Wild Riders of Boards

Thrasher's 3rd volume in their Skate Rock series is titled Wild Riders of Boards. It comes in a die-cut LP sleeve shaped like the nose of a board. This compilation came out in 1985 and veers away from volume 2's focus on early '80s skate rock and instead concentrates on crossover bands like The Accüsed and Corrosion of Conformity. Septic Death, Christ on Parade, Beyond Possession and Gang Green round out this comp along with a couple unknowns making this my favorite LP in Thrasher's skate rock series.

Snoopy IV

Snoopy's 4th solo appearance on BPA finds him in an '80s workout outfit and grabbing his tail. This guy was made by Comics Spain who seem to make some of the more unusual figures (like Jerry skating a roller skate). Other appearances by Snoopy include his first appearance, Snoopy poochiefied, the Easter Beagle, the Skate N Surf collection and Mini Skateboard set.

The Radical Ragrat

The Radical Ragrat is a character from the Zoo Crew Beach Network, a Canadian line of stuffed toys from 1990 with skating and surfing themed characters. The Ragrat is described as "The Big Cheese of the group! Beach Rat lives to become the most awesome skateboarder." In addition to the Beach Rat, there is also the Mondo Cat, described as "The radical street-wise cat who loves the fast skateboards!"; the Beach Creach, "A lab experiment gone wrong. This Creach is the ultimate surfer dude!"; and Spike, "Watch out! For this escapee from the city pound favorite past time is chasing fast cars and cool babes." In reality these guys have heavy plastic heads on a pretty flimsy body that will flop over if stood up. There is also no way to attach him to the board so you can just hold him above it. The toy itself is pretty weak but the artwork makes up for it.

Blazing Wheels and Barking Trucks

Thrasher Magazine put out the first skate rock volume in 1983. For whatever reason it was a cassette only release. Volume 2, Blazing Wheels and Barking Trucks, followed in 1984 and was released both on LP and cassette. The tracklist is a who's who of early '80s skaterock, including McRAD, The Big Boys, The Faction, Los Olvidados, Free Beer, JFA, Tales of Terror and The Drunk Injuns. Thrasher would put the next 2 volumes out on vinyl before reverting back to the cassette-only format.

Skateboard Bean

Mighty Beanz is a line of toys that started in Australia in the early '00s and was relaunched in 2010. This guy is #7 of the first relaunch group in 2010 and simply named Skateboard Bean. Inside this plastic bean is a free-moving metal ball that can make the bean jump slightly when handled. In addition to putting beans in collector cases there are also tracks that they can race on. They go down the tracks end over end a little like a slinky. That's pretty much it. I think it is primarily a toy just to collect. At least there is a gross-out factor that harkens back to the glory days of my childhood.

Tweety

Tweety makes his debut appearance on BPA with this tiny figure. It's a Kinder Easter egg surprise, which is a European thing that tends to yield a fair amount of skateboarding figures. This figure is from the 2008 Looney Tunes Action Series, which included both Bugs and Taz on rollerblades. Previously featured Looney Tunes characters include a Poochiefied Bugs and the Roadrunner.

More Fun Than an Open Casket Funeral

This pic of The Accüsed is on the inner sleeve of their 2nd album, More Fun Than an Open Casket Funeral. Not quite sure what the one dude is doing, I guess he's trying to incorporate the barbed wire into a trick.

A couple songs from this album ended up on Thrasher's Skate Rock Volume 3: Wild Riders of Boards.

Sammie on a Skateboard

This tiny figure is entitled "Sammie on a Skateboard." She was made in 1990 and fits onto a ring. This toy is part of the Polly Pocket line, which I think was some sort of ploy to sell kids toys that they would easily lose. She is riding with 1 knee down, which seems to be a popular choice for toys but not seen as much in real life.