Nike Air Macropus Lite Qs

The Macropus has a special place in our hearts as a curious Tier Zero product in a more heavyweight HTM mid-cut version that confused a few heads on its debut, with that sloping sole unit and moc-toe. Best of all, the Macropus name references the marsupial genus that includes several wallaby species for a clever Clarks Wallabee reference. It was a shock-to-the-system to see Nike go casual in such a clean way, and the price tag was intimidating, making it a tough sell. Now who's not merrily moccasin-toeing their way through their lookbooks? The Macropus benefits from looking genuinely strange. Wallys are a safe bet, but with that broad forefoot almost replicating the vast plates of meat on the leaping animal namesake, the Macropus harks back to a time when Nike were dropping oddball pieces like this and the Sock Dart. The Matagi hunter influenced version is apparently lifted from accounts of early Ainu hunters - "men of winter" is a loose translation of the Matagi name, and the fleecy inner lining and faux-horsehair upper (shades of Hideout Footscape?) looks strange in a good way. First spotted next to an iffy Terminator, and the ace Baked Mid (for those that can pull it off, we salute you) we're glad it's finally out. We never thought 2010 would be the year the Macropus would be on the comeback trail, but we're not mad at the decision either. Hopefully we'll see more similarly bizarro resurrections throughout the year.