Introduction

A little over an year ago, Drop decided to get serious about it's interests in the keyboard and audio hobby space, and sent us its CTRL and ALT keyboards for review. The keyboards were well built although overpriced for what they offered at the time, and admittedly that wasn't on Drop given these keyboards had been out for a while already, so I was looking forward to see what was next to come from Drop. As it turns out, a whole overhaul of the pre-built lineup combined with new licensed IP was the end result. Drop introduced its new Icon collection of keyboards that comprises of the Expression, Signature, and Paragon series, going from more affordable to more premium/expensive. The licensed IP includes heavy-hitters such as Marvel and The Lord of the Rings, in addition to PC-relevant brand Noctua, and we will take a look at some of these over the next few weeks.


I'd be remiss if I did not confess I am a massive Tolkien fanboy. I have all his published work—some in multiple forms (to collect and to read)—and can probably win most pub quizzes on the subject. For example, I recognize that the Drop + The Lord of the Rings Elvish keyboard seen above, which I will henceforth shorten to Drop + LOTR Elvish for convenience, uses the Tengwar script as adopted by the high elves although it's not in a 1:1 latin translation when it comes to placement. Indeed, the keycap creator Matt3o intends for these to be used for a more logical typing of actual Sindarin, should there be LOTR nerds who study the language, although for most others here the basic appeal of the keyboard would be aesthetics and an homage to a beloved fantasy universe. This keyboard released recently alongside another one going the Dwarven route, to no doubt be part of the LOTR: The Rings of Power show hype at the time, and both products use keycaps from previously released keycap sets/kits alike. Thanks to Drop for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp, as we begin our closer examination of the keyboard with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications