Normally, here’s where the evisceration begins. “Oh Dear God, why Jordan Brand why? Why do you torture the shoe world so?”, etc., etc.

Not this time.

These aren’t bad.

Now, this is going to sound even crazier than what I just said but there ARE shoes that lend themselves somewhat decently to the hybrid concept. The AF1′s that were hybridized (huh?) with the Air Max 95 and 97 looked great. Finishline is current selling some Air Max 90 x Terra Humara x full length air sole that are the cat’s pajamas.

It would appear that Air Jordan is one of the few (only?) AJ’s thus far that can be turned into a Force and look okay. I mean, it could be the peyote I’ve been smoking for 6 days straight, but I would wear those white highs and feel pretty decent about it. The navy ones are “meh” the black ones are pretty solid, and the lows are pretty terrible, but those white highs are, as the say, “rockable”. (Comparing these to the AJ 3 Fusions and the abortion-esque 6Rings…these hybrids are downright pretty.)

The AJ 20 is no favorite of mine, so maybe it’s just a case of the “put a decent looking girl in a club full of ugly ones and she’s going to look smoking hot”…but these are better than a kick in the nuts, I will tell you that.

There’s a slogan that Jordan Brand could put a marketing campaign around:

“Air Jordan Fusion Force 20…better than a kick in the nuts.”

(Is “Fusion Force 20″ the correct terminology for these shoes? Sounds like a mid-90s Saturday morning cartoon. And a shitty one at that.)

[Images courtesy of Hypebeast, by way of Jumpman23]

These are ’09 version of Jordan Brand’s “6Rings” concept. It’s not really worth making fun of stuff like this anymore. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel of vaseline, to paraphrase Chuck Klosterman. Have they sold THAT many of the ’08 6Rings?? Who the f is buying shit like this? I’ve never seen anyone wearing these hybrid monstrosities. Maybe I’m just not in the right neighborhoods. I heard DC is big into Jordans. Maybe that’s where they are all at. Maybe Jordan Brand is making these specifically for one city in the U.S. Who the hell knows? *sigh*…

Anyway, that’s enough of that. No need to get into it. You and everyone you know could probably make fun of the above shoes just as well as I can. Okay, maybe not “just as well” but close.

Instead, I will now show pictures of hybrid items that worked out infinitely better than the 6Rings concept (and any future incarnations the 6Rings hybrid concept will entail).

Hybrid cars.

Knee-high Air Max 95′s.

Sweater vests.

Ligers.

Grapples. (“Looks like an apple. Tastes like a grape.”)

Man-purses.

Hats like this.

This thing.

And, of course, manpris.

Hybrid shoes? With a few exceptions, not so good. You only need to look a few posts below this one where my colleague JGoods tears into the Frankenstein monsters that are the Jordan Fusions. And what he said about those goes equally for the Spiz’ikes, 6Rings, and whatever other pieced together “fusions” the Jordan Brand has shat out lately.

However, there are always going to be exceptions to the rule. I must admit that Nike’s recent trend of turning older shoes into Air Force One versions of themselves is…pretty damn cool, so far. From the Safaris, to the Spiridons, to the Max 95s, to the below…I think they have a very interesting concept on their hands. Pictures of the release version of the Air Max 97 x Air Force 1 are starting to show up everywhere and I think they turned out very nice:

Anyone who saw the sample pics from a few months back will notice the lack of the full length vis-air unit…which I actually think is a good thing. With that air unit in there, these probably would have retailed for some ungodly amount (although I am sure they still will). I also think the translucent red sole was a great touch.

These shoes should be out already at any place that got the previous incarnations.

[Pics courtesy of Kix and the City]