If you’re approaching or have arrived at forty, and you had any kind of interest in skateboarding as a youngster, then I have some very exciting news for you, which I shall deliver in four words: Bones Brigade iPhone cases.
Of course, there’s more. Element Cases has put out a line of iPhone cases boasting the graphics from 1980s Powell Peralta skateboarders, and other “Skate Legends”. Steve Caballero, Billy Ruff, Christian Hosoi, Kevin Staab, Mike McGill. If these names mean anything to you, you should probably check out this video for a huge hit of nostalgia (along with a hefty chunk of why-did-these-guys-get-to-spend-their-lives-skating-while-I-sit-in-this-stupid-office?)
The cases are modular. You pick a style of bumper — plastic for $40, aluminum for $100 or $150 — and add in the back plate of your choice ($18). The graphics are actually screen printed by hand, just like the old boards, so they should be just as crisp and colorful.
Not everyone is in there. Lance Mountain and Tommy Guerrero were in the Bones Brigade, but their graphics are missing. And while Gator (Mark Rogowski) was certainly a skate legend, the whole rape, assault and murder thing probably stops him from being included.
Now, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m going to order one of these cases, and then dig out my old VHS copy of the classic Bones Brigade movie, The Search for Animal Chin.