Cookie Monster in a classic pose. I have no idea what time period this is from. It could be any tie from the mid eighties on.

Elmo is getting to be a regular here. His stance is getting better. Chutes and ladders… I was thinking it would be fun to make an oversized Chutes and Ladders game board based on stairs and railings, and using Tech Deck figures as the game figures. The metaphor doesn’t quite work with skateboarding where sliding down the railing is a positive experience and not a punishment. – Thanks to Mark Pendergrass for the tip

Phineas & Ferb is a so-so cartoon from Disney. They’ve got some toy sets out with the two of them on things like rocket powered surfboards, and of course a skateboard. The figures look cool, but the pegs on the bottom of the longboard were kind of hard to fit into the holes. The plastic is soft on the legs and the bodies are top heavy, so they bend over a lot and can’t really stand up on their own.

Here’s an episode of the 1986 show Computer Chronicles featuring a suit from Electronic Arts talking about the latest, greatest in computer games, Skate or Die, available for the Commodore 64. – Thanks to Stephen B for the tip.

This is from a Mr Potato Head card game that apparently features lots of different professions, skateboarder among them. We have arrived. Why does he have braces? – Thanks to Mark Pendergrass for the scan.

I’m unclear as to whether or not this XBox commercial ever aired or not. It looks kind of low budget, and I can’t believe a skateboard commercial for such a high profile client would have gone unnoticed by, well, me. Maybe it was online only, or something they wanted to see conceptually before they decided to air it. The director Billy Paul has two first names… What? Oh yeah. He said he had to act out the storyline in front of a bunch of Microsoft execs to convince them shoot it. As you can see by the look on the faces of the guys bottom right, things get a little dicey on that rail. But don’t worry, things work out in the end. – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

Here’s the official trailer for the forthcoming video game Shaun White Skateboarding. There are some folks that think it’s going to be revolutionary, but I’m more of the mindset that developers are running out of evolutionary steps to make skateboarding video games different. Fortunately, they aren’t running out of ways to make exciting commercials. One interesting thing, it’s his first skateboarding game and he doesn’t even make an appearance in the trailer. – Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip.

Earth Ace, your favorite skateboarding astronaut has some footy. Unfortunately it’s the recurring theme of whiny kids becoming heroes. Unlikeable characters you haven’t seen since the most vertical primate. Seriously, this is one annoying protagonist. I know this is meant for kids, but it’s really kind of funny that on the one hand, he can’t win a skateboard race with a bully, but on the other hand he’s an astronaut charged with saving the solar system. It starts with a nice Thrashin’ style downhill race.

At this point I think there must be a place that sells the logic board for this type of LCD game intact for finishing and repackaging as you see fit. I think I may have picked this up from the dollar bins at Target. Gameplay: Things come down the road and you push buttons to avoid them. Very boring. Kind of funny considering you used to have to pay upwards of $70 ($20 from 1977 adjusted for inflation) for the same programming logic with less interesting graphics. Yes. I’m talking about Mattel Electronics handheld games. Instead of a 2 dimensional LCD silhouette, you were stuck with LED blips. How did those old handheld games cost? I want to say around $20, but it might have been $35 or so. There was no skateboard version, but it was the same game as Auto Race. Aesthetics did pay tribute to Mattel Electronics with a board series. I like them because I’m nostalgic for old toys (HELLO!!!!!!!) but I’m pretty sure these are just lifted straight from the old advertisements.

I happened to catch this commercial on TV about an hour after the behind the scenes Spohn Ranch footage of the shoot was pulled from YouTube. My guess it the folks at EA didn’t want it detracting from the original, or something vague like that. – Thanks to Vince for the tip.