lol right?

Thanks! Writing samples on camera are always had to do. 😅

@@inkdependence Oh yea. I appreciate that point. It is so unnatural and uncomfortable to be writing around camera while filming the video. Your writing is smaller than mine. But the writing sample with this nib just visibly enhanced the look of your writing. Will you get this Chtulu pen for yourself?

Great to hear! I'm glad you like it.

Can you pls give an example of pen which build quality is not outstanding

@@mrmf4712 There are so many. 😆😵‍💫

@@inkdependence I am listening.... and so that you know we are talking about the comparable price range...

I don't make it a habit to bash (most) companies or products here. Mostly I just don't review those things. There are some companies and pens that are known to have dodgy construction or persistent nib issues that disappoint people when they get their expensive pen in-hand. Some are made of materials that will warp or melt or discolor and become brittle over relatively short time frames. It's just not the case that any pen over a price threshold will have excellent build quality or stand the test of time. 🤷

Yes, I see why you'd love this pen.

Sailor does us the favor of keeping their prices too high, so we don't buy quite so many.

@@ichirofakename I’m fairly certain that the steep and unfair mark-up in Sailor pens’ prices in America is also due to greedy U.S. distributors and retailers taking their own cut from sales. edit: In other words, it is a neat nexus between Sailor and the distributors and retailers to basically fleece customers in the U.S. market …because they apparently can.

From what I’ve heard, I’m fairly sure that the price structure comes straight from Sailor Japan.

What do you mean?

*SNAP* It is interesting that they only went with the large size, but I guess The Sleeper is supposed to be mountain-sized, so...

@@inkdependence That *is* a good point.

It's a limited production, but if it sells well and sells out I bet they'd order more made.

🦑🦑

Right. My older MS nibs are also more rounded, but I can see a clear progression of very-round to not-round over time. I talked to a nib-worker friend, and they said that's what they've seen over time, too.

A less-rounded nib has more appeal for me than a stubbier one.

@@ruthfeiertag I agree with you conceptually, but in practice I find that I do better with a rounded nib. If it works for you, more power to you.

@@ichirofakename And that's what's lovely about fountain pens: they're not one-size-for-all. And I like several kinds and sizes of nibs. I love it when i don't have to choose just one of this or that!

I mean, it’s a made-up word. Well, they all are, but this one is especially made-up and so I say we all say it how we like. 🤷🏼‍♂️

From Wikipedia, “Lovecraft transcribed the pronunciation of Cthulhu as Khlûl′-hloo, and said, "the first syllable pronounced gutturally and very thickly. The 'u' is about like that in 'full', and the first syllable is not unlike 'klul' in sound, hence the 'h' represents the guttural thickness" yielding something akin to /χ(ə)ʟʊʟˈluː/.[original research?] S. T. Joshi points out, however, that Lovecraft gave different pronunciations on different occasions. According to Lovecraft, this is merely the closest that the human vocal apparatus can come to reproducing the syllables of an alien language. Cthulhu has also been spelled in many other ways, including Tulu, Katulu, and Kutulu. Long after Lovecraft's death, Chaosium stated in the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game: "we say it kuh-THOOL-hu" (/kəˈθuːluː/), even while noting that Lovecraft said it differently. Others use the pronunciation Katulu or Kutulu or /kəˈtuːluː/.”

Yeah, I’ve always gone with the “Katulu” version.

Same. I really need to hear what Lovecraft describes as the intended pronunciation.

@@mike.antkowiak Eh. That guy was a real bad person, so I’m not all that concerned. 😆

I mean, you don't NOT need it.

@@inkdependence Hmm...

@@paulmchugh1430 The pen and ink need to marry. I say get the pen! 🙂

@Paulmchugh1430 be careful asking @sajjadhusain4146 his advice, as you may find yourself following it!

That word, "need"... I don't think it means what you think it does.

Yeah, I think I pressed on it a bit too much and it ran out of ink, then when I put it back down it didn't re-establish flow quickly because I wasn't flat on the paper. As I'd said, I'm not great with italic-style nibs, and I have to think about it when I use them. Sailor hasn't always had this very sharp cornered style, though. My older Sailor MS nibs are much more rounded. It's been a gradual change they've made to the way they grind them. I do love the Platinum music nib most of all. I have a video where I compare several different brands of music nibs, and I think that Platinum is still my favorite.

@@inkdependence Thank you for explanation, it makes sense.

I’m not here to tell you how much to spend on a pen. 🤷🏼‍♂️ A very high price to some of us is a casual expenditure to others. It’s too subjective to review, for me. I can only tell you what a thing is like, show it to you, and let you make your own determinations. I’m conflicted about grey markets. On the one hand, they always have better prices, but on the other I think it’s important to support the legit businesses who are doing their best to work within their pricing agreements with the brands. After all, without the legit market there wouldn’t be a grey market. 🤷🏼‍♂️

@@inkdependence I know the local retailers aren’t setting these prices, that’s up to the North American distributors. I do think if the distributors saw big drops in revenue they would lower prices across the board. I’m not conflicted on grey markets. The prices Sailor and Pilot in particular are charging (but I’m not letting Platinum off the hook here either) are such a vast discrepancy that I can only call it extortionist. I think it’s bad for the industry as a whole.

@@DanTheElevator The U.S. retailers are no angels in all this.

You can buy a grey market Sailor for less, but you can’t buy this Sailor. It’s a “shop exclusive”. Shop exclusive Sailors, even in Japan, are more expensive than the standard line models. Example, I paid nearly over $600 (after shipping and fees from a forwarding service) for the NBC Noble Black Cat Pro Gear (it retailed at 55,000 yen in March of 2021 prices). Shop exclusive pens are produced in smaller quantities, therefore they are more costly to make. Economy of scale. The ion plating costs more. The sparkle resin costs more. Customizing costs more. The price of gold has gone up significantly since the pandemic. And that is only just from a manufacturing standpoint. Then there is the cost of importing this quantity of pens into the US, and customs fees, and taxes and paperwork and people-hours to pay. Those are all expenses that aren’t needed when sold in Japan. And most times companies don’t want to export their goods for those reasons. So that’s where distributors come in. But a distributor can’t work for free. They have to buy the pens from Sailor, handle all the importing red tape, pay employees and warehousing fees, and marketing and overhead to get retail accounts. Then they have to sell the products they have imported to retailers at a rate that helps pay for all they’ve done. Products manufactured and sold in their native countries ALWAYS cost less. That’s just how it works. You can buy a Nikon or Fuji camera, or Sony anything, or Toyota for far less in Japan than anywhere else. But it seems the community is loosing their sh!t over the rising prices of pens? Actually, if you follow Sailor North America, you might have noticed they did listen to people concerned about price hikes over the last several years and dropped standard pricing down, to a previous price structure, recently. So they have heard “the call”. Now, why would you buy from an authorized retailer over grey market? Warranty and serviceability. And shop exclusives. Granted, Pilot services their pens regardless of when you got them from, but Sailor and Platinum do not.

@@mike.antkowiak I understand all of this and still think the prices are exorbitant for what you’re getting, even if it’s a limited shop exclusive. Let me give you a counter example. The Sailor Luminous Shadow line, limited edition King of Pen sized with unique acrylic bodies and ion played King of Pen nibs, was initially released at the same limited edition prices as other LE KOPs. Now they’re $580 at every pen retailer, far cheaper than any standard King of Pen and not far from the cost of these 1911L LEs. I suspect what happened is they weren’t popular and didn’t sell so the distributor slashed the price to move units, and you know they’re not selling them at a loss. So my point is we shouldn’t just accept these prices because they’re shop exclusives or limited editions, if we vote with our wallets the prices can come down to more reasonable levels and Sailor and Pilot and Platinum can still make a profit.