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Mont Blanc – StarWalker Blue Planet The 2020 Mont Blanc StarWalker Blue Planet fountain pen pays homage to our home in the universe, and calls attention to the dark blue water in earth’s oceans. Not surprisingly, Mont Blanc also released an accompanying dark blue ink, that is the subject of this review. The ink’s packaging looks lovely, with a design that provides an inspiring view of Earth as seen from space, with swirling clouds over blue oceans. In the box you’ll find a very nice 50ml bottle of StarWalker Blue Planet. StarWalker Blue Planet is a dark blue ink that moves towards blue-black territory, without actually getting there. It’s still without question a blue ink, but quite a dark one. I like blue-black inks a lot, and this one charmed me by keeping its blue origins, while at the same time being dark enough to offer a nice alternative to the more traditional blue-black. It’s also different enough from my other blue inks to make it stand out from the pack. I personally like the way it looks! The ink is well-saturated, and looks great in all nib sizes. This dark blue ink fits perfectly in the workplace, looking serious while still standing out from the standard blue and black crowd. A great everyday writing ink. Blue Planet has a limited dynamic colour range, without much contrast between the light and darker parts. The result is soft shading that – while very present – is never harsh, but looks elegant and pleasing to the eye. The shading is most prominent in nib sizes M and above, but even with EF/F nibs you see hints of shading that lend some character to your writing. I personally think this ink’s shading works brilliantly. On the smudge test – rubbing text with a moist Q-tip cotton swab – the ink shows a bit of weakness. Lots of visible smudging, but the text itself remains very legible. Further water tests show Blue Planet’s total lack of water resistance. All that lovely dark blue quickly dissipates, leaving next to nothing on the page. This is also apparent from the lower part of the chromatography, which shows that only some shadows of the ink remain on the paper. Drying times are close to the 5-second mark with the Lamy Safari M-nib test pen, making Blue Planet a relatively fast-drying ink. I’ve tested the ink on a wide variety of paper – from crappy Moleskine to high-end Tomoe River. On each scrap of paper I show you: An ink swab, made with a cotton Q-tip 1-2-3 pass swab, to show increasing saturation An ink scribble made with a Lamy Safari M-nib fountain pen The name of the paper used, written with a Lamy Safari B-nib A small text sample, written with an M-nib Source of the quote, with a Pelikan M400 F cursive italic Drying times of the ink on the paper (with the M-nib) Since this is my first review of 2021, I start with a new set of quotes for the writing samples on different types of paper. After giving it some thought, I decided to go with quotes from Isaac Asimov and his Foundation Series. I personally think these are relevant in the current geopolitical climate. Coming from a computer science background, I also appreciate Asimovs strong belief in the power of science. Since scans alone don't give a complete picture, I also add some photos to give you an alternative look at the ink. Mont Blanc StarWalker Blue Planet looks great on all my test papers, both the white and more yellow ones. The ink behaved almost perfectly. Only with Moleskine paper and printing paper did I notice a tiny amount of feathering. See-through and bleed-through are visibly present with Moleskine paper, but not an issue with the other papers in my test set. Like most Mont Blanc inks this is a well-behaving one. Writing with different nib sizes The picture below shows the effect of nib sizes on the writing. All samples were written with a Lamy Safari, which is typically a dry pen. I also added a visiting pen – a wet Pelikan M405 Stresemann with an F cursive-italic nib. In all cases, Blue Planet leaves a well-saturated line and wrote fluently with good lubrication. I also enjoy the soft shading of this ink, which looks really elegant. Shading is hinted at in EF/F nibs, and is very present in M-nibs and above. An excellent writing ink! Related inks To compare this StarWalker Blue Planet with related inks, I use a nine-grid format with the currently reviewed ink at the center. This format shows the name of related inks, a saturation sample, a 1-2-3 swab and a water resistance test – all in a very compact format. The grid format makes it easy for you to compare the Mont Blanc ink with similarly coloured inks. The ink looks different enough from my other dark blues to stand out from the pack. Inkxperiment – Yin & Yang As a personal experiment, I try to produce interesting drawings using only the ink I’m reviewing, keeping things simple and more-or-less abstract. Making these single-ink mini-pieces allows me to show what the ink is capable of in a more artistic context. For this drawing I started with a 10x15 cm piece of HP photo paper, on which I drew the background using a piece of foam and heavily water-diluted ink. I then drew in the dividing line, and darkened up the bottom part of the background. Using a yin&yang theme, I drew in some opposing features on the day & night side: sun vs moon, cityscape vs treeline. The resulting drawing shows quite well what can be achieved with this StarWalker Blue Planet as a drawing ink. Conclusion Mont Blanc’s StarWalker Blue Planet is a serious-looking dark blue ink. It’s hinting at blue-black territory without crossing that line. And it manages to do this well. This ink is a nice alternative for blue-black ink lovers. The ink works well with all types of nibs and a broad range of papers, showing some really nice and soft shading. Unfortunately: no water resistance. I quite enjoyed this Mont Blanc ink. Just be aware that it is a Limited Edition ink, so if you like it, now is the time to grab a bottle. Technical test results on Rhodia N° 16 notepad paper, written with Lamy Safari, M-nib Backside of writing samples on different paper types