Welcome to another addition of random Chinese crap that shows up in your feed. This is Skateboard Spark Attachments – Uncharged, Rubber Fire Stunt Device for Shoes, Fits Ages 14+ – Outdoor Skating Flame Enhancer. The isn’t the first Outdoor Skating Flame Enhancer by a long shot. In the 70’s there were G&S Speed Sparks, in 2004 the Tail Devil spark skidplate was patented. Somewhere around the same time period, Spark Trucks came out, which I would ink to but I must have never published the review. They were trucks with Tracker-like geometry that had flits embedded in the hanger to cause sparking during a grind. Results were mixed, or maybe we couldn’t grind hard enough to make them impressive. 20 years late we have this rubber thing you slide on the bottom of your shoe. It’s a tenuous link to skateboarding, except they advertise it explicitly as skateboarding related on Temu. Maybe not with mentioning if not for the fact that there must be a fad in China somewhere that involves coating a rose in a flammable substance and using your rubber flint booties to light them on fire so you can…. I guess hand a flaming rose to your loved one.

About a year and a half a go I was at KPub waiting to place an order for some very delicious Korean food when a video for an unknown (to me) Kpop band showed up on the TV screen on the wall near the counter. I assume it’s Kpop, maybe it’s Jpop or some other pop. These dreamy boys cavorted in skateboard related scenarios, complete with subtitles. I have no idea who this band is or what the song title is. I believe there was more “skateboarding” in the video but I didn’t catch very much of it once I decided to try and capture it.

UPDATE: Video identified thanks to Steven Aycock. Band: Ateez. Song: Wave. Skatepark?

My sister sent me these pics and the text is lifted straight from the American Girl web site.

Isabel™ & Nicki’s™ 2-in-1 Tennis Court & Skate Spot for 18-inch Dolls  (Historical Figures.) Isabel and Nicki love heading to the park where they each can pursue their favorite sports. Isabel wants to learn to play tennis and show off her sportiness, and Nicki is determined to do tricks on her skateboard to impress the local skaters. Both twins can perfect their skills with this 2-in-1 tennis court and skate-spot set.

– Thanks to Ehales for the pics

I spotted these Gnarly Gnome socks from Sock It To Me while doing some x-mas shopping.

Is that and anthropomorphic hot dog wearing sunglasses and smoking? Yes. You can get print from Rory Blank. He’s got lots of other stuff too, shirts, zines, stickers…

UPDATE: I thought that sale looked familiar, Rory is the same wizard that brought you “People of Earth” AKA Alien riding a skateboard with his penis.

When I published that old No Fit State post one of the characters caught my eye. I didn’t recognize Thrashor, and wasn’t sure if he was an actual thing or just one off made up for the pin, but it turns out it was some cross licensing from an outfit called 8-bit Zombie that makes mostly t-shirts and stickers, but also made a Thrashor action figure that looks pretty rad. More rad than their Rad Alf t-shirt and the Gremlins shirt that features Gizmo on a skateboard. They make some Screaming Hand variants too.

This started as another David ODK post that I rescued out of drafts and embellished. It’s an Italian special edition Commodore C64 computer that came in a box with a skateboard! David found the board on Etsy back in 2015, and I had a screen cap from Facebook that showed a box with no info whatsoever. It was hard to tell if it was real or not, but it is real. Regular googling and reverse image searches came up with nothing but a thousand pictures of vintage skateboarding video games. However, some finessing turned up a decent image on 20thcenturyvideogames.com.

Reggie and Me #111 came out in January of 1979 and has not one, but two skateboard storylines, although one is a short half pager. I might actually be finally starting to appreciate the Archie Comics group… I thought I was vaccinated but I guess not. There’s just so much skateboarding through the years in their titles. No other publisher has given skateboarding that much love, despite how it’s usually the same storyline. I’m surprised Reggie had his own title, he’s sort of the antagonist whenever he does make an appearance. Nobody likes Reggie.

Spotted at a Daiso store in Redmond, Washington. The packaging sends mixed messages. On one side it says “Yeah!” but the other side says “Not a toy.” What is it then? A Unique puzzle eraser. I don’t care what they say, I’m putting this in the “toys” category. Erase and Destroy!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle spotted at the Goodwill in Forest Grove, Or. It was only $1.99 and now I’m regretting that I left it there, but I’m trying to downsize… I think his name is Michelangelo or Andy Warhol, possibly Jackson Pollock or maybe even Robert Indiana.