When we look closer, we can see why the SA Rounds (4/5/6) caps of 7bit were so sought after.
For those who want to improve future Groupbuys of keycap sets and their legends, let's click "more" to see the details 7bit has worked on for the 'Rounds' set.
For those who want Geekhack, a supposedly IC & GB website now, that has been more open to critics pushing boundaries to keep on improving our future keyboard life, instead to become more like r/MK that downvote all constructive comments when that is even just slightly more direct and pointing to the fact, then it is okay to skip the "more"
1. The bigger size legends are to resemble the actual keycap set on the genuine Space Cadet keyboard
Just look at the D and the F keys of Rounds. See how legends on the alpha keys are more "blown-up", and the Rounds capture this design language (other than the usual font parameters of SP) much better.
For a few times, Signature Plastics made the legends too small to 7bit taste, and then 7bit reject those as seconds and sold them in a reduced price.
And now I see that I could have gotten those instead, but I didn't expect 7bit to disappear for such a long time.
2. Also, the legends of 1, 2, and 3 I just discovered and made me see this round as yet even more different from the Rounds.
Look at the numeral keys 1, 2, and 3 -- they are totally different font designs from the Rounds, which resembles the originals on the Space Cadet keyboard which I also prefer.
zslane followed for years the thread-of-hundreds pages of 7bit's Rounds Groupbuy on Deskthority and then he himself worked also as PayPal money collector for the Groupbuy. When he eventually ran his Groupbuys with (Mass)Drop, his SA Dasher & Dancer also used similar legends. Look at the beautiful 1, 2, and 3 on the numeric row:The above was just a render. And in reality:
More
The default Signature Plastic fonts can be seen here on this SA 1976 set, with their SP 1, 2, and 3, and their "F l", "F l O", "F l l", "F l 2":
During those time in 2012-2014, I don't know how much time and effort 7bit spent on this endeavor of Rounds - when no one has done that before.
I lived in a county with really bad road surface.
But the roads can be built even better, like in other counties.
I am not sure I can say "the sloppy side" is Signature Plastic, but they might just have too many orders going.
One thing for sure in the future GBs is that a few more e-mail exchanges with the manufacturers to ensure the details (e.g. those I am pointing out here) will be worth it.