I just refreshed my YouTube browser and saw that the new Goon Gear video Flygang456 dropped three hours ago. I knew it was dropping in the near future, but I didn’t really expect the rogue June 1st, evening drop. Maybe I’m a fool for expecting anything else. Lucas Magoon and his new batch of gremlinz are not exactly traditional, and that's a good thing.
The snowboarding video landscape is structured; film a project, edit it over the summer, drop it in the fall when the temps drop below 90. This way, the consumer will be more inclined to buy the newest batch of products their respective sponsors are releasing. Also, nobody wants to watch videos and get hyped to snowboard in the summertime. It’s a formulaic thing, it just makes sense. But when Flygang456 drops randomly in June, you make an exception.
I watched the first :53 seconds of Flygang456 before I started writing this. The video opens up with hollering and confusion until Lucas says, “lost a finger guys, fuck yeah.”
I was entranced.
Then the sponsors start hitting and I don’t know if I'm baked or every logo is on the screen for like ten full seconds. The intro is loaded with heavy slams, classic goon-affiliate behavior, and southern rap. Yeah, fuck yeah that’s what I wanna see. The intro ends, and Storm Rowe takes a bong rip as his name appears on screen. This shit is poetic. This is snowboarding. And they haven’t even shown any clips yet.
Storm’s part is cool. He looks blue collar, which I guess everyone else does these days, but this guy looks like he’s not cosplaying. Work ethic aside, he did two cab180 to 5050s to end his part. It’s a choice. They’re both good clips, it’s just weird back to back. We’re seeing far fewer cab 180 to 5050s these days. I believe there’s a reason for that, but in a sea of straight 5050s I'll take it.
On second thought, did I film a cab 180 5050 in the streets this year?
I did not, I’m a fucking poser. Damnit.
My mouth is dry as hell. I’m going to grab some preservative free, Grilo’s Blazin’ Hot Pickle chips. Man these things sure are spicy and delicious. I like to drink the juice too because it makes me feel healthier after smoking cigarettes and drinking light beer all weekend. The electrolytes cancel out all the poisons. Enough about pickles, I must return to goonland. I mean the Flygang456 video when I say that, nothing else.
Scotty Korwes appears. What the fuck another cab 180? I swear people aren’t doing those anymore.
Montage. Pause for typing. This video feels familiar. It feels like a homie vid. We all made one or were in one. If you weren’t, I’m sorry, I honestly feel bad for you. Nothing matters more than the homie video, I don’t give a shit what anyone else says. I’ll take a poorly filmed video that feels authentic all day. This montage is that. Some skilled, and some not skilled snowboarders getting their work in for the love of the game.
Good lord, another cab 180 5050. You have to be kidding me. I’m out of touch.
Some familiar faces and some randoms, and a Zeb Powell cameo. That’s the homie video ethos. The guy on Jordan doesn’t get a name title, we’re all equal here.
Another thing about the homie video is that it offers a bit of a sketch-offense buffer zone. Like, we know the deal, so you get wiggle room on certain things in the video.
For instance; Kaiden did a back 50, to fence, to 50. Insanely sick trick, zero sketch. Gnar factor, balance beam, stee; he’s checking the boxes. And for some reason the fisheye filmer is standing at the top of the stairs against the fence, buttshot on a backside 5050. Typically, this is grounds for repercussions. This is illegal activity. Somebody is getting sent to the boss’s office to get yelled at. But in the homie video, it’s all good. We’re gonna let that one slide.
That's the thing about Flygang 456, it’s that old school style of snowboarding, you can feel it.
Jake Fern is up. I think this song is by the Bloodhound Gang. They are snowboard/skate culture adjacent; familiar or unfamiliar, hate it or love it, it's true.
Jimmy Pop and the Bloodhound Gang are tied in with the CKY and Jackass scene from the 2000s. I believe they are from Pennsylvania, so maybe that’s why there’s the CKY connection. Let me hit wikipedia. Yep, Pennsylvania. I was born there, so in a way, I’m a part of that movement too.
Hold up, Lucas is on. Killa Cam is trumpeting through my speakers as my laptop burns a hole in my sternum. He’s going way too fast on an atv, swagging about, and bonking shit.
Jesus christ, am I having an out of body experience? Am I transcending time and space; is it 2010 again and I'm watching Rutland for the first time? It feels like an old friend, someone I knew in another life. Sababa. Free Zullo. Getwitit.
No. This is not Rutland, and it’s not 2010. Why does this keep happening to me?
It’s 2026, the country is run by pedophiles, and I have to pay taxes so the government can send my money to Israel to fund a genocide. But Lucas Magoon footage is dropping, and I enjoyed the part. So, there’s that.
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and when I watch goongear videos, there's faint remnants of a different era. A time when the world wasn’t burning in front of you on your iPhone. There was a time when people lived in the present, and just did shit without the hyper awareness that everything is public and online within moments. Maybe that’s still true for some, and a decent place to find it is in a homie video. Doing something for the love, unconcerned about TikTok trends and going viral. There’s an authenticity to doing something independently, regardless of circumstance. Goon Gear sure as hell is authentic and independent.
At the end there’s a short teaser with an iMovie font and it ends.
Automatic Re-up coming soon.