Who’s the big man now, huh Steve Schneer?

UPDATE: In the wake of the passing of Steve Schneer some 7 years after this post was written, I feel it’s important to point out the title of this post is a reference to his famous Ho Ho plants and how these magnet embedded skateboards would make it so much easier for kids to do this trick. There’s no disrespect intended towards Steve, and in fact in meeting him a few times in my capacity as editor at S&A he was always very friendly and never mentioned it. 

My kid plays with these little toy figures that have magnets in their feet that stick to small skateboards. They are called Tech Deck Dudes and there are something like 60 of them now. They are fun to play with for both of us, although I can’t figure out why some of the guys have weapons too. They obviously call to mind the old Sky Hooks, which you can still actually buy from no less than three (Count ’em. 1, 2, 3.) manufacturers. Apparently there’s no current official trademark holder. But Sky Hooks are so 70’s, and magnets make for a more up to date dork session. Besides, you could just change shoes if you didn’t want to engage them on your regular board. There was a company that actually manufactured these things under the name Magnatron a few years back, but they disappeared quickly. Apparently one of the guys involved with that company (as a skateboarding advisor) is carrying on. For $60 he’ll retrofit your deck and shoes and turn it into a Magnet Skate. No word on whether it will cause creepy, unexplained flesh colored blurs to appear over your face like they do on his web site.

The real skateboard world may never be ready for what could be conceived as a gimmick in skateboarding since it’s altering it and doing it in a different way. But never the less with or without magnets, kids will still be trying things like we did. Duct taping their feet to the board, using inner tubes from bikes and lifting their boards with them etc.

That about sums it up. More pictures and video after the jump. Thanks to Bob Mechtly for the tip.

The Magnatron

It’s a good thing I snagged a picture of this when it was still available, because the Magnatron web site is now defunct. I think it might have lasted a couple months.

I don’t know how long these things will be available, so I’ve archived a few of the pictures here. The funny thing is that most of the action pictures on the web site are indistinguishable from non-assisted skateboarding since the binding system is invisible.

Magnet board video.

http://youtu.be/UhxHOGnh1V4

Yeah, this is goofy stuff to be sure, but it’s also good for a laugh. Imagine the tweaked Benihana variations you could pull in front of an unsuspecting crowd. I dare you.