Addict
| number          = 420
| title           = The Real Collector's Edition
| date            = July 22nd, 2020
| hosts           = [[Brad Dowdy]]<br>
[[Myke Hurley]]
| guests          = 
| link            = [https://www.relay.fm/penaddict/420 Episode 420]
| audiolink       = [https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thepenaddict/The_Pen_Addict_420.mp3 Audio Episode 420]
| length          = 73
}}

'''Myke Hurley:''' From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 420. Blaze it. Thank you. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by my stoner buddy, Mr. Brad Dowdy. Hi, stoner buddy. Hey, Myke. How's it going, man? Oh my god, we're the biggest nerds ever.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I mean, not a lot of podcasts make it to the Blaze It episode. That's very true. I feel like it was a worthwhile introduction, you know? It's not really our jam in general, but like, we're completely, you know, complete dorks and we have to represent the internet fame numbers like Blaze It.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I just wouldn't feel good if I had an episode 420 and didn't say Blaze It at least one time. It's like, if we had episode 69, I would say how nice it was, right? So like, that's just a thing. It's part of the culture.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So like, funny, funny sidebar, I follow, follow, follow, wow, that was some language. I follow Killer Myke, who is part of Run the Jewels on Twitter, and like, every day he posts like, happy 420 and it just cracks me up. So, I get, I get serious joy out of, out of stupid things like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Hence this entire podcast. And maybe this first topic right here.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, this is 100% the most Blaze It topic right there, and we couldn't have planned it if we tried.



== Blaze It Episode Introduction ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Retro 51 Tornado Rollerball Pizza Gold Spot Exclusive. I hadn't seen this. This one had missed me. And this pen is incredibly ridiculous in the best possible ways. It's like a traditional, like when I saw the link that said the pizza Retro 51, I was like, oh, it's going to look like a pizza slice. But it doesn't. It looks like a kind of crappy pizza box. Yes. And like, so it's like all red and green, and there's a pizza Oreo, I think that's what it's called, like a pizza chef. And it's, you know, it's all Mamma Mia'd out, basically.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, he's dropping the chef's kiss on it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah, this is quite, this is quite the thing. I'm honestly a little bit sad that I missed this one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't think you'll miss this one. It goes to Sunseo tomorrow. I'll have to try and remember.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And interestingly enough, when this was brought, I missed this too, it was brought to my attention yesterday. And I was reading up on it. This is going to be an open edition, essentially. So it's a regular edition, which I find interesting because Retro's shutting down. So it's not like it's going to be open for more than a couple months. But it says regular edition, not numbered or limited, except for the part that the business is going away here in a couple months.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's limited in the sense of, like, there will be an end, but they'll just keep selling it until the end?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't know. It's like, how can you, I didn't think Retro was making any more pins, right? They're about to the spot now where manufacturing is going to be wrapping up, theoretically, now, right? Like, they're supposed to be shut down in September back in, you know, I haven't followed up on any of this stuff since we started talking about it in the beginning of the year, what the business prospects are. Maybe I'll ask that for next week. But, yeah, it will definitely be limited in some way, shape, or form. So if you wanted, I would suggest to go for it. But it's, I love the green matte furniture. Like, it's really, really different. It's an extremely Retro 51 pin without looking like every other Retro 51. Like, it caught me off guard when I saw it. It's like, holy cow, I think this is terrible but kind of amazing, right? It's one of those for me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' As a long-term piece of follow-up, the Retro 51 Twitter account has posted an image of all of the Lunker pens. So if you remember, they made a pen called the Gone Fishing, which was a green fish. But there were 10 total models of the pen that had a completely different colorway, almost golden ticket style. Yes. And Lunkers in the sense of, like, a rare catch. And they have now all been found, all 10. So the Retro 51 Twitter account has posted them all. They all have names, like, specific pun-based names. I won't spoil it. You can go and find out for yourself. But they look amazing, right? Like, this whole list of them, I think it's fantastic.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This is one of the greatest releases that they ever did because they didn't tell us before someone found it, right? And I got one of the first emails about this pen being, you know, someone ordered the pen, opening it up, and it wasn't one that matched what their expectation was of the pen, right? And then that's when I emailed Retro and discovered that, ah, you know, this is the golden ticket type of thing. So everything's in here. All the images are in here now. I'd only seen about six or seven of these. So there's several that I hadn't seen before. So I love flipping through this. This will go down in history as one of those topics that we'll continue to bring up when someone else does something cool like this, golden ticket-wise, in the future, saying, hey, you know, when Retro did it, wasn't that a great idea? And we loved it so much. So, yeah. I'm sad I didn't get a regular Gone Fishing. But, you know, just, like, I'm not going to get a pizza one either. I don't need all of them. I'm not going to get a 30th anniversary. Like, I'll just hold off.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But there is a great Retro 51 in the offing, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, well, ours? Yeah. Speaking of which, there is an update. So the bands at the top of the pin are mid-replacement right now. So, like, they've made it through, like, X number of pins. So we'll have these back in another few weeks. So not too much of a big deal here. So just know that everyone should know that it is in process, as expected, and going swimmingly, according to Retro 51. It's just going to take some time. It's a high-maintenance job to get it done. So it's going to take a while.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, Michael.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, Michael. What is dead may never die, Michael.



== Future Apple Pencil Patent ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Sora post. This is one of the very rare times where my two worlds interact with each other. This is from Mac Rumors.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Future Apple Pencil could have sensor to sample colors from the real world. Yeah. This is a patent filed by Apple to effectively put some kind of light sensor into an Apple Pencil to allow you to pick up a color and use it. This is the scribble pen all over again.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' If this happens, we will just have to call it the scribble. We're going to have to get those stickers made, the skins made, that say scribble pencil on them and sell them. Like, that's going to be our thing when this happens. Apple's going to do this. You know they're going to do this. I mean, it might be years down the line, but that just means that the scribble will never die. It appears at least once a year, if not twice a year, that we'll get some mention of either the original scribble or their updated scam or a product that harkens to what scribble has tried to be. And I'm here for it, Myke. I'm not going to lie. I'm here for it. I don't even know. It's one of the greatest products ever.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Kind of linked something about the scribble pen, and I don't even know where to begin.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' When they tried to sue me. That's the best one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But like, there's an episode of the show to refer back to. Yeah. I don't even know what to do. I'm going to do episode 116. Mm-hmm. And we'll just go from there. Basically, this was like a Kickstarter campaign that was clearly junk, but it picked up a lot of steam and then flamed out, basically.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, everyone, it didn't flame out. They got called out and then just basically had to shut it down. True, true. And try to, they had to find a way to get people's money more directly than Kickstarter, because Kickstarter will hold your money, right? Yeah. So that's why they go to other places like Indiegogo or Direct, where they can just take your money immediately and never deliver a product, so.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Or maybe I'll just, as Kate is saying in the Discord, just link people to episode 401 of the show.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Ah, yeah. Where we just kind of refer back to it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because that was where we spoke about the memes of the podcast. But it's just kind of hilarious. Honestly, but this is the thing that we said at the time. Well, like, this product could work if it was a digital product. Yeah. The issue is you can't take a color sensor and have a physical pen mix ink inside of it and then produce the correct color for you to use. Like, that's nonsense. As a digital product, or put into an Apple Pencil, it would work. You would just sample a color and go for it. But I really don't even think that there's that much benefit to it. Like, I can't. What is the actual use case for most people to do this? Like, I really don't think it's much of one. Like, you could just build a camera lens. Like, you could just build, like, if you wanted to have a color picker, you could just open up the camera and take a photo. Like, and it would give you basically the same thing. Wouldn't be as accurate, I'm sure, as a sensor. But I don't really think that there's that much of a use case for that many people for this functionality. Like, yeah, it's nice. But how many times have you thought, oh, man, I really wished I could sample the color of this plant pot for my drawing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't think it's that, you know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, it's like, oh, this yellow didn't come out right. Let me go grab a banana real quick.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Like, I think it's, like, nice for a lot, for many people. Okay, there are people in the Discord, especially Kate, who's getting very upset at me saying that they would like to be able to do this a lot. Okay, this is one of those things where I have to refine what I'm saying. I have no doubt that there are people in the world that would like this feature. I don't know if this feature is widespread enough that they would build it into every single Apple Pencil that they would sell. That's what I'm getting at, right? Like, yes, there are people I'm sure that would like this. I do not think that it is enough of a thing to build this into the product. I don't know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Who uses the Apple Pencil? I mean.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I do.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But, you know. I know, that's what I'm saying. Who is the use case for that? It's a lot of designers.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Sure. But they're building out a lot of features that are not designers. Like, I expect more people use the Apple Pencil to take meeting notes than they do to draw things. But anyway, the problem of all of this kind of reporting is never write, never assume Apple's going to do anything based on a pattern that they have. That's true. Because Apple patent a lot of things because they're a large company. A large technology company. So, there you go.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm just glad we got to talk about the scribble pen again. And if Apple does it, the first thing I will point it to, Myke, is the Leonardo primary manipulation fountain pen. Did you see this picture?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I saw it. I saw it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' What is wrong with this picture, Myke?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Nothing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's wrong because it's better than their own PR images that they sent out. That's what's wrong with it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, this isn't from Leonardo.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Uh-uh.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' At least not that I think of. It could be, but it's not what they sent out to sell the pen. This is like a big case of actual pens, as best as I can tell, by Casa Della Stilografica, which we've talked about before. This is outrageous. Every single pen in here looks better than the pen that I ordered from, and I already thought that was a 10 out of 10 design, right? Am I overselling this? Am I overhyping this? Because this picture is out of bounds for what it's representing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I'm very upset.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because you're not getting one?



== Sora Post Discussion ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I had a conversation with a close friend of mine, and me and that close friend, me and Brad, thought, ah, I could probably just pick one up later on. Do you remember this conversation we had last week? Oh, yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We had an extended conversation offline last week.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Now I'm really regretting it. Basically, I had one on the line and let it go. And now I'm regretting that seriously.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like, there's not, like, I'm just staring at this picture going, I'd be happy with that one, and that one, and that one, and that one, and that one. Is one of these yours? No, because I didn't order from them. If this is Casa Della Stilografica's inventory, one of these is not mine. But, Myke, mine's shipped, and it will be here on Friday.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, I hate you.



== Fontaplumo Pen Order ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, yeah, I ordered mine from Fontaplumo. I talked with Frank last week. He said, yeah, he's getting the pins this week, which he did, and then I got a shipping notification, like, Monday. So it'll be here Friday.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Super fast shipping. Yeah, I, this, if, if this was the first picture they showed, they would have been gone even faster. I mean, there was only 100 of them total, but, yeah. I have, this, this picture made me want to put it back in the show notes again because it was so unique. Like, each one of these is different. I don't know. I should stop talking about it because I'm just saying the same thing over and over. There's nothing else to say other than I think it's already better than I thought it was, and I was already in love with it kind of thing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, let's, let's see how you feel next week because you'll have yours by then, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. That's the thing. That's the, it's scary, right? It's like, well, what if mine isn't as nice as all those? It's going to be. Like, I'm not worried about that whatsoever.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Every single one of those looks amazing, so I can't understand how you would be unhappy with.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. One last, one last comment on that. There's way more crossover between the two colors than their promo photos dictated. Like, I think, does that make sense, right? There's a little bit more reds and blues in the green and a little bit more greens in the reds and blues.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I think by and large, you can tell which one's which, but I think there's a few in this image where I'm not 100% sure which model, what is it, like the Vesuvio and the Stromboli. Stromboli. Yeah. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I thought they were pretty, you know, disparate in color features, and now I think they're more mixed, which is great. It's going to be cool. I'm excited for it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm sure you are.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Next topic, Myke.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I am super not excited for, but I feel like we have to talk about it because it's kind of a combination of a lot of this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It took me a while. I was looking at it today, and I don't get what it actually is.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So, same here. It took me a while to figure out what this is, and what we're talking about is a product called Supernote, and they're doing a collaboration with Lamy. We've talked about Lamy's All-Star that they put out last year that has the digital writing tip, or maybe it was earlier this year, right, for like Wacom tablets and things like that. I do not remember that. Yeah. So, we popped it up because it was a short topic. It was like, you know, do we really need this, you know, kind of thing. I like that they built it into the All-Star barrel. I think that's pretty cool. And it has that kind of stylus type digital drawing tip. You know, it's not a stylus, but you know what, that type of tip. So, anyway, someone sent me this link to a company called Supernote, and they sent me this link, and you open up the link, and it looks like, oh, it's a Lamy All-Star with a notebook. Well, it's really just a cover for Supernote's digital note-taking device, which I guess it's kind of like the Remarkable tablet, but this is really just more for notes and editing and things like that. It's one of those products I personally don't understand why it exists because it's literally just a $300 digital notebook, like as in you open it up blank pages, and you just start writing your notes, and they're in there. Is that what you gathered from this?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I guess so. I don't really understand it. I really don't get it. I don't know what their product does.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. So, let me tell you a little bit about what their product does because this little screen made me go, oh, this is a big nothing product. Let me see if I can pull up this screen again. I didn't do it, but they basically did a comparison. Is anyone who, you know, produces any kind of a product that people have to ask? Oh, it's e-paper.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So it's that type of ink, right? But it's really just a noting and drawing thing. And so anyone who sells a product that can relate to, people can say, well, why should I buy this product over another similar product? You see these comparison pages. And of course, I can't get it to pull up while we're talking here. But I guess the basis impetus of this is why would you ever use this as opposed to a tablet that you already have? Like if you're integrated into the digital world, can't you get pretty much everything you have with this and more and possibly better in a product you might already have?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I don't really understand these devices very much. People are always asking me, like, oh, you should try the Remarkable. But one, they're super expensive. And two, I just don't... I've seen, I found this Why Choose Super Note thing. But I find them, like, really, they're like... I don't necessarily want an e-ink screen. Like I want a full-color screen. So I found it. Why Choose Super Note? Let's recap. So you have other devices versus Super Note. So broken down into categories. So we've got other devices. So we're going to go visual. Other devices, digital tablet. Super Note, stationary style. That's not true.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It looks like a digital tablet.



== Remarkable Tablet Review ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Handwriting. I found this page too.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Unnatural versus feel like real pen and paper. Won't. It won't. It just won't. It's untrue, but it's untrue too. You can get products that give it a matte finish and it feels more like it. So the paper light cover for the iPad is really good. I use one called the Moshi Eye Visor, which is really good. Gives it like a texture.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. That's the one you told me to buy, which I bought. This next one's my favorite one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Note-taking. You have just take notes versus utilize notes efficiently. Absolutely. Guarantee you. Guarantee you. A tablet like an iPad can do more with a note than this product can. Guarantee you. That's my favorite one. All right. Integration. Passive third-party app, all in capitals, versus integrate productivity tools such as mailbox, note, document. Again, I have no idea what you're talking about. It's just wrong. There are more apps and services for other devices. User experience. Follow smartphone and tablet versus design for digital note-taking. I mean, I can try and give you that one, but you have to be really good on your software design for that to be true.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, for that to be true, they have to say that they are a worse product in design because it's specifically for digital note-taking.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Accessory. Lack of variety versus personalized options. That's also not true. Like, I'm sorry. Like, how many cases can you get for iPads? Stylus. Frequent wear-out and refill replacement versus nib-free. That doesn't make sense. Like, what? The Apple Pencil? Is it frequently, like, wear-out? It's a plastic tip. Same as yours. Front light. The front light weakens light transmittance and also causes the front light to be turned where the backlight is not even needed. Front light affects the handwriting experience versus no front light design, better reading and handwriting experiences. What they're trying to say is, which is true, e-ink screens have higher contrast and are better in sunlight. I don't know why they don't just say that instead of what they said instead. Um, but yeah, I don't... It is possible that they're not talking about tablets, but talking about Wacoms. But nevertheless, there's, like, a Wacom tablet attaches to a computer. Like, it has... This is just... Look, this is this typical thing. We go through this a lot on this show. Where marketing is just bad, right? Like, and this is just bad marketing. But if it gets people to buy your product, then it works, right? But yeah, this... I don't know. I don't know about this.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I like bringing these up, even though we don't really use these things. But we have talked about nearly every type of digital capturing and writing device out there because people are interested. I'm interested. But the problem is no one is nailing that product, right? Even, like, Moleskine, which I think you and I would agree have done it the best from things that we've been able to physically experience, like having the handwriting on, you know, a physical notebook experience, converting it into digital. And it still falls short of just a traditional handwriting experience, which everyone is trying to replicate in these devices. So that's why we talk about these products. Because I want eventually to see a product that is really good at digital note-taking. And I just think we are so far away from that design ever happening. Like, I think we are just far, far away from this. So, like, this guy, you know, linked in here because of Lamy's collaboration with it. And I like the idea. I always like the ideas of these products. But the execution has just proven to be poor for years and years and years. And I don't see the end in sight. And I'd love to be proven wrong one day that, hey, we finally get a good digital handwriting device that, you know, I could recommend to someone who just, you know, doesn't want to deal with pens. And they just live a completely digital lifestyle. And they want a good writing experience. And I just don't think we're there yet. But, you know, I think I've said it before. Like, I think we're, like, five to ten years away from that happening. Like, I think it'll happen eventually, but not anytime soon.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, I don't actually think it will happen. Yeah. Because the device types have converged, right? Like, if you feel like your digital note-taking needs can't be given to you via an iPad or something, I don't know if you're ever going to be able to get what you want. Because none of these other devices are any better or worse. They're going to be, like, you know, they're not going to be better than the things that are bad in the other products, right? They all have their own trade-offs. And ultimately, I think if you're not going to be happy with a typical tablet, like a Surface or an iPad and a note-taking experience there, I can't imagine you ever being happy with a digital product. Because they're about as good as you could possibly make something like this. Like, I don't really know what the downside is, right? Like, oh, the screen is too glossy. Well, like, you can put a matte cover on it and you fix that. Like, oh, the texture isn't right. Like, again, you can put one of those on there. No screen is going to feel like paper. Like, it's just not going to. Because you can't make a screen out of that kind of texture. It would be weird, right? So, like, and then also, it's not just paper. It's the nib on the paper. And you can't, it just doesn't work. Like, the technology just isn't going to be there. And I just don't think we're ever going to see a product made that is so specific to feel like pen on paper. Like, there have to be trade-offs. And honestly, like, none of these products, like, especially this one, I know about using it. The software experience will not be good. Like, it's just not going to be what you expect. Like, if you use an Android phone, or if you use a Mac or Windows or iOS, like, these are operating systems that we're all unhappy with. And they are made by multi-billion dollar companies with so, like, it's just, it's too much of an insurmountable challenge for a company to build, like, a super fluid software experience. I would love to be proven wrong, because that would just be great for everyone. But I just don't think we're, that no one, I just don't think anyone could build a product that is going to be able to do this better than any other, many of the other big technology companies. I just don't.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I agree with everything you just said. So let me clarify my statement, and we can get out of here on this. I'm talking more about the digital pen on traditional paper experience as opposed to a screenwriter. I didn't make myself clear there. So I want to see, you know, you and I to be able to get a really fun pen that has a great refill or is a fountain pen type, use our notebook of choice and have that accurately represented digitally. And I think that's more interesting to me than a digital note-taking pad or screen as this is, right? So I don't know. And do we even need that? Who knows? No. Like, most skins on, like, version 4 or 5 of what they're trying to do, and it's obviously not sticking, right? It's just, it's, and I trust them to do it as well as anybody. And it's just not sticking.

'''Myke Hurley:''' In my mind, the real technology is just really good OCR from images. Yeah. So you can still use the pen and paper you want and just take a quick scan. Right. Of the page when you're done, and that's that. Like, I think that's, that's the technology really that, that you want to make better. Yeah. Not like, oh, I now have this notebook and I made sure to take the scan in the corner to have the page. Like, it's just, it's, it's too, they're called demos. But I don't really think they're much more. We'll see. All right. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Make your next move with Squarespace because you can create a website for your next idea or project and show it to the world. You'll be able to give it a fantastic, unique domain name so people will be able to find your website really easily. And then when they get there, they'll see it in all of its glory because you'll be able to customize beautiful, award-winning templates to make your content shine. There is nothing to install or patch or upgrade to Squarespace. It's an all-in-one platform that will make it so easy for you to get your project online. No matter what type of website you want to build, they've got the functionality. Squarespace take care of all of that stuff for you. They've got it covered and they back everything up with award-winning 24-7 customer support. So if you need any help, they're right there for you. This is also really good if you're a technical person and you have people in your life that are always looking to you for help. Like, oh, hey, I need to set up a website. Can you help me do that? Squarespace is a great option for them. You can help them to get set up if you want to. But then once they're done, once they've got their website live, any kind of technical issues that they have, Squarespace have a 24-7 customer support team for their customers. So if they've got any questions, you can direct them there. And you don't have to be the website master for the rest of your life, which is kind of fantastic. And that is one of the reasons that I use Squarespace myself and have done for so long. Because when I have something I want to put online, what I don't want to be doing is dealing with technical support for that thing. That's not why I built the website. I want to focus on the work that the website is showing off. And that's what Squarespace let you do because everything else is taken care of. They have all the functionality you're going to want no matter what type of website you want to build. Blog, they got it. Portfolio, they got it. Site for your business, they got it. What about an online store? Physical, digital goods, they got that too. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict. And you can sign up for a trial with no credit card required and build your website today. Then when you're ready to launch it to the world, their plans start at just $12 a month. But you can get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain and show your support for this show when you use the offer code penaddict to check out. That is squarespace.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict for 10% of your first purchase. Our thanks to Squarespace for their continued support of this show and all of RelayFM. Squarespace. Make your next move. Make your next website.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I want to talk about a couple of new Kaweco special editions, if you'll allow me, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. Approved? Okay, good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I mean, but this is like a thing that we were talking about last episode, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so this is a continuation of that. And Kaweco, like I love Kaweco. Like everyone knows that I love Kaweco. I love special editions and limited editions. Kaweco hasn't quite gone as far as Sailor has with like the special limited edition store editions yet. But they're close. Like they're tracking. And they're tracking that way pretty heavily. And I saw two come out, you know, like in the past week. And, you know, the collector's edition Coral is the first one. Did we talk about that one already last week? Or did we talk about the Black Crystal?

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, we didn't speak about any of these. Okay, that's what I thought. When we were talking about what was the name of the pen that you reviewed? The Big Lilliput?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, yeah, the Supra.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, because I was looking on their website and kind of looking through their collections and criticizing how many lines Kaweco has. And it looks like they've just added another one, the collector's edition.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Kind of, sort of. So what do you... So you're not a Kaweco guy like I am.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Not anymore, no.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, like I have a bunch of the, you know, Kaweco Sports and the Classics, the Plastic Barrel Special Editions because I like that style of pen and I like the fun colors they come in. So this one, they made as a wide release and stamped collector's edition on the barrel. And I just find that a little bit too try-hardy for me. And I wonder what the feedback is for that type of pen. Number one, they used a barrel color they just used for Fanta Plumos Coral Limited Edition.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I thought I'd seen this already.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So the Giyosh Coral, which I have, which is a stunning... That's the representation I want of a Kaweco Limited Edition. And it's the same kind of color. It might be identical, but without the Giyosh and the coral stamping. And it has, like it literally has collector's edition stamped on the side. And I don't know that I need that. As someone who loves, like, these special editions and limited editions, give me the numbering or give me the store name or, you know, give me a unique little logo.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The words collector's edition does not a collector's edition make.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right? Like, what is the collection?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I feel like this is like trying to make Fetch a thing, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yes. Oh my God, that's perfect. Yes. Right? Stop trying to make collector's edition happen, Kaweco.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Because they're already doing it, right? They're executing on a collector's edition plan with shop exclusives and unique patterns. And they're doing all this. So now they've brought one in-house. And they're going to say, well, we'll just do this one. Like, there's no reason Kaweco needs to do this for Kaweco's product line.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Unless they have some wild idea that they come up with, which is like any limited edition that sells well, they will just remake it and call it collector's edition.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I don't like it. This is like another thing where like, we were talking about this last week. I just don't understand their product mix. Mm-hmm. I think doing, so the Fontapluma one and we've got another like, what currently appears to be store exclusive, which we're going to talk about in a second. And they're cool. Then they look cool, right? Both of them, right? The Fontapluma one looks cool. We've got a Drumgolds one we're going to talk about that looks cool.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, it's not a Drumgolds one. It's a US exclusive. Let's just go ahead and.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Ah, okay. That's a little bit different. Yes. US exclusive. I mean, that's what Sailor does. I don't really have a problem with that. Because, you know, whatever. But like these are, that's like a good model, I think, where you do store exclusives and do geographical exclusives. I kind of get that. I know that, you know, maybe I'm biased from Sailor, but Platinum does it. Like, Lamy does it, right? Like, it feels like a pretty established way of doing things. But making a general release pen and just calling it collector's edition and selling it to anyone that wants it doesn't really feel like. If they made this pen, called it collector's edition, and said there's 200 of them, I wouldn't be having this argument. Because I would say, yeah, you're right. It is. But if they are, as you say, just like they just sell, just anyone can buy it. It's $25. But it just has the word collector's edition on the side. Like, I'm not really sure I get it. I don't think we're on the same page.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I just find it really, really, really strange. And yeah. Okay. I'm glad you're on the same page as me because I'm just trying to wrap my head around it. Like, this is not something that even like we should spend five or ten minutes talking about. But it's one of those things where I can't figure it out. And like, we're going to talk about a different product later in the show that I'm having a tough time wrapping my head around the processes that are in place at certain businesses.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Here's something really weird about this, which I just saw on the Vaness webpage. There's a comment that says, This pen is a limited edition and a coral shade was the Pantone color of the year for 2019. Yeah. The pen was designed with input from the Kaweco users Facebook group, which I'm a part of.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Now. Interesting. That's peculiar. That would make more sense. Right? But like if they are making these pens because of input from their fan base, then I guess, sure, call it the collector's edition. But they're not saying that's why. Or at least the marketing text on the page isn't saying that that's what this is about.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I just find that odd that it's going to run through retail channels as this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like, I mean, they got to sell the pen somehow, right? Like, I'm with that. But so input. This is like the Diamine inks that are made in collaboration with Reddit. But those are stock ink colors. They're not necessarily limited edition ink colors. Like the Earl Grey was one. There's a second one since then.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So the Colt Pens listing says, The Kaweco Sport Fountain Pen blah blah blah. This collector's edition is dedicated to loyal Kaweco fans. The color is adapted from the Pantone color. And then it just goes on. So there's something here which it's about.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So this is a fandom edition.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's really weird that it's such a wide release. Yeah. Everyone's got it. I think I just have more questions now. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a great looking pen. So let's end it there. It's $25. It's great looking. It's a cool Kaweco pen. That's not their norm. I just I'm getting a little bit of weird thoughts on it. Just how it's being presented.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. From maninc.com.co.uk.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They're everywhere. How many collector's editions are out there, Myke? 10,000?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I've only found one. But every page has got its own information on it. This special edition is called collector's edition because it is dedicated to our loyal fans and Kaweco collectors. And especially the Facebook group Kaweco collectors and users, which already comprises of more than 2,500 enthusiastic Kaweco collectors. But okay. Right. We're getting somewhere. Yes. I get it. But then why does everyone get it? That doesn't make sense. You dedicate it to the collectors, but I can buy it and I'm not a collector.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I didn't think I had as many questions about the collector's edition coral as I do about the black crystal, which we're about to talk about, but apparently I do.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I thought it was simpler than that, Myke. I thought we lived in simpler times, but we don't, Myke, because now we have a U.S. exclusive Kaweco. Same plastic barrel, same, you know, limited edition. Although this one says there's only 1,000 of them into the U.S. But the issue, Myke, is this one is $70. And why is it? Because this one's badass. That's why. It is. It's really well designed. I like this. I like it too, but it's also $70. So I just have to. I mean, it comes with a clip. I don't know.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's an expensive clip.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The clips are like eight or 10 bucks. It's got the DLC coated nib. Like, that's a premium upgrade. But that's a big ask, even though I feel that they at least put something into this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They put a bit more into it. They limited it. Yeah, so they DLC coated the nib, right? They gave you a clip.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Which, just for people who don't know, real quick, that DLC, black nibs tend to, like, wear funny, right? You start to knock the luster off of them. This will help. Just keep it pure black.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And then it's coming in special packaging, and it has a clip. I mean, honestly, for me, I don't have a... I let this one go. Like, this ticks boxes to me to be more expensive. $70 for a Kaweco Sport is a high price, but it's, you know, it's even got its own little branding on the side of it, which looks like they've put some work into. This one, I do not contest.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't contest it, but I'm trying to understand from Kaweco's perspective how you can tell me to spend, or ask me to spend $70 on this when I can buy one of the aluminum barrel models for a few dollars less, right? It's a, have you offered me enough in design features and exclusivity to charge me an equivalent price to one of your metal pens that you would gladly sell me for the same price? Like a brass. You know what this is? Or with the gold? I'm not the brass.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's what this is.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I know, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right? This is actually a collector's edition.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This is the real collector's edition. Where's the stamp?

'''Myke Hurley:''' What makes it collector is the fact that there's a limited amount. Like collectors like things for a couple of reasons. One of them is like that it's limited, which is if the other one had a limited number, it would make more sense to me, especially considering that they're really talking about this user group. They should have made 2,500 of the Coral one. Yeah, or whatever it is. One for every user in their group. And that's that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I love the design of Black Crystal. I'll probably buy it. I'll just probably be, I'll probably rage by it. You know, just, it's a great design, but like $55, $45, whatever. I think they could have got up to 60 on this one. Not this price point.

'''Myke Hurley:''' 60 would have been fine, I think. Pass that. You're really, yeah, because like, you know, the other one, that Coral one, is 25 bucks. This is like, oh, this is like three times more expensive. Yeah. It doesn't even say collector's edition on it, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, the travesty.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. I'm going to go, I'm going to continue with the business spread theme and try to understand what one of our favorite companies on the planet, Sailor, is doing. This isn't the first time they've done this. And I just, it's a curiosity. It's not a pro or a con. I'm curious when Sailor releases a very cool pen design, which most of theirs are, like the Sailor Lucky Charm, the Pro Gear Lucky Charm in the standard, you know, or slim and standard Lucky Charm, right? It's the blue. It's got a really good looking two-tone nib. I think it's a fantastic one. Is it blue or is it green? Green. It's teal-ish. Let's go with teal. That'll, that'll draw the line right. Because Lucky Charm

'''Myke Hurley:''' would suggest green to me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that's fair. But it, all the pictures look bluish to me. They do. Goldspot lists it as green. Okay. So maybe it looks different in person.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But it looks blue everywhere to me. Yeah, because like the pinch. It's like an acmarine color.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so like the pen chalet pictures are like dead on blue. There's like no green in the pinch. Chalet pictures. But, they released those two pens. And then, a few months later, they drop a king of pen in Lucky Charm is what they're calling this, this pattern, this color setup. And I just have to wonder, why do you think they do that? Like, sometimes they release all three at the same time. Sometimes they come in with the king of pen later. Like, I think, didn't the Tangerine 1911, and I know the Fresca 1911, they came out as 1911 standard and large, and then separately, many months later, came out with king of pen. Yeah. And I just, like, I don't care. I'm just, I find it curious, because sometimes, like when they do the sky, like the blue one I have, they'll come out with all three at the same time. And I'm just trying to, I'm just curious why. I don't really care, but I just find it odd. It's one of those little weird things that I, that, you know, fill up my brain for no reason. They don't matter at the end of the day. Would you have any business justification for releasing them separately? Yes. Okay. What is it?

'''Myke Hurley:''' The king of pen line is an expensive pen line, right? Right. Their retail, well, like recommended retail over a thousand dollars. You typically pick one up for about 800, 900, something like that, right? Mm-hmm. They are only wanted by like, the most diehard of the audience. Mm-hmm. So they don't sell as many. Mm-hmm. You would assume. Mm-hmm. So my thinking would be that you only make a king of pen in a colorway that has otherwise sold well. Okay. If you don't sell a lot of the pro gear or regular pro gear slim size, don't make a king of pen in it. Yeah. See what I mean? That would be my thinking as to why you would split it out and it's what I would do. That's the only thing I can think of. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because, okay, so Earth is a perfect example. It's in the same series as Sky. I don't think that sold well at all and they released the king of pen at the same time and like all of those are still available. Well,

'''Myke Hurley:''' sometimes you might be very confident that the colorway that you've got here will sell well and you'll be surprised by it. Right? Yeah. You know what I mean? Like I can imagine that the thinking is you only make the king of pen if you're confident it will sell well and there's two ways you do that. Either gut feel, which you might be wrong at sometimes, or, you know, like you've done market research that would suggest that it would be a good thing but market research doesn't necessarily have a one-to-one with actual market desire or the other way you do it is you wait and see to see what customer response is like with the actual product that is out there that they can buy and then follow it up with the king of pen. Yeah. That's what I would assume.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That makes logical sense. So, by that note, I should be able to get my Wicked Witch of the West king of pen in a few months.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Except I'm not going to because I think they've priced me out of king of pen. These prices are not good anymore. Not that they were ever... I've always complained about the price of the king of pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I still remain confused by this because I don't remember the prices ever being lower than $800.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I'll have to do some research on some older purchases but, like, this is in an uncomfortable level for what I get. The price I have to pay for what I'm actually getting is starting to not line up anymore because it was already extreme. I felt. You know, I've always called it one of the most overpriced pens on the market but I love it and now I think it's just might be we're hitting into flat out overpriced territory. I would rather just have the 1911 large or the Pro Gear Standard at this point bomb for a third of the price is essentially what we're at. So, you know, it's interesting. I'll go back and look at some of my past purchases but I know I've never paid

'''Myke Hurley:''' anywhere close to that much.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right, but there was one that we got

'''Myke Hurley:''' for a really, really good deal because we bought it from a lot of seats. I'm not even counting that one.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm not even counting that one. That was like low 600s. Like it was between 600 and 625, I think.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think it was less than that. Was it? Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm not even counting that one. That was, we jumped on that deal when we saw it. That was one of those like, oh, this doesn't seem right and we weren't even sure we were going to get the pens and we got them.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, we took a punt on that for sure.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But otherwise, yeah, I'll need to look at some historical prices on that. But I think we're just in a, we're in a range where I can get like the sweet, sweet Nakayas for less than that. So, it's, it's not tracking for me. So, we'll see.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And I think it just depends on your preferences. I mean, I don't own a Nakaya, right? But my King of Pens are by far and away my favorite.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, it'll be hard for me not to buy a Wicked Witch of the West King of Pen because I love that 1911 shape in the King of Pen. It's fantastic.



== USPS Delivery Issues ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' but mine still hasn't arrived. It's like a big ask. Oof.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Or is it, it's, it's local but stuck now? Is that where we left it? No.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It looks like this is on USPS's side now. So, I'm still trying to deal with it. Because I spoke to the team here and they're like, no, it never made it, it never arrived, but we'll see.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. All right, I got a new pen, Myke. I don't, I don't know if you know this, but I like pens and like, I don't, I can't buy all the Sailor King of Pens because I have to hold, hold back some funds when I have the opportunity to buy these weird experimental pens that I've been tracking for a while. And a perfect example is a pen company or a pen brand called Kusama. Have you ever heard of them before I put them in the show notes? No,

'''Myke Hurley:''' is that how you say that?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I have no idea, but I'm going to go with Kusama. Okay, because there's a H at the end.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, Kusama, P-H. There's a P-H. That's Philippines. Philippines. Sorry, yes, Kusama, yeah, because the Instagram handle. You're looking at the Instagram account. Yes, it's Kusama P-H because Philippines because that's where they're made.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep, yep. So, I first laid eyes on these. You know, they made it around Instagram and blogosphere in the past year or two. And I always liked the looks of them. I wasn't sure if the design was for me. I wasn't sure if like the build was going to be for me because they're uniquely built. We'll put a bunch of links in the show notes for what these pens are. And this is a great example of why pen shows are valuable because I was able to go at Philly this year. Some of my friends had the Kusama pens where I could test them before outlaying a bunch of money for a pen that I don't know is going to be my style, fit my hand, be something I want to use. You know, and even though I like the aesthetic and I like the idea of what Kusama is doing. So, Kusama is made by these pens are manufactured by a surgeon. Like, this is a side job and they found these cool materials like in the medical field that they've transferred into additionally they were trying to make like a hardcore EDC type fountain pen like a heavy duty you know, can take a beating fountain pen like

'''Myke Hurley:''' beautiful.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so they landed on something really quick that started to spread as a thing but I, like I, they're hard to buy, they're hard to acquire.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I was about to ask that. I can't find a way to possibly purchase one of these.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because there isn't. Like, if you read a bunch of their Instagram stuff is like, yeah, we built all these pens and we're not selling them. Like, they just really, you know, it's cool. Like, this is a side thing for them. But, their machining and their quality and their style and aesthetic is top tier, right, to a lot of people. Like, it's not everyone's thing. So, they were on my radar for a while. I got to try one and said, okay, yeah, I see it. This would actually work for me and I know exactly which one I want. And the one I wanted is called, gosh, what's the name of it? Ulam? Ultum. Ultum. Which is, like, this orange translucent very hard acrylic. Like, it's, you know, it has a different feeling than, like, your standard, you know, barrel acrylics. Very, very strong. Like, it feels like one of those pens that you could run over, like, with a car and it wouldn't see a problem. I don't know that it's marketed that way, but that's the feel you get from it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The grip section looks, and a big chunk of the body is made out of some kind of metal, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so titanium. Oh. It's, it's almost half of, if you uncap the pen, it's almost half of the barrel, right? So from where the nib screws into the front end of the pen up to the midpoint of the pen is metal. So in this case, it's titanium. They use aluminum for some other ones and I'm sure they have some other metals too as well, but my particular one is titanium, I think. Now that I say that, I'm questioning myself. But it's, it's anodized, you know, it's got that really pretty anodization fade into it, you know, it goes from blue to purple to orange and clear orange barrel, which, which I like and, you know, you can hear this plastic, it's, it's a different than like your, your standard fountain pens. They wouldn't make that type of noise. And yeah, the grip was what held me off at first because this is a wide diameter pen and I, and the grip to make it more comfortable has a very deep concave section in it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, it looks like a pen, which is very opinionated on how you should hold it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. Yeah. So, and I'm fine with that, like, they're taking a stand, this is how we believe the pen works the best, but I had to feel it in person to know whether it's going to work for me, and it does, right? I generally don't like wider pens, but if I can get the feeling of this big cutout in the grip section, it makes the pen sit in my hands, you know, the way I like to use it. So, it's really comfortable, really lovely to use, and you just can't get them. So, that's the kicker. So, after I decided in February, yes, I can own a Kasama Una, which is the shape, I think, and Ultem is the material. And, you just, there's no way to get them. So, our friend, Mark Bacchus, was able to get some that he, you know, like a few, and he was able to resell them. So, I was essentially on his list for when he ever required more, and he's like, for like a couple of months, and he's like, I don't know what I'm going to get anymore. Do you want to buy mine? And, he was just very nice to offer that up to me. And, I, of course, said yes, because I wanted this pen. And, I got it, and it's everything I wanted to be. But, like, this is a pen I can't recommend to anyone without trying it first. Like, this is why I wanted to put this in the show notes. The only people that I recommend this pen to, if you don't get to try it first, are people who are down with buying, like, the experimental pens, right? And, there's a big group of people that will just go out and buy, like, these very unique experimental pens, not knowing how it's really going to work in the end for them. So, that's kind of, like, the word I wanted to put out there on this pen. It fits me really, really well in a lot of ways. Style, design, aesthetic, you know, why it exists, you know, the experimental thing. But, not every consumer should just go out and buy some of these things like this. Some of these products you really need to think about this one, it's just hard to get to begin with. But, you know, it's just part of that buying process to where it's good for me, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone right now without being able to try one first. And that's where this falls. is a lot of unique things and then maybe they'll start, you know, getting, they're getting great feedback right now from everyone who's bought them. And hopefully we'll see a chance later to where they have an online shop and can sell things. But it's really just, I don't know if it's one person, two people, or whatever, but whatever they've landed on is really, really good. And I hope to see it succeed. But at the same time, I also can't tell everyone to go out and, you know, buy one of these pens because it's very particular. Like, this is not a pen for you whatsoever.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, I don't think so. I would love to try one. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But you do not need to own this pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, I feel like that I might not like the restrictiveness of it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But yeah, I've been, I've only had it for a few days. I'm extraordinarily pleased with it, but I'm glad I waited for probably over a year to come up with one. But it's one of those things we talk about shopping lists sometimes. Sometimes you just have to put things on a list and just be ready when the opportunity arises, whether, you know, you finally got the money to pay for it, you know, you saved up enough money, or the opportunity comes to, you know, buy one secondhand when you haven't been able to buy one new for, you know, a year, things like that. So, like, that's what I use, like, my shopping list for. So, and this, this was on it. So, I had the opportunity and I had already decided that it was going to work for me. So, I went for it and I'm very happy that I did.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Should we, should we wrap up a couple of Ask TPA questions today?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, we have a lot of Ask TPA and I appreciate everyone sending them in and please continue sending them in. I feel a little guilty that we don't get to more of them, but one of these, once the build up happens, we'll just dedicate like half a show to doing them because we have a lot of really good questions that I want to answer for people.

'''Myke Hurley:''' First one comes from Jill's desk. If you designed your own sailor 1911, what would it look like?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You go first.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The main thing that I would want, and I only really have one thing, I don't really care about color or anything, I would like one of the really sparkly designs in a demonstrator in the 1911. So, you know, like stuff like what I have, like the sparkling purple cosmos or something, the demonstrator ones with the tons of colorful glitter, I would love that entire thing in a 1911.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Now that you've said that out loud, they all come in pro gears, don't they?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I didn't think about that. I'm sure there's some 1911 sparkles out there, but the vast majority of them are in pro gears, and I didn't think about that until you just said that. If I design my own sailor, I think I would probably, you know, as much as I like orange, they've done a really good job with orange, I would design something along the lines of the Wicked Witch of the West, but do a translucent purple with the dark hardware, and like it would be pretty simple. I would probably, I would like to do it in a Rialo, dark purple, translucent, maybe do the ink window in an alternate color, like, I don't know, like a lime green ink window with a translucent purple Rialo barrel and black ion plated hardware. That sounds pretty hot to me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' so like Wicked Witch of the West on steroids.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, yeah, yeah, more new, a nuclear option of the Wicked Witch. It's, it basically, you know what it would be? It would be her cauldron, you know, it would have the green, the green stuff bubbling out of it, you know, like in the middle, so we could call it the cauldron right there. So I think I just designed, I think I just designed a sailor pen, Myke, and I already have the, the product name for it. It's called the cauldron.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I love that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, I think we're going to have to start like a change.org petition for that one to get them to listen to me. They won't listen to me. They don't care.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They don't know why. Greg Co3 asks, what do you think is the best looking nib on the market based on shape, imprint, color, et cetera, rather than performance base?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You want to go? You want me to go?

'''Myke Hurley:''' This is difficult. I mean, I really do love the way that Platinum's nibs look.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So Platinum wouldn't even rank for me. I get it though. Like, they're clean. And the Mount Fuji outline, the way it staggers up the nib is glorious. I honestly think it's probably Montblanc. It's between Montblanc and sailor for me. And I say this as someone who owns very few or little Montblancs. I think Montblanc's nib designs, just the nib design are spectacular. And then they do like specialty, specialty nibs, you know, stamping. I guess we're not talking about that as we're talking about stock nibs. But sailor and Montblanc would be my two.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I saw in refill that you were using a Montblanc. Which one was it?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' 149. It's the big classic fountain pen. It's the traditional fountain pen. Like I think you have a 146, which is the smaller of them, even though it's a standard size. And 149 is like the big honking classic. It's just the upgrade, the bigger sized. I have the smaller one. It's like the 1911 thing. It's like, you know, slim and large kind of thing. But it's very large. Like your 146 is sailor 1911 large size and the 149 is like king of pen size. That's the difference between the two.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But reading it did make me think that like maybe I should add like a good Montblanc into my collection at some point. Because mine is like, it's old and busted and like I've had it cleaned but it needs nib work because it was like the first pen that I dropped, right? And I've just never had the nib worked on.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But I did always feel that that pen was a little too dainty. Especially now, right? Like with my preferences now, that 146 is a little smaller than I would want from a pen like that. Right. But yeah, I think I would actually quite like to bring some kind of Montblanc into my collection again. Because I think we look down at them a little bit because it's like, oh, the typical executive. pen or whatever. But they do make good pens. Like the pens are good. They're not all good. They're glorious to use. They're not all good. We've seen this, right? But like their good stuff is as good as a lot of any other pens can be. Like their good stuff is really good.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Completely. I mean, I couldn't agree more with that and we give them, you know, short shrift in coverage just because we're not in that market. We don't use them very much, you know. Just like as much as I love Pelican, I don't use a lot of Pelicans and don't purchase a lot of Pelicans because the nibs are too wide for me. You know, Montblanc's kind of in the same category. But I fill up this 149 and like I said in that article, I get it. I see exactly why this pen is so beloved because it really is that good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And Karim Barr asks, do you know why some pen retailers do pre-orders and some don't? Why is that?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So this is why I want to answer all the Ask TPA questions because it's a great question, right? Like some will go ahead and say, hey, we're going to accept money on this pen. Let's just take Sailor Wicked Witch of the West. That's what I think of when this came out. Like some retailers will say, hey, we know we're getting, you know, X number. We're going to go ahead and offer them up now. We'll take your money now and ship them. Where others will say, we're not going to do any pre-orders and then we'll have essentially a launch day. They will appear on the website and you may purchase them directly then. Why they choose to do that, I don't know, other than if they want to control a little bit of the number and the invoicing and purchasing process to where, okay, we sold 20, we can order, you know, 25 instead of, okay, we can order 20 to sell on launch day and we sell 10 and just hang on to the other ones for a slower sell. You know, maybe it's just, you know, a preference, right? I don't know that there's any real benefit pro or con. I think it's just how different retailers prefer to work.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, okay. I can see that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I don't know that I have a great answer for that, but I love the question because I don't know and I don't think it's some like real spectacular answer to the question. I think it's just more of a feel. I think smaller retailers will generally pre-order and larger retailers will launch because smaller retailers might need to allocate funds in a more exacting fashion instead of having a larger pool of funds for just a pure launch.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, and they may adjust what they order if possible in some cases, right? So you only end up ordering what your pre-orders for. That's not always going to be possible depending on timelines, but that's definitely a part of it. So like, you know, if you take us and our businesses, we both have done and continue to do product sales, you know, whether it's merchandise or otherwise, where we do pre-orders and then some where we do just here's a stock and just buy it. And it's a confidence thing, you know, like, oh, I want to make this t-shirt. It's the first time I've ever made this t-shirt. I don't know if people are going to like the design because I've been burned in the past of like, oh, people are going to love this and it just doesn't resonate for whatever reason, which is exactly what we were talking about earlier on in the show with Sailor. King of Pin. Yeah. Like, sometimes you have to be like, oh, people are going to love it and then they just, they're nothing, like crickets and it's very peculiar. So, you know, it's just this thing that happens in business and you have to readjust your expectations. and then there are some times where it's like, okay, I have this thing, I know it's done well in the past or like, I'm very confident and we're just going to, it's like for me, the difference is between like merchandise and like my, like the theme system journals or typical merchandise or like, you know, Cortex has a limited range of merchandise that's always available because it's always sold well. So we just have small amounts of it available constantly. But if I was going to do a new shirt for the show, I would still do it as pre-order because I have no idea if people will buy it and I don't want to, and merchandise like t-shirts are especially difficult because you have sizes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Right. Yeah, like I'm planning on doing one for Knox soon, sooner than later, and it'll be a pre-order because we won't manufacture them until, you know, we, you know, sell enough kind of thing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. And you know what? If we do a pre-order like that, I don't lose a cent. Right. It's all profit. Right? Where, with stuff where you're, you know, we are buying it up to sell it, you have costs that you have to put up in front and then you have to be confident you've got the order numbers right and if you don't, then you have stock that's just burning a hole in your pocket.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes, I know, Myke. Yeah. Fine. Fine. So the only other gotcha with pre-orders, and I do think it is kind of like a small versus large business, like you can tell me and Myke, smaller businesses with pre-orders work for us. The only gotcha in the pin world is for super hot items. You know, you take something, I don't know if the Platinum Shion would rank as that, but like the Kumpu did that they had more demand than they had access to products and that's when the pre-orders are a little bit weird because your retailer might not get their true allocation from the distributor. So that's always something to keep in mind about pre-orders. But, you know.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, Gordon in the Discord just says, Goulet Pens doesn't do pre-orders because sometimes they get short stock by their suppliers, so it's bad to let people down. But what I would say to that is Goulet Pens can afford that to make that decision because they're massive. Yes. Right. So like they are confident they don't even need to do that because their customer base is going to come and do it anyway. Right. They'll take everything they can get.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. They'll take everything they can get. They just don't know what that number is. So they can, they're okay doing it that way where smaller companies might, you know, they're hanging on the five pens that they're going to get, not the 50. Right. Yep. So, yeah, it's a great conversation. That's why I love these Ask TPA questions because this is actually I don't think there's a real direct answer for this, but it's a great conversation to have.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I think so. Yep. So please continue sending in those questions to help us have these types of interesting conversations. We love to do it. If you want to do that, you can send out a tweet with the hashtag Ask TPA and that will work for you. Or you can email them to hello at penaddict dot com. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Correct.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Correct. I think we have it hooked up in the discord. If you use the question mark Ask TPA, it will also, if you're in the RelayFM members discord, it should work there too. I will say that. It is true.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We'll get a test. Someone will test it right now.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And then I can have it added.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't think that that functionality here has been added yet. So I will work on that. So it will be done very soon.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Hey, before you continue, tell them what we're doing tomorrow.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, yeah. We're recording at least part one of our member special tomorrow. So this will be coming out in August. So every year we do bonus episodes for a bunch of shows. We do some fun things. And over the last few years, me and Brad have been building Lego sets together. So if you're a RelayFM member, you can get these in the RelayFM member crossover feed. But the way that we do this is, say, for example, I have the instructions. Brad has the set. I have to instruct Brad how to build it over Skype.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, while Brad cannot

'''Myke Hurley:''' look at any instructions. Indeed. So this year, I'm building, Brad's instructing. And I thought to myself, oh, we've really liked the Lego architecture series sets. That's what we've done in the past. I built a London set. You built a, I think, a San Francisco set. Yep, staring right at it. So I was looking at the series when I was deciding to do this. And I was like, oh, there's a Trafalgar Square set. That will look really nice next to my London set. So I bought it and thought, great, that's going to be awesome. And it arrived and I was like, oh, that box is pretty big. So the London one had 468 pieces. And it took us, I don't know, the best part of three hours to do that? Yeah, three, three and a half, yeah. So 468, right? The Trafalgar Square set is 1,197 Lego pieces.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We're hosed.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So it's going to take a while. And we're expecting, I don't know, maybe six to nine hours of build this year. Who knows?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I might have to have an Ivy drip for this one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Obviously, we, I have a limit on our time tomorrow. So there may be multiple Lego build specials from the Panatics this year.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We'll find out. I've never seen someone so inflated about what we were about to do and the Lego set they were about to build until it ordered. And then I got the deflated text that I think the only thing I got in my text was, oh, no, I've made a mistake or something like that. And then you told me what it was. And there's nothing we could do.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, so there is something we could do, but we're not going to do it. Like the thing we could do is get another set. But I want to do this now because why not? It will be fun. And we will, I guess, just work it out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You say it's going to be fun. That's the whole key with this whole thing is how frequently we can fight and argue. And, you know, the less is better for our mental health, but it's inevitable that we're going to refrigerate and rotate something incorrectly.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I mean, oh, my God, the washing machine.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Washer machine. That's what I was thinking of, not the refrigerator. Washer machine.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's fun. Join relay.fm membership. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' If you go to relay.fm slash membership or you can go to slash pen addict and you can become a member, support the show directly. But if you support any show on the network, you do get these specials. These are the specials available to everybody. So if you're supporting another one for bonus content, which we're not doing at this point on this show, you will still get these crossover specials. So there'll probably be many this year. So the reason, one of the reasons I mentioned this is if you do want to build along, there are lots of people that do this, which is great. So they buy the set and build along with the instructions. You maybe want to get that order in now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' True. We always have a few builders with us and it goes shockingly well. I'm surprised at how well it actually executes. And just to give credit where credit is due, this is my NotCo partner, Jeff's idea. Just random idea blurted out of his mouth one day when we were figuring out what to do. And we both just thought it was so stupid it might work and it has and we appreciate everyone who supports us.

'''Myke Hurley:''' If you want to find out more about the show, you go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 420 baby. About the baby, just 420. You can go to penaddict.com, knock.co, go buy some NotCo cases. Yeah. There's always stuff there, great colors, great fabrics, just amazing stuff to put your pen products in. And note cards. And note cards. Don't forget the note cards. Don't forget the note cards. Thank you so much to Squarespace for the support of the show and thank you for listening and we'll be back next time. Oh, Tuesdays, Thursdays, 10 a.m. Eastern, Brad, streams, twitch.tv slash penaddict. Don't forget it. See you next time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Except this Thursday.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Except this week because we're building Lego instead. Say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]