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for better or worse gh has filled the void of the phelper
a polarising, funny personality whose opinions generally echo that of the core community
in 2025 it only makes sense that this is in the form of a youtuber/twitch streamer
also, i can almost guarantee the old guys he pisses off these days would have held phelps word as gospel in the hellride era , which i think only adds to my point .. in 10 years gh devotees gonna be doing the same to whoevers next up - provided they survive the groyper wars of 2028
future is now old guys
Joa having the same cred as Phelps is laughable...Also grew up in the 90s and am not a fan of his videos but don't care for him, what either way he ends up in skateboarding, the scene has gotten so big that I can enjoy it without ever interacting with any of his content. The only people who i think deserve to be punched in the face are literal nazi's like Nick Fuentes and Richard spencer. Joa or any opinions like his does not deserve any physical violence
If anything Joa has more. Phelps didn't really matter to anyone until KOTR, and even then I don't think people really cared about his opinions that much. Like, go fast and do scary stuff was a thing before Phelps came along.
phelps edited Thrasher for 26 years you fucking person.
Those 26 years in which Phelps ran Thrasher has influenced skateboarding, good or bad, far beyond anything else. Phelps himself didn't really put himself out there as the face of Thrasher until later in that career, but Thrasher dictated what was cool or not in skateboarding for decades, and Phelps dictated what was in Thrasher. Almost every trend you can think of became one because that's what Thrasher decided to elevate.
I don't listen to Gifted Hater, I don't do the Nine Club or the Bunt either, just not my thing, but the idea any Youtuber in a sea of youtubers has even a fraction of the cultural impact that the primary skateboarding magazine for 40 years, and the last standing for the last few years, has had, seems ridiculous.
I disagree that Thrasher was dictating what was cool in skating back in the day. I think Transworld was bigger in the 80s, and Big Brother was more influential in the 90s. Thrasher was in this weird old guy space in the 90s, trying to figure out how to cover what was happening while sticking to their hash roots. Their coverage of pool skaters and such was just not the thing that people cared about. Even SOTY was kind of a thing like- oh cool, good for them. It wasn't the big deal it is now.
I was hanging out with 2 well regarded mid 80-mid 90s pro’s this past summer in California and conversation about Phelps came up. One dude liked him, the other said he wasn’t a particularly nice guy. Both stated, unequivocally, that more than anyone, Phelps decided what was going to be seen in skateboarding. Phelps doesnt like your city, it wont be covered. Phelps doesnt like you, you wont be covered.
Im 40, so not some old heshed out bowl dog Phelps worshipper, and slap mag was the best mag, but to say that Transworld and Big Brother were better or more influential isn’t accurate. Maybe for you, in your town, but that’s definitely an unpopular opinion. Shit, a month or 2 ago, i asked one of my very good friends, east coast dude early 50s dude, been skating since the 80s, in the industry since 97, about skate mag hierarchy in his lifetime and it went like “big brother had a cool early phase, but it’s always been Thrasher. I likes slap the best, the whole SF vibe, but Thrasher had dictated what happens in skateboarding. Transworld was like a Christian style skate mag.”
So its anecdotal and opinion based, but I haven’t encountered anyone sharing your opinion in the wild