For years now, skating legend Tony Hawk has seemed to be everywhere: On Instagram (7.5 million followers, on NBC Olympics coverage, on Twitter (4.5 million).
If you're wondering, this week he was in Belgium, among other places, giving a talk in Antwerp, where somebody in the audience posed the famous Tony Hawk challenge: "Do a kickflip." Sadly, that nasty leg break he suffered in March is still taking its toll, so the legend brought four kids up onstage to see theirs instead. Earlier in the week, he took to the stage of a small London club to sing along to a cover of Agent Orange's "Bloodstain." But that's another story.
Encinitas' most celebrated resident is currently on a European tour, though, but that's just an encore for a major development: Now that Hawk has signed up with Hot Wheels, we can all work on our kickflips at our desk, at the breakfast table, at In-n-Out, just about anywhere. His line of finger skateboards (aka, fingerboards) — "collect them all" — hit shelves recently, and here at NBC 7, we took one for a ride in and out of our studios, lipsliding on the anchor desk, getting gnarly all over the news station.
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There's no word on how much Hawk is making off the deal, but Hot Wheels will donate to Hawk's nonprofit Skate Park Project, which helps build public skateparks, as part of the partnership, according to published reports.
Kids — and adults with lots of time on their hands — can "master epic tricks," as Hot Wheels promo copy puts it, on single fingerboards for as little as six bucks ("The included die-cast Hot Wheels® vehicle is 1:64 scale and boasts the decos beloved by car fans of all ages.") We think decos is Hot Wheels trying to hip up "decorations." Want to go bigger? Get a four-pack for $12 that comes with a couple pairs of skate shoes. Careful, though: One colleague pointed out that "the shoes make it look like you have really bad acrylic nails."
More epic: The Amusement Park Skate Set, which could run you 30 bills. That one's for "high-flying, 360-skating action with stunting obstacles, awesome style and kid-activate sounds," says Hot Wheels. And then there's the "Tony Hawk x Hot Wheels Skate Wildfire Freestyle Deck and Fingerboard." Deep pockets for this one: SRP of $350! That one's scarce, tho: No swag from Hot Wheels on that one, sad to say.
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Rad, dude. We're so stoked.
