Toy Machine’s Welcome to Hell

The anti-polish counterpoint to the more refined videos of the era. Gritty, aggressive, and unapologetically punk, Welcome to Hell became a cult classic for its raw energy and the sheer commitment of its skating — particularly Jamie Thomas’s landmark part.

Company: Toy Machine
Released: 1996

Era: Mid-90s / Raw, Gritty Street Skating

Featured Skaters: Adrian Lopez, Bam Margera, Donny Barley, Brian Anderson, Ed Templeton, Elissa Steamer, Jamie Thomas, Mike Maldonado, Satva Leung, Wade Burkitt, Scott Copalman, and more.


While Girl’s Mouse was setting the standard for production quality and compositional elegance, Toy Machine went in the exact opposite direction — and it was perfect.

Welcome to Hell wasn’t trying to be beautiful. It was trying to be honest. Shot on low-grade VHS with a chaotic energy that felt less like a professional production and more like someone’s homies just happened to be filming everything, it embodied the DIY spirit of the mid-90s skate underground completely. Ed Templeton’s aesthetic for Toy Machine was always slightly twisted and distinctly anti-corporate, and the video reflects that from its first frame to its last.

The skating is what made it legendary. Jamie Thomas’s part is an assault on the senses — massive drops, gnarly rails, and a physical commitment to consequence-free-looking tricks that made you simultaneously wince and cheer. Thomas was establishing himself as one of the most fearless skaters of the era, and this is the document that proved it to the world.

Elissa Steamer’s section was quietly groundbreaking — one of the first times a female skater appeared in a major skate video not as a novelty but simply as someone who could hang with the best in the world. It didn’t make a big deal about it. It didn’t need to. The skating spoke for itself.

The rest of the team — including Brian Anderson, Donny Barley, and Adrian Lopez — contributes a raw, creative energy throughout that never feels manufactured. Welcome to Hell succeeded because it reminded everyone that skateboarding doesn’t need polish to be great. Sometimes the realest thing is the most powerful thing. Essential.