Lucas Puig, JJ Rousseau & JB Gillet.

The French Connection.

No, it is not the famed Buffalo Sabres trio of Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin, and René Robert, but the French team riders for Lakai. All three were on Cliché at the time and were in a two song Eurocentric shared part in Fully Flared.

Lucas kicks it off with a frontside Smith grind to kickflip out that lands in a Primo slide. Somehow Lucas rolls away safely from this awkward landing and proceeds to lay down a bunch of top notch high tech street skateboarding. His switch heelflips are ridiculously good. JJ and JB handle a variety of plazas, banks, ledges, street gaps, and hubbas all across Europe. For a shared part, the French Connection expertly showcases three skaters who might not have been well known by many in the US.

I wanted to include the Venture ad to show the cross marketing that was happening with Fully Flared.

It's interesting to note that Lakai basically stopped advertising for well over a year after Fully Flared. They would have an occasional ad, but didn't get back to regular advertisements until later in 2009. I assume they blew the budget making the video and word of mouth was enough to carry the brand. There was also the recession in 2008 so that probably didn't help any.

There's a photo credit for JJ's picture, but the type is too small and light to be readable. I wish I knew what was going on with the ad. It looks rather interesting.

Lucas: Slap - February 2008 Volume 17 Number 2

JJ: The Skateboard Mag - April 2008 Issue 49

JB: Thrasher - May 2008 Volume 28 Number 5

Danny Brady & Nick Jensen.

The Royal Family.

Lakai's two British team riders have a shared part in Fully Flared set to the appropriate sounds of The Charlatans UK. The duo rip around the streets of London. There are plenty of lines and ledge tech done on the unique and sometimes ancient architecture of Great Britain. It's a solid section and the footage of various London sights establishes a jolly good atmosphere for the part.

Danny is from Blackpool. He has ridden for Blueprint, Matix, and Lakai. He's currently the team manager for Palace. Nick is from London. He was also on Blueprint and rides for Thunder Trucks. Nick is into painting. Presently he is running Isle Skateboards.

Danny's photo is by Ben Colen. Nick's pictures are by Dominic Marley. I cropped 'em a little, but didn't feel the integrity of either photo was compromised. I hate doing that unless it is absolutely necessary for layout purposes.

Danny: Transworld - May 2006 Volume 24 Number 5

Nick: Slap - April 2008 Volume 17 Number 4

Jesus Fernandez.

Jesus is from Madrid, Spain. He moved out to Los Angeles in 1998 with his brother Alfonso and Daniel Lebron. After living in the US for a while, he would find a spot on the Chocolate team. His part in Fully Flared is classic Euro tech with lots of ledge tricks done in fancy plazas. Calexico's cover of Love's "Alone Again Or" fits nicely. Jesus is still pro for Chocolate after all these years. He also rides for Lucas Puig's Hélas clothing company.

Thrasher - February 2008 Volume 28 Number 2

Anthony Pappalardo #10.

Ground breaker.

Anthony's part in Fully Flared opens with some movie magic. After slamming into the ground from a ledge, his body breaks into a bunch of pieces. He mostly skates NYC with maybe a handful of tricks in England and Europe. The editing is fast paced and pairs well with the Bad Brains song. There are a few city lifestyle shots to add some flavor. His trick selection includes ollies, switch ollies, and nollies into difficult banks. He hits up the mandatory cellar door spots, too. There are ride-on grinds and pole jams as well as flip tricks in tight spots.

I have no idea if this part is an influence on younger generations of skaters, particularly those in New York City, but it is easy to connect the dots from what Pops did to what Max Palmer, Ben Kadow, and others have been doing in recent years. This is probably the part I've watched the second most from Fully Flared, with the opening third of Marc Johnson's section having the most views. I think I might have been an early proponent of saying this was one of the better parts after all the hype that went with the video had faded away.

The photo is by Jonathan Mehring.

Thrasher - December 2005 Volume 25 Number 12

Mike Mo Capaldi.

No Cars Go.

Mike had the first part in Fully Flared. This was his video debut as the new am on Girl and Lakai. Mike displayed a mastery of both regular and switch flip tricks done down gaps and stairs. He was also adept at ledge and manual moves, occupying a realm that shows impressive tech skills, but with some restraint to not get overly technical for the sake of an awkward never been done trick.

Fully Flared was very much a video of its day, in particular with some of the music selections. That's not always a bad thing, but it is something you have to be mindful of. I wasn't particularly fond of the second Arcade Fire album so Mike skating to "No Cars Go" didn't click for me. Given 15 years of space, the pairing works better in 2022.

Mike is from Simi Valley, California. He was pro for Girl. His other sponsors included Royal Trucks, Spitfire, and Matix. He left Lakai for DC Shoes in 2011. Unfortunately, his skateboard career was cut short due to an injury. Mike currently runs Glassy Sunglasses with his brother Vince.

I didn't recall that there was a Telford low, but here it is. Lakai has recently reissued the shoe and I'm curious to try them out.

The photos are by Ben Colen.

Thrasher - May 2007 Volume 27 Number 5

Fully Flared.

Kaboom.

I decided to take a look back at Lakai's Fully Flared video from 2007. I wanted to mark the 15th anniversary of the video before anybody else did. This feature came together rather easily for the most part so I rolled with it. I'm going to be rewatching the video and sharing thoughts on each section to see how well it has aged.

Fully Flared premiered in November of 2007 after being teased for a few years. It was directed by Ty Evans with Spike Jonze handling the movie magic. Federico Vitetta was also heavily involved with the video. Fully Flared was a major production with a huge team, global travel, and special effects.

In some aspects, it was the last of its type of video. Although I think it served as a good example of what not to do for future projects so people avoided some of the pitfalls that plagued Fully Flared going forward. Two important takeaways would be not to drag something out for years and don't run your team into the ground during those years. That being said, the video has a lot of great skateboarding in it.

This article from The Skateboard Magazine provides some interesting details about the process of filming the explosive opening section. The intro is basically a music video for M83 that takes Spike's fascination with slow motion explosions and choreography to the next level. It's amazing everybody was able to land their tricks and nobody got hurt in the process.

Note: I made these scans larger than normal so if they are hard to read, you should be able to download the JPGs.

The article is by Paul Zitzer and photographs are by Atiba Jefferson.

The Skateboard Mag - May 2008 Issue 50

Brad Staba #5.

Brad floats a big time backside kickflip.

Winter took a bit of break this week so I got to skateboard a little each day from Sunday through Wednesday. Some days were colder than others. I really need to set up a new board and put in new bearings, but the old ride is hanging in there. I'm just waiting until the weather get better.

Thrasher - November 2011 Volume 32 Number 11

Tom Karangelov #2.

The Kill.

Tom was sponsored by Zero and had a part in their Cold War video from 2013. He did the expected big rails, but he was also starting to hit up the out of the way spots that have come to define his skating. 3D was more or less done by the start of 2016 so he made the ever popular in-house team shuffle over to Skate Mental that January. Tom would turn pro at this point. He joined WKND at the end of 2020, although he had said as far back as 2017 that he really liked that company.

Work was slow yesterday afternoon so I watched the new Baker video. The skating was great, but the music was terrible beyond the Lou Reed, Germs (I think), and Ghostface Killah. For as much of a music snob as I am, I have the lowest standards imaginable for skateboard videos so it sucks when they can't even come up with something vaguely palatable. It's like when Marge asked Homer to put pants on for their dinner party and he didn't even do that. Anyway, Andrew Reynolds is still the best, even if it is odd to see him wearing Vans. I was impressed by Zach Allen's part. He's grown a bit and gotten a much better command of his skateboarding. Are they starting Rowan Zorilla's SOTY push already?

Thrasher - September 2014 Volume 35 Number 9

Austyn Gillette #6.

Austyn was on Habitat prior to switching to 3D. He was also on HUF shoes after the Habitat footwear program fizzled out. He would go on to ride for WKND before eventually wandering back around to Habitat. His latest shoe move is helping revamp the skateboard footwear line at Globe.

3D used this fractured/glitch style for all of their skateboard ads. It's a little odd and chops up a couple good photos that can stand on their own, like Austyn's pole ollie and BA's fence ollie.

Shout out to Real for making a guest board for Jaime Reyes.

Ollie: Thrasher - December 2013 Volume 34 Number 12

Backside noseblunt: Thrasher - April 2014 Volume 35 Number 4

Brian Anderson #12.

Glitched out ollie.

3D was only around for about three years. Brian was on Anti-Hero by the fall of 2016. It's worth noting there was speculation about him leaving Girl before starting 3D since he had a few photos were he was clearly riding Anti-Hero boards.

Tom Karangelov and Ben Kadow were the two other riders. Ben was added to the team in March of 2015. I don't think he ever had an ad.

3D ran a handful of ads that were art only. Some of them were kind of plain. I dug this one. I think I scanned in all of their ads with skateboarding for this feature.

I'm liking looking back at the more recent stuff lately since we are so swamped with new content all the time. Ferris Bueller was maybe onto something.

Ollie: Thrasher - February 2014 Volume 35 Number 2

Glasses: Thrasher - March 2014 Volume 35 Number 3

3D.

Three dimensional.

Brian Anderson departed from Girl in 2013 and started 3D later that year with Brad Staba at the newly created Big Time Distribution. Austyn Gillette was the other pro on the team and had been riding for Habitat. He had his last Habitat ad a month or two before his debut on 3D. This would have been about the same time as other riders were departing from the Alien Workshop and Habitat due to financial issues.

Alex Olson also left Girl with the intent to ride for 3D, but decided early on that it looked too much like his former sponsor. He wanted to go in a different direction with the art and graphics. Alex split before the brand was established to avoid bigger problems in the future. He was feeling out of place at Girl and was friends with Brian so this change initially felt good. To his credit, he recognized early on that this wasn't what he was looking for either.

BA has a Trunk Boyz tattoo. It got cut in the fold, but trust me, it's there.

BA: Thrasher - September 2013 Volume 34 Number 9

Austyn: Thrasher - October 2013 Volume 34 Number 10

Hubba: Thrasher - November 2013 Volume 34 Number 11

Tired.

I'm so tired sheep are counting me.

Tired was started in 2014 by Piet Janssen. Janssen is an artist, graphic designer, and musician from the Netherlands. He skateboards, too, and was even pro for the Dutch company Color Blind Skateboards back in the 1990s.

Mission Statement: Thrasher - April 2014 Volume 35 Number 4

Pivot: Thrasher - September 2014 Volume 35 Number 9

Ollie: Thrasher - October 2014 Volume 35 Number 10

Dan Plunkett #3.

Once Dan and Brad Staba went out looking for UFOs with a guy who claimed to be a UFO hunter. They met up for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then went to an empty field when it was dark enough with some night vision googles. They didn't really see much of anything. Go figure.

For the story: The Skateboard Mag - January 2011 Issue 82

Ollie: Thrasher - April 2014 Volume 35 Number 4

Nosepick: Thrasher - July 2014 Volume 35 Number 7

Shane O'Neill.

The sound of rain.

Shane is from Melbourne, Victoria. He turned pro for Skate Mental in 2010. In 2011, he was named SLAM Magazine's Australian Skater Of The Year. Shane departed Skate Mental for Paul Rodriguez's Primitive in 2015. He left Primitive in 2018 and started his own company named April in May of 2019. His other sponsors include Nike, Spitfire, and Thunder. Shane was also on Fourstar clothing. He bought Jose Canseco's old house around about 2010 or 11.

Thrasher - February 2015 Volume 36 Number 2

Fernando Bramsmark.

Darkness.

Fernando was born in Colombia and was adopted by Swedish parents when he was three. He got into skateboarding while growing up in Malmö. His sponsors include Nike, Indy, and Spitfire. Some of Fernando's favorite skaters are Grant Taylor, Geoff Rowley, Ben Raybourn, Lucas Puig, and Andrew Reynolds. He's a transition ripper who really likes to do stalefish airs.

Thrasher - November 2014 Volume 35 Number 11

Skate Mental.

Skate Mental was started by Brad Staba in the early 2000s as novelty company. Brad was still riding for enjoi at the time. The initial products were silly things like ping pong ball paddles and beer koozies. A few pros were on the team, as well as a couple of employees at Girl and Lakai. After Brad left enjoi, Skate Mental evolved into the third board brand out of Girl and Chocolate. He would eventually take the company solo and start Big Time Distribution.

I'm never sure what I think of Skate Mental. The team always has some serious rippers, but the art can be kind of hit or miss to me. I have ridden one of their boards back when they were being made by Girl.

Better: Thrasher - July 2013 Volume 34 Number 7

Corn dog: Thrasher - November 2013 Volume 34 Number 11

Money: Thrasher - December 2013 Volume 34 Number 12

Dakota Servold #5.

Staying green.

I'm a fan of Dakota's skateboarding. I don't really have much else to add. I also have to say that it is great that Leo Romero continues to deliver high quality tricks in every clip. Even after all these years, he skates like he's the new guy on the team with something to prove.

It was mild on Monday and Tuesday so I got to skateboard in the driveway after work both days. The snow has since returned. We've had more of the white stuff than in years past, but it isn't bugging me as much as it normally does. That may change depending on how the rest of the winter shakes out. I haven't minded a bit of a break from skateboarding to be honest. I skated pretty good by my standards to start the week so I'm still riding that buzz for the moment.

Thrasher - July 2021 Volume 42 Number 7

Fabiana Delfino.

Her brother has a death wish.

Fabiana is from Boca Raton, Florida. Her brother Pedro is pro for Deathwish. She focused more on skateparks while her brother was jumping down big handrails out in the streets. They both turned pro at the same time in November of 2019. Fabiana's sponsors include Santa Cruz, Vans, Indy, and Spitfire.

Thrasher - September 2021 Volume 42 Number 9

Felipe Nunes.

Inspirational.

Felipe is from Curitiba Paraná, Brazil. Unfortunately, his legs were lost in a train accident at a young age. Although he used a wheelchair, he still managed to do all the normal stuff kids do, like ride bikes and play soccer. Feilpe discovered skateboarding as a means to get around, which became a replacement for his wheelchair. He then discovered you could do tricks on a skateboard and kept going from there. His sponsors include Birdhouse, Vans, Indy, Mob Grip, and Bones Bearings.

Thrasher - July 2021 Volume 42 Number 7

Chris Milic.

Amphibious skateboarding.

Frog was started a few years ago by Chris and Jesse Alba after they decided to leave Welcome to do their own thing. They've built up a nice little company that has a solid following. The team includes Brighton Zeuner, Krazy Frankie, Luis Ouida, Pat Gallaher, Nick Michel, and Hayden Burns. Frog even did a guest board or two for Polar's Hjalte Halberg. The graphics tend to be low tech MS Paint productions that tick off old dudes and that's pretty cool.

The photo is by Kris Burkhardt.

Thrasher - October 2021 Volume 42 Number 10