Sour or Polar?

[mattchew]

Haven’t skated a Sour board before, and have only been so so on the Polars I’ve skated in the past (all their wheelbases are too long for my liking). I barely own any skate soft goods, so really it comes down to the team and videos for me…

Sour videos are chock full of absolutely insane and diverse maneuvers on incredible and unique spots with top tier filming. VX & MK-1/4:3 aspect ratio is always, always, always going to proper.

Polar videos have a deep narrative aspect and rather than lure you in with a “wow factor”, they confront you with the essence of skateboarding, which is not easy to do while maintaining every other aspect of skate videos we have come to expect.

I’m grateful for both.

Might have to go Polar just because of Gustav’s haircut though. Can you imagine if he skated for Polar tho? Wow.

[sprained_ankle]

I just looked at Sour's graphics. They not as bad as people making them out to be. (I dig them).

[ninformatic]

Polar's years are ahead of Sour Solution and I'm not even talking about skateboarding itself, both crews are sick and make awesome skate content.

-Polar's garments are great, 240gms t-shirts, great denim and stuff. Everything sustainably sourced, made in Portugal or Poland, which I think most Americans don't give a damn about (let's be honest Alltimers, Quartersnacks and Bronze 56k are great, but the quality in their clothes is not is worth the price).

-Polar decks are made in BBS while Sour is made in HLC Spain. BBS decks are the best decks, but I think paying 60 euros for an HLC deck is pretty good.

- Graphically speaking, I think Polar has a stronger and more attractive identity. Sour has some good graphics, but some are pure rubbish.

I see a lot of potential in Sour if they focused on better quality clothing rather than Gildan/Aliexpress stuff, accompanied by better art direction. They have a great sense of humor for graphics, turning that into graphic pieces would be very marketable. Keeping the HLC decks is good for the brand as it makes the whole fucking thing more accessible. The crew is solid, the videos are insanely good. I didn't want to see them become a european Real.

[R3dBullRox420]

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Polar cuz they use BBS and Sour uses HLC. I like Polar graphics better also. Overall it seems that Polar produces better quality and more thought out stuff than Sour. I like the Sour team a lot and the videos are great. I would like to support the brand I just never find anything worth buying from them.

[close]

Nail hit on the head. Sour's art direction for the logo and graphics aren't actually a million miles from Jart tbh. As someone who's been kind of in and out of the skate world for a past few years it took me a while to actually get behind Sour because of the name and logo, it wasn't until a mate got me to watch one of the videos to make me realise it wasn't a scandi Jart.

But yeah to put it bluntly as an adult I'm not gonna wear a shirt that says Sour cause I just think it's a bit eugh. I'm also still a believer that Polar was one of the driving forces that flipped skateboarding on it's head and made the 2010s a whole lot cooler for skateboarding. I'm not sure there would be a Sour without Polar, and if there was I doubt it'd be as successful or cool.

Vincent Huhta is the truth though and Sour's videos are great.

Wasn't sour created after some beef with Sweet skateboards?
Sweet already had a tad bit of traction and was going joint video projects with Sk8mafia

[Coastal Fever]

I like both teams and their videos, never owned any of their boards or clothes.  So the only deciding factor left for me is their brand names.. I think Polar as a company name sounds cool, and I think Sour sounds fucking dumb.  Therefore, Polar.

[Trilogy]

Sour has Gustav Tonnensen so SOUR.

[PatrickSkateman]

JB, Enrique, Larance, and William Phan would all fit Sour way better than Polar.

Sour.

[Thebird]

Simon's spot selection......

[El Freegano]

I’ve met both boss dudes, I prefer Gustav over Pontus so Sour it is.

I don't think Gustav is the boss of Sour, but he is definitely the best one to watch from both teams.

[PatrickSkateman]

Passport is doper than both tbh.

[KGB]

Why come we can’t have both?

[R3dBullRox420]

Passport is doper than both tbh.

[LebowskisRug]

I like Passport too but wish they would stop using the dark brown stains and differentiate their art a bit. I feel it's been the same few series more or less for 3-4 years.

If Sour gets on BBS through Baker Boys in the US I will be super, super stoked. The one deck I had from them was meh and cracked on a front lipslide on a small ledge.

[IpathCats]

I like Passport too but wish they would stop using the dark brown stains and differentiate their art a bit. I feel it's been the same few series more or less for 3-4 years.

If Sour gets on BBS through Baker Boys in the US I will be super, super stoked. The one deck I had from them was meh and cracked on a front lipslide on a small ledge.

Dark brown/green/purple top stains are the best.

[Mean salto]

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I like Passport too but wish they would stop using the dark brown stains and differentiate their art a bit. I feel it's been the same few series more or less for 3-4 years.

If Sour gets on BBS through Baker Boys in the US I will be super, super stoked. The one deck I had from them was meh and cracked on a front lipslide on a small ledge.

[close]

Dark brown/green/purple top stains are the best.

Uh oh it's all splitting into two camps. Yellow is premium then pink then orange. Possibly had more pass port boards than any other brand now the graphics are usually nice at least rarely bad but I wish they'd do the wood veneer rather than solid painted colours sometimes. Like what polar does (altho maybe that's why they don't do it)

[GuessAgain?]

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Polar cuz they use BBS and Sour uses HLC. I like Polar graphics better also. Overall it seems that Polar produces better quality and more thought out stuff than Sour. I like the Sour team a lot and the videos are great. I would like to support the brand I just never find anything worth buying from them.

[close]

Nail hit on the head. Sour's art direction for the logo and graphics aren't actually a million miles from Jart tbh. As someone who's been kind of in and out of the skate world for a past few years it took me a while to actually get behind Sour because of the name and logo, it wasn't until a mate got me to watch one of the videos to make me realise it wasn't a scandi Jart.

But yeah to put it bluntly as an adult I'm not gonna wear a shirt that says Sour cause I just think it's a bit eugh. I'm also still a believer that Polar was one of the driving forces that flipped skateboarding on it's head and made the 2010s a whole lot cooler for skateboarding. I'm not sure there would be a Sour without Polar, and if there was I doubt it'd be as successful or cool.

Vincent Huhta is the truth though and Sour's videos are great.

[close]

Wasn't sour created after some beef with Sweet skateboards?
Sweet already had a tad bit of traction and was going joint video projects with Sk8mafia

This might actually be where my wires are crossed. I think I originally thought Sweet and Sour were affiliated, like sister companies or something, hence why I thought it was a dumpster fire of lame from the name to begin with… Still though sticking with a name that originated as some parody beef seems a but odd?

[YMCMB]

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Polar cuz they use BBS and Sour uses HLC. I like Polar graphics better also. Overall it seems that Polar produces better quality and more thought out stuff than Sour. I like the Sour team a lot and the videos are great. I would like to support the brand I just never find anything worth buying from them.

[close]

Nail hit on the head. Sour's art direction for the logo and graphics aren't actually a million miles from Jart tbh. As someone who's been kind of in and out of the skate world for a past few years it took me a while to actually get behind Sour because of the name and logo, it wasn't until a mate got me to watch one of the videos to make me realise it wasn't a scandi Jart.

But yeah to put it bluntly as an adult I'm not gonna wear a shirt that says Sour cause I just think it's a bit eugh. I'm also still a believer that Polar was one of the driving forces that flipped skateboarding on it's head and made the 2010s a whole lot cooler for skateboarding. I'm not sure there would be a Sour without Polar, and if there was I doubt it'd be as successful or cool.

Vincent Huhta is the truth though and Sour's videos are great.

[close]

Wasn't sour created after some beef with Sweet skateboards?
Sweet already had a tad bit of traction and was going joint video projects with Sk8mafia

[close]

This might actually be where my wires are crossed. I think I originally thought Sweet and Sour were affiliated, like sister companies or something, hence why I thought it was a dumpster fire of lame from the name to begin with… Still though sticking with a name that originated as some parody beef seems a but odd?

Sweet was bought by another person than the original owners and they progressively ran it into the ground.
SweetMafia was the last video they made before leaving and starting Sour ala Vision/Blind.

[Garbagecomplex]

I’ve never tried polar. The boards look like snowskates. Love sour boards though. Sour does single deck press so it’s the exact same shape and concave everytime. I can’t deal with buying the same deck and having the concave be drastically different.

[PatrickSkateman]

JB, Enrique, Larance, and William Phan would all fit Sour way better than Polar.

Sour.

Sour also did a few nods to Shawshank Redemption, a really funny Snakes on a Plane graphic, and a Rosemary’s Baby graphic so they win.

[Lucky_Basek]

When Lordz released They Don't Give a Fuck About Us over 20 years ago, who would have imagined that two brands from Europe would dominate contemporary skateboarding by being themselves rather than imitating what happens in the US.

Polar and Sour are keeping the full length alive and interesting.
The skaters are elevating not imitating what's happening in the rest of the world.
And the homages to skate history by both brands is keeping that history in circulation.

From where I live it's incredible that skate shops in regional Australian towns have big Polar stickers in the windows, friends rock up to spots in Sour decks, and no skater passes a loop in the built environment and doesn't hum the first few bars of Baker Street....and look around for Tyler Surrey with his hands on his head.

When you think about it, most of the things old timers (like me) love about skateboarding are being reimagined by two European brands.

And people love it.

Amazing times.

[LebowskisRug]

Sour's graphics are like a way better version of Skate Mental. Polar is largely a few people's personal art. It's not really comparable. It's like buying a Baker logo board when you want some Gonz art.

As for stains, I can't sign off on yellow, natural, or dark brown, but it won't make me not buy a board.

As for concave variances I'm pretty anal when it comes to my decks being similar an at most you're talking 1/8" variances on average. I think when people get annoyed is when they religiously adhere to the DLX Roman numerals, which do not always follow the set pattern.

[VHS ERA]

Sour easily

[RoaryMcTwang]

Seems like Polar wins it. I never had the chance to ride either brand's boards, so I said Sour purely based on my preference for people on the team, seems like the product pushes it Polar's way

[HeavyAndExpensive]

Sour Solution sounds like a Nu-metal band. I can’t get past those terrible names

[thanksgiving]

polar cause of shin

[Mr.Jenkins]

I’ve met both boss dudes, I prefer Gustav over Pontus so Sour it is.

Gustav is not the owner. Björn is (or at leat the founder and CEO) - one of the original Sweet riders and one of the original Junkyard riders together with EJP. And me as well. 

[Mr.Jenkins]

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Polar cuz they use BBS and Sour uses HLC. I like Polar graphics better also. Overall it seems that Polar produces better quality and more thought out stuff than Sour. I like the Sour team a lot and the videos are great. I would like to support the brand I just never find anything worth buying from them.

[close]

Nail hit on the head. Sour's art direction for the logo and graphics aren't actually a million miles from Jart tbh. As someone who's been kind of in and out of the skate world for a past few years it took me a while to actually get behind Sour because of the name and logo, it wasn't until a mate got me to watch one of the videos to make me realise it wasn't a scandi Jart.

But yeah to put it bluntly as an adult I'm not gonna wear a shirt that says Sour cause I just think it's a bit eugh. I'm also still a believer that Polar was one of the driving forces that flipped skateboarding on it's head and made the 2010s a whole lot cooler for skateboarding. I'm not sure there would be a Sour without Polar, and if there was I doubt it'd be as successful or cool.

Vincent Huhta is the truth though and Sour's videos are great.

[close]

Wasn't sour created after some beef with Sweet skateboards?
Sweet already had a tad bit of traction and was going joint video projects with Sk8mafia

Junkyard, the shop that created and operated Sweet, from this guy Thomas, was sold to a investment company that kicked the team off ( and basically offered Björn, who was a TM for Sweet at the time) to come back to Sweden and work in the warehouse. They said fuck no to that and started Sour with most of the kicked off Sweet dudes. 

[switchfakie]

Polar only because Gustav’s shape is so flat it’s unskatable for me