I honestly prefer a "boring" vulc with a different outsole versus another awful cupsole that nobody is going to buy. Vans has put out some extremely ugly and boring shoes in the last few years, but this one feels more like a vans shoe than models like the rowan 2, the zahba or that ugly 2000's style cupsole (mixxa?). vans and nike aren't comparable, they're built for two completely different consumers. it's like trying to compare mini-cooper and aston martin. aston martin is performance/luxury focused while mini builds basically one car for their entire history... the mini. vans isn't going to top Nike/NB with performance/tech footwear.