The fakie heelflip used to be very scarcely seen in video parts, especially in the middle of a line because it was just a bit too awkward (at least from my experience) for what theoretically should be a basic trick. This past year or so though I've seen the fakie heel come up really well along with the overall trick versatility of skaters, such as Jordan Maxham, Neen, Flo Mirtain, and I remember a nice one from T-Funk's welcome part too. So to use it as one of the most memorable mid-line tricks might seem a bit cheap; then again, when Austyn Gillette does it like in his opening line for Cosmic Vomit 2 (above) it certainly changes things. From the song that makes you want to turn up right away to the smooth 180 down a large set to start the line, and especially when Austyn points at someone ahead right before the fakie heel with an enviable confidence, the build up for the fakie heel gives the same feeling like your favorite basketball player driving through the lane about to posterize the measly defender in the paint. Oh and it sure helps that Austyn has one of the sweetest styles, mixing high pop and a sick flick. The loose trucks swerving away as he lands the fakie heel and the couple powerful switch pushes afterwards just keeps adding goodness to this line all around, so by the time he switch tres down the second set the levels of stoke are already pretty high.
Next up for the Spectacled Shredders this week is Johan Stuckey (who kinda looks like Marisa Dal Santo with shorter hair, or is it just me?) and his part in Cosmic Vomit 2. It's hard to picture Johan's face without glasses.
Blake's two welcome videos for his first primary sponsors of Toy Machine and Dekline both were relatively short and had a few clips each. But with a switch backside flip as good as he has, of course Blake's going to include that trick in both his Welcome to Toy Machine part (at 0:19) and his Welcome to Dekline clip (at 0:14). The Toy Machine version shows how Blake can handle this trick down pretty tall gaps and the Dekline version shows how how utterly perfect the trick can look when you think of pop (over a considerable bump to bar), flick, rotation, and landing. Blake takes the switch backside flip almost to video-game-looking levels, as also evidenced when he lands it during his Battle Royale at the Berrics at 1:08. He's got that spot on rotation so that he can land the trick without having to readjust his balance. Not only that, but he can seriously pop the trick too, as seen at 0:26 for his Bang Yo Self 3 submission. And with his video part in Daylando (above), Blake does this switch flip front board back to regular on the back of a park bench at 1:46 (which even though isn't the same trick for this week's content, is undoubtedly worth mentioning). It is one of the craziest freeze frame moments I've seen because of his ninja flick and ridiculous pop. Blake's so fluid with the trick that until you freeze the image it's hard to appreciate just how high he pops and flicks the switch [backside] kickflip. Besides that, his Daylando part also contains a well-popped flatground switch backside flip at 1:12 over a red block (since apparently he kept hitting the camera when he wasn't putting the flip in...) and a really long one at 3:52 over a small wall and a dirt gap with a fun little body rotation delay as he's bringing the board the full 180 before his body's all the way there. And lastly, I'll leave the bump to bar at 2:47 in Cosmic Vomit 2 for the last switch backside flip. Perfection once again.
