Matrix MY-2K 1999 Review: Sunflower Yellow Godzilla Custom Keyboard

The Matrix MY-2K 1999 is the newest in the FAUKWAA series and their first 75% board — built around that whole millennium Y2K retro-futurist aesthetic, which is where the name comes from (the year, not the price, just to be clear). This sunflower yellow version comes dressed with a Godzilla keycap set and two sculpted artisan keys, and honestly, it's the most cohesive thing the series has put out yet. The design language feels mature, the typing feel — which had been a pretty vocal pain point — is finally actually good. But that flush F-row takes some getting used to, and at $570 USD, it's asking for more than just the raw typing experience.

Design: The FAUKWAA Line's First 75%

The MY-2K series has done 80%, 100%, and Alice layouts before, but the 1999 is their first compact 75% — we're talking 6.25U spacebar, 1.25U modifiers, and an F-row that sits flush right against the number row with no gap at all. The case sticks with the family's whole hard-edged, decoration-forward vibe: you've got a vertical stack of elements running down the right side, a light strip cutting through the middle, and that stainless mirror logo you can flip left or right depending on the mood.

Fully assembled, it weighs 2.85kg with a 20.5mm front height, rides on a bottom-mount beryllium copper structure, and uses a 1.2mm slotted PCB. It's all about mass and material — there's no RGB switch LEDs or anything like that, just a clean wired setup. Where things get interesting is the back plate: stone-washed, mirror-polished, and engraved aluminum panels layered together, with gold back plates on the retro grey and tundra green colorways.

The Right-Side Element Column

The real signature move is that right-hand cluster: a small display, a dot-matrix light element, a light module, an engraved "No. 1999" plate, and a fidget slider all stacked vertically next to the arrow keys. The early renders looked pretty cluttered to a lot of people — like all these elements fighting for attention. But once actual boards started showing up? Pretty much everyone agreed the photos didn't do it justice. In person, the different materials read as intentional layering instead of noise.

The Godzilla Pairing

Finding a keycap set that actually looks good with sunflower yellow? Short list. And they all start blending together after a while. The Godzilla set from Fingertip Cultural Creative breaks that mold though — brown alphas with kana legends, cream modifiers, red and blue accent caps that just work against the yellow case.

The two artisan keys tie the whole thing together. You've got the zomo nuke sitting in the left Esc spot — this sculpted warhead that's genuinely fun to look at, but (and someone pointed this out pretty wryly) you'd have to pull it off before actually hitting the key. Then the Artlin Industrial Season 2 piece on the right side grounds everything back to that Y2K monster-movie vibe the kit's going for.

Typing Feel, Quirks, and Who It's For

Matrix kits got a rep for feeling soft and trampoline-y with the beryllium copper structure, and the acoustics were rough around the edges. The 1999 actually fixes that — biggest improvement of the bunch. The internal assembly feels way more grounded, like it actually settles when you type instead of bouncing, and the top row finally sounds refined. It's a solid iteration, not some overhaul.

But there are quirks, real ones. The flush F-row looks tight if you're used to a normal 75%, you only get two function keys on the right edge, and Windows users are gonna need key combos for some shortcuts. The sale itself got complaints too — it was a 999-unit lottery ($570 USD) with keycaps sold separately and shipping delays that kind of killed the unboxing excitement.

If you're thinking about buying: series collectors have an easy answer here since this is the line's first 75%, and MY-2K boards hold their value on the resale market pretty consistently. But if you're purely chasing a good typing experience? Maybe hold off. There are solid domestic options in the $125–250 range that'll get you most of the actual typing feel, and what the extra money's buying you here is really the design, the finish, and the scarcity factor. Missed the lottery drop? Honestly, just wait for resale prices to normalize. One build tip though: check the foam hole alignment when it lands, and don't mess with the brass standoffs during setup — those sound-package holes misalign super easily.

Editor's Notes & Summary

The MY-2K 1999 is a solid, confident step forward — the best 75% the FAUKWAA line's put out, with the typing feel finally fixed and wrapped up here in a Godzilla pairing that gives the sunflower yellow something way better than the usual keycap suspects. Full build breakdown:

• Kit: Matrix MY-2K 1999
• Keycaps: Fingertip Cultural Creative Godzilla set
• Artisan keys: Artlin Industrial Season 2 (right), zomo Nuke (left)