PBTFans Atomic Purple - R2 Pre-orders now live!

R1 had the following Artisan keycap - Salvun x Maxvoltar x Bobatype








Specs: Top is aluminium, stone washed, and laser engraved. Bottom is hand-dyed polycarb.

Keycap colour samples process - (furthest right column (r6) is the final color approved):


Other colours confirmed on prior rounds (note that on R3 purple was initially approval but later retracted with several further revisions)

I’ve always wanted a retro gaming themed keycap set that I not only had a personal connection with, but also had a bright and playful palette, not based around beige and greys. Atomic Purple hits that mark for me in terms of nostalgia and childhood fun, being the raddest versions of the GBC and N64 controllers. Although translucent tech casing was a fad of the 90s, as a child, the exposed inner electromechanical components of the devices was a visual delight. Being able to have a peek under the plastic increased one’s geeky appreciation/fascination for the underlying technology.
Furthermore, the way these caps hint at the inner molding, much like the source reference, makes me really happy at how it all lines up.
Essentially this is a nostalgic affection for the see-through casing of gaming devices and controllers of the past, particularly the ones that I personally played. I’ll always have a sweet spot for them, as they featured some of the most beloved games of its generation. I can’t say I miss blowing on cartridges though.

‘Atomic’ to me implies looking at the underlying structure, so I wanted to play upon the chemistry angle too. This is why some of the novelties simultaneously resemble atomic structures like nucleus/bonds and also the outlines/shapes of controller buttons. Chemistry is pretty cool too.

No. I am limited by the manufacturer constraints on the available doubleshot legend molds, and what kits the vendor also believes are financially viable for minimum order quantities.

Although the RGBY keys were originally intended to be opaque with subtle RGBY legends to directly reference to the original controller buttons, semi-transparent keys were strongly preferred by the manufacturer due to the costs. Furthermore, renders revealed that the semi-transparent primary coloured keycaps still look fantastic and objectively more consistent; retaining the translucency and white legends adjacent to see-through purple caps. These accents are also meant to represent the portable gaming console’s self-titled introduction of ‘Color’ to its own handheld system.
Throughout this design project, it’s been a delicate task in balancing between interpreting the original theme faithfully, but also not becoming so hung up on an exact reproduction in a different medium; compromising overall design cohesiveness/aesthetic. Thus, please forgive me in advance for the artistic licence that I’ve had to employ at times in regards to the colours and novelties.

Confirming in-stock production timelines
?More collabs
I’m currently developing other translucent keycap sets based on 90s early 00s technology/gaming (WIP). Depending on how this particular project goes, I may get an opportunity in the future to run GBs for the other colours in the Funtastic range too (i.e. Grape Purple) as the novelty molds already exist.

This is a contentious topic with lots of heated opinions, and it’s hard to compare across eras, so really... it’s the one you grew up with. They all stand on the shoulders of giants before. Personally, the ones that had the most impact on me were in fact the handhelds like the GBC due to their portability.

Bob (KBDFans) and Pensa (renders).
Cheers to Its.Hymn for the F1-8K renders.
To Aiglatson Studio, Cylent and KDD, for providing answers/feedback to some simple questions; your willingness to reply is appreciated.
A nod to Oli for being cool dude I can bounce ideas off.

Appreciation also goes out to developers of Blender, Inkscape, and KRK (Imperfectlink); including the designers of the respective keyboards in the renders depicted.

Acknowledgement goes to other game-themed keycap sets that served as inspiration, such as: GMK DMG, GMK Dualshot, and GMK Cubed.

I also copied Hali’s Horsey IC’s BBcode for hyperlinking sections.