Way back in the dark ages when I was a kid and not just a kid at heart, I was in love with Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and Johnny Lightning cars. And then I saw Darda cars. Pretty much the same scale, but they also had the added benefit of a friction motor with rubber treads. These things would fly, and you could navigate loops without the need for a gravity assist. Also unlike Hot Wheels, the tracks were multicolored, and they just looked cooler. The cars had a different aesthetic too, slightly chunkier, probably so that they could encase the motor. Some (if not all) models had a pressure switch on the back which could be used to store the kinetic energy until activated. Set 2 cars on the track and start the first one off, when it returned to the start it would hit the second car and activate it. Meanwhile, if you were fast enough, or had another pre-revved car available, you could keep the race alive. The downside? They were from Germany, and were only readily available in Europe, or the boutique toy stores. In 1984 they made a very strange looking skateboard set. Granted, the few…

Holy #$%&!! It’s Thrashin’ action figures (!!!) flying under the radar, as seen on the Dagger Skates instagram page as coming soon! No other information out there, but Hook and Cory Webster look great. Wannabe Ramp Locals and Daggers alike demand answers. Will there be: Action eyebrows for the Eddie Reategui figure? Hook’s sister Velvet, AKA Sherilyn Fenn? Cabriolet sports car accessory? Red Hot Chili Peppers club scene playset? The possibilities are endless. Yes these are ridiculous possibilities, but I would BUY THEM ALL. UPDATE: Looks like these are from Kalaka Toys.

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.

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?

Tony Hawk is becoming a Funko Pop. Should be any day now… He also makes an appearance in the documentary Making Fun: The Story of Funko. You can find it on Netflix. Tony’s short but interesting part starts at the 1:08 mark. That’s hours and minutes. – Thanks to Boy at SkateMalaysia.com for the tip.

Classic games as copyrighted properties are bought and sold by companies like anything else. Typically, when a classic game is re-published by a new company, they cut corners in production to make it cheaper, and in worst-case scenarios, they decide to change the rules and mess with basic game play. This is the 2015 edition of The Game of Life, which has undergone a few updates. All the cool, elevated pathways are gone, and the card functions have changed, but if you draw “Win a Skateboarding Competition” you can “show everyone your moves” and collect 100k. Is that X-games or Street League money?

I was actually looking for some budget Vision completes (popsicles) that have the Gator graphic but just say “Vision.”  I have been told those have been seen in some Walmarts, but I couldn’t find any. Stay classy, Vision. The LED TV’s on display had a  continuous loop of snowboarding playing, interspersed with last minute gift ideas like this RC Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle on a skateboard.

The image on the top right was scoured from my hard drive, saved in 2006. It’s a model/figure called Extreme Zombie “Sparks” that is approx 18cm tall. When searching for a better picture not he inter webs, all I could find were these Extreme Zombie posters from Poster Lounge.

Hard drive cleaning time:  Freeing makes PVC anime figures and accessories, mostly scantily clad stuff in the vein of your typical Hook-Ups graphic. Even when they aren’t scantily clad, they still look like Sorayama robots. These must sell like gangbusters. I mean, who wouldn’t want a highly posable figure of a sensuous, big breasted mannequin riding a skateboard or a scooter? The skateboards all come with snowboard bindings, which is unfortunate. I’m not sure what the purpose of these is. It’s possible they are the plastic anime-centric equivalent of those small wooden manikins used for figure drawing.

Not much newsworthy about the fingerboard fad these days. If you’ve been to the toy aisle of a Target lately you’ll have noticed the the Tech Deck presence has shrunk dramatically from what it was in their heyday. They’ve tried releasing old school shapes, longboards, and even retro plastic cruisers in fingerboard form in an effort to sustain the market. However, they did not try whatever this thing is from China. It’s the mother of all wackyboards for your fingers, featuring alternative bouncy spring trucks and a rotating, detachable deck with built-in bindings. Just when I was absolutely certain I would never buy another fingerboard.