u/MyManD

So no one really expected Wade to bring back the earlier colourways but they came out a week ago with a very surprising restock of the Liberty and Obsidian colours. Because I lost out during the initial launch (more focused on daughter being born than shoes at the time) I was really excited to have a chance to pick these up at under MSRP, because ain’t no way I was ever going to pay the resell sticker price for a pair of Wade’s.

Here’s a very, very, very late collection of unboxing photos and early impressions after an hour of shooting around and then another house of weight room/treadmill afterwards.

Colourway: WOW 12 Liberty (although officially “Island Paradise” on the QR code validity check)

Size: 26.5cm, US 8.5

Shoe Weight: 320 grams (11.3 oz) right shoe, 322 grams left shoe. Definitely a very light weight.

Price: 25,600 yen ($157) after various coupons during the last AliExpress sale event.

Personal Stats: 39yo / 174cm / 73kg / 85 in reach / 36 inch vert in my old age

Looks - 9.3 / 10: Probably the number one reason I picked these shoes up. I love the turquoise and gold combo, and I think Wade did it even better than the Kobe 6 Brunson’s. The design of the shoe just screams class. Only reason it’s not getting a perfect score is the medial side is kind of boring. I get that it’s the side that’s not really seen but I still like it when shoes have little Easter eggs or hype details there anyways.

Materials - 7.7 / 10: Synthetic everything, and thin synthetics at that. But it’s definitely not a cheap feeling shoe. Definitely doesn’t feel the price it comes at MSRP, but they feel like they’ll last and I understand why they went the way they did to cut the weight down so significantly. But when you just look at it, it still gives off the veneer of premium.

Cushion - 9.6 / 10: I admit I didn’t do a lot of extremely movements this time around but I did give it the some good hustle and a dozen or so max effort jumps and they felt like I was cheating with how springboard like they felt. The Super Boom with a carbon fiber plate sandwiched lived up to its reputation. These are probably the best feeling underfoot shoe I’ve ever played in. I felt like I jumped higher, grabbing rim almost right off the bat while other shoes need me to be a bit more warmed up. And the landings felt nice too, which is usually a surprise if I’m using explosive based foams because they tend not to be the softest. Only reason it’s not perfect is I can feel that the full length carbon fibre plate probably will come back to bite me in the butt down the road during longer sessions.

Fit - 8.4 / 10: These are a snug fit around the midfoot, but nothing egregious. The lightweight materials actually makes it feel like it’s compression sleeve rather then being strangled. Because of that the lockdown is fantastic. But what I didn’t expect was the shoe running long. I personally like something shy of a thumb at the end of my shoes, and these at TTS gave me about a thumb and a half. But with hot tight the fit everywhere else is I don’t think I’d recommend going half a size down either because then it might actually becoming stifling.

Traction - 7 / 10: Knowing these were half GCU, half traditional rubber they gripped about how I expected on the court I generally use - kinda bad on the GCU segment, really nice on the rubber. I know, should be the opposite right? But for whatever reason my past GCU shoes never worked really well and it’s the same here as well. Not as slip out prone, probably due to the regular rubber helping out, but I can feel it just not sticking to the floor as well as it should be.

Initial Score - 8.4 / 10

Sorry for the cut off image. It’s a screenshot of a post that was a screenshot of somewhere else lol.

But we can still see the full layout of the upcoming AJ41, and it looks like a beast. Literally all of Nike’s best tech all crammed together. Zoom in the heel, Zoom strobe up front, under some ZoomX pods, encased in a Cushlon 3.0 carrier.

Picked up the newly released Bloom Burst colourway of the Swiftace yesterday and was able to give them a quick hour on court today as well as an hour in the weight room doing compounds.

Looks - 8.5 / 10: I think these look beautiful. I was pretty critical about the initial Swiftace release, not being a fan of the colours and thinking the design was lazy and just copied way too many elements from ASICs’ own Sky Elite FF 3. But with this new flower based colourway I think they did a tasteful job covering up the boring design underneath with something that both pops but isn’t too in your face.

Support - 9.5 / 10 : Because they take so much from the Sky Elite FF3, a shoe that’s amongst my favourite of all time, the support is just as good. Extremely ample midfoot shank “Truss” system means your foot is not going anywhere. No fear of ankle rolls with rock solid torsional stability and a nice phalange.

Fit and Weight - 7.5 / 10 : One thing that did change a bit is the heel shape. This time around it’s using an external heel counter ala the Kobe 6’s but it feels like the actual curvature of the underlying heel cup is a bit too wide. Whereas my foot was locked in in ASICs other shoes, there was mild heel slippage here. Even with a runners knot the shoe still loosened up about half an hour in and I could feel a bit of slipping. It’s nothing dangerous or annoying, but it’s unusual for an ASICs. Also, definitely go down half a size. Like other ASICs shoes, they run long. I usually have to go down half a size from my Nike TTS, and even then they still run a smidgen long. Also note they are on the heavier side. 390 grams for a US size 8.

Traction - 10 / 10 : It’s the exact same rubber compound that ASICs uses in all of their court shoes and as always it’s stellar. Extremely tacky, sometimes to a dangerous extent until your wear them down a bit.

Cushion - 6.5 / 10 : This was my biggest criticism when the shoe was initially unveiled, and on feet the fears played out exactly as I thought they would. ASICs has made some pretty big strides in court shoe cushioning. My Sky Elite FF3s and Nova Surge 3s both have their newer FF Blast + foam that is extremely stable with similar energy return to PEBA foams. The Swiftace, though, settles from Flytefoam in the rear and FF Propel in the forefoot. Both are the company’s past generation offerings, which is weird to have in your more expensive “flagship” shoe when the cheaper models below it have better tech. It’d be akin to the next Lebron’s getting a React midsole while the the GT Cut Academy’s getting ZoomX. They give extremely stable and predictable feel, and on that front I actually like it when my legs are fresh, but this could be considered an extreme court feel shoe.

Initial Score : 42 / 50, or 8.4 / 10

Just thought it was interesting to at its back at #1 on Monday and continuing its historic run and yet it’s never had a #1 weekend.

It’s Golden Week in Japan so that means a lot of shoes going on sale. Not sure about other places but the Ja 3 Raptors and Explorers are sitting on shelves here so we’re the first to be discounted. Picked these XDR Raptors up for 11,500 yen (just under $75 USD) earlier today to be my third pair of Ja’s and primarily my outdoor walk arounds due to the sturdier rubber. If you’re in Japan right now definitely hit up Alpen Sports, physical or online.