Emerica “MADE: Chapter 2”

As many now know, yesterday marked the world premiere of the highly anticipated second installment of Emerica’s MADE video series. MADE Chapter 2 had a lot to live up to, after the epic expectations created by its precedent in Chapter 1 and classic videos from Emerica such as “This is Skateboarding” (2003). With such a legacy brand, each and every new video is anticipated and awaited by so many of us “in skateboarding,” and MADE Chapter 2, fortunately, met all of our expectations.

The premiere took place in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California at the historic Vista Theatre. There were three separate showings, accommodating plenty of viewers for the film’s first night in the public eye. And indeed the crowds were out for them… At any given point, there was a line wrapping a full block, all the way to the bar door on the other side of the building. We had our tickets in hand when we rolled up to the theatre, so with the line behind us, we walked in the door just in time for our showing. The shredding on screen commenced, and our minds were subsequently blown. Fully.

The first part of the video came from a rider not many predicted. Jon Dickson, formerly a team rider for Fallen Footwear (R.I.P.), is now a pro rider for Emerica! Dickson opened Chapter 2 with a BANG. Actually, many bangers; back to back to back hammers were what we all saw first on screen. It was Jon Dickson who set the tone for the rest of the feature, followed by full parts from Bryan Herman and Andrew Reynolds. There were rumors of Andrew putting out his “retirement part” in this video, but we’re not sure that was the case. His ripping style was apparent, and he didn’t hold back from skating every type of spot. However, it wasn’t set in the right way to declare a statement to the effect of “I’m out.” It looks like Reynolds is still filming, folks (thank God)!

After the first three full parts, there were two shared parts, back to back. The first highlighted Emerica’s foreign team riders, Rob Maatman and Eniz Fazliov. The Dutch and Finnish homies (respectively) destroyed every spot they skated while filming for MADE Chapter 2. Frankly, they put out some of the best clips of the video. The second part was shared by three proven greats: Jereme Leabres, Leo Romero & Brandon Westgate. What can we say? They came hard for this part. Leo’s gap to handrail hammers, Westgate’s unexplainable pop and power, and Leabres’ unmistakeable steez on a plank… Each rider brought something different yet influential to the video, giving the fellows at Sole Tech plenty of reasons to keep them going at the Emerica camp.

Kevin Long, Jerry Hsu and Collin Provost each had full parts following that, each of them with their own flavor. Jerry killed the switch game and shined with his low-key classic style. Spanky [Kevin] brought his bank spot bangers, sick lines and creative style to the table. And Provost unleashed an absolute barrage of ripping to the screen for our eyeballs to take in and our brains to enjoy. There are some heavy moments in each of these parts, folks. We can’t wait to buy a copy and dissect every minute of this thing.

As everyone always wonders (and many try to predict), there is an “ender” to each full-length skate video. And for this chapter of the MADE series, Justin Figueroa closed those curtains. Figgy is inseparable in our minds from gnarly skating, and he is still getting it. HARD! His part for this video was no less impressive than any full part we’ve seen from him. Only looks of shock and jaws dropped were shown from the audience throughout his entire video part. Figgy is here to stay. For a while. Whether it’s his demolishing ditch spots and school yards or finding a way to do an NBD on a long-time famous spot, he had it all. Slams, makes, and “oh s***” moments were aplenty until they ran credits on this sucker. And everyone left the theatre blown away.

We can’t wait to see a copy of this thing to watch it again. And we hope you all watch it as soon as possible.. Emerica MADE Chapter 2 is and will forever be a hit. Once we fully absorb the gnarliness of it, we might just get back to you.

Stay tuned…