It's the perfect product. I pick it up, I use it, it functions perfectly without thought. It's a lifelong mission to find any such tech product.
`man cat` don't think i've ever been upset at its functionality (or ever read the manual to be fair)
How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous
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Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous
#42[flagged]
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Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous
#43Such a crappy pen design, guess it proves mediocre designs sometimes prevail. The logical backflips that people use to justify its success are a little annoying though
Care to specify what makes this thing that sold 100 billion copies and is instantly, reliably usable in nearly any conceivable context so crappy? Why not also explain your superior design that you think would work so much better.
Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous
#44Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous
#45Such a crappy pen design, guess it proves mediocre designs sometimes prevail. The logical backflips that people use to justify its success are a little annoying though
Care to specify what makes this thing that sold 100 billion copies and is instantly, reliably usable in nearly any conceivable context so crappy? Why not also explain your superior design that you think would work so much better.
I guess compared to a "high end" pen its crap, but its like saying that the Citroen 2cv is crap compared to a semi truck if we talk about cargo capacity.
Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous
#46What's the proper name for that other, arguably even more well-recognized, BIC pen, that looks like Cristal except its main body is opaque orange, and is generally cheap garbage that breaks in your hand if you squeeze it it too hard, and doesn't even write half the time?
(And yeah, I remember the taste of it, too. I've "eaten" through my share of these pens as a kid. It's the one pen you can't bite on, unless you like having shards of orange plastic everywhere.)
It's also magical in a big way - it's almost as if it were enchanted with a "handwriting: -10" debuff, because that's what happens when you try writing with it, relative to anything else (including pencils and crayons). To this day, I occasionally wonder, how did they manage to achieve that distinct effect.
In my circles, BIC as a brand is basically the stuff you don't buy unless as a last resort, whether that's ballpoints or razors or anything else.
Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous
#47There are some amazing drawings done with blue Bics. https://mymodernmet.com/paulus-architect-ballpoint-pen-drawi...
I smell these.
Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous
#48The Cristal is the front-runner in my brain for "most iconic consumer product of the 20th century."
That said, it's weird how they've completely vanished from my personal landscape. The opaque white Biros are more common now. But I think I'll go seek out a Cristal later today, just for nostalgia's sake.
Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous
#49It's not very comfortable, its hard edges are unpleasant for the fingers and it feels too thin. The flimsy cap gets lost easy and there is an endless amount of ballpoint pens you can click, that don't even need a cap in the first place. Average clicking ballpoint pens have a plastic that's more comfortable to suck, lick and bite. I always hated them.
agreed, agreed, … wait what
You never bit on your pen? Especially back in the school days?
Ballpoint pens are the OG stress relief / concentration / "fidget spinner" toys. Except the BIC ones, those would easily shatter; suddenly finding your mouth to be full of sharp, orange or translucent shards of plastic, is the opposite of calm and focus.
Re: How the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became ubiquitous
#50It's the perfect product. I pick it up, I use it, it functions perfectly without thought. It's a lifelong mission to find any such tech product.
Ever tried writing a few pages with it? It requires too much pressure compared with gel pens, rollerball pens, let alone fountain pens (although the latter are not for everyone). It soon creates fatigue. And at least in my case I also make uglier handwriting with them that with gel pens, rollerball pens, let alone fountain pens. It's an extremely reliable product to do what it does, as well as extremely cheap, but fa…
So true. I hated using BIC ballpoint pens for this reason. I found the Pilot Rollerballs are my favorites to use. The 0.5mm size writes really smoothly.
I picked up a couple bolt action pens for some more heft and put the Pilot rollerball fillers into the pen to get a really pleasant writing experience.