The Pen Addict 395/transcript
| The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript | |
|---|---|
| Episode: | 395 |
| Title: | We Have Unearthed a New Technology |
| Release Date: | January 29th, 2020 |
| Hosts: | Brad Dowdy |
| Guests: | No guests this episode |
| Additional Information | |
| Official page: | Episode 395 |
| Audio File: | Audio Episode 395 |
| Podcast page: | The Pen Addict 395 |
| Length: | 5454 min <br />0.9 h <br /> minutes |
| Previous Transcript | Next Transcript |
Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 395. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad. Hey, Myke. How are you? I'm fine and dandy, my friend. How are you? Good, good. I'm good, good. I'm a little bit maybe finer and dandier than last week. I mean, I'm always pretty fine and dandy, but last week, lots of things were different. We're up in the air, right? Somber. We got the Retro 51 news. We got involved in that news because it was affecting our Kickstarter campaigns for our Pen Addict World Tour that we do every year, and it was just a weird week. So, while we don't have all the answers yet, I think we've got some pretty good answers in the span of a week to where we can at least announce some, with some, I'd say definite, definite plans to move forward with our Kickstarter campaign. So, after we talked last week about Retro 51, let's call it a retirement. They're retiring this year by the summertime, it looked like, and that threw us for a loop because we were going to use the Dallas Penn Show as our second show this year for the Penn Addict Show and make a Retro 51 and go visit them and do this whole thing. So, with that being up in the air and this news happening and Retro 51 and my discussions continuing after last week's episode, we're doing a Penn and we're going to Dallas. So, how's that sound?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so basically, take about 75% of the stuff that we said last week and ignore it now. I think basically we just made some decisions based on the news that, well, we're not going to be doing the Penn now and we wasn't sure about going to Dallas. And I think you can understand, like on the episode last week when we were talking, it seemed like it was pretty possible that we would still do Dallas, right? Yes, I felt like that, yeah. But now, not only are we committing to the Dallas Penn Show, we are also committing to a Retro 51. Potentially, I don't know, maybe the last Retro 51, I don't know.
Penn Project Update
Myke Hurley: So, let's talk about that. So, take what I say, these upcoming words about this Penn, as not 100% fact, but we are officially committed to making a Penn for Kickstarter. I am paying them money today to reserve our spot. They are willing to work with us on this project. It fits within their schedule and timeframe. Like, that was the thing we were worried about is like, oh, we missed our opportunity. If we had done this last year, you know, and had the Penn ready, it didn't matter what they did, we'd have it done. But the problem, as we discussed last year is, excuse me, last week was, okay, if we still do the Penn, what does it represent, right? So, that was the change just in this past week where before we learned about the news from Retro, we were going to do, hey, fun, Penn Addict, Penn, and let's do that thing. And now with the retro news is like, well, that just feels weird, right? So, what we're going to do, and our working idea is, and it's pretty far along that I feel comfortable enough to say about it, even though I don't have any design documents to share, despite having some like general basic sketches, is we're going to do a Retro 51 Tornado Rollerball. And we're going to put 51 of the top disc finial designs around the barrel to represent some of the coolest designs that Retro 51 has ever made. And I'm ecstatic at what this pen can be.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I have a name for this pen, by the way. Okay. I have not shared of you. Okay. I don't know if anyone will accept it, but I would like to call it Celebration.
Myke Hurley: Okay. I think they might already have one called that. Okay. So, we just need to check. Okay. But otherwise, I'm down with that. I feel like they did a Celebration pen, but I could be thinking of something else.
Brad Dowdy: We could incorporate it somehow. Maybe we call it Celebration++, so that you could just like name spam it somehow.
Myke Hurley: That would be pretty funny. That would be so us if we did that. But yeah, I've been going through the Retro 51 catalogs like for the past few days, trying to pick out finial designs and things like that. And, you know, this is, you know, it's just going to be, like you say, it's going to be a celebration of Retro 51, what they've meant to the pen community, what they've meant to us, what they've meant to us as a company, what they've meant to us as friends, as business partners. And it's just been like a really good, positive relationship. And I want to, you know, show that in a pen as opposed to before we were thinking, you know, maybe it would be something, you know, more related to like the podcast and things like that and the pen addict and whatever. And that didn't feel right anymore. So now it's, I think we're on the right path. We are going to do this pen, the project. You know, I'm working on the details for how we're going to set up the campaign now. So that's like my next task. Now that I feel confident we're going to Dallas and confident we're doing a pen, now my job is to present a Kickstarter campaign. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: And just to double down on the design itself. So I just want to make it clear for everybody, every retro 51, as well as the design on the body, the finial, which is so when you have the knock area that you twist, there's a little plastic, like acrylic clear cap that goes on the very end of it. And underneath is a design of some kind. Some of these are solid. Some of them are metal color, but most of them, especially all the like the acrylic body ones, they have a design of some kind. So if you have a retro 51, you look at it and there'll be something there. If it's not one of the like standard color ones. And so basically what we're going to be doing is taking 51, well, 50 of the actual reused finials that have existed, the artwork for those. And we're going to be printing those on the body of the pen. And then the 51st finial will be the actual retro 51 logo, which will sit on the top of the pen, which I don't think they've used before.
Myke Hurley: So I'm going to send you a link to put in the show notes just to give a representation of what the pen might look like. When I was going through the catalog, they did a candy heart pen several years ago. It's called Forever. And you see how there's all the individual candy hearts all around the barrel. So we'll do something along those lines.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's it. That's it. Yeah, that is a good representation of what we're looking to achieve with this.
Myke Hurley: I think with each heart will represent a design of a pen that we felt was popular or well known or beloved.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I've already given Brad a list of my personal favorites from my own collection that will I think will pretty much all be represented. So that's great.
Myke Hurley: And yeah. And then I might crowdsource a list. You know, I might, you know, I've got all the like I've been going through all the catalogs. And I'm just going to like pull out some names of like some of the popular ones and then try to I just want to make sure we have a good representation, not just like my eyeballs and your eyeballs that we have lots of things that we're seeing out there.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I agree. Because, you know, we know there's so many that we didn't get. But it was important to us both that we have some of our own personal favorites. I mean, we have 50 to fill and my list was like 10.
Myke Hurley: So exactly. Like my list ended up being way shorter than I thought. I was like, oh, this will be no problem. I was like, wow, I barely came up with like 15.
Brad Dowdy: I mean, I could take my own personal list to every single one of them will fill the pen. But like I just wanted to pick out some of the ones that mean something to me. So that's the route that we're going down. I am really excited about this pen because I think it is like a really perfect thing to kind of encapsulate what Retro 51 was all about and also to show why it meant something to us. Right. Which was the designs. And it's like it was just going to be this this little piece of history to kind of commemorate a company that we love so much. So I'm really, really excited about this project.
Myke Hurley: I think it'll be a good send off. Right. It'll be like our last hurrah. I have a feeling it's going to go gangbusters. Like I don't think there's any doubt that this will be our biggest like funds and most units of things that we've ever done just because of what it is. So, you know, that's the thing I got to work on. I haven't. This might end up being an expensive pen just because of it's got to be right. Right. There's going to be like the more colors you print on a thing, the more expensive it is. Well, we need to represent lots of different things. So I even told them, I was like, you know, I'm not totally as concerned with the cost of this pen as I would be like if I was making one for the pen addict. Right. Like I can manage that differently than I'm worried about managing this as a project. So, yeah, it's going to be good.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's really good.
Myke Hurley: So, yeah, that's that part of last week's discussion. The other part of last week's discussion isn't a very long discussion, but I wanted to bring it up because we keep getting asked. Oh, boy, do we.
Retro 51 Company Sale Discussion
Myke Hurley: The big would retro 51 sell the company question. Not just sell it.
Brad Dowdy: Sell it to us.
Myke Hurley: Well, sure. Yes. Sell it to us specifically. And I've talked to the owner just via email. And in so many words and without going through our conversation, and I don't even have it pulled up, so I'm paraphrasing even what he says. He said, we're going to go forward with the plan that we laid out in the blog post. And to me, the plan laid out in the blog post, even though they left the crack in the door open for sale, was retirement. Do you read that any different way?
Brad Dowdy: No, I think that the crack. Basically, I think that the crack that they left in that blog post, like the door that's a little bit ajar, is the idea that someone's going to come along with a check for $20 million, right? And just be like, here you go. Here's an offer. I'll make you an offer you can't refuse kind of thing, right? Right. I feel like, and I totally understand that thinking. And also just the idea of like, until they 100% know everything, they're not going to say anything. You know what I mean? Correct. It doesn't seem like we want to do this, but we're not going to rule it out because who knows what the future might hold. It's one of those kinds of things.
Myke Hurley: Right.
Brad Dowdy: So it feels like it's, even though we are incredibly serious, feels like it is not an option for me and Brad right now.
Myke Hurley: Right. We don't have, we don't bring the blank check to the table. We bring, like, we could work on it to put it together to the table. So we have gotten an enormous amount of people, like, we could raise funds. Like, I'm not concerned.
Brad Dowdy: I believe we could make a competitive deal to carry on the company, especially because like, behind the scenes, me and Brad have worked on an actual offer that we would make. Like, not financially necessarily, but like, an idea of how we feel we could keep the company going.
Brad Dowdy: But I don't think they particularly want to hear it right now.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. So I, here's the way I have it mathed out in my head. I think there's probably a 1% chance they'd sell the company and a 1% of that 1% that they would sell it to us.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah.
Myke Hurley: That's about where this is. So, like, I'm not.
Brad Dowdy: They don't believe in us just because. No, no, no. We don't.
Myke Hurley: They're just, they're just done.
Brad Dowdy: We do not bring an enticing enough offer.
Myke Hurley: No. And never will. Right? We just, we bring a different offer. Right?
Brad Dowdy: Now, there is another question or another conversation, which is, I mean, I don't know if we should be talking about this. This is like one of those things that feels like a silly thing to talk about in public, but I'm going to do it anyway. Me and Brad have now come to terms with the idea that we would buy this company, right? So, like, there is an implicit thought in that, which is like, well, if we feel like we could do it with buying this company, then we're okay with the idea in general of me and Brad owning a pen company together. That maybe fills a gap. Yes. So, like, we've already decided that if Retro 51 said yes, then we would buy their company and then make pens, right? We've decided that we would do that. So, there is now the idea of, well, like, well, if, as Tony said in the chat room, Retro 52.
Myke Hurley: I'm laughing so much because, yes, I am surprised you're bringing this up.
Brad Dowdy: I am merely stating the idea that, like, it is just an interesting thought, right? That, like, if they said yes, we would do it and try and run this company, right? Like, that's what we would do because otherwise what would be the point? So, there is an interesting thought in there, which is like, well, if you removed owning the Retro 51 brand from the equation, there is still all of the other stuff. So, I don't know. Maybe that is something that we continue to explore a little bit more. Yeah. But that is a different thing because that's starting something from nothing. Well, not nothing.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but still. So, like, that hadn't crossed my mind last week and then we got off the call and we were done and, like, 10 minutes later, Myke goes, I need to call you back. I'm like, oh, God, what did I do? And that was his pitch.
Brad Dowdy: It was just in talking to Adina, I was, like, saying a lot of stuff and I was like, well, there is the other thought here, which is even if they don't, me and Brad, instead of somehow convinced ourselves that we could run this company, we don't actually have to buy Retro 51 to do that. That is preferable that we could take that brand and everything that is represented in that brand, then create a company in our own image. But really, then all we have is a name. We're still doing everything else. So, maybe we could just come up with a different name and still do everything else? We'll see.
Myke Hurley: We'll see. Yeah. I think the most likely thing to come out of this conversation is a new podcast titled Delusional.
Brad Dowdy: Don't be so wild. We've both established successful physical product businesses at this point. There is nothing stopping us except time. Nothing stopping us, Myke.
Myke Hurley: I'm going to rule the stationary world.
Brad Dowdy: One company at a time. You'll end up with four separate brands.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, there might have to be some consolidation, right? Yeah, maybe. That's a full-time job. Mm-hmm.
Brad Dowdy: But like, so just to like, you know, look, I want to just like pull, I want to pull on this string a little bit more. Because what there is left with Retro 51 leaving the business is a pen company that produces multiple limited edition products every year of their own designs and working with other pen companies, right? Like, that is what is being left.
Brad Dowdy: And I just feel like there is a gap in the market. Because it seemed like Retro 51 was a successful business because we spoke about this last time. Every pen that they did sold out. So, if you are running your business properly, you should be successful.
Brad Dowdy: So, this is the thing. This is where the thought process is coming from. And this is a very different type of pen than the pen that you're already making, right? Oh, God, yeah. It has a totally different design aesthetic to spoke because you would need to still create a base body which can have on it various designs, right? That's kind of what Retro 51 had, right? They had the base design.
Myke Hurley: It's more of a design delivery mechanism than it is a writing instrument.
Brad Dowdy: It was a vessel to deliver a great refill wrapped inside various designs. And I feel like we could do that. But there's like a million questions.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. And a million other companies thinking the same thing and will beat us to the punch anyway.
Brad Dowdy: But they're still not Brad Dowdy.
Myke Hurley: I mean, I agree with that. Like, I'm not discounting the fact that we have an audience. But, you know, it's different. That's a different game.
Brad Dowdy: Well, it's an audience. It's relationships with companies that would want to make a pen with a various design on it. Right. Basically, that's the thinking. Who knows if anything is going to come of it.
Brad Dowdy: We'll see.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. So to wrap this up in a bow, we're going to Dallas. We're making a pen. I'll probably not have any details to show on the pen until we actually launch the campaign. And I still, even then, I might have some very, very raw image ideas. But we'll have enough for you to look at and check out and see if you decide you want to back it. And between now and when we launch that, which will be next month, sometime, I'll be putting out some type of form to get your recommendations. Don't start sending me recommendations for what you want to see on the pen. And I want to be able to collect them in a spreadsheet. So just keep your thoughts logged and noted. And then I will provide an opportunity to send me all those thoughts as we build this pen out. So it's going to be great. I'm pretty excited about this. Actually, that's probably selling it short. I'm thrilled about this. I'm very, very happy that this is going this way. Me too.
Brad Dowdy: All right. This episode is brought to you by Pen Chalet. They sell all of the best stuff that you're looking for, whether you want a rollerball or a fountain pen, whether you want a pen holder, a refill, a bottle of ink, a carrying case. It doesn't matter what you're looking for. Pen Chalet. They've got it. They have all of your favorite brands. They do great deals on those products, too. Pen Chalet believe in giving you the best customer satisfaction, the best service possible, which is why they guarantee 100% satisfaction on their high quality products. They sell internationally. They have great shipping rates. But if you're in the U.S. and you order over $50, your shipping will be free, which is fantastic. Pen Chalet are adding new styles of pens every month. They're also doing discounts all the time, loads of discounts over at Pen Chalet. They want to give you the best prices possible. And they want to give even the better, best, best prices to Pen Chalet listeners, to Pen Addict listeners as well. Listeners of Pen Chalet.
Brad Dowdy: To Pen Addict listeners. Go to PenChalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website. And use the password Pen Addict to get your hands on this week's special offer and to get the code that you need to save 10% on anything at any time over at Pen Chalet. So you can go there and you can look at what offers they have right now. But no matter what it is you want to buy, you want to go to that special area. You want to use the Pen Addict password because you will get the code that you need to save 10% at any time. Brad, is there anything that is grabbing your attention? There's some Viscontis on here, which are very good prices.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, there's actually a few things. So one, Ron has included some of the general free with purchase items at the top. So there's some cool things you can get making certain purchases like extra ink cartridges, extra ink bottles, you know, water bottles, things like that with some purchases like, you know, the Estabrook steel water bottle, which I have, which is great. You know, get that with the purchase of any. Esther Brooks, I noticed, I have a question. So there's that I'm asking the listeners, not you. There's a pen in here from Pnider and I don't own Pnider, but this avatar has like a crazy discounted price on it. And I'm thinking maybe I should try one. Maybe that's a good one for me to try. So y'all look at that one. Tell me if you have one. Tell me if I need one and tell me if you've got one.
Brad Dowdy: I have never, ever heard of this pen company before.
Myke Hurley: So I've tried their higher end models. This look is their entry level model and their higher level models have like these weird flex nibs that are really nice that I like. And this one looks like the entry level model. On top of that, Pn Chalet's Colorverse limited edition set that's just there has these two beautiful colors in it. And it's on sale like the whole entire set's on sale for like really cheap. I would totally buy that in a heartbeat. So yeah, that's pretty cool. So there's some good stuff as usual. So thanks to Ron. Guess what, Myke? What? I met Ron at the Philadelphia Pen Show.
Brad Dowdy: No, he's real?
Myke Hurley: He's real. Like that's the funny thing.
Brad Dowdy: Ron feels like an almost ephemeral being to me.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. So I say I met Ron. I know Ron already. I've met him in LA a couple of times. I'm one of the few people that knows what Ron looks like. So I can pick him out in a room. And someone told me that he was there. So I went around and hunted him down and grabbed him. So it was pretty great. He is stealth mode Ron. And it's pretty fantastic. I talk to Ron.
Brad Dowdy: He loves it. Every two weeks. Like every two weeks I talk to him and I ask him what he wants to do for the show and stuff. And I've been talking to him. I've had an email conversation with him every two weeks for like the last three years or something. But I've never met him. Never spoken to him either on the phone or anything.
Myke Hurley: Yep. Yep. So he doesn't travel that much. Like he usually goes to LA because Pen Chalet is based out of Arizona. So that's a pretty close show for them to go. And he just happened to, you know, he did Philly show like same day. Red Eye in the morning was flying out at night. And he's like, I love it. I can just walk around and no one knows who I am. And then like some of the, you know, his distributors will like take him out to lunch or dinner or whatever. But no one else knows who he is. It's pretty hilarious. We just stood in the middle of the room just talking and, you know, no one knew him from Adam. It was great.
Brad Dowdy: Very sneaky. All right. Go to PenChalet.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website. Enter the password PenAddict and get your hands on these deals. Our thanks to Pen Chalet for the support of this show and RelayFM.
Platinum Curie-Dos Hype
Myke Hurley: All right. Speaking of Ron and some things he might have coming up. Platinum Curie-Dos hype. Myke, do you recall a pen this hyped in our little world? Like, let's be clear. This is a different level of hype than the new iPhone or watch hype, you know. But like in our world, the Platinum Curie-Dos is blowing up. And are you...
Brad Dowdy: Because people are curious about the Curie-Dos, right? Like that's where we are.
Myke Hurley: That was terrible.
Brad Dowdy: Come on. Don't you dare.
Myke Hurley: That was amazing. Yeah. I will not accept that. Hashtag not a show title. So, although that's actually pretty good. But yeah, it's a curiosity, right? And the more I see it and the more... Now, like all the retailers have the pre-order pages up, right? It's coming soon. Like it's a few weeks out. Platinum has their product page up, right? The more I look at this pen, the more I think it's going to work. Like it's going to do well. So, you know, that's always the interesting thing about like a really new different product in the market. Like is it just going to flop? Is it going to be as good as everything it's going to get compared to? The funny thing about this pen and why I think it's going to do so well is it's at a spot where nothing can compare to it because of the price point and what it is, right? It's a retractable pen and it's going to be like $65 US and there's no competition for it.
Brad Dowdy: Well, I mean the retail is 80.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, but all the MSRP is 80 and almost all retailers will sell 20% off the 80. So, it should be 64. Why is that? Fake magic. Marketing magic. Right, right, right, right. So, later you can say it's 50% off MSRP even though it's really only 30% less than what you're selling it for.
Brad Dowdy: Nobody ever bought the MSRP price anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Myke Hurley: Maybe physical stores. I don't know. It's probably one of the, it's just that traditional marketing thing that probably doesn't need to exist anymore in this time and space. Sure. So, anyway.
Myke Hurley: I'm pretty fascinated by this pen. I think it's going to do well. I know the companies will sell out of their first batches. I can almost guarantee it. I don't know how many they're getting over here. It's going to be popular in Japan, right? So, how many is the US market going to get? Yeah, I'm just anxious. I know, like I don't have one coming. Like I haven't asked anyone for like, you know, siphon me one out the back room. Send it over here. You know, I'll just wait and see. You know, just order one from someone when they come up available. But I'm pretty excited. I wanted to talk about real quick, well, a couple of things. But one, I was scrolling through their product page, Myke, and you scroll about halfway down the page.
Myke Hurley: What? I've gotten to the chart that you want to talk about. Do you see where I'm going?
Chart Explanation
Brad Dowdy: Yeah.
Myke Hurley: This is confusing, right? So, there's a chart that Platinum has shared. And it's pretty hilarious. Because the first time I read, I understand what they're saying now. But the first time I read it, I was like, what are you trying to tell me? So, it's a basic chart where you have the left-hand vertical column. What do you call this kind of chart? Is this like an XY chart? I don't know.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, an XY. It's like a line graph. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. So, the left side from bottom to top is 0 to 100%. And that represents the ink level. Right? And then the left to right is 0 to 12 is a lapse time in months. So, the Curie DOS ink level says over the 12-month span, it'll go from 100% to 30%. And their conventional fountain pen, PGB 3000, I don't know what that is. Is that the preppy? Goes from 100% to 10% in eight months. What does that even mean? So, I was like, well... It doesn't mean nothing. It doesn't mean anything. I was so confused. And I think that just what they mean is like, if you left this unused, like, that's how much ink's going to evaporate or something? No. Like, that's the best I can come from this. Because you can't be using this pen. This isn't a usage thing. Because you can't measure someone's usage because we all use it different. I think this is inked and unused. But why? Why would it make a difference? How long it will last. Because Platinum has all of that technology to keep the nib writing when you don't use the pen for a long time. Right? That's how their slip and seal mechanism, the preppy has it. Like, you can keep the preppy inked and capped for like six months, pick it up and write again. I think that's what they're measuring here. Right. Because this is right... It's nonsense. Which is... I mean, the whole point is it's pointless, right? It doesn't mean anything. But they're putting it right next to where the nib goes in when you retract the nib. They have it right near that picture. And it's saying how well it's sealed off.
Brad Dowdy: Now I get it. Because I'm thinking, right? Like, what are they talking about? Where's the ink going? But they don't mean the amount of ink inside of the pen. What they're saying is you could still pick this up and use it after a period of time.
Myke Hurley: Right? I believe so. That's why I had a huge problem with this chart. This is exactly why I wanted this in here. Because the section is talking about the nib drying out.
Brad Dowdy: Yes. Right?
Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. This part of the document, yes, where the chart is, it says keeps the nib from drying out to provide a smooth writing at any time.
Myke Hurley: So it's only going to be 30% smooth after 12 months? It doesn't make any sense.
Brad Dowdy: Actually, the more I think I understand it, the less I actually understand it. The most interesting thing on this page is the video that they have on the page. Because you can see the mechanism. And basically, it seems like there is this plastic sheath which covers the top of the pen. Yes. Because people would wonder, how are they going to seal the opening, right? Where the nib could come out. Because the vanishing point does it with that really cool little flap, right? Yeah. It seems like they've created the mechanism which effectively is closed. Something is closing around, like a plastic element is closing around the pen.
Myke Hurley: Correct. Which is nice. All the videos are excellent. I enjoy them on this. But I mean, we're getting a lot of run out of this pen. It better be good. Even you, Myke, you're maybe going to a special event for a launch party for this pen. When is the last $65 pen that it's ever had its own launch party?
Brad Dowdy: I've never gone to a launch party.
Myke Hurley: Right. I mean, usually that's reserved for the Mont Blanc pen of the year edition, right? Where you get all dressed up in your tuxedos and champagnies and you have the multi-thousand dollars of pens. Platinum's actually putting on shows at stationers. So this one's at, oh gosh, what's the name of the? Choosing Keeping. Choosing Keeping. Thank you. I blanked out there for a second. And London is having a launch party where people from Platinum are going to be there and they're showing like some vintage Platinum pens with like crazy artwork and stuff. They're making a big deal out of this. Yeah. Like they must be pretty happy with how this has turned out.
Brad Dowdy: Yep. Just as a quick point, I'll come back to that. I've sped that video down to like 0.25 to watch the mechanism. Basically, it's like there's this little trap door that opens and it comes out and then the nib goes back in and then like this door closes over the top of it. It's quite clever for that. They've built a clever mechanism. I'm starting to see why this thing costs $80 now.
Myke Hurley: Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: I am ignoring the whole twist thing for now because I feel like I really need to understand that when I try it. But yes, I believe I'll be able to talk about this in a couple of weeks because the event is not before next week's episode. Right. From what I can understand, they've said that people from Platinum are going to be bringing some pretty cool stuff to look at. So I'm really... I am actually genuinely intrigued at this point to check out the Curidas. And if they have them for sale, I'm probably going to buy one, right? Yeah. Sure. But I'm really keen to see the stuff that Platinum bring to this roadshow they're going on.
Myke Hurley: Exactly. I mean, they didn't do this for the Kumpu or any of their special edition launches or any of their other product launches. It's wild. I think it's pretty cool.
Brad Dowdy: They clearly believe they are onto something here. Yeah. And I'm keen to see if they are right in that assumption.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's the price point, man. It's what they're delivering for this price point. They're pretty excited about.
Brad Dowdy: So what are they going up against in this price bracket? Nothing.
Myke Hurley: They're going against, I mean, Kaweco pocket pins and Twisbees. The next retractable pin is over twice as much. Oh, no. I'm not talking about retractables. The retractables.
Brad Dowdy: I just mean like what fountain pens are in their price range here, do you think?
Myke Hurley: The metal Kawecos and Twisbees. The AL Twisbees? Yeah, the AL and the brass and steel and all those.
Brad Dowdy: This is the thing, right, that I keep coming back to where I think that it's going to be their struggle is that this pen is plastic and it will be going up against pens that are metal. And I think that that is going to be a sticking point for some people. I don't. I'm not talking about people that listen to this show. Sure. Right? Like I'm talking about the people that are walking, who are slightly interested in fountain pens and are walking into these stores. Now, there could be like the novelty of the retractableness of the fountain pen could be cool. But if you don't know much about fountain pens and you saw this, I don't know the answer to this. Would you would you realize why that is special?
Myke Hurley: If you put in a non pen addict and set two pens next to them, the Twisbe 580 and the platinum Curie Doss, they're going to pick the 580 every time.
Brad Dowdy: This is what I'm thinking. Right? So like this is where I'm like wondering how this is actually going to fare in the long term. I think that their short term sales will be really good for this pen because enthusiasts will want to try it out. Because if it's if the nib is really good and the whole steel nibs are good. Yeah, like, I mean, we know them to be good, but I don't know if they're doing something slightly different for this pen to ensure its long term life as they're so excited about. But like, and people are like interested in the mechanism. So it'd be like a cool thing to own. But it's past that like initial launch is where I think we'll be telling for this pen. Like how how well is it actually gonna gonna last outside of Japan? Because, you know, if you believe their marketing, there seems to be a very particular desire for this pen in Japan. True, true.
Myke Hurley: It is highly specific.
Brad Dowdy: In the American market, I and the European market, I am keen to see how this pen would fare past the initial launch because I in its price range, I'm not sure if the average consumer will consider this a competitive purchase.
Myke Hurley: Sure. That's fair. I don't disagree with that. The only thing I think about when I see this pen is, is if it is successful, which I think it will be, is this just opens the door for more custom colors and styles and things for them to play around with in a different price point than they do with the 3776 price point. And you see what they do to that.
Brad Dowdy: I would like to see a solid acrylic, like a non-demonstrator acrylic in this pen. Sure. I actually think it would make it look more premium.
Myke Hurley: I want to see the barrel to see if it could be an aluminum barrel pin down the line two years from now. That's twice the price because, you know, if it can deliver that same type of thing, it might be that might not work with this pen because I haven't held one yet. But I don't know. It's... I don't see why it wouldn't work. Yeah. Yeah. It just depends on how all the hardware attaches and things like that. Sure. Sure. I mean, you know, this works out well. The next thing we know is we have yellow, orange, sky blue, and purple transparent ones, right? That's next. And then we have, you know, different patterns and colors. I don't know. This is an interesting product to follow. I'm trying to rack my brain on what new product like this we have. Like, we get our Lamy special editions every year that we always talk about, but that's like a one and done thing. This is a completely new product line, and that doesn't happen that much in this type of product, I think. So, it's cool.
Brad Dowdy: That's why it gets me excited. I just wanted to go over one last thing from their page because it's just so funny, right? It's like the last part, the history of the Noctite Fountain Pen. There are three facts here which they are trying to relate to each other but are completely unrelated to each other. Are you ready?
Myke Hurley: Okay, go.
Brad Dowdy: The first retractable pen, Platinum Noct, was announced in 1965. 2020 marks Platinum Pen's 101 years since its establishment. The re-innovated retractable fountain pen, Curidas, inherits the foundation and spirit of 55-year-old Platinum Noct. Those are three completely unrelated things, right?
Myke Hurley: It's misordered.
Brad Dowdy: I guess, but still, even putting them in the right order, there's no point saying 2020 is 101 years since the company's establishment because 101 means nothing. It doesn't. It really feels like, to me, with that kind of marketing, that they would have loved this to be available last year. It would have made more sense.
Myke Hurley: That is very true, now that you say that. That's a good point.
Brad Dowdy: You know, because then the 55-year-old Platinum Noct, that kind of, that thing is pointless. It doesn't matter if it's 55 years. But if they could say like, oh, we first invented the Platinum Noct in 1965 and for our 100th year anniversary, we're introducing the re-innovation of that. You know, like it's kind of like a funny thing where it's like, here are three facts about the company. Those are great facts on their own, but those three things do not marry together to make a story that is cohesive.
Myke Hurley: And two of them are actually the same, essentially. Yes. Just told in a different way. Two of them are the same and one's random. Yeah. Unrelated. 101.
Myke Hurley: Last, last thing this time. You scroll all the way to the bottom release date is February 28th, 2020. The way all the US and worldwide companies are putting these out for prior, I'm imagining this is a worldwide release, not a Japan release. Then a few months later. It must be. At least this looks like everyone has them up for presale right now.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Cause otherwise you'd be looking at a multiple month presale, which it doesn't seem accurate.
New Product Discussion
Myke Hurley: Right. Right. So I'll hopefully be able to get one in Baltimore pen show. If they're even available, then they might be sold out. So, all right, let's hit a few more things about new products. Not quite at the level of the Platinum Curie DOS, but to some people it might be super important and it's the Uniball one gel ink pen. So just like the Curie DOS fascinates me as being a new product item, a new type of product at a different price point that looks like it'll do well. This is what Uni's doing here is introducing a new ink technology, which they seem to be, they seem to do that more than any of the other big gel and ballpoint pen manufacturers like Pilot and Pentel and Zebra. So they mess around with their inks more, right? They've always had their gel inks and they've had their Jetstream ink has been a different lineup and they always been technologically advanced with security features or archival properties. And now they're making this one ink that's saying it's going to be a gel and it's going to be a super rich dark ink that dries fast, right? So they're taking what they already have and making it better. And they have all this, we'll put this paper in the show notes for you to check out if you're interested, even remotely interested in this. I'm really interested in this. Like this is right up my alley.
Myke Hurley: My friend Blue Magister sent me this link to the product documentation when I tweeted out the original press release. And yeah, like I'm excited about this. One, it's a new barrel shape, right? They've kind of leaned into this weird clip design. It's kind of a lamy-ish clip design, I would say. On their pens, they did it with the recent Uniball Jetstream, the 0.28 one that I don't have yet either, but I'll be trying to get that. I'll definitely want to try these out when they come out. It's a retractable pen. It's going to come in, what is this? I don't know, 20 colors or so. And it'll come in 0.38 millimeter, 0.5 millimeter. And this is what I do. Like this is my favorite type of thing. Like as much as we talk about all these fountain pens and crazy expensive stuff, I love just like your basic good quality gel pen, obviously. Yeah. So I'm interested to see like the comparisons that they make. I'm assuming they're comparing it to their current gel ink. And the difference is stark. And I'm a little bit curious at that.
Brad Dowdy: Oh, we have another chart here, Brad. But unfortunately, it's an image. So it's in Japanese. So I can't read it. But there's like two. Yeah, there's a pie chart. Well, no, not the pie chart. There's like a bar graph down below. And it's got like this arrow. Oh, I see it. Oh, right. There's some great charts in the show notes today. You've got to go check out these articles.
Myke Hurley: It just has a big arrow swoop to like convert your eyes to whatever the chart really means, probably.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. What do you think that could even be? I don't know. At the darkness level?
Brad Dowdy: They've got like 0.1, 0.2, 0.3. And it's like, oh, it means it's more. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: So the 0.25 is the old version and the new one is 0.3. So it's 0.5 darker, I'm guessing. What do you think?
Brad Dowdy: I don't know, man.
Myke Hurley: We'll have to figure that out. I'll get my friend to Mr. Blue Magister to translate that chart for me. But I'm just interested in the their comparison pictures are very stark. Right. And they already make a nice dark black ink. All the companies that do this make nice dark inks. Right. Platinum, Pentel. I'm sorry. Pilot, Pentel, Uniball, and Zebra all make really good dark inks. Can we get 0.5 darker? We're going to find out, Myke.
Myke Hurley: How black?
Brad Dowdy: You know, just how black can it be?
Myke Hurley: The thing that threw me off about that is like, okay, if they're getting into this richness technology, right? Whatever they're trying to do to make the colors richer and darker, like there's no way it's going to dry faster. But then they talk specifically about it drying faster as well. So we'll see. We'll see.
Brad Dowdy: And more resistant to bleeding.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. Which gel already is in general anyway. Right. Yeah. I mean, that's one of its primary features is it's not going to feather or bleed unless the paper is just horrible.
Brad Dowdy: Well, maybe it's like the thicker paper resists. I don't know. Maybe it somehow resists. Sorry, the thicker ink resists worse paper. I don't know. We'll see.
OKB General Election
Myke Hurley: Yeah. But again, like this is something that excites me just as much as the Curie DOS. Like these gel pen companies just don't do this. Right. It's just kind of random. Yeah. Um, so, all right, last thing I want to talk about, and we've covered the OKB general election in the past, Myke. Do you know what that is if I say it out loud? Honestly, I have no memory of it, bro. So it's the OKB 48. And I remember it from a few years ago. It's an annual ranking of Japan's favorite ball pens or ballpoint pens. And they don't mean it as ballpoint ink technology. They mean it as a ball-tipped pen, right? So it could be gel, um, rollerball, ballpoint, things like that. A ballpoint pen means two different things. There's ballpoint ink, which is your oil-based ink like you find in a BIC.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah.
Myke Hurley: Or you have a ball tip pen, which is pretty much every pen that's a gel pen, a rollerball pen. There's a ball in the tip that rolls and applies the ink to the page.
Brad Dowdy: Okay. Yeah. I never think, that's how I always think of ballpoint. I don't think of ink.
Myke Hurley: Right. Okay. I do think of ink. So that's why I always make sure to clarify. Because if I say ballpoint, I mean ink technology. If I say gel, I mean ink technology. I don't mean ballpoint as... You don't mean rollerball. Yeah. So...
Pen Survey Results
Brad Dowdy: The BIC is in this list, though, if you want to add more confusion into that.
Myke Hurley: No, the first one is a ballpoint pen. So the winner of this... So this is a three-month survey that this site does, and they've done it for years. And we've seen some cool stuff come through, and I know we've talked about it. I think the Zebra Saracic Clip won one year. So they ended up with the 48 favorite ballpoint pens from Japan. And the winner... Could you have guessed the winner? I don't even know that you know what this pen is. But if you had to guess, in Japan, so like your basic writing pen, ballpoint gel, anything pen. I know you've looked at this, but would you have been able to have a guess to what that would have been? I don't think I would have picked the winner. I would have picked it probably in the top three. So the winner is just the .7mm Uniball Jetstream Sport, which is one of the greatest pens of all time. That's the pen I recommended to Stephen Hackett that he uses all the time. It's a fantastic pen.
Brad Dowdy: You recommend that pen to a lot of people.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, it's a great pen. It's the canonical Jetstream to me. Right? They have more famous Jetstreams, but when I talk about Jetstream, this is the one I always refer to as being the best. And it's number one. The problem I have with this list is number two, Myke. What is that? I don't know what it is. Right, okay. This is a problem for me. This is a real problem for me. So I'm going to need someone to get in on number two. If anything, it looks like the Uniball RT1, which is number 10 on this list. But I don't think it is, and I genuinely do not know what number two on this list is. I even went back to last year's top 48, and it wasn't on the list. Like, I couldn't find a comparable pen. I'm trying to figure out what this pen is. No clue. I genuinely do not know. So, yes, listeners, please help me out with that. Number three.
Brad Dowdy: Why don't they say? Actually, sorry. They do say. It's written in Japanese, right? Yeah.
Myke Hurley: And it's an image, so we can't translate it.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's the problem. I wish they had a text list.
Myke Hurley: Well, I could get the Google Translate app and aim it at it, right? Or something like that. I mean, I can.
Brad Dowdy: The phone app. You want me to do that while we're here? That would be kind of funny. Oh, please. Let's do it. I mean, that's not going to work, is it? Like, that's not going to work.
Myke Hurley: Well, it has the text new in English right above it, so it's a little bit weird.
Brad Dowdy: Oh, I guess that means it's a new entrant, right?
Myke Hurley: Yeah. So, like, number two and number nine are new entrants, but I know what number nine is. I know what everything is on this page, except that pen.
Myke Hurley: So, you want me to go to another couple ones while you pull it up, or you got it?
Brad Dowdy: You can. Yeah. Yeah, you should do that. I'm still trying to work on this here. Zebra Bren.
Myke Hurley: Okay, it's a zebra. Yeah. Okay. How do you spell the second part?
Brad Dowdy: B-R-E-N.
Myke Hurley: Okay.
Brad Dowdy: I mean, the rest of them, they are translating correctly. Zebra Sarasa Clip, Pilot Juice.
Myke Hurley: Zebra Blend. B-L-E-N. Okay. It's an emulsion ballpoint, so that's a Jetstream style ink.
Myke Hurley: What did they call the last emulsion? I think the Zebra Emulsion. Oh, God. It had a specific name. This is a... I wonder if this is their red dot design winner pen design that never made it out. Okay. That's exactly what this is. That was cool.
Brad Dowdy: That was a good idea, wasn't it? To do the translate? What?
Myke Hurley: So this is the ballpoint ink that's similar to the Jetstream. Very interesting. I have not used one of those. I've used their past... God, it's going to drive me crazy. Whatever the name was that they used for... It was a bad name that they used for their emulsion inks. And they were nice. They were really good. They just didn't stack up to the Jetstream. So I'd be interested to try out the blend. Okay. Cool. Yay. I'm glad we did that. Number three, Zebra Sarasa Clip, which I believe has won this competition in past years at least once. I don't know how many years has been going on. It was called the Surari. Surari. Yeah. Thank you.
Brad Dowdy: Do you know how I found that out? How? This little blog is called penaddict.com. It wasn't yours. It was Amy who contributed.
Myke Hurley: Okay. Cool. Cool, cool, cool. So yeah. There was a... Yeah. Good times. That was back in 2010 though, Brad.
Brad Dowdy: This is 10 years old, this article.
Myke Hurley: They've had one since then. I want to say five years ago they had a different one. But it's been a while since they've had it. I'll say that.
Myke Hurley: All right. So yeah. Three, Zebra Sarasa Clip has won it before. Number four, the Pilot Juice Up, the retractable needlepoint Pilot Juice, which is great. The regular Pilot Juice isn't in the top 10. Number five is the Pentel Energel. What's interesting about this one is they use like the... This was like an anniversary translucent barrel one, which is just killer looking.
Brad Dowdy: Could it be the Zedmulsion?
Myke Hurley: That's it.
Myke Hurley: That's exactly... That's what I'm thinking of. Thank you. Is that also on my blog? No, I just started searching.
Brad Dowdy: And that is a pen that is available now. The Zebra Zedmulsion.
Myke Hurley: Yep. That's the one I'm thinking about. I guess it's... I knew.
Brad Dowdy: Zedmulsion, right?
Myke Hurley: Zedmulsion, right. Yeah. That's terrible, right?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Oh, it's not available anymore. The Zedmulsion. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: It's Zedmulsion.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. That's the one that I did not care for the naming of.
Brad Dowdy: Zedmulsion in the ocean. Mm-hmm.
Myke Hurley: Number six is the Zebra Sarasa Dry, which apparently that's a big deal in Japan, right? That's what Uni is coming out with, this quick drying gel ink. That's what the Zebra Sarasa Dry is, number six on this. Number seven, Myke, Signo DX. Uni Ball Signo DX, one of the greatest pens ever made. Ever. Ever. Ever. Number eight, I don't know the exact model name, but it's the Fancy Barrel Jetstream. Um, it's, you know, how they make like the Executive Jetstream barrels and some of these other gel pens have like the Executive Model Metal Barrel that's like $15. That's what that one is. Um, number nine.
Brad Dowdy: Jetstream Prime. Prime. There you go. Well, that's that again. That's what Google Translate is telling me.
Myke Hurley: I love that we did this. Yep. Uh, number nine is the, uh, the Friction Ball Knock, I think is what that one's called. It's probably the best Friction pen. I'm surprised still. This is just, this goes to show you how these very unique pens are super popular in, in Japan.
Brad Dowdy: I have a Point Knock.
Myke Hurley: Point Knock. Okay. Sounds right. And then number 10 is the Uni Ball Signo RT1, which is basically your retractable version of the DX. Um, so this is a killer top 10 list. Like I, I love it. Um. Um.
Brad Dowdy: I can't believe how well this, uh, translating is doing, even the brand names. This is a surprise to me how good this is.
Myke Hurley: So let me see if there's any other ones that I don't know what they are.
Brad Dowdy: Oh, maybe. I'm going to go back to that chart we were talking about earlier now. Oh yeah. See if I can work out what that means. We have unearthed the new technology here on the Pen Addict.
Myke Hurley: I love it. So I know we talked about the last release because I was surprised at the, um, Lamy Safari Rollerball made the top 10 last year. This year it's down to number 12. Like last year was like number 5 or something like that. I found that to be just extremely strange, but it also coincided with Lamy making a bigger push into Japan. So I thought that was interesting.
Myke Hurley: So yeah, like the, the next 20, it's all your pretty standard stuff. The Uni Ball Air is in there. Um, one of the Oto Rollerballs is in there. The Dr. Grip is in there. Um, Energel Needle, bunch of pens that I like. And then we have, let's see, in the 21 to 30.
Myke Hurley: Then you start getting into some random stuff. The Oto, gosh, I can't remember the name of this Oto that I like. It's really good.
Brad Dowdy: Memory Up. That's what, that's what, that's what that chart is saying. The, the Uni chart, that new Uni Ball. With the arrow? Yeah. The .5? Memory, memory up.
Myke Hurley: Oh, okay. So, I'm not still looking at this, but when I read the documentation, the science, Myke, says that the darker the writing is, the better your memory retention is. Yeah. No, the better your memory retention is. Oh. The darker the markings are. So, this is, you're going to get .5 memory on this, on like your, uh, this is like an RPG.
Brad Dowdy: There is no labeling to the axes. So, like, it just means that you're going to go from 0.25 to 0.3 on your memory as compared to the conventional product. Yeah. So, that's good.
Myke Hurley: It's an RPG.
Brad Dowdy: That's really great. You've just leveled up.
Myke Hurley: Oh, my God. Okay. We need to keep this handy for all the Japanese products, uh, we have. And I'll start doing it beforehand, uh, if I think about it. I think that's a wrap today, Myke. I think I, I've had enough fun, uh, even though we could have more fun with that, with, with the app and on these pen pages. But that chart was the best. That chart wins for 0.5 memory.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm so pleased we did that today. All right. If you want to find our show notes, you can go to relay.fm slash pen addict slash 395. Thanks so much to Pen Chalet for their support of this show. And as always, thank you for listening. We'll be back next time. If you want to find Brad's work in the meantime, go to penaddict.com. You can also go to knock.co to see Brad's wares and spoke pen, spoke design, spoke design.com. Yep. One day I'm going to remember that one. It's the only one I can't remember. Brad is penaddict on Instagram. Dowdy is on Twitter. He streams live Tuesdays, Thursdays, 10 a.m. Eastern at twitch.tv slash penaddict. I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. Follow me there on Instagram. Uh, we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.
Myke Hurley: Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.