Everyone has a crazy pen of some sort sitting around their house, don’t they? For those of you who don’t, you’re missing out on one of life’s little pleasures.  Come on.  How can you have a bad day if you’re writing with a yellow beaked, blue and purple haired, springy bodied bird?  At least I think that’s a bird in the picture.  There is just no way you can keep a straight face if you pull this craziness out to write with.  It immediately makes you smile.  I’ve been known to bring these things into meetings with me just to see how people will react.  OK…my team members are already used to my antics so there’s not much of a reaction there.  But when I head over to our Headquarters location, those people haven’t seen all my crap yet so for them it’s a surprise.  What fun!

Cuteness and craziness aside, I thought I’d try them out with a review in mind.  To be honest, when I do write with one of these it’s usually just to have some fun or to make some quick notes.  So I’ve never really given much thought to how well or poor they perform.  So without further ado, here are my findings on the first five pens that I grabbed out of my “junk” pen bag.

Red Santa Pen: I’m not sure who manufactures this pen because there are absolutely no markings to be found on the body, but it’s one big pain in the ass to write with.  Seriously.  The ink itself isn’t so bad.  It’s trying to actually write that’s horrible.  In order for the pen to light up (yes…light up), you have to press on the page hard enough for the tip to retract into the barrel.  Once it retracts, it makes some kind of contact to light the Santa part of the pen.  The problem is that the pen has to retract into the barrel, which makes it sort of…I dunno…pogo stick like.  I’m not sure that really makes sense but I can’t think of another way to get it across.  You can avoid this stupid design by pressing ever-so-lightly on the page so that the pen doesn’t bounce into the barrel.  But who wants to write that way?

Yellow Beak Pen: This is another pen that doesn’t have any markings, so…no idea who makes the pen.  But I must say, I like the way it writes.  The ink flows onto the page really nicely without any skipping or globbing.  The only drawback is the spring that’s used for the body of the bird (maybe a roadrunner?  whatever).  When you’re writing, the pen takes on a life of it’s own and goes swirling all over the place.  Makes it a tad difficult to try to write with a steady hand.  But who cares?  It’s such a goofy looking pen that penmanship hardly matters.

Kooky Klicker Pen: This is apparently the MacGyver of the pen world!  According to the website…

Kookys can be used as a:
Pen
Collectable & Tradable item
Bookbag/backpack decoration
Party Favor
Gift Decoration
Toy
Keychain
Gift
School Supply

Need I say more?  Go out and buy one.

Pink “Lots of Dots” Pen by Geddes: I love what this pen looks like.  It makes me smile every time I pick it up.  The ink is pretty decent and it’s not completely uncomfortable to hold, but it’s definitely not a pen I’d use to take copious amounts of notes.

Green “Fattyz” Pen by Pentech: Out of all the crazy pens, this one writes the best.  It lays down a smooth line of ink and doesn’t scratch, skip or leave globs all over the page.  It has a nice rubber grip which makes it comfortable to hold even though it’s a “fatty” pen.  I could actually use this for more than just a quick note.

So there you have it.  A review of a few of my crazy pens.  I have more, dear reader, so you may see yet another review some day. Or maybe just a cute picture will suffice?!