I wouldn't say Mullen is less popular, at least amongst skaters. I skateboarded in the mid to late 80s and had a Powell Peralta Mullen board (in addition to a

I wouldn't say Mullen is less popular, at least amongst skaters. I skateboarded in the mid to late 80s and had a Powell Peralta Mullen board (in addition to a normal street/vert board), so my memories of Mullen really were of this geeky kid in helmet and pads doing the impossible and rarely messing up. More than anyone else, I would watch Bones Brigade VHS tapes on slow motion to figure out just how the heck he pulled this stuff off. I have a theory that freestyle never went anywhere because Mullen was just too good - no one watching him could ever think "yeah, I could do that". That's not to take anything away from Tony Hawk, but for instance, he had contemporaries like Hosoi to keep him in check. Mullen was an island. So happy to find out years later he transitioned to being the king of street skating. Obviously many of the street tricks he invented were on that tiny freestyle board, so he deserves the title regardless, but it's just so cool to see he had a second career and has maintained relevance into advanced age like Tony.