Man, that kid looks stoked. This is called the GX Skate. I stared at these things in the store for about ten minutes trying to figure out how they worked and what they would do. Then I saw the video and all made sense, until it didn’t make sense after all. Turns out these things are an offshoot of automobile-based toy. Someone thought to themselves, “Hey, skateboards are hot with the kids, lets turn those car toys into skateboards.” The movement is fun to watch, but it doesn’t really corollate physically to a skateboard. – Thanks to Hung Chang for the tip.

Daddy Yo chipped in with this patent for the omnidirectional toy manipulator. In his own words: Here is the patent application for that skateboard doll. Looks like they plan on embrassing alot of different sports. What? No rollerblades? Hey, pretty good. Pretty good. Maybe I should reinstate Daddy Yo. Thoughts everyone? He’s got a patent of his own that is pending, but that’s for a different post, possibly. Anyway, my favorite is the bull rider, actually.

This is either the absolute best or worst skateboard toy ever. I’m leaning towards best, and I actually want one. New from Action Sports Toys, it’s the Ryan Sheckler action figure. You have to check out the videos to see how cool these things actually are, as far as the, errr, simulation tiny skateboarding goes. I’m not sure where this falls in the hierarchy of fingerboarding. I mean, who is the biggest dork, the guy who spends hours and hours perfecting his fingerboarding technique, or the guy who goes for instant gratification with an almost anamatronic action figure? When I get mine, I’ll let you know. – Thanks to GN for the tip.

Skateboarding begat fingerboards. Fingerboards begat tiny plastic ramps. Tiny plastic ramps begat… FINGER PANTS!!!!!!! Actually, these Finger Pants aren’t exactly new. Back in the 80’s there was a fingerboard sold that came with a glove that you wore. The glove had the upper torso of what looked by a Ken doll attached to it. Two of the fingers were cut off and were decorated like little Hawaiian shorts. It also came with a pair of tiny plastic shoes and socks molded in one piece. It’s something I have in a box somewhere, but that’s never here, nor there. These came from Wall Mart. There’s a URL listed on the package, but the skatemonstertoy.com domain appears to have expired. It’s such a great product, they had to name it twice. Finger Pants, and Shred Threads! Look at the illustration. If these pants fit to scale, the top of your junk would be visible. Awesome.

Three bits of iPhone related skateboard news at once. First up, Apple’s advertisement for the video shooting and editing (!) capabilities of the the new iPhone. Check it out here. Somebody built a nice miniramp for that hurricane wall studio setup. I wonder what happened to it afterwards. Next up, Made for Skate has launched an iPhone app version of their collection of skateboard shoe history. Aside from the massive historical archives at your fingertips, you also get free updates, a store locator, etc… If you are obsessively into skate shoes, this would seem to be your go to app. Not bad for two bucks. Made for Skate web site has been recently updated with new pictures from their ongoing exhibitions, and wallpapers for your desktop and phones. Lastly, there is an iPhone app called Go SK8 that is the high tech equivalent of those hand held golf counters or ball, strike out clickers that little league baseball umpires use. It does more than just keep track of your letters, it will also randomly pick your tricks. You can choose three different skill levels and three different terrain types (flatground, rails and transition) I suppose that would be a good…

Skateboarding has spawned some interesting cottage industries. I just found a guy making fingerboard skate obstacles under the name Stone Tech Ramps. The halfpipe, bowls and street obstacles are made out of some sort of resin that must be lightweight. You can see a kid above lifting up one of the massive bowls without a problem. The scale of the ramps vs. the Tech Decks have tipped further towards gigantic. There’s a wide variety of obstacles, and you can easily spot his earlier work where he didn’t quite have the casting method down. The stairs and would-be sharp edges have the appearance of rock left under a waterfall for 50 years. Prices are pretty high. That half pipe will run you $95 and one custom bowl has a buy it now of $165! Smaller obstacles start around $16. These are hand crafted, one of a kind toys, but still, that’s a lot of coin. Check out a hilarious “review” by a nonpartisan source. It’s a kid whose “friend’s uncle” makes these things. Stick with the whole thing, it’s great how he bashes the Tech Deck gear, using sounds as a benchmark. he’s a regular Billy Mays in training.

More Farrah Fawcett skateboarding action. Toys from the past. I’d seen the officially licensed “Jill” doll from Farrah’s Charlie’s Angels days, as seen above left. Reader Hung Chang also found this knockoff “Sport Girl” doll that features a cartoon drawing of Farrah.

Traveling across the country in their van, the Pepsi-Cola skateboard team prepares to visit another city and show them what skateboarding is all about. Careening down the concrete; dodging in and out of man-made obstacles; letting it all hang out; pushing it tot the edge and back again… that’s skateboarding! It’s a fad that’s grown into a lifestyle for millions of young people nationwide. Pepsi-Cola has been instrumental in skateboarding’s growth, as their team of professionals have introduced skateboarding at cities everywhere across the United States. Well, how could I refuse this, even if it did come from an eBay auction put up by a member with the dubious name of “boneite?” Best part was, he turned out to be an S&A reader by the name of Tom, who also lives in Portland. Concretin Nik, this one is for you. 10 pictures of the Revell Models Pepsi Skateboard Van from 1979.

Goofy has a history of appearing on skateboards. In Extremely Goofy Movie, Goofy’s son goes to college and enters the “College X Games.” It doesn’t seem that absurd now, actually. Goofy misses his son so much that he goes to college too, and ends up skating for the evil frat boy team against his son. There’s also a toy Goofy figure on a skateboard that was made a few years ago. The shot above is a toy that may date as far back as 1977. It’s from an expired eBay auction, but becasue I love you, and have a problem, you can look at more shots after the jump.

Microsoft demoed a motion capture camera controller today at E3. Basically a camera that sits under your tv and watches how you are moving. It’s up to the XBox to turn that movement into meaningful game play. Included in the demo was a skateboarding game “replete with a young man ‘air’ ollie-ing,” which I am interpreting to mean that it kind of negates the the need for the expensive board controller used in Tony Hawk Ride, the theory (and marketing slogan) being that you can “use your own gear.” Still, that’s going to have to be some sophisticated hardware to be able to deal with the subtleties of a skateboarding footwork and hand grab variations. What if you could combine the two? Well , then you’d just have, you know, actual skateboarding. In any case, Microsoft’s Project Natal won’t be shipping in 2009, so Tony’s crew still has a good year or so head start, more so if you take into account Microsoft’s infamous sliding launch dates. This will go over well with parents, I ‘m sure. I’m already yelling at my kids for all the time for skateboarding in the house, and they aren’t even hooked up to a…