This is our first and definitely not our last post like this. Paying tribute to the one person who did more for the customizing hobby than anyone else: Methamphibian. We are going to have a look at his past customs, a throwback. Which is funny because “throwbacks” were the popular clothing item when Methamphibian was on top of the sneaker world back in 2000 to about 2005. To make this post title even more ironic the first shoes were are showcasing are based off of a make believe “throwback” team from Nike: The Rayguns. His design on the Air Force 1 was based off the red and gold stripes across the Rayguns jersey. I can still remember the rumors that these would be released by Nike, back in 2002 and the subsequent Raygun Dunk sample that surfaced later that year. Which was still 3 years before the actual release of the Nike Dunk SB with the Rayguns theme in 2005. The rumor is that Methamphibian was supposedly “hired” to make this design by Nike to promote the new Nike Basketball site which was heavily based on the Rayguns campaign. These were also one of the first customs to be significantly “faked” by the factory variant makers. Now who knows where the originals are? But Mr. Methamphibian does have for sale a “retro” version of his Raygun AF1 for only $200 that would look good in any collection. Either way check back for the real answer as PaintOrThread goes out to research if Methamphibian was actually commissioned by Nike back in 2002 for this design.
Pics of the Away Rayguns and Retro Rayguns AF1s after the jump!