Editing The Pen Addict 478/transcript (section)

== Pen Design Critique ==


'''Brad:''' Yeah, I agree. I agree with everything you're saying. Yeah. It's... I'm glad there's some movement in the positive direction, which I feel that's where we're at now. We'll see. What is the phrase?

'''Myke:''' Like, damned if you do, damned if you don't? Right. Like, I feel like sometimes you're in that. That's kind of just where they are. I mean... Mm-hmm. But for me, always, always, the ultimate is how it's resolved. Like, that's the important part. Like, it's how it's resolved. Mm-hmm. I mean, and it feels like they're going above and beyond to resolve this. Yeah. Like, that's quite an aggressive way of resolving it. Like... Yep.

'''Myke:''' Proactively shipping them to fix. You know, because they could just say, hey, if you have an issue, you contact us, and then we'll send you one. We'll send you one, right? Yeah.

'''Brad:''' This is essentially... They're going to zero out the old inventory and put in the new, and hopefully we're all golden from that point forward.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, especially if you believe them that it's a percentage. Mm-hmm. Well, like, if it was just a percentage, and I'm sure it is just a percentage, because I have... You know, because I think that's been the case, right? It's not been every...

'''Brad:''' Yeah, but I mean, percentage of them, for them is tens of thousands of units, I'm sure.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, yeah, but what I mean is, like, they're not, like... If it is just a percentage, then you could just say, like, okay, if you come across any broken ones, we'll fix them. Right. But going this route of, like, we're just going to replace the whole thing, that's a huge cost. Yeah, that's good. So... But this is, I believe, is the right way to do it. I think they're doing it the right way for their customers. Yes. But, you know, I think it's worth just noting that, like, that's quite an investment they're making.

'''Brad:''' Yep. Yep. So hopefully we're all good from this point forward.

'''Myke:''' All right. Let's take our first break and thank our friends over at Squarespace for their support of this week's episode. Squarespace is the all-in-one platform to help you build your online presence and run your business. They have everything that you're going to need, from website building tools to online store functionality, marketing tools, analytics, domain name registration, SEO and email marketing tools. They have got it all. There's nothing to patch, install or upgrade. With Squarespace, when you build your website there, you'll get unlimited hosting, top-of-the-line security and dependable resources to help you succeed. They combine cutting-edge design with world-class engineering to make it easier than ever to establish your home online and make your ideas a reality. Whether you want to showcase your work of a portfolio, publish your next blog post, really get the word out about your new business. Maybe you want to announce an upcoming event. It doesn't matter what type of website you want to make. Squarespace has everything that you're going to need to make it beautiful, to make it modern, to make it awesome. You start with a professionally designed template, use drag-and-drop tools to make it your own, customize the look, the feel, the settings, the products, everything with just a few clicks. And all of their websites are optimized for all kinds of devices, so it's going to look great no matter where your customers are coming from. They have award-winning 24-7 customer support, so if you need any help, they're going to be there for you. I really love Squarespace. I've used them for as long as I can remember now. They are my first stop when it comes to putting something online. I know Brad's the same. I know Brad has a bunch of websites over on Squarespace, and it's purely because they're just the best place for us to put our stuff. It's fantastic. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict, and you can sign up for a free trial today with no credit card required. Then when you're ready to launch, use the offer code penaddict, and you'll save 10% of your first purchase of a website or domain and show your support for this show. That's squarespace.com slash penaddict. Then when you sign up, use the offer code penaddict, and you'll get 10% off your first purchase. Our thanks to Squarespace for the support of this show and all of RelayFM.

'''Brad:''' I think we need a new name for this segment that's about to happen, Myke. Okay. The one segment that seems to be more frequently occurring is the segment where Brad gets angry about things that don't matter. You – Oh.

'''Myke:''' So I saw this – So we're going to talk about a post that Brad put on Instagram, and I read the text yesterday, and I was surprised at your anger. So this is in relation to some new Pokemon-branded Energel pens. Yeah. I'm going to read. I'm going to do a dramatic reading from atpenaddict on Instagram. When you grip the pen normally with the clip facing outwards, all you'll see is the most massive, ugliest barcode logo and details I have seen on a pen like this. It's egregious, disrespectful, and the designers should be embarrassed.

'''Brad:''' Did you like that? That was good. That was good. That was you. So this came out of a Twitch stream yesterday. I was doing an unboxing, and I pulled the pen out, and I'm like, oh, sweet. Look at this Pikachu pen.

'''Myke:''' The artwork is stunning on these. I love it.

'''Brad:''' The color choices.

'''Myke:''' Just the way they draw the Pikachu. It's like unfinished. It's like sketched. It looks really good. Yes.

'''Brad:''' It looks great. And then I turned it over to start to write with it. I clicked the knock, and I was like, wait a minute. All I see is this terrible logo, barcode, and descriptions on the pen. I was like, is that an accident? Can I twist any of this around? Can I move it? Can I peel it off? And I was like, no. That's what you see when you write. That's what's visibly apparent. And I lost my mind because it caught me off guard. I was like, really, the first I grabbed the pen, and I go, oh, man, cool, Pikachu. This pen looks fantastic. I love the colors, like the one I'm using. The first one I grab is like brown and yellow and off-white, and it's just really extremely well done, like you said. And then I went to use it. I was like, this is abhorrent. I don't know any other way to say it. It's like if someone took the back cover of a book and used it for the front cover, right? It feels completely backwards. There's no redeeming value to this pen visually when you use it as pens are intended to be set up, right? I find it very upsetting.

'''Myke:''' The thing that upsets me the most is just that you print the barcode. Just stick the barcode on. Everything else would have been fine. The text and stuff, it's got its own flair to it, you know? It's part English, part Japanese.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, but it needs to roll around to the backside.

'''Myke:''' I mean, I agree with you.

'''Brad:''' I mean, Pikachu can't be under the clip, but it has to be rotated.

'''Myke:''' There has something. There should be something going on. But the thing that annoys me the most is the barcode being printed on the pen. Because that's not something you always see. I feel a lot of the time it is a sticker, and I don't know why they felt like they needed to do that.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, and I thought it might be a mistake, right? And I grabbed the second one out, second one that I ordered, which has, it's like three different Pikachus. He's doing a, have a swell time. Pikachu is what it says on here. And it's laid out the exact same way. So my gut tells me that this is what the future will look like once our robot overlords take over, Myke. I don't think a human being had any idea that this happened. Interesting. Because there's no way that anyone in their right mind would have sent this out into the market. Because it's essentially backwards, right? This is like, it's a pen wrap, right? So the design gets designed in a wrap, and the wrap rolls around the barrel. Well, in this case, it's a very specific notch cutout for the clip. And I just can't imagine the artist or the designer or Pentel or anyone approved this to leave. And I guess they just assume that like, Pokemon anything is going to sell. So we just Pokemon all the things, and we stick them in the robot, and we shoot them out. And now we have Pokemon Energels, and they're on the counter, and everyone picks it up and goes, Oh, Pokemon, this looks fantastic. Which it does. That's why I ordered it. And then you get it home and use it, and it's like, oh. Well. It looks like a bunch of crap.

'''Myke:''' I might really like, what I see is like, it was approved as an image. Right. But then when you use it, you see that maybe it's not ideal. But like, the image in the packaging looks great.

'''Brad:''' Doesn't it? Right. It's one of the better looking designs. If you like using the clip jammed into your hand while you're writing with a pen, this is the pen for you. This is the pen for you. So anyway. All right. That's my segment on where I get mad about things that don't matter. Cool. I will not get mad about the Pilot Vanishing Point Black Ice 2021 Limited Edition. Although I'm not doing like handstands and cartwheels for it. What do you... Do you remember the Pilot Vanishing Point, Myke? That's what I feel about this release. What are your initial thoughts when you see this?

'''Myke:''' I mean, I'm over this. I was over this pen a long time ago.

'''Brad:''' I think that's what I'm saying. Yeah. So what are they going to do to make us not over this anymore? It looks great. Like, bar none, it looks fantastic. There are also five editions into this gradient type of color or so. So what we learned a couple of years ago is every year there is a North American and European Pilot Vanishing Point Limited Edition. You know, we've seen these in the past. Um, 10 years? I don't know how long. And every other year, the design rotates between a choice of Pilot North America gets to choose the design for the year. Or Pilot France gets to choose the design for the year. That both regions get. So all of these gradient color ones come out of Pilot North America. And then all of, like, the black, like, the guillochet ones and, like, the black stripe ones, you know, with the designs. Those all come from France. So you can tell the alternate years who made what. And this is a little bit resting on your laurels type of thing. This is what has worked for the past decade. Or in the case of the gradients, maybe the past six or eight years. And it's going to work this time. Um, the price keeps creeping up there. We're up to $257 on this model. Which is fine. Like, it's not great. Like, the regular vanishing points are, like, $160, $170. Those have even gone up. But it's just, like, marketing is funny. And design is funny these days.

'''Brad:''' Because we are just hammered all the time with new stuff. And then Pilot keeps releasing the same old stuff. And I'm like, yeah, it's cool. Like, it's, like I said, it's what's worked in the past. But I want them, let's, can we do something different, you know, in 2023? Like, let's, you know, I have faith in you, Pilot. You know, believe in your North American market and your European market to kind of try something different. Right? I just want them to try something different. Like, I get it. Instead of, like, next year giving me, you know, the orange and white creamsicle vanishing point. I would probably love it. But I would never buy it. I want to buy another vanishing point. And this ain't it.

'''Myke:''' I'll tell you what I would need. Well, not need, but, you know, they need to redesign this pen. It's old now. It just looks old now.

'''Myke:''' To me. Like, I've seen this design for so long.

'''Brad:''' How about update instead of redesign? You're losing me on redesign, but how about update?

'''Myke:''' Yeah, that's kind of what I mean.

'''Brad:''' I know what you mean.

'''Myke:''' The profile of this pen needs to change, I believe. Okay.

'''Brad:''' I won't argue that the Decimo is not a better pen. It's a little bit narrower.

'''Brad:''' You're not going to get any argument from me if you say the Decimo is the superior version.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I don't know what you do. You know what I want to see? If we're going to do this, if we're going to keep this size, give me a raw metal one. Like, just lean into some crazy metal design, right? Because it's a brass underlying pen. Give me something. And I'm talking to you, France. You have done the more subtle black ones and black and white stripe ones and the classic ones. I want you all to strip it down to the bare metal and etch it or do something.

'''Myke:''' The saying in the Discord about going back to the faceted design, that I would be more interested in.

'''Brad:''' I would. And I would like to see them do it metal on a metal barrel because the old faceted designs were plastic barrels, right? And that the old faceted designs were more of the Decimo size, a little bit thinner. And I still think that's the best design.

'''Brad:''' And they use the same internals, too. So, I don't know why there's, you know, that focus on the two different models. I wouldn't mind going back to the faceted but do it in the metal body. If you gave me, if you strip this down to the metal and faceted it, oof, man. I don't even know how many of those you'd sell. So, like, this is just another vanishing point. It's great. I think this one looks awesome. Yeah. Just, like, it's fine. Like, but I'm ready. Like, I'm ready. Like you're saying, give me something new. Redesign. Update. Make me want the vanishing point again because I still think it's one of the great pens. And I have, like, the two or three that I like. And I just don't have any intention of, you know, getting another gradient.