After Otakon this year, while cleaning up the booth and packing up the truck i found something unusual on the table. It was a small, silvery metallic thing wrapped in an Anime Gamers flier. At first i wasn’t sure what the heck the thing was, then my inner fanboy reaction kicked in and i realized what it was — it was a cigarette lighter.
Why on earth would a cigarette lighter give me the warm fuzzies? Because it was an Imco Triplex Super. Still not ringing any bells? It’s the lighter that Abe based Reki’s lighter on that she uses in Haibane Renmei 
They still make em today - basically, the design comes from trench lighters used during WWI. It was a gift from my old friend Arc Ressiv (you know him, he’s a mod on the Fredart Forums) and i never did properly thank him for the gift. Thank’s Arc 
Of course, if anyone knows how to touch a haibane fanboy’s fancy, it’s Arc. (there is a site that has pictures of an older Imco lighter even closer to Reki’s and a mock up of the cigarettes she smokes, but damn if i can’t find the link. For now, here’s another site that has more pictures and info on Imco lighters)
(edit: here’s a screenshot of Rakka using Reki’s lighter. :P)
Now, Seraphim’s first comment to me about being so amused with the lighter was that me carrying a lighter around was like a Star Wars fanboy carrying around a light saber - i don’t smoke, what could i possibly use the thing for? Heh, no way to really defend myself there…
Now, the amusing part of all this is the fact that i don’t think the lighter had much fluid in it (ok, i played with it a lot) because recently it ran out. Not a difficult thing, really - i just bought some lighter fluid and figured that i’d fill it. Now, the only problem was… if you ever play with a wick based cigarette lighter that has run out of fluid, you are going to burn away some of the wick.
This is where the melding of multiple fanboy worlds come together
After doing a little research, i came upon some maintenance info for the triplex super, and learned about replaceable wicks and how you should be able to just pull more wick out if it gets too short. Recently, I picked up a Leatherman (you know, the multi tool plier thing that Largo uses - we will soon be carrying them in the store (it won’t be till after christmas, more info on that in January - no, i’m not gonna tell you which one Largo uses yet :P)) and like any new cool thing, i had a period of time where i wanted to use it for everything. Now it’s just kinda there on my belt and really has become a nice thing to have with me. Using the pliers i was able to pull out a nice new length of wick, and using the scissors i was able to trim it nicely. It was like this beautiful simpatico of fanboyness and tinkering.
Pretty soon i had a nicely functioning, filled and fully working Haibane Renmei lighter to plop back in my pocket for nor reason other than to have something cool in my pocket… sorta like the leatherman i wear around too.
God, i am so pathetic.
- pirotunes: Torch Song - Raphael -
Pathetic? Not really. I feel for the people who are incapable of enjoying little things like that. Finding happiness in a lighter is neat. So is Haibane Renmei
w00t. Fire!
Geeks gotta have tools ’cause you never know when you might need ‘em. It’s simply a matter of being prepared. (Yes, I’m in that category: If one of my colleagues needs a tool, someone will say “Go see Greyscribe. I’m sure he has one.” And I usually do. It’s nice to feel needed.
And I admire your choices of tools: The Imco Triplex is a classic, time-tested design, and Leatherman still makes some of the best multitools offered. (And, no, I don’t smoke…unless I’m thinking really hard or sitting too close to the fire.)
I’ve had a micro Leatherman for years that I always carry. It makes me feel very deprived now that I can’t take it with my on plane trips. I’ve considered mailing it to myself at each destination hotel, except that I’d eventually lose it that way. [NOTE: The limit is only that I think I might lose it, not that it's ludicrous to actually forward it to myself :D] Have fun with the lighter, but don’t have any accidents a la “Meth for Dummies”.
FIRE IS GOOOD!!! BURNNN! MUAHAHAHA.
Okay, fire rant over. No, pathetic you are not. Obsessed, maybe, but thats not a bad thing
^_^
Hmmm, it’s not really all that pathetic to carry “charmed” items around. Humans have been carrying around personal fetishes for thousands of years. Personally, I carry a dried-up pawpaw fruit (not sure why, it’s just very smooth and a cool feeling shape in my fingers), a lucky stone (a gray pebble with a complete circlet of milky quartz), a Shinto good luck charm, a Swiss Army knife, and a small statue of Ganesha. Enjoy your lighter and leatherman, they have special and personal significance for you.
Everyone has his little strange habbits
As for me i collect useless information and tv quotes. But i also carry a weird thing with me all the time. Its a minature eightball atached to my keyring. Me and my friend belive it has magical powers becouse when i’m holding it in my hand i create misfortune for everyone around me ;P I just went around holding it between my indexfinger and the thumb all day and it turned out to be my friends worst day. Appaerent a lot of “unlucky” things had happened to him. This happened several times, but only when i held it in my hand :/
/me is so pathetic ;P
heh, i understand all of that… i collect lighters…
Fanboyness or not, there’s something wonderful about beautiful little functional tools that bespeak a time when physical craftsmanship was more important. While looking at the links I noticed that the lighter Hayami carries in Blue Submarine No.6 also appears to be based on an IMCO from the 1920’s.
Well pathetic would not be the word I would use instead I would call it unique. We all tend to carry around crazy little objects, like fortune cookie fortunes.
No, you’re not pathetic. Often when we get new stuff we are fascinated by them and then it wears off. Unless it is something like a Leatherman. I have worn mine (on my belt) for over 10 years now and I feel like I am missing a limb when I don’t have it with me. Many are the jackets whose lining has been ruined from the friction against the sheath.
When it comes to flying, I always pack it in my luggage (or try to remember to, it is rather embarrassing when the security alarm goes off because I have forgotten to take it off) so I can use it at my new destination. I hope they’ll remove the stupid regulations for these things soon considering every time there’s been knives involved they’ve been smuggled on earlier pre-flight.
With hopes Fred enjoys his new toys and tools,
/Lindus