While I have to admit that 2025 has been a transformative year for me as a mechanical pencil collector — to say the least — because this community allowed me to come so much closer to basically seal my collection once and for all, I have to acknowledge a tangential track my habits have taken, and again the role Knockology has had in this movement.
So, pens: when I arrived here, as often said, my only real pen was a Pilot Hi-Tec G4, the same model I started using in the late 90’s during my high school; I had already bought some mildly interesting items (most notably, a rOtring Art Pen in EF, a vintage Montblanc, a PD fineliner, and a Tombow Mano), but pens were even less than a side project, and I used them for the bare minimum, as e.g. writing addresses on postal forms to ship pencils abroad — for that purpose, since it is often required to write aggressively on copy paper made of multiple layers, I used a CdA ballpoint with Goliath cartridge.
Then 2025 happened, and I discovered a new kink: accompanying pens. It started with the rOtring 600 I already owned, which somewhat demanded for me to complete the triad of the Germans and find at least a FC Alpha Ball at a decent price; then I stumbled upon a Staedtler Micromatic 777 silver pair BP+MP, and then I spotted a Tombow Titan I could not let go…
Various trips to my hometown and to the surrounding cities of Udine and Pordenone allowed me to get a PD Arc FP, a Zebra Sharbo TX-2, a Vittorio Martini Balance, a Bugatti BP and a Zoom from Tombow, further enhancing my taste in design (for a more modest approach, I found two Lamy’s in white which proved very interesting to use).
Following ideas and directions from this community, however, it soon all went downhill, and various trades with members here allowed me to get to know an entirely different world of pens, all delightfully unusual and amazingly fascinating: to begin with, @drifand connected me to the IXI design pen modelled after the Parafernalia Linea pencil, and as well the Pearson’s Collection pair.
A fortunate strike on FB Marketplace secured for me a rOtring 600G BP, which I had no idea it even existed, but boy it delivered. Then, again Drifand and @amjacobs7 teamed up to equip me with what I consider today my little revolution in terms of pens, and my dream EDC.
Top to bottom:
• The UniBall Zento Signature: terrific in every aspect (balance, dimensions, clicks, magnets, colours), even if the occasionally skipping tip of the cartridge could be improved. It would be better only if it were a pencil instead of a pen, but I am working on that. 
• The Platinum Beeline: loaded with a modern gel ink cartridge (Aurora Roller with M tip), it is light, effective, impeccable, and astonishingly efficient; never imagined such a simple object could dethrone my Pilot Hi-Tec-C, and yet here it is, delivering seamlessly every single time.
• The Lamy Unic: I was fortunate enough to find a black version for a trade on this platform, and while I was waiting to ship it, I had the chance to rock it for a few sessions: what a beast! When I later found another one in shiny finish at a reasonable price, I could not resist — I still slightly prefer the stealth version, but this one remains an abolsute favourite of mine.
• The rOtring 600G: industrial, bold, almost aggressively present, could survive an atomic apocalypse and still write beautifully.
So, I still have to find a good bargain for an Ohto Flat-C or a TWISBI Precision, but I am very happy with what I found, and what may come next ( @DarkwingDuck has found a FC 07*L which needs to be acquired for its name alone).
I will never prefer pens over pencils, I am afraid; but I am slowly learning to love the inky side of the world, one discovery at a time. Speaking of which: my last trip to my hometown, this Christmas, offered me the chance to buy the weirdest-looking pen I own so far, namely this anomaly from Vittorio Martini 1866, in the form of a Chinese-Calligraphy Brush (?!?).
I know very little about this pen, save for the fact that it needs a very unusual handling to mimic properly the gesture of ideographic script: any suggestion on what it is, and what its name may be?
