Pelikan M100 Stormtrooper — A Classic In The Making

[caleb]

Pelikan M100 Stormtrooper Review

(Note: due to restrictions on amount of images I could post, I had to omit a number of photos. If you would like to read the review complete with all photos, please click here to be redirected to my website).

Pelikan stopped manufacturing the white Pelikan M100 in 1993, due to low sales. However, especially today, this discontinued Pelikan is in quite high demand, and, after hunting down this pen for the better half a year, I can definitely see why.

The brand is a household name in the world of fountain pens. The brand started in 1832 as an ink and chemical company founded by Hanoverian chemist Carl Hornemann. Later, in 1871, Prussian chemist Günther Wagner became the chief chemist, registered Pelikan’s trademark—the famous pelican. Then, in 1929, Pelikan manufactured its first fountain pen, followed by the cheaper M100 in 1934. Since then, Pelikan has boomed, becoming one of the premier manufacturers of fountain pen the world over.

The Pelikan M100, despite its name, is actually not the smallest Pelikan still widely available (although not in production) today—that honor falls to the Pelikan M300. However, this is not to say that the Pelikan M100 is a particularly large, or even a medium size pen. It is really quite small (being only 16.5 cm long capped and 15.5 cm uncapped). That being said, it isn’t a very narrow pen, having a comfortable section diameter of about 1 cm.

These factors actually make for a very comfortable writing experience. The pen is extremely comfortable both posted and unposted, and I have written with it for hours at a time without feeling very much fatigue. To add to this, the pen is also very light, making it even more comfortable. However, if one does have particularly large hands, this pen may not be so comfortable. But, for most, if you are considering purchasing this pen but may not because you think it may be too small, do not let it dissuade you. This is a very comfortable pen to write with.

The design of this pen would seem very familiar to anyone with a Pelikan pen, with only two major differences. For one, it uses the old Pelikan finial, which is essentially a sharp dome instead of the modern three-tiered design. The second difference is that the M100 Stormtrooper has a white plastic body with black furniture. This makes the M100 particularly striking as the contrast between the body and the clip, cap band, and nib are especially stark, being black and white. The pen, while officially called the ‘Pelikan M100 White’ has been called the Stormtrooper by its fans due to its colors which strongly resemble the outfit of a Stormtrooper. It would seem right at home in the standard issue of the Galactic Imperial Infantry.

However, there is one downside to this pen’s paint job, and honestly, it drives me insane. This is that, given that the majority of the pen is bright white, any ink that finds its way onto the pen is extremely visible—especially inside the cap and the threads. The ink window in this pen also isn’t of much help as, in poor lighting scenarios, the black coating makes the color of the ink inside rather difficult to see (Although ink level is perfectly clear). However, with a tissue nearby (at all times), both of these issues can be easily overcome. (However, please, for the love of God: Do Not—I repeat Do NOT put any sort of super saturated, easily staining ink *cough* baystate blue *cough* in this pen. It will never come out of the body, and this pen is far too beautiful to ever be stained.)

The pen fills using Pelikan’s time-tested piston that is as smooth as butter and never fails. However, as mentioned above, the section does have to be inserted into the ink to fill, and this can be annoying. The pen has a great ink volume for its size, measuring around 0.9 mL and fills up almost all the way to the top every time.

The cap of this pen is classic Pelikan, and twists off in just under one turn, revealing the nib, section, and ink window. The section of the pen itself is actually quite small. However, the threads are not at all sharp, so they are easy to put your fingers on. The nib of this pen is absolutely gorgeous, however. It is a black coated, stainless steel EF, that, while tiny (only 2 cm long), sings like no other nib I own. It is quite smooth, but it gives back just the right amount of feedback so that you know that he tines are running over the paper. It has a good amount of variation to boot, and it rarely hard starts. It is a wonderful nib to use.

Unfortunately, this pen is no longer manufactured, and hasn’t been for almost 14 years now. However, it is still available from retailers on ebay and other sites, many in NOS condition. I received mine as a gift, although I had picked it out from reddit.com/r/pen_swap. It was in NOS uninked condition, and even came with a K100 ballpoint and its original clamshell case. If you can find this online, I highly recommend taking a close look at it as it is, in my opinion, on its way towards being a classic and well worth the purchase price.

_________________

If you liked this review, and would like to hear about more, please consider subscribing to Pens on Park. (We promise to not spam your inbox, and every subscription helps.)

[visvamitra]

Thanks for the review. I always enjoyed the way this pen looks but it's simply to small for my taste. And I do agree that this material can be stained by ultrasaturated inks.

[Feanaaro]

" (being only 16.5 cm long capped and 15.5 cm uncapped)"

 

That cannot be right, those would be the dimensions of a huge pen, bigger than the M1000 in fact.

[caleb]

" (being only 16.5 cm long capped and 15.5 cm uncapped)"

 

That cannot be right, those would be the dimensions of a huge pen, bigger than the M1000 in fact.

 

Yes — my mistake. The pen is in fact 12.5 cm long capped and 11 cm long uncapped. I seem to be unable to edit the original post, but thank you for noticing and sorry for the error.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

I just bought one here! Original paper box and case. Still had the M100 tag on the clip. Mine is a "F" and had just a touch of feedback.

 

They have gone up in value, originally selling for around $50, IIRC. I paid more than that.

 

Oddly though, mine had a black case.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Fuzzy_Bear

[caleb]

I just bought one here! Original paper box and case. Still had the M100 tag on the clip. Mine is a "F" and had just a touch of feedback.

 

They have gone up in value, originally selling for around $50, IIRC. I paid more than that.

 

Oddly though, mine had a black case.

 

Yes mine arrived in a white box as it was part of a FP/BP set. The fp only pens did indeed come in black boxes.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

I wonder how rare the FP/BP/Pencil set is? Mine actually has slots for all three.