This is not normal, no.
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I contacted the store I got it from - they looked through every Twist they have an unfortunately all of them are scratched like that. ๐ Does Pelikan usually have QC issues? I wouldn't expect perfection on a cheap pen but that many being scratched seems pretty bad.
I wonder if it's an artifact of injection moulding then. Does it stick out a bit?
Sorry been a bit useless with keeping up lately. It doesn't stick out. They're very clearly a scratch as plastic has been removed (divot rather than proud or debossed rather than embossed or indented rather than protruding.... sorry got a bit carried away there with the synonyms and antonyms ๐ ). All three blemishes are different too - different angles, curves, lengths and depths.
I decided not to sweat it any more though. Yes, it's annoying to have a scratched pen straight out of the box but it can't be replaced with something unscratched and the nib writes so smoothly it makes up for it ๐
It may have been something that happened during shipping.
No, a brand new pen shouldn't have those kind of scratches. I've got a Pelikan Twist in blue and it arrived with absolutely no scratches.