You ever seen those four-color pens, the ones that are essentially four pens in one? I think that if you had one of those, then you wouldn’t have to carry around four different writing instruments. It is probably one of the most simple combination devices that I know of.

Yet here we are, carrying around a pencil and a pen when we could just make a pen and a pencil that combines into one? This is exactly what Japanese stationary designer Metaphys did, a pen and pencil that can shift with just a click of a button. Not only that, it also includes an eraser.

The 2mm lead holder is for when you need to replace the pencil, and I assume that you can replace the ink just as easily. As for the eraser, I don’t know about that one.

You know, this is one of those ideas that is just so simple that I don’t understand why someone didn’t just up and make a pen/pencil combo before this. In other words, I wish I had thought of it. It reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons where Professor Frink gets a Nobel prize for thinking of a tool that is a combination of a hammer and a screwdriver.

This Locus 3WAY pen sells for about $55, but that might be a little too much for me.

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