Welcome has been slowly building one of the most underrated teams imo, they have some super sick young guys and girls and I bet their next video surprises a lot of people who haven’t been paying attention

Is me or did Zack just gloss over the fact that Nora Vasconcellos had been with Welcome since beginning from packing decks in the garage in the early days of the company after she rode for hoopla to then being asked to be a team rider in contest. To me when people think of Welcome skateboards they first think of shaped deck and Nora .

Nolan Johnson was responsible for Welcome doing the shaped decks and when he left the company (money issues) he started Scram Earth Skis.

While everyone else seemed to forget what made skateboarding awesome Welcome remembered. Their shape guide and art and riders are awesome. I got their pugs cruiser wheels on a Nora 8.6 with Indy’s and some juice bars plus a custom grip job and loving it for drainage ditches and rough streets and super smooth transitions. Nora is one of their epic riders and I’ve noticed her purple color and her cat are a recurring theme in the artwork on a lot of their decks and merchandise. Love Welcome.

Currently riding an 10” shaped Winkowski board and a 9.5” symmetrical tail egg shape because i do a lot of slappies and prefer a bigger board with wider trucks for better truck-to-curb contact, but will ride an 8-8.25” for more tech style skating

I'd personally disagree with you on this Zack. Welcome did revolutionize the skate industry world by introducing the functional shaped deck. At the time, 'old school' and cruiser boards didn't have the proper concave and rocker that traditional Popsicle decks have today, when Welcome came into the scene they made a deck that at it's very core is a pop shape but it just has the flavor of a shaped deck as a detail. The other companies that you have mentioned, Polar, Krooked, FuckingAwesome, they all have shaped boards too but what really separates Welcome from them is again, the concave, rocker and even wheelbases. While yes the graphics are off putting (Believe me, I used to hate Welcome decks for how bland the theme of supernatural and magic can be repetitive.) But honestly at the end of the day, that graphic will get scratched off and it won't be that recognizable anymore (Hell, even with my Welcome decks, I too sand off the graphic and throw my own artwork on it.) As for Nolan, from what is known he left the Welcome brand years ago and even after forming Scram, Welcome was still at the top of it's game. Sure he was a piece of the brand to help it, but as we can see he wasn't all necessary. For Powell, I do like that they have reissued some of their decks, but my biggest gripe with that is they use a numbering label system that becomes confusing as all hell and doesn't have clear cut answers unless you buy the deck (Which the Powell reissues are expensive AF!) For Welcome, they have a unique system of names to better recognize which shape, concave and wheelbase to choose from (Even if the names are corny!) Honestly, I'd say, it's not the 'Rise and fall of Welcome Skateboards' but rather, the 'Rise and decline of popularity of Welcome Skateboards'. They never really fell, they are still well.

As someone who was once a early welcome fan the whole resurgence of shaped boards is due to probably nolan johnson

I've been riding the catblood shape for over 6 yrs on transition and love it.

While I agree that welcome have more competition now they’re still the leader as far as highly functional shaped decks go, at the skateshop where I work we’re all either on Hockey’s or Welcome’s, and we sell them just as equally

In France we love welcome deck ! I have 4 welcome and it make me happy ! 😁

I really dig welcome decks, especially Ryan Townley's signature shape. He's a great skater and has amazing art work.

Your video title scared the crap outta me Dowdy 😆 I thought Welcome was going out of business and I was about to have to go to my local shop and buy em out. Been on a board daily since 99 and all I ride now is Welcome.

alot of us old skaters were using shaped decks from Anti Hero, Pocket Pistols and Black Label long before Welcome.

Welcome has better art than supreme, fucking awesome, and hockey combined

Nolan named it scram bc it’s the opposite of welcome, mango and jalba started frog. Clearly the best parts of old welcome started two far superior companies. Welcome was cool with the first wave. Everything after that was a mockery. Great video per usual bud.

I love skating Welcome shapes and follow the brand. In my opinion they are the only company making highly functional fun shaped decks.

Watching you skate makes me want to be better at skating! Thanks bro!

When i got back into skating, my first 5 or 6 decks were welcome. I loved those old welcome vid‘s with nolan, mango, devlin and so on. The vibe changed when those guys left. I like evil grafX 😋

1:11 trucks on backwards… nice save Zack 😅

Ive skated the nora wicked queen deck 8.7 ?, boline deck 9.25 and im on a madness deck just now but i have the daniel Vargas tusk graphic on the effigy shape 8.8 to set up soon

Nora Vasconcellos is how I found out about Welcome. Got one of her boards now and it's so nice!

I was a Label guy for decades but I got one Welcome on a whim and absolutely love their decks. Just solid all around.

I love welcome, their vids, shapes, team! I bought one of their decks off the mystery deck and broke it in a month. Kind of hesitant but will try another board again

I used to work at an indoor park/shop in Washington state and have known Nolan since he was a wee grom. He’s always ripped. His dad is a major ripper too. When I moved to SD for a minute…I ran back into Nolan the YMCA bowl when he was getting hooked up by House Of Kasai. It was awesome getting to meet and skate with the likes of him and peeps like McGill and Steadham. I just bumped up my board size from 8.5 to 9 (I’ve been skating since ‘82 so I used to rock way wider). But yeah…I knew it might be a little floaty feeling. I ride 8.5” trucks. I think I might dial it back to 8.75 so it’s not so floaty. I kinda hate a deck that’s too wide for it’s trucks.

Have you tried Ricta clouds 57mm 78a? Or Satori movement 62mm 78a? Smooooooth

You're Killin those bowls 🔥

I just set up a double nose Nunn deck , love it already, the kicks are steep kind of like Alien decks, stoked on this one.

I never tried this board before because I like popsicle decks. But over all I wanted to know why it was like that with the nose and tail to see if it helped with some things of skating.

Shout out scram Earth skis and frog skateboard!

Im not sure why but Welcome and Foundation boards seem to perform better for me than others.

Man handing that bowl G!!! Get it!!!

Welcome is my first board back when i started skating in 2016. 8.75 wide and 14.75 wb. Still the best board i've ever ridden. Back in that day there are not much i could choose cause i don't want to skate popsicle deck. Welcome deck are really nice the concave and so on. Shame that my friend that distribute welcome stop distribute the deck cause one and other condition😭

always sick when you post

Welcome skateboards are sick! Is paradox grip still around too?

I have that same 9" welcome. Also the 8.5 enera shape is beautiful-slight tweak on popsicle

I had one welcome, it was a cool shape, long flat tapered nose, wide square tail, super fun, but really hard to do front rocks in tight transitions

I'm from Seattle and remember when welcome first hit the scene with skaters like Nolan Johnson was their 1st pro. Everyone jumped on the banwagon even trying to look punk like Nolan used to. Still nice decks though. Thanks for breaking it down!

The Nora shape is really fun

I'm a crailtap fanboy and switched to Welcome. Check out the EVIL TWIN shape. You'll see!

Great skating Zack 🤙👊🔥

1:11 backwards trucks dude hahahahha

Used to ride the Grosso shapes from Antihero and I bought a similar Welcome, love it

Scram Earth Skiis -Dope 🌏 Planet....For life. Whay better quality and shapes then alot of brands.

I think my first shaped board was a Jason Adams Black Label in 2007 or so. The more I think about it he really was a little bit ahead of his time.

I have a welcome deck, it's my favourite skateboard out of all 3 that I own

@1:11 is what we call a happy mistake:) , love your videos Zack, awesome subject matter as always!

Dowdy you really forgot BLACK LABEL? Black label was doing the shape thing before everyone everybody fell asleep. Welcome did not change or bring back the shape gimmick.

Absolutely love Welcome boards. I've always preferred shaped decks since my uncle gave me an old Duane Peters deck as a kid

It wasn't just the shapes bro...It was the riding. The attitude. When Nora joined (the final addition to mark 1) it made sense. It felt like Welcome. If it was just the shapes, they would never take off, they would be either a novelty brand or they would go down.

I love big shaped boards. Currently on a slave war pig and madness 9.5. 169s and 215 trucks. Mostly slappy/curbs and mellow transition.

Have you tried a Welcome board, do you like them?

I dig them but most of them had short wheel bases (14inch) which made them feel like a popsicles. I found a Chris Miller complete by a dumpster tho and I kept it.

I was skating that same deck not too long ago, definitely good wood

Was thinking about how I haven’t seen welcome in a while just yesterday l. Also noticed you out the truck on backwards when setting it up haha

I really really like the graphics and the shapes. I would buy another Welcome deck. I like how you mention board quality. The more I research on boards, it appears that yeah mainly they come from the same handful of manufacturers.

Had a Nora board , set up with OJ cruiser wheels.

Rode a Welcome Nora deck last year for a while but they're damn expensive here in the UK. Was a nice treat, I guess 💁.

Great video

Nora vasconcellos deck is so fire love the shape rides well and looks sick. Nothing else like it

Any other skate companies to recommend for shaped decks?

That victim of time graphic is sick. Cookie Monster comes to mind.

frontside ollie tutorial?

Yeah Zack getting it done

I kinda feel like welcome is cool, but I think Black Label was really the one innovating those shapes. Like my welcome was almost the same shape as my black label matt hensley from years earlier.

I thinking krooked and Polar use the same woodshop manufacture?

Creature and Welcome best graphics 🤘🔥

I had a welcome shape from five years ago that I loved…. Unfortunately I left my skateboard at the wrong girls house. Haven’t been able to find it again and I’m bummed. I think they’re catering to the kids with the egg shapes and more popsicle-style boards.

Just bought two Nora Sphinx decks and some merch

Love my Welcome deck

I still love riding my Nora Vasconcellos board. i got comfortable skating again on that board. I'll keep buying them as long as she's on the team. I did switch to a popcicle for a bit but I love Welcome's art style, especially Nora's

Isnt Ryan Townley an original team rider?

Something about the Peggy welcome board keeps drawing my attention 🤷🏽‍♂️ most likely its the shape! Refreshing to see shaped decks!!

frigging love my welcome magic bullet board 🤙

Got a miller yesterday 😀

I'm interested in the shapes and I really like the art on Welcome decks. In Europe, they are between 85 and 100 € though, and that's just too much for me... I might get one on sale, though

Pretty sick.

All you need to know about Welcome is Chris Miller. The end

Black label was definitely making shapes in 2009 man

Had 2 Welcome boards. The first one was drilled incorrectly & the second one became warped after a short while. 🤨

Shaped decks aren’t really for me but I love the Welcome art style. Haven’t tried any of their boards though.

Ryan Lay deck & graphics 🔥🔥🔥🔥

I just noticed they make normal popsicle boards, when did they start doing that?

any board rises and falls yo, you just gotta pop

1:11 truck backwards

Nora V & Ryan Townly. Mostly Nora. All hail Nora V

I guess you could call me a utilitarian because I skate blank popsicles that I ordered online

Carpet decks #1 right now

What's a welcome ?

Everything they do now lacks everything it used to be. Homies in a van driving to shitty skateparks making funny skate videos similar to 80s with the corny skits . Logan Devlin makes great edits. And they were having fun. The skating was also usually bonkers from Nolan, very tasteful and unique from the rest.

BBS decks always good

Black label had shaped in 09 I think 🤷‍♂️

1:12 🤭

I really liked these decks but to be honest the didn’t hold up to well. Snapped 2 decks within a month. First time i popped off a drive way approach. Second time kick-flipped out of a 50-50 knee high ledge.

I tried. Liked it. But missed the symmetry.

Point of view on welcome from france was poor quality especially delamination of the wood (3 boards, 3 friends, delamination in less than a month) which made us decide to go way from welcome in same time polar had great shape and was also great quality so we staied with them

In south Italy, in Salento, the region were is the "tail" of the boot, if you see Italy like a shoeshape; we have "Coffee Salentino" an iced long american style coffee sweetened with almonds syroup. Not properly a syroup but a very sweet restricted almonds milk. Try it!! 😉

Chris Miller rules he has no competition and at 01:09 you put your truck on backwards

Yep.....once Nolan Johnson left........it was done.

FN Ripping man!