A First Look

Transcript*

Intro

Hello there. It’s Paul back at it again from Loisirs vers le soleil. Today’s going to be a special, I’ll be a short video. We’re going to be demoing uh AK’s brand new Quick Markers. In fact, they’re still new. They’re still only on pre-order. They’re not actually released yet. So, uh links in the description down below for our website, direct links to the pre-order listings.

A New release

So, yes, and only the sets are on pre-order, not the individual markers, though we will be selling them as well. uh they will be released at the same time. So yes, uh we managed to get a hold of these two sets. Thank you, AK. And we will just be testing out their capabilities, not necessarily a full review. The full review will be reserved for when the actual main uh release happens. We’re going to be looking at the build quality of the markers, the quality and how the paint works, and um what makes this different compared to its older brothers, the real color markers and the Play Markers, and why you should care.

A Quick Review

Or maybe not. Who knows? Maybe this is one that’s not for you because it is very specific. Let’s quickly discuss the elephant in the room, which is the build. Uh the first iteration the Real Color Markers came out uh early to mid 2024. Uh play markers came out very very late 2024 early 2025 is about so let’s discover what makes the Real Color tick and it’s just honestly a Sharpie like tip.

It’s a very springy tip so you can touch it. It kind of bounces back but it’s one solid tip and it’s still active to this very day. So the difference between them is actually quite staggering. The engineering here is very good. Now the Play Markers has first of all this button. So the Real Markers are always active. There’s no button. That’s why it’s important. The environment and the cap is very important for the play markers. Those are also still important.

The Button

But there’s a third thing keeping the paint alive. The button. You press this. And let’s see if it drips. Yeah, there we go. I just pressed it a little bit and it dripped onto the cutting mat. and it’s still incredibly wet. Something about AK’s engineering here is very good because the tips themselves are also incredibly different. While the Real Color markers are solid tip or one solid tip, this is an indiv-or individual bristles. Sorry, these are individual bristles folded and kind of pointed towards one tip. You can flatten it. You can spread it around on the pallet or on your model, but ultimately it just kind of springs back into this one quote unquote solid tip.

Engineering

Despite it being individual bristles, it’s very good engineering. And this is also about a year and a half old and it’s still incredibly wet. So, the cap is incredibly important. Same with the environment. Uh these are both water-based uh acrylic markers. So they’re a little different to Gundam’s acrylic markers and enamel markers. Their acrylic is uh what it calls solvent based. Uh they have alcohol in them. This is pure water AK paints. And what’s the difference between these two and this one?

The brand new Quick Gen Markers. Well, let’s talk about engineering first. So this is what the Quick Marker looks like. and you’re like, “That looks exactly like the Play Marker.” And you’d be right because it basically is. Uh they have the exact same engineering. So they have the button, though I’ve lost the cover uh for my play marker specifically. Uh but that’s a button sort of protector so you don’t happen to accidentally press the reservoir all all the time. Um and yeah, and even has the tip.

Reservoir

So, this is what the tip of a Play Marker or now a Quick Marker would look like if you didn’t use the pen or the reservoir. And it had see, it’s more obvious that it is individual brush bristles forming one tip. You can actually kind of see it there. Yeah, there we go. See? And it just kind of stays even though I split it right there. It’s very, very good engineering by AK. But some people might get pissed though. I I do understand where they’re coming from. There’s a lot of uh well I wouldn’t say a lot I feel like there’s a lot more supporters of the Play Markers at least the engineering of it but a lot of people really do like the engineering of the Real Color Markers. They prefer the Sharpie tip over the individual bristles.

Uh what do you guys think? What do you prefer? Personally, I do prefer the individual bristles uh over the one solid tip. More flexible. um I won’t say more durable, but it’s definitely um you can do a lot more things with it compared to the Sharpie tip in my opinion. So, these are the sets um that you should expect. There are typically five each uh per pack and uh these two packs here are the different colors from within what’s included. And it does show the tip as well. So, that’s very good information if you’re not used to it. Okay, but why should I care, Paul? They already released two of the same pens.

Kind of sort of, right? Um, why should I care about a third one? Well, it’s all in the name, right? Quick Markers. They are promising the capabilities of contrast paint within a pen. That’s what that means. So, and you’re like, what the heck is a contrast paint for popularized it with the promise of if you have a game tomorrow, you only have six hours to paint in each individual pot of contrast paint is the main color plus the wash/shade to get into the recesses. So, essentially the weathering, it is the main color and the weathering all in one paint bottle. That’s what contrast promises. and it dries very fast because it’s very thin.

Capabilities

That’s the capabilities of contrast paint and that’s what uh they are promising in a pen form today. We’re going to be using this DND mini. I’m not sure which one this is, but we primed it white and white primer is important if you want it to come out as advertised the color. Anyway, this is Quick Markers human flesh. Let’s press the button. I remove the cover for it. See? Add see that. And it’s runnier than one might expect, especially since this is the contrast quick version.

Come on. Oh, yeah. It’s traveling. You can see it. It’s like chocolate syrup. It’s been a while since I’ve used one of these, but I completely forgot that um when the initial activation happens, it’s a little slow. It’s faster on subsequent presses, but on the initial activation, you kind of just have to hold the reservoir to activate it. Look, you have to hold the button like a syringe. So, yeah. Right. Like that. There we go. And away we go. You can already tell that it’s going into the recesses. And that’s great. We’ll do two thin coats of this. And I’m gonna use it on the hair as well.

Maybe I can do like some sort of dirty blonde hair. Who knows? But cuz I only have a bunch of browns basically. Let’s see if I can pull it off. Yeah, this sort of tip just works like a brush. I’m hitting it with bone brown just to see what it would look like just on the surface. Even though I know it’s a contrast paint, it won’t just hit the surface, but just light like this.

Bunch of browns

And it is kind of giving me some sort of brownish blonde look. I don’t know if it’s apparent on camera, but there we go. Then I’m going to hit it with desert sand while both paints are still wet. So essentially, I’m wet blending, which is a technique that’s completely possible with these markers, by the way. So yeah, it’s going. Not bad. It’s not going to be perfect cuz again I don’t have a yellow. This is just a bunch of browns. But while that dries, we’ll hit them with leather. Um the armor. Anyway, it’s okay if it’s a little runny. They’re all going to be some [ __ ] of brown anyway.

Who cares? We’re just going to fix it in post. And by post, I mean we’ll add more colors. All good. For anything wooden, I’ll be hitting it with orange brown. So, we’re just hitting the entire shield with brown here. And, you know, I do realize that there are metallic parts. Unfortunately, I don’t have metallics uh as part of the set. So, we’ll just have to make do with what we have here.

Right. So yeah, I pressed it a little bit more to get a second layer of uh orange brown to get that stained sort of varnished look effect on the wood. We’ll hit any sort of robes or under armour with putrid white. So basically I’m done. There’s only so much I can do with a figure that’s missing a left leg. Yeah, it came like that. It’s very strange.

Anyway, you’re like, “What? You’re done. How? Well, first and foremost, they fixed the main issue with Quick Gen paints that they released in 2025. My only issue with that paint, which otherwise remains to be the best contrast paints in the market in terms of quality and pigmentation, is that it has a slow drying time. By 2 hours in, I was still blow drying the figure and it was still wet.

Temps de séchage

It was ridiculous. Um, so the Quick Gen name was a little deceiving though it did dry uh 30 minutes later but still you know but this time I only had an hour to paint and in that time yes I managed to wet blend right as I showed but I also uh left the paint alone for maybe just 2 minutes and in 2 minutes the paint dried. So they fixed the main issue for Quick uh Gen paints here making this the fastest contrast paint in the market at least when it comes to drying time. so you can see for yourself when they finally release in a month or two. And uh yeah, if you have a game tomorrow or uh maybe an exhibition and you need something quickly painted, consider using Quick Markers. Now, I can’t fully rate these markers just yet based on the quality.

Again, I’ll have to see the full line, but pigmentation wise, they’re not bad. Oh, and the this is not two
layers. This not two thin coats. One coat, one one coat is all I’ve applied here essentially. That’s it. Exception uh would be like the hair, which honestly turned out great cuz again, what was it the joke? Like I don’t I don’t have like I’m limited by the technology of my time. That’s the joke. I only have two shades of brown, man. Unfortunately, we have to cut the video short here. Not for lack of drying, mind you, but only because there’s I have two brown sets. Again, previously mentioned, that’s all I have been sent. So, uh, I’ve done all I can for the Mini without any sort of metallics or any of the other colors, unfortunately.

Summary

But first impressions, the build, the build itself is a play marker. So, in my opinion, that’s good. Though I know a lot of people prefer the Real Markers. So, if you prefer the Real Markers, unfortunately, they seem to be hard committing to the Play Marker style of things. Uh, which is bad news from you, good news for me. Secondly, it dries the fastest.

Quality wise, um h about maybe citadel level um which is the baseline anyway. Um but it I wouldn’t say that it’s quick gen sort of levels. Maybe uh I need the other colors to see. Again, I’ve just been sent sent browns which uh may have dulled my tastes there. I don’t know. Who knows? We’ll find out in the full review in a couple months. Okay, so for now, this is Paul signing out. And don’t judge the figure too harshly. There’s only so much I can do with a figure that’s missing a left leg. Okay, thank you. Bye-bye.

About the Author:

Paul Catindig As someone who’s been building model kits since he was 8 years old, Paul is very knowledgeable and adept at model kit building! When he’s not building or painting kits, he spends his free time cooking, playing video games with friends, or at a restaurant patio somewhere. Hopes to make his very own movie one day.

*Video by Paul Catindig
Video Edited by Daniela Castellano
Transcript generated by youtube
Edited by Angelo Castellano