Editing The Pen Addict 524/transcript (section)

== Studio Neat Mark II ==


'''Myke:''' Number two, Mark. Two. I almost called you Mark. I thought you were calling me Mark. I saved myself. I did really good there. I saved myself. Number two, Myke, is the Mark II. The blue titanium Mark II, which is the first Mark II limited edition that our friends at Studio Neat have done. What do you think about this one?

'''Brad:''' I love the design. I mean, I have this blue in a Mark I. And so, I think this is a very nice pairing. And I like that they went with the bright silver for the body rather than the kind of darker gray, at least, that I have on my Mark II. I think this is a very nice foray into the limited. And I'm happy that they are pulling the limited idea to the Mark II as well as just the Mark I. By the time people are hearing this, the sale is over. It was a timed sale. Yeah. Which I think they've moved to timed sales with like a short lead time because, you know, I think if you listened to Already Considered, you would have heard us talk about like some of the limits that they've done in the past. But they've had numbered ones. And they would just sell too quickly or they will put them up at a certain time of the day. And then people on the other side of the world would get upset at them. So, I think now they just do like a timed sale. They sell them through that period and fulfill them faster than like every hour of a pre-order or whatever. Right. Because they're just kind of ready.

'''Myke:''' So, if you're a Studio Neat fan, you should subscribe to their newsletter and you'll get notified about the drops. And this one was around, was this 24 hours or 48 hours? It might have been more like a 48-hour type of deal. I think it was something like that. Yeah. Yeah. If you catch this right after it drops, you might have a chance. But it's still running as we record. But like Myke says, it's probably going to be done soon. I love the color. Like, I don't have the Mark I in this color, nor do I need it. And I don't need this either. But I think the color is fantastic. I will say the Mark II is my least favorite of the Mark I, II, III combination. I use the Mark I a lot more. I would know I'm going to love the Mark III. The Mark II is just okay for me, personally, the way I use pens. But I think this one is a much cooler color than like the original launch black color. But you kind of got to launch with black. That's like the way to go. You always got to have stock black. That's always going to be your best seller. But I love this color. And I think it looks really, really good in the Mark II.

'''Brad:''' I think we're in a similar place. Like, I'm using my Mark II today. And I like, I think this is one of the best, if not the best pocket pen I've used. I just don't use these pens.

'''Brad:''' You know? Mm-hmm. They're just not for me. Gotcha. I will say, talking about Studio Neat, so I do a show with them called Thoroughly Considered. They started a new thing that I wanted to just recommend people go and check out. So we record Thoroughly Considered kind of once a month-ish. And we talk about production and manufacture. And the boys had an idea, because obviously they are design-focused people. They wanted to start a show about products. Like, so they would have a guest on every episode. And they would bring their favorite item to the show. And Dan and Tom would talk to the guest about that item. This is something I wasn't able to make work with my schedule. And instead of starting a brand new podcast, it's now going to Thoroughly Considered will now alternate between the episodes that I'm on and then these episodes, which are called The Last Detail. So the first one is with Adam Lisagor. And they talk about the Sonos move. I listened to the episode today. It's fantastic. So if you like products in general, like Thoroughly Considered is an interesting show, because you get a little bit of all of it now. So product design, and then also product manufacture. So go check it out.

'''Myke:''' Nice. I look forward to checking that out, because I like Tom and Dan and I have very similar ideas and big picture ideas on how to do things. Right? So we always get along very well, and I like their thought processes around things.

'''Brad:''' And if you want, like a taste, there is like in this, I think this is very, very, especially Dan, this is very Tom and Dan. Every episode of every item, Dan is planning to pick which one of Dieter Rams' 10 design principles apply to why this is a good product. Gotcha. So it's really cool. It's great. This show's great. So I reckon people listen to it.

'''Myke:''' So I wonder what Dan would think about the Mont Blanc Heritage Rouge et Noir baby collection. Okay, the name is one thing.

'''Brad:''' We're going to... When I saw this in the document, I thought that this was embellishment from you, right? That you're like, the Heritage Rouge et Noir, baby. Like that's how I read it. Mm-hmm. And then went to the product listing and saw the name. Now let me tell you something, Brad Dowdy. Mm-hmm. The white one is one of the best looking pens I've ever seen in my life.

'''Myke:''' I am shocked, surprised, and pleased that you said that because I feel the same way. I want it.

'''Myke:''' This surprises me for Mont Blanc in a very positive way. Right? Like I love Mont Blanc pens for their design and their work, but they're not generally for me. Like the style and the size of them usually does not work for me. I own one Mont Blanc pen. And Myke, it is a little baby pen. It is the little Mont Blanc Bohem. It only takes short international cartridges because that's all it'll fit. You've seen this pen of mine before. It's a very small, like a Kaweco Sport type of size pen. And this one is similar, looks to be similar in size to that, but with a fixed nib. Mine has the retractable nib that just like kind of spins and retracts in. I couldn't get over the name when someone sent me this. Shout out Toasty Treat.

'''Brad:''' There's so many names in this name.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. They sent me this. I thought this was going to be like some baby like focus. Like is this some like pen for kids type of situation? Why is it called this? And I really hate the name. Like I think the name is just dumb. I love the pen though.

'''Brad:''' Oh, they're good looking. They make cufflinks of the red and white Mont Blanc logo.

'''Myke:''' And this is the vintage logo, right? This is the best logo where the snow cap is really large. It's not like small and centered like on Mont Blanc's product pages, you know, their general basic logo. This is the old classic logo. The Rouge Noir uses this part of the heritage collection. That must be part of the logo situation. But this is a smaller what we would what I refer to as a pocket pen, right? So it's small in size. The cap posts on the back to make it a full length writer. It's literally like the Mont Blanc Kaweco Sport type of situation. But with a gold nib, a metal section, I think the white one is an absolute knockout. It's killer, man. And you know what? For as expensive as Mont Blanc pens are, these are very expensive pens. But for Mont Blanc, I think it's $760 MSRP, which means you can probably get it for less. Like, that's not ridiculous for what this pen is. Like, I paid more for my elbow, like as I should. Like, you know, it's small, small batch, custom made, silver hardware, you know, gold nib, ebonite barrel. Like, it's very, very highly specialized. I paid more than that for this than this than this Mont Blanc. And like, I thought the price was actually shockingly reasonable for a Mont Blanc. And I'm going to, I have no interest necessarily in like running out and buying this. I am very anxious to get this in hand.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I would want to feel how it feels because it's small. Even posted, it's small, like looking at the images. So I would want to know how it felt weight wise. But this is a pen that I feel like I could pick up at a pen show or whatever. And I would walk away with it. It is unbelievable.

'''Myke:''' I like it when brands surprise me like this. Like, this is a pleasant surprise type of situation.

'''Brad:''' I'll tell you, Brad, I'm on Mont Blanc's website. The entire range of products that they have for this Heritage Rouge Noir baby line, it's all killer. Like, the ballpoint is beautiful. I don't know if you've seen the ballpoint.

'''Myke:''' I didn't see that.