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Pilot: Metropolitan & Prera; How Many Colors, Styles?


bardharlock

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I received my first Pilot Prera yesterday and I am amazed at the quality of the nib on a relatively inexpensive pen. I always prefer Japanese pens for their exquisite fine nibs. The Prera fine compares very well to my Sailor Pro Gear Slim EF 14k gold nib. I am very impressed!

 

Having said that, I do enjoy collecting things as well. As far as I can tell, the Prera has 16 variants with nine solid colors and 7 demonstrators. Are there any others I am missing? Special or limited editions? Some seem to have started out as LE or were presumed LE and ended up as production models. Is the white endcap model real , or a frankenpen?

 

And since the Metropolitan has the same nib and feed system, and are even less expensive, how many variants are available in that model?

 

Please forgive me if these are commonly asked questions. I've been away from the forums quite a while, but now have time to participate in my beloved hobby once again. Thanks in advance for your help!

Edited by bardharlock

"In this world... you must be oh, so smart, or oh, so pleasant. Well for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."

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Perhaps a web search is in order, no?

Obviously I searched before asking here, but there is ambiguous information so I felt my best shot was asking fellow collectors in the know, but thanks for your advice.

"In this world... you must be oh, so smart, or oh, so pleasant. Well for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."

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I was wondering about that same question for the Metropolitan. I haven't kept track of all the Prera colors, but the Metropolitan seems to be available in both fine (if they're not sold out) and medium point in either solid colors, or solid color with a pattern just above the section. Patterns seem to be "themes." Other than solid colors, these are the different themes I found:

 

zigzag pattern

dots pattern

MR animal pattern

 

Pilot's web site only shows the MR animal collection and solid colors. Other sites have dots and zigzag as well, so I wonder if they're changing the pattern themes and the dots and zigzags are only available from distributors until they're sold out.

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Pilot Metropolitan has the Purple, Gold, Silver and black Black

Pilot Cocoon sister model of Metropolitan came out in F has various pop-y colors, Silver, Bordeaux, Titanium and Metal Gray

Pilot Prera, Straight Gray, Royal Blue, Vivid Pink, Ivory, Soft Blue, Lime Green, White, Yellow, Black

Pilot Prera Iro-ai, transparent version of the Prera can be found in gouletpens.com named after the iroshizuku colors initially comes as a Calligraphy nib

http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/fountain/fountain/cocoon/

http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/fountain/fountain/prera/

http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/fountain/fountain/prera_iro_ai/

Edited by Algester
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  • 2 weeks later...

Pilot introduced a new set of Metropolitans in a wider variety of colors and band decorations. At Jetpens, they have black, silver, taupe (bronze), purple, and white, with various band decorations. Seems to be animal themed this time. They're also available in F as well as the previous M nibs.

 

http://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-Metropolitan-Fountain-Pens/ct/1706

 

I picked up some recently, and the F nibs are just as smooth as the Ms were. Really great pens for such a bargain price. They even include both a squeeze converter and a cartridge. I posted a photo of one of the new F nib pens on one of the other threads.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/266453-pilot-metropolitan/?do=findComment&comment=2996651

Edited by wikeh2004
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As inotrym points out, at one point there were Prera demonstrators with coloured opaque ends as opposed to translucent. I seem to recall the version with opaque ends pre-dated the translucent, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I think you're missing at least a half-dozen from your tally.

Edited by rollerboy
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Yes indeed. 15 with transparent barrels and sections with solid endcaps. I hope I manage to track them all down.

"In this world... you must be oh, so smart, or oh, so pleasant. Well for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."

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I was wondering about that same question for the Metropolitan. I haven't kept track of all the Prera colors, but the Metropolitan seems to be available in both fine (if they're not sold out) and medium point in either solid colors, or solid color with a pattern just above the section. Patterns seem to be "themes." Other than solid colors, these are the different themes I found:

 

zigzag pattern

dots pattern

MR animal pattern

 

Pilot's web site only shows the MR animal collection and solid colors. Other sites have dots and zigzag as well, so I wonder if they're changing the pattern themes and the dots and zigzags are only available from distributors until they're sold out.

 

The local pen store owner told me that the dots weren't selling that well on the Metropolitans. Apparently the animal prints outsold the dots by about 4:1. I didn't even know there was a zig zag pattern. Even the plain colored ones were a little hard to find. I picked up the last plain black Metro that the store had.

I'll keep on struggling, 'cause that's the measure of a man.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Pilot Metropolitan has the Purple, Gold, Silver and black Black

Pilot Cocoon sister model of Metropolitan came out in F has various pop-y colors, Silver, Bordeaux, Titanium and Metal Gray

Pilot Prera, Straight Gray, Royal Blue, Vivid Pink, Ivory, Soft Blue, Lime Green, White, Yellow, Black

Pilot Prera Iro-ai, transparent version of the Prera can be found in gouletpens.com named after the iroshizuku colors initially comes as a Calligraphy nib

http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/fountain/fountain/cocoon/

http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/fountain/fountain/prera/

http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/fountain/fountain/prera_iro_ai/

 

A slight correction. There is no solid black color Prera. Rather is is a chocolate brown.

 

Only the demonstrators come with calligraphy nibs in addition to the standard fine and medium. The solids only come with fine and medium nibs. The good news is that you can interchange the calligraphy nibs of the plumix with the prera and gain your CM nib that way if necessary.

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. - W. Somerset Maugham

 

http://wendyvancamp.com

 

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A slight correction. There is no solid black color Prera. Rather is is a chocolate brown.

 

Only the demonstrators come with calligraphy nibs in addition to the standard fine and medium. The solids only come with fine and medium nibs. The good news is that you can interchange the calligraphy nibs of the plumix with the prera and gain your CM nib that way if necessary.

ok I stand corrected really looks like black on my monitor and I didnt read the katakana...

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I have a chocolate brown Prera inked with Private Reserve Chocolat fast-dry. It may be my favorite pen/ink combination.

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ok I stand corrected really looks like black on my monitor and I didnt read the katakana...

No worries. I thought it was a black pen when I first started to look at the Prera too. I thought it was interesting that they only offered a brown pen instead. I'm thinking of getting one for my collection. I like to write with sepia toned ink and it would be nice pen to dedicate to that type of ink. :)

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. - W. Somerset Maugham

 

http://wendyvancamp.com

 

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