Team Hypebeast? Huh?
Many people have heard of groups like Forward Observations. But apart from eBay & Co. there hardly seems to be any merchandise available. What is this Hydra Mount anyway? And why are certain things hyped to such an extreme?
Gun Culture Hypebeast - An overview
Forward Observations Group, Global Battlefield Research Systems (GBRS), White Phosphorus - most of us are familiar with these names, with FOG (“Forward Observations Group”) probably being the best known. They all belong more or less to a modern, young subculture that is sometimes referred to as “hypebeast” culture.
What is a “hypebeast”?
The term may be unfamiliar to older generations or more analog types. The term “hypebeast” is mainly used to describe younger men who follow the latest trends and fashions. The clothing in this subculture is deliberately eye-catching, limited and characterized by prominently placed logos that focus more on the brand than the clothing itself. The best-known representatives in the civilian sector include “Supreme” and “Yeezy”. The products are rare and are sold in so-called “drops” - these are announced and released at a specific time. The products are sold out within a very short time. If you're lucky, you get something, but if you don't, you have to wait until the next drop - or buy it on platforms like eBay at absurdly high prices. Caps from past drops often cost well over 100 dollars.
The beginnings.
Okay, now we know how Supreme & Co. market their stuff. But what does that have to do with our scene? In this day and age, special forces and the subculture surrounding people who often, lets say "act with plate carriers, ballistic helmets and modern firearms in non-sporting or hunting contexts" have definitely arrived in pop culture.
Want some examples? The comic series “Black Powder Red Earth” revolves precisely around such groups of people in the private security or contracting sector.
Other examples include films and series such as “The Contractor”, “SEALs”, “Zero Dark Thirty” and “13 Hours”. Even “John Wick” could be counted among them. Books such as Mark Owen's “Mission Accomplished” or Rob O'Neill's “The Operator” have found their place in pop culture. And not just in forms of books or movies: let's take a look at the world of videogames for a second. One of the first, at least in my oppinion, to bring this subculture into the mainstream was “Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell” in 2002, when the “Global War on Terror” (GWOT) was still in its infancy. Men with green eyes operated in sandy countries - it was the nerve of the times. Games like “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” (2019) reached the pinnacle of this development. The video for the SAS mission “Clean House” from this game now has over 12 million views (as of 11/2024). Pop culture at its best. The realism is particularly interesting for gun enthusiasts, as the developers at Activision brought in Lucas Botkin to make the game mechanics as realistic as possible.
Hypebeast-style brands from the scene we live in.
In the field of firearms users, the best-known brands for clothing and gear (that are active in this genre) are "FOG", “GBRS”, “Finance and Maneuver” and “White Phosphor”. But there are countless more and not all of them always fulfill the definition of “hypebeast brands” 100%. We will take a brief look at the best-known ones later. They differ from the civilian “hypebeast” culture primarily in the following way: the majority of these brands are founded and run by veterans of the SOF (“Special Operations Forces” - i.e. Army Rangers, Navy Seals, Green Berets (or even ex-DEVGRU - e.g. DJ Shipley)). This can also be seen in the videos produced by the brands on social media. Lots of clips of people in the special forces doing... things. Lots of dynamic shooting. Lots of high-speed Gucci material. 90s video cassette effects underlaid with rap, phonk, techno - thats how we do it. In contrast to the civilian hypebeast culture, however, it's not always just about clothes - in fact, it also includes products like the GBRS Hydra-Mount.
The “Hydra Mount” is a riser for red dot sights, that also provides a raised platform for IR lasers and target illuminators such as the MAWL or PEQ-15. As laser/laser target illuminators (such as the PEQ-15) are usually mounted on the handguard, this can lead to a number of problems, one being a shift of your point of impact. The simultaneous, fixed mounting of your Sight and Laser on the upper block solves the problem, as the handguard is not firmly attached to the barrel. Our friends of good taste at Black Trident have the Hydra Mount in their store.
In short, it's all about a "holistic style”. The latest hot shit that's hard to come by. WHAT exactly this latest hot shit is, is defined by the group itself and is influenced by current developments in the news, memes or general trends. An example of this would be the caps with large, individual letters: FOG with “F” dad caps, Finance and Maneuver with their “F/M” caps, etc.
Another special feature of these brands is their deliberately sparing use of information about the team members. Some of them are still actively on missions. It is often not even known who exactly is behind the brands. It's more about the “spirit” than the people. This is kind of similar to Bitcoin and the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto”, whose true identity is also unknown so as not to link the idea of Bitcoin to a person and thus potentially weaken it. Which is perfect.
“People can fall. A simple idea can't.” You can find out why it can be problematic when people are too central to a brand in Part II of this series.
Cover: Forward Observations Group
