to me this is no worse than girl still cranking out ck decks despite him openly skating dlx boards and doing nothing to promote the brand on his social. ck has had at least one, and a lot of the times even two, shapes in each of the recent series. at least this kid seems stoked on the brand that's backing him. crail (and ok lakai is not technically crail, but it's still mc and rick) has a solid history of supporting dudes through injuries (mikemo, eldy, etc). at the end of the day, it's just a colorway. they gotta throw their young guys a bone one way or another to keep them from bouncing while they wait out the endless process that is the road to official pro (see the griffin gass royal capsule). plus, these shoes are already better than those motorhead joints.