#so much projects revolving around The Nowhere holy | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

drake-the-incubus · 6 years ago

Text

Edit: I keep this up for transparency of what I said. I no longer stand by any of it.

A) None of you knew Edd, you’re backlashing against Edd’s friends and family for not taking time out of their days to scroll through twitter and explicitly watch you guys drag them through the mud now too.

B) Edd WANTED his shit to keep going, he wanted his show to continue. He wanted Eddsworld to continue, and everyone lamenting over how it will never be as good as Pre-Legacy is acting fucking stupid over it. You’re literally going to kill the fandom and the community.

C) Your constant fucking harping on bullshit hasn’t changed anything, so perhaps instead of constantly trying to make people stop liking TBATF content, make your own content or support other creators.

I explicitly don’t really like the comic and actually kept up with the drama, but holy fuck. My boyfriend and I *made* a comic that I inspired from Edd’s old comics and the old show, but going in a more chronological order and basically adding my own Humor to it.

We hardly got any reception for it. A comic, General Eddsworld, no ships- though jokingly I made a pun with a ship name- that revolves around it kinda just, being a funky comic with no actual repercussions in universe.

There’s been so many huge projects that people literally either A) didn’t fucking support or B) tore apart until it was cancelled because everything needs to be perfect and unproblematic.

“The fandom is dying/dead” yeah, sorry to fucking point it out to you, but you caused this, you fucking caused this. The fandom would be more alive if people actually supported it’s creators and didn’t make it a toxic cesspool.

Fucking, two people I know actually has to literally state more than once to leave them out of it because y’all don’t understand that you’re just literally breeding toxicity and getting nowhere.

I’ve been in this fandom since 2016, at the release of The End. I’ve seen the bullshit with the shipping and drama and everything up until now.

I saw an artist get run off and harassed over something they stopped doing over two years prior for just shipping TomTord. Because? Well they had a bad ship two years ago must be a p/do.

I saw a fucking campaign to CONTINUE to harass them over that, after they left tumblr, and well? That’s it, they fucking harassed someone into hiding and hoping people don’t find out they’re them.

This made several people leave the fandom and take their amazing shit with them.

Why?

Because y’all would rather tear everything you find horrible down, and destroy anything remotely associated with it, than actually support other creators and luplift them.

You spend your time literally finding things to complain about. To the point where now it’s the EDDSWORLD CREW! Edd’s friends and family!

Y’all preach how much you loved the old show but now it’s ruined, I hate to say it. But I don’t think it was Tomska or Matt who fucking ruined it. Y’all just, can’t fucking just, enjoy yourselves and let yourselves enjoy things.

Eugh. I’m actually getting a bit tired being around all this all the time. Like, there’s such good talent and creativity in this fandom, I love the show and people’s creations, but at this point in time, I feel more concerned about LIKING the show and wanting more episodes to come out than actually enjoying it.

Like, I feel as if you all don’t understand, by constantly attacking media and shit, you’re just, making a negative space and are slowly killing the fandom.

Especially now, going after the crew because, and I quote, “Being good friend’s with TBATF and promoting their art and not listening to us scream at them”

I’m sorry? How big is the fandom? Not in creations, but in general. Cause at about 100 comments, I can see it being lost in the dark.

At this point in time, you all are LOOKING for excuses to get mad at people. Not the ones directly involved with the incident, but the people passively in the fandom.

I’m sorry. That’s not right, that’s not how this should be going. You care more about hating TBATF than you do about protecting and helping the fandom at this point.

You all want to do something good, go donate to some cancer charities and foundations. Fucking go out, drill up support for finding cures to cancer.

Ya wanna honour Edd and shit, do that. More productive in the end.

Endnote: I’m not throwing this in the tags, because I don’t think anyone seeing this is going to stop their bullshit, really. I’m just, tired. And done. I’m really frustrated at the cycle of horrible comments and shit, while just, ignoring anything else.

We could have full promotions of artists to like dedicate love to. We could promote people’s personal projects. And y’all would rather not do that. It’s not only draining, it’s pretty upsetting to see the turn of events. Not to mention, the more y’all scream about it, the more they get popular anyways.

#vent #personal #eddsworlddrama

6 notes · View notes

darkzorua100 · 7 years ago

Text

So I honestly didn’t know what to expect from episode 41 of Vrains going into it. We knew it was going to be the first half of the Playmaker vs Revolver rematch but I honestly wasn’t expecting to be getting the plot dump this episode. I just figured the first half was mainly going to be focusing on the duel while the next two episodes were going to be major plot related. I’m very glad I was wrong because oh boy, this episode and the next two that follow are going to be so good I believe if we continue to get some answers and Revolver backstory.

And boy Revolver. We have a lot to talk about him because he is giving us some answers and the major thing we have been wanting to see from him since forever.

So first off, he confirmed the theory about the children being used to create the Ignises. We also got the silhouettes for all six of them shown and yeah. We know who three of those six are and this really is leaning towards the theory that Go and Aoi are two others since we saw what they looked like when they were younger. The final one is more than likely Revolver but that one wouldn’t be much of a shock honestly. I’m just wondering how they are going to BS Go and Aoi into being the last two kids if they are them since we know their backstories. Someone pointed out that this happened to Aoi before her and Akira’s parents got married, so that’s why Akira doesn’t know about this, and Aoi doesn’t remember herself since she repressed the memory of her trauma (as if she didn’t have enough problems already seriously). Go, on the other hand, I feel like is just going to be BS. However, Go doesn’t know about the Hanoi Project so maybe when someone finally brings it up to him, that might trigger something. I don’t know how they are going to handle that with those two honestly if they are confirmed in the future. I mean, I’m not surprised or will be surprised if/when they are confirmed, I’m just kinda disappointment since I was looking forward to two new characters coming out of this. I mean, I don’t want to have a big cast of characters since that always tends to screw Yu-Gi-Oh over at the end, but I hope we do get some more in the future because I love seeing new characters for this show and what they will add to the show as a whole.

We also found out that Ai was the sixth Ignis to come from this, making Yusaku the final child to be kidnapped more than likely since he was the one used to create that one. Ai’s real name, or code name I guess, is IGN006 and is making me wonder if this is why he was hated by his own kind, because he was the last one to be created and had flaws in him that the others didn’t or maybe he was more advanced then they were. Also, I wonder what the order was that these children were taken. If it was in the order that they were placed in their cells, then it looked like it would be Jin, Spectre, Go, Aoi, Revolver, and finally Yusaku. What I find strange about this order is that Revolver is number 5. You would think he would be number 1 but he isn’t, as far as we know anyway. It makes me wonder if Revolver willing chose to be apart of this against his father’s wishes, who didn’t want his son to get harmed from this or maybe he felt bad for the victims and felt like he had to take some form of responsibility for his father’s actions. Either way, if he is number 5, this would have been before Yusaku was here and if he was in the middle of during these tests, how could he have also been talking to Yusaku if he is indeed his “special person”? Again, this is hypothetically speaking because again, we really don’t know the actual order of the other Ignises just yet, or which Ignies were created from which children (even though some are more obvious then others) and Revolver could have finished his testing early to speak to Yusaku or maybe Revolver used his Link Sense, since he more than likely has it as well, to communicate with Yusaku even in his own testing room. Also, if Revolver was one of the kids, why was he rescued along with the rest of them if Yusaku stated it himself that his “special person” wasn’t one of the other kids and why would Revolver be apart of the kids in the first place if his father was running the project and should have just taken his son with him when it was over? More questions and not enough answers.

Also, no shock to anyone, Ai has been lying his butt off to Yusaku from the start. For what reason? Well who really knows at this point because Ai is continuing to lie and Playmaker and Revolver are both just done of his crap at this point. Hopefully we will get the full story for him in the next two episodes and after that, we will see who they real villain of this show truly is.

For someone who hates the internet so much, Revolver has just become the biggest meme for Vrains with his Mirror Force now. His deck is based around the card now and I wouldn’t be shocked if in the future, hopefully in this duel too, that he has/uses the other forms of Mirror Force because I would love to see what they look like in the anime since Mirror Force is just a pure light that destroys all the monsters, I want to see if Storming Mirror Force is just a giant wind storm that blows the monsters back to the hand or Drowning Mirror Force makes a giant wave and washes the monsters back into the deck.

So this episode ends with Playmaker’s life points being below a 1000. He still has a face down so I’m sure he could have saved himself from the first attack without taking so much damage but did it to use his Skill. I’m thinking he’s going to use it and pull out out the upgraded form of Firewall Dragon during this duel, giving us our first Link 5 of the show. Revolver has the same skill but still has all his life points. Watch as he uses a Blazing Mirror Force to cut down some of his life points to use his skill if the trap doesn’t end up taking out Playmaker, which it won’t, and if he does use his skill, watch as the Link Monster he pulls out has something to do with Stardust in its name. Or maybe that’s what Firewall Dragon’s upgrade is going to be called...oh wait, we already have a Stardust Dragon...Starlight Dragon maybe? The title is called "The Stardust Road's Guidance" for a reason. I don’t know at this point. I’m still trying to figure out how this duel is going to end since after 43 summary, I’m starting to think this duel is going to end in a draw, like the first time they dueled, and they are going to have a rematch in the real world (which I would VERY much want to see).

Oh and speaking of the RW...

WE GOT REVOLVER’S FACE REVEAL! HOLY CRAP! HE’S ADORABLE! LOOK AT HIM! GREY EYES! I WASN’T EXPECTING GREY EYES, really fitting if anything since he is such a grey area character, BUT THEY LOOK SO GOOD!

I wasn’t expecting this at all. I mean, I was thinking to myself that they could just randomly throw in Revolver’s face at any moment now but I didn’t think they would just do it in the preview. I mean, they did it for Ray but at least we had an idea what she looked like because of the Bracelet Girls but nothing for Revolver in terms of face wise.

The best part about this is that they technically still hasn’t revealed his face yet. This is Revolver in the past, not present day Revolver and boy, if people aren’t freaking out already, Revolver after puberty is going to be Zarc all over again.

I really hope this isn’t just a flashback of Revolver just narrating but actual events we are seeing from Revolver’s past. I want to hear his younger voice and if it is identical to the one that was talking to Yusaku so we can finally get our answer to that question. I also want a name reveal finally. We at least know his last name has to be Kogami, you know, if Revolver is actually his son, but as for his first name, I very much want to know what they are going to pick for him and the meaning behind it. We could also be seeing present day Revolver this episode so get ready for that if they aren’t saving that for the big face to face meeting of Yusaku and RL Revolver.

Also, another flashback I would like to see is if Revolver was present when his father was killed. Like did he actually see SOL killing his father right before his eyes? Revenge isn’t much of a character trait for Revolver, that is Yusaku’s thing after all, but I just want to see if that affected him or not in his way of thinking. Plus I would like to see just why he is doing this and just why he hates the online world so much. Was it due to his father being killed or is more to do with the Ignises?

I like to also bring up Revolver’s age in this. Five years before the start of Vrains, he was the Revolver we see today, since it looks like avatars don’t age since they are just avatars after all, that attacked the Cyberse. Five years before that was the Hanoi Project. Yusaku was six when that happened. If the Revolver we see in the preview was him during when the Hanoi Project happened, he clearly is much older than him, as most of us had expected. He looks around the same age as the Yuus and Bracelet Girls were when they were shown in flashbacks and they had to be about 11 I believe since the events that happened in ARC-V before hand were three years ago before the main story started and they were 14 in Yuya and Yuzu case in present day if I remember correctly. So Revolver has to be around 18-21 in age I would guess. I’m for sure my math is off and let’s watch as he turns out to be Yusaku’s age.

Speaking of which, when this whole thing over and Revolver is redeemed, because I would be more shocked if he isn’t, watch as he purposely transfers himself into Yusaku and Aoi’s school just to keep an eye on them (since Revolver knows who Blue Angel actually is as well). Yusaku would lose it and the shenangians that could come from that would be amazing. You just see Revolver sitting in his chair, minding is own business, and then out of nowhere, you see Yusaku coming up to him, asking to talk in private (since they would both know who the other is by this point), and everyone else is just so shocked because here was Yusaku Fujiki, the person who is known to not have any friends, let alone talk to anyway, starting a CONVERSATION with someone, with the new kid of all people, and then them leaving to go talk in private like on the roof of the building or something. That is just funny to think about seeing everyone’s surprised, especially Naoki if he is trying to start a conversation with Yusaku and he just flat out brushes him off to go talk with Revolver. I can’t be the only one that wants to see this happen and not just because of ship bait either. I feel like that could lead to some character development for both of them and we would be able to see more of the real world after being in Link Vrains for so long.

So there’s my inside of episode 41 for Vrains. I’m really happy we are getting some answers again and hopefully the next two episodes will be just as good with said answer giving.

#vrains #vrains spoilers #theories #Thoughts

44 notes · View notes

flauntpage · 8 years ago

Text

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?

Encinitas Skate Plaza looks like a parody of Southern California. It's the kind of place where a boombox is always playing early 2000s Offspring singles, where shirtless dads are forever weaving through crowds of shirtless teens, and where, at any given moment, a helmeted eight-year-old stands on the brink and prepares, for the first time, to drop herself down the cement walls of a never-functional pool that's twice as deep as she is tall.

Poods, as locals refer to the park, is a 13,000-square-foot slab of grey and orange concrete planes and waves and ledges, pierced by flatbars and stairways to nowhere, and surrounded by a parking lot, a soccer field, and a few palm trees that don't provide any shade. Show up most days around noon and there's a decent chance you'll notice one skateboarder, Jagger Eaton, standing out slightly from the rest. It's not that he's doing bigger tricks, necessarily, nor anything especially complicated. And it's not that he literally stands out—he just hit 5'7''.

There's just something almost effortless about the way he cruises around the park. There's an ease in the way he pops his board out of a ramp, the smile as he bails, the pat on the back he gives to check on the well-being of whoever he just slammed into at the bottom of an eight-stair rail. When Jagger does a run of tricks through the park, other skaters stop whatever they're doing, watch, and ask their friends if they saw that.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Though he still has to, as he puts it, "finesse" his way into R-rated movies, Jagger has already taken the top spot at many of the major contests open to amateur skateboarders; this year alone he's won the Phx Am and two gold medals at the X Games, in Amateur Street and Amateur Park. But as the website Quartersnacks often notes, we're in the "everyone is good" era of skateboarding: "Anyone (well, anyone who's good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand." Jagger might have more contest wins, but there are dozens of other kids who are just as eager to make a name for themselves, who can do (most of) the same tricks and who would like to go pro in his place. For now what really separates Jagger from other 16-year-old skate phenoms—and, presumably, the reason VICE Sports sent me to San Diego to talk to him—is that he is also a TV star.

Jagger Eaton's Mega Life was a Rob Dyrdek-produced reality show that premiered on Nickelodeon late last year. During the show's 20 episodes, Jagger, family, and friends travel around the country partaking in "mega" adventures—outdoor activities like shark diving, jousting, heli-boarding, and playing beach volleyball with the U.S. women's beach volleyball team. The show gets its name from the mega ramp (also the subject of episode 17), an approximately 60-foot skate jump that Jagger has been riding since he was a child. It was on this ramp, when he was 11, that he captured his first major headlines by becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor. While even Jagger will admit that there are times when he cringes to hear his younger voice—"I'm like, how do people even watch these videos?"—the show is more entertaining than you'd expect a Nickelodeon reality show to be. He possesses a boundless enthusiasm—evident in the way he uses G-rated swears like "gosh" and "heck" to intensify the "unreal"-ness of an activity—that makes me wish I could recapture that pre-cynical YA worldview wherein it's possible to be passionate about things like ziplining.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Since Mega Life ended, Jagger and his brother Jett, 18, have moved from their hometown of Mesa, Arizona, to Encinitas, a suburb in the North County section of San Diego that's been an epicenter of the skateboarding world since the '80s. When I met him at Poods, he was setting up a new board (he goes through one every three or four days, about the same rate as shoes) and eating a plastic cup of Fruity Pebbles. With his sunspots and striped Stussy shirt, he looked like a quintessential California teen—Zonie or not.

"I wouldn't say my life is the typical 16-year-old life," Jagger admits. "I mean I'm living out in Cali by myself. I took my GED so I basically dropped out and graduated. I'm stoked where I'm at." There was a time when having a TV show meant someone was definitely a celebrity, but, thanks to the internet's destruction of what was left of the monoculture, it's easier than ever to be huge in some circles and totally unknown in others. When I ask Jagger if he feels like he's famous, he seems to have a pretty accurate gauge on things. "I get recognized at skateparks and sometimes at, like, grocery stores, but mostly I just focus on what I need to do. I never think of myself like I'm some sort of celebrity. [Having the show] was super cool and I'm stoked to have a following off it, but I don't think I'm famous at all. I hang out with my family and my friends."

When I follow up with a similar, slightly more pointed question—"You're a 16-year-old living a state away from your parents, with 163,000 Instagram followers, many of whom are girls posting emojis about how cute they think you are. You never get into trouble?"—Jagger tells me that, "Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang." And, partially because skateboarding has been his entire life since he was five and partially because he tells me he says he spends time listening to self-help audiobooks like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I believe him. Though, when pressed, he admits to sending the occasional DM. "It's always important to make new friends," he laughs, but adds, "I don't ever let it get to my head. I'm just stoked to have some fans and some people who like me."

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Jagger has more contest wins and TV appearances than the average 16-year-old skater, and he's sponsored by core brands like Plan B, Independent, and Bones. But, even among skaters, he's not a household name. To change this, he's spent the last few months filming a video part—basically a highlight reel of a skater's most impressive tricks, set to music (Jagger is hoping that the licensing fee for Parliament's "Flashlight" isn't too expensive)—which he believes will show people that his skating stands on its own. "I have about two minutes of footage right now, I just need to film another minute and a half." He says he plans to submit it to Thrasher, the magazine-turned-website so influential it's known as the "skate bible." He feels confident they'll accept it. (Thrasher owner Tony Vitello told me that they've expressed interest in distributing a video part but nothing is set in stone. "He's obviously a good skater," he says, but their involvement "would most likely start towards the end of the project.")

"Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang."

Most days, he and his friends skate at Poods for a few hours, break for lunch, then head out to spots around town filming tricks. This goes on until it gets dark, unless they're filming with lights, in which case they can stay out all night. (High-level skateboarders spend an inordinate amount of time on schoolyards and grocery store loading docks.), His crew can fluctuate, from his brother Jett and other locals to fellow Plan B riders like Chris Joslin and Trevor McCLung, and SK8 Mafia's Wes Kremer. San Diego is something of a skate mecca, so he's managed to make a big impression on legends like Danny Way, who says, "Jagger has one of the most diverse skill sets and is one of the future legends of this next generation of young rippers."

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

There's a foundational paradox in skate culture: It's an industry that runs on advertising—the major websites and magazines are basically trade publications, and anything critical about brands is extremely rare—while priding itself on being anti-establishment. Jagger has the commercial side down, but, with his Nickelodeon show, he's anything but counter-culture. Jagger has heard his share of criticism, but says he doesn't care. "[Jagger Eaton's Mega Life] was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I don't really give a shit what anybody says about it. I would never want to take it back. I had so much fun doing it. I got to meet so many cool people. It was just completely worth it." Despite its underdog mentality, skateboarding has long been a dominant force in pop culture. It shapes everything from entertainment (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Rob Dyrdek's empire, the stylings of Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine) to fashion (skateboarders, once responsible for the tight jeans resurgence, are to blame for the half-decade-long high-waters with Vans Old Skools trend). It would almost be weirder if a super-talented 16-year-old skater didn't have his own Nickelodeon show.

One might think Jagger's contest wins would silence the commenters, but skateboarders are probably even more suspicious of the X Games than of Nickelodeon. Traditional sports (and some purists even bristle at the thought of skating as a "sport") revolve around winning, but success in skateboarding has largely been about getting enough children to buy shoes with your name on them. Being cool is more important than being the best—among skaters, the word style is as common as it is vague—which is part of why so many look down on contests. Jagger knows he has to prove he's more than just a good contest skater, because skating in a contest is fundamentally different from skating in the street, and street skating is what dominates coverage on the skateboarding internet. Contests require an automaton-like ability to manage a series of tricks in a row without falling, so skaters default to things they know they can do. On the street, a skater has infinite chances, not ninety-second runs; it's about pushing yourself rather than beating others. This is why Jagger feels like he has to show his worth with a video.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Watching him tell our photographer which lens and angle will work best for a given shot, it's clear Jagger possesses a level of professionalism unknown to most teens, let alone teen skaters. He has a pretty solid idea of how to bring his plans to fruition, which is good, because he has a lot of plans. Right now, these include filming a street part with skateboarding's foremost cinematographer Ty Evans, turning pro before he's 18, and, most pressingly, getting his driver's license. Three years from now, skateboarding will make its Olympic debut. When I asked Jagger what he thinks of the possibility of skating in the Olympics, he tells me that "I would love to compete for my country." It's true that the name "Jagger Eaton" seems almost designed to appear on a chyron, but he'll be competing against dozens of the world's best skateboarders for just a handful of slots on Team USA. Plus, even the qualifying events for the games are years away. When you're 16, anything seems possible and everything can change in just a few months. Right now, he says, "I just have to prove I can hang in the streets."

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

0 notes

amtushinfosolutionspage · 8 years ago

Text

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?

Encinitas Skate Plaza looks like a parody of Southern California. It’s the kind of place where a boombox is always playing early 2000s Offspring singles, where shirtless dads are forever weaving through crowds of shirtless teens, and where, at any given moment, a helmeted eight-year-old stands on the brink and prepares, for the first time, to drop herself down the cement walls of a never-functional pool that’s twice as deep as she is tall.

Poods, as locals refer to the park, is a 13,000-square-foot slab of grey and orange concrete planes and waves and ledges, pierced by flatbars and stairways to nowhere, and surrounded by a parking lot, a soccer field, and a few palm trees that don’t provide any shade. Show up most days around noon and there’s a decent chance you’ll notice one skateboarder, Jagger Eaton, standing out slightly from the rest. It’s not that he’s doing bigger tricks, necessarily, nor anything especially complicated. And it’s not that he literally stands out—he just hit 5’7”.

There’s just something almost effortless about the way he cruises around the park. There’s an ease in the way he pops his board out of a ramp, the smile as he bails, the pat on the back he gives to check on the well-being of whoever he just slammed into at the bottom of an eight-stair rail. When Jagger does a run of tricks through the park, other skaters stop whatever they’re doing, watch, and ask their friends if they saw that.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Though he still has to, as he puts it, “finesse” his way into R-rated movies, Jagger has already taken the top spot at many of the major contests open to amateur skateboarders; this year alone he’s won the Phx Am and two gold medals at the X Games, in Amateur Street and Amateur Park. But as the website Quartersnacks often notes, we’re in the “everyone is good” era of skateboarding: “Anyone (well, anyone who’s good) can nollie flip a fourteen-stair nowadays or switch crook a gnarly rail, but it will be the behind the scenes videos that help us decide where our allegiances with various athletes stand.” Jagger might have more contest wins, but there are dozens of other kids who are just as eager to make a name for themselves, who can do (most of) the same tricks and who would like to go pro in his place. For now what really separates Jagger from other 16-year-old skate phenoms—and, presumably, the reason VICE Sports sent me to San Diego to talk to him—is that he is also a TV star.

Jagger Eaton’s Mega Life was a Rob Dyrdek-produced reality show that premiered on Nickelodeon late last year. During the show’s 20 episodes, Jagger, family, and friends travel around the country partaking in “mega” adventures—outdoor activities like shark diving, jousting, heli-boarding, and playing beach volleyball with the U.S. women’s beach volleyball team. The show gets its name from the mega ramp (also the subject of episode 17), an approximately 60-foot skate jump that Jagger has been riding since he was a child. It was on this ramp, when he was 11, that he captured his first major headlines by becoming the youngest-ever X Games competitor. While even Jagger will admit that there are times when he cringes to hear his younger voice—”I’m like, how do people even watch these videos?”—the show is more entertaining than you’d expect a Nickelodeon reality show to be. He possesses a boundless enthusiasm—evident in the way he uses G-rated swears like “gosh” and “heck” to intensify the “unreal”-ness of an activity—that makes me wish I could recapture that pre-cynical YA worldview wherein it’s possible to be passionate about things like ziplining.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Since Mega Life ended, Jagger and his brother Jett, 18, have moved from their hometown of Mesa, Arizona, to Encinitas, a suburb in the North County section of San Diego that’s been an epicenter of the skateboarding world since the ’80s. When I met him at Poods, he was setting up a new board (he goes through one every three or four days, about the same rate as shoes) and eating a plastic cup of Fruity Pebbles. With his sunspots and striped Stussy shirt, he looked like a quintessential California teen—Zonie or not.

“I wouldn’t say my life is the typical 16-year-old life,” Jagger admits. “I mean I’m living out in Cali by myself. I took my GED so I basically dropped out and graduated. I’m stoked where I’m at.” There was a time when having a TV show meant someone was definitely a celebrity, but, thanks to the internet’s destruction of what was left of the monoculture, it’s easier than ever to be huge in some circles and totally unknown in others. When I ask Jagger if he feels like he’s famous, he seems to have a pretty accurate gauge on things. “I get recognized at skateparks and sometimes at, like, grocery stores, but mostly I just focus on what I need to do. I never think of myself like I’m some sort of celebrity. [Having the show] was super cool and I’m stoked to have a following off it, but I don’t think I’m famous at all. I hang out with my family and my friends.”

When I follow up with a similar, slightly more pointed question—”You’re a 16-year-old living a state away from your parents, with 163,000 Instagram followers, many of whom are girls posting emojis about how cute they think you are. You never get into trouble?”—Jagger tells me that, “Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We’re not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang.” And, partially because skateboarding has been his entire life since he was five and partially because he tells me he says he spends time listening to self-help audiobooks like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I believe him. Though, when pressed, he admits to sending the occasional DM. “It’s always important to make new friends,” he laughs, but adds, “I don’t ever let it get to my head. I’m just stoked to have some fans and some people who like me.”

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Jagger has more contest wins and TV appearances than the average 16-year-old skater, and he’s sponsored by core brands like Plan B, Independent, and Bones. But, even among skaters, he’s not a household name. To change this, he’s spent the last few months filming a video part—basically a highlight reel of a skater’s most impressive tricks, set to music (Jagger is hoping that the licensing fee for Parliament’s “Flashlight” isn’t too expensive)—which he believes will show people that his skating stands on its own. “I have about two minutes of footage right now, I just need to film another minute and a half.” He says he plans to submit it to Thrasher, the magazine-turned-website so influential it’s known as the “skate bible.” He feels confident they’ll accept it. (Thrasher owner Tony Vitello told me that they’ve expressed interest in distributing a video part but nothing is set in stone. “He’s obviously a good skater,” he says, but their involvement “would most likely start towards the end of the project.”)

“Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We’re not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang.”

Most days, he and his friends skate at Poods for a few hours, break for lunch, then head out to spots around town filming tricks. This goes on until it gets dark, unless they’re filming with lights, in which case they can stay out all night. (High-level skateboarders spend an inordinate amount of time on schoolyards and grocery store loading docks.), His crew can fluctuate, from his brother Jett and other locals to fellow Plan B riders like Chris Joslin and Trevor McCLung, and SK8 Mafia’s Wes Kremer. San Diego is something of a skate mecca, so he’s managed to make a big impression on legends like Danny Way, who says, “Jagger has one of the most diverse skill sets and is one of the future legends of this next generation of young rippers.”

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

There’s a foundational paradox in skate culture: It’s an industry that runs on advertising—the major websites and magazines are basically trade publications, and anything critical about brands is extremely rare—while priding itself on being anti-establishment. Jagger has the commercial side down, but, with his Nickelodeon show, he’s anything but counter-culture. Jagger has heard his share of criticism, but says he doesn’t care. “[Jagger Eaton’s Mega Life] was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I don’t really give a shit what anybody says about it. I would never want to take it back. I had so much fun doing it. I got to meet so many cool people. It was just completely worth it.” Despite its underdog mentality, skateboarding has long been a dominant force in pop culture. It shapes everything from entertainment (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Rob Dyrdek’s empire, the stylings of Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine) to fashion (skateboarders, once responsible for the tight jeans resurgence, are to blame for the half-decade-long high-waters with Vans Old Skools trend). It would almost be weirder if a super-talented 16-year-old skater didn’t have his own Nickelodeon show.

One might think Jagger’s contest wins would silence the commenters, but skateboarders are probably even more suspicious of the X Games than of Nickelodeon. Traditional sports (and some purists even bristle at the thought of skating as a “sport”) revolve around winning, but success in skateboarding has largely been about getting enough children to buy shoes with your name on them. Being cool is more important than being the best—among skaters, the word style is as common as it is vague—which is part of why so many look down on contests. Jagger knows he has to prove he’s more than just a good contest skater, because skating in a contest is fundamentally different from skating in the street, and street skating is what dominates coverage on the skateboarding internet. Contests require an automaton-like ability to manage a series of tricks in a row without falling, so skaters default to things they know they can do. On the street, a skater has infinite chances, not ninety-second runs; it’s about pushing yourself rather than beating others. This is why Jagger feels like he has to show his worth with a video.

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Watching him tell our photographer which lens and angle will work best for a given shot, it’s clear Jagger possesses a level of professionalism unknown to most teens, let alone teen skaters. He has a pretty solid idea of how to bring his plans to fruition, which is good, because he has a lot of plans. Right now, these include filming a street part with skateboarding’s foremost cinematographer Ty Evans, turning pro before he’s 18, and, most pressingly, getting his driver’s license. Three years from now, skateboarding will make its Olympic debut. When I asked Jagger what he thinks of the possibility of skating in the Olympics, he tells me that “I would love to compete for my country.” It’s true that the name “Jagger Eaton” seems almost designed to appear on a chyron, but he’ll be competing against dozens of the world’s best skateboarders for just a handful of slots on Team USA. Plus, even the qualifying events for the games are years away. When you’re 16, anything seems possible and everything can change in just a few months. Right now, he says, “I just have to prove I can hang in the streets.”

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

0 notes

flauntpage · 8 years ago

Text

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

"Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang."

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

0 notes

flauntpage · 8 years ago

Text

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets?

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

"Me and my brother both have career goals that we want to accomplish. We're not playing heehaw with the fuck-around gang."

Demian Becerra/Holy Mountain

Skater Jagger Eaton is Already a Star, But Can He Hang in the Streets? published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

0 notes