Reader Jaime Castillo asked for help identifying this Armadillo Skateboards prototype flea market find. So far my best guess is that is an Hosoi hammerhead knockoff with some sort of adjustable wheelbase plate. The Interwebs is not much help either, because it mostly just shows armadillo art on skateboards in Zazzle-type situations.  It also turned up a Hand 2 Mind product called Ron’s Ramp Adventure. At first I thought it was a DIY kit for kids to build the Armadillo equivalent of a DachRamp or a game but it’s an educational/instructional program for kids that just happens to come with a stuffed armadillo on a plastic skateboard.

Just when you thought this segment was running out of ways to innovate, along comes the RBD lineboard.   Sure it’s essentially a Trampskate with bindings, but it’s also… Err… Wait, there’s camber! The line board is designed to be used on slack lines, or barring that, some sort of balance beam setup, or even a park bench.

– Thanks to… Who gave me this tip? Was it Josh Baker?

Lego Friends set 41304 (Puppy Treats and Tricks)  features a cute little dog on a skateboard and a miniramp with a transition that makes me wonder if it’s not in fact supposed to be a Jersey barrier. The Lego Friends line was originally aimed to appeal to young girls. I’m sure they did a lot of market research, but for some reason these sets feature an entirely different type of minifig, one that more closely resembles actual people, or dolls as some suggest. Does this mean Lego believes little girls have a lower capacity for imagination?

I expected this to be another article on old skateboarders, but the print issue of the June 2019 issue of ESPN Magazine instead features a brief excerpt of photographers David Burnett’s exhibit titled Fourth Quarter: Senior Athletes and Their Indomitable Spirit, currently showing at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Fl. That’s an old friend of the site Judy Oyama in the two page spread there, probably wishing they’s actually shown her skateboarding. The web site article has some, well… gnarly looking senior athletes. The hockey team is my favorite. There’s also can alleged photo of Mark Lake in there too. I say “alleged” because the caption reads “Skateboarding legend Mark Lake, 61, began his pro career at 19. Here, he takes one of his patented “Nightmare” boards for a spin at the Ramp48 Skateboard Park…” but the photograph is a guy on rollerblades. I don’t know if that’s Mark on roller blades or not. I couldn’t have picked him out of a lineup in the 80’s let alone today. While opinions on the Nightmare remain mixed, we can all agree it doesn’t look like a pair of inline skates.

This is the cover of Elle Zen from the Spring 2018 issue. I couldn’t find any more photos from the cover session, but the web site had a couple “articles” including one that translates to “3 good reasons to go skateboarding.” From the picture I assumed at least one of them was going to be fashion accessory or dating related… but they’re all very good reasons: To feel good about yourself. To be fit. To have fun. They also have another article titled Mettez-vous au longboard! Although article is actually about surfing, it is inexplicably illustrated with a woman posing on a skateboard.

NBC Sports reports “The Russian Anti-Doping Agency says Maxim Kruglov, known as “Mad Maxim,” was punished under a rule against athletes who evade or refuse giving a drug-test sample.” So yes, a top Russian skateboarder was hit with doping ban. Is he a top Russian skateboarder? Where are our Russian readers? (Not the ones trying to brute force their way into the back end of the site…) I don’t think the Olympics is the place for skateboarding. I don’t think skateboarding needs the Olympics. At most, a few winners might get their faces on a Wheaties box, and maybe a few “training facilities” get built. The biggest benefits are going to be for soft drinks and soft goods manufacturers. I also don’t think the Olympics are going to somehow ruin skateboarding. Keep skateboarding for the core skaters? That ship has sailed. Hey kids, if you want to skateboard in the Olympics, follow their rules. No collusion.

I’ve bought computer related items on and off for years from New Egg, and like a lot of online retailers, they’ve been adding more tangential items to their main inventory. Still, it was a bit of a surprise to see them offering skateboards in their online newsletter about year or so ago, and they’re still selling it. At the time I went through and took some screenshots of some bizarre product alignments. The first image in this post is a composite, but they are all items that actually showed up under the skateboards category. Yeah, I know the post title phrases aren’t applicable to the connect, but they sure sound business-ey don’t they? Plus… Vertical.

Random, unbranded kid’s cup from a restaurant in a mall in Florida. Looks like he’s hanging loose while doing a finger flip, and has a giant baseball sticker on the tail. Makes sense. Oh wait, there’s a tennis ball on his show too. The text probably says “Can you find ___ balls on this cup?” So it actually does make sense.

Sketchers have announced their first pro model skateboard shoe…

Christian Hosoi is involved in a product called a Sk8 Candles, and definitely not Skate Candles. I can’t help but feel like this is an idea we’ve seen before, perhaps not executed with he bearing in the middle, and only in the new school style symmetrical profile, definitely not a Snoopy candle. I like that they have different profiles, especially the 70’s tribute wheel. I probably would have decorated my swingin’ 80’s bachelor pad with these. I don’t think these are going to make a good Mother’s Day gift, unless your mom is rad.