Isn't that a funny-looking piece of business? This is one of the
last fountain pens to go under the name of Rotring before the owners of
the name decided that Parker is fountain pens and Rotring is technical
pens, and they should stick to what they're known for. It's hard
to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
In many ways, this is a weirder pen than the Core.
For a start, it sits even more uneasily in a shirt pocket,
sticking way up above the line of the pocket and waving for attention.
That big blue bulb is very squishy, even inviting
people walking past it on the shelves to give it a poke, and you'd
think that this would be aimed at the arthritic... but there's some
problems with that. The lesser problem is that fountain pens in
general are good for sufferers as they don't demand clutching and
pressing-- a big fat gripper like that might help, but not so much as
on a ballpoint. The greater problem is the cap, seen posted at
the right of picture above, which is small, slippery, and when in place
over the point very firmly
attached indeed. I have trouble getting it off, and I'm a huge
brute with good manual dexterity; how then would someone with
compromised joints get at it?
The bulb causes some difficulty in writing, arthritis or no. The
pen bounces around a little in a correct grip, demanding the writer to
bear down and compress the gel. It's not an uncomfortable thing
grappled with, but I've never tried writing with it for more than a few
minutes at a stretch. If you are a fan of cosplay, and want to
have a fountain pen while dressed as a Masamune Shirow character, it's brilliant. For the standard pen-user... I can't really recommend it.
Specifications:
Fine steel point. Cartridge/converter (uses both sizes of international cartridge). 14.0cm long capped, 15.1cm posted.
Condition: I used it once-- and by that I mean for one day, then emptied it, cleaned it, and put it away. The package
has a little damage from its trip across the Atlantic, so the
cardboard is no longer firmly mated to the big plastic base of the main
case, but the pen itself is in perfect order.
Repairs: None.
Location: My collection.
For sale?:
The only reason I'm not saying a definite "yes" is that I
occasionally entertain notions of going to a cosplay convention... and
I have trouble picturing anyone else really wanting one. If you
can't track one down on eBay or elsewhere, you can always try me:
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