Interview with Real Airsoft Player: Meet Roger Friberg, the Pink Airsoft Glamdalorian
By Monika Nozinic -May 9, 20230427
https://airsoft-magazine.com/airsoft/interview-with-real-airsoft-player-meet-roger-friberg-the-pink-airsoft-glamdalorian/?fbclid=IwAR1OlwCIsPPZufWzxmO8bwh5_QuGJlxm1Kl7FxzIQjWsuH3ThrwhTPsAim8
airsoft players interview
A special Airsoft player you’ve never seen before!
This time, we have the pleasure of interviewing one of these avid airsoft players, Roger Friberg, who is known in the community as the Pink Airsoft Glamdalorian.
With his unique and eye-catching playstyle, Friberg has become a well-known figure in the airsoft world, and we’re excited to get to know him better and learn more about his passion for the game.
1. What inspired you to get into Airsoft, and how did you start?
I was one of those standard kids loving to play imaginary pew-pew from a young age, got into air rifles for a long while, and got one of those low-budget springer pistols to shoot targets with. Then during a board game convention, a local airsoft team set up a demo game where you could test full-on, genuine shooting at each other Airsoft. They had all the eye protection and pistols to borrow, and I was immediately hooked after one try.
That was in 2002. After that, I researched where my nearest retailers were, and by pure luck, I had a paintball store in my tiny town also selling Airsoft. My very first pistol was a TM Steyr GB NBB. ^_^
2. Can you describe your most memorable Airsoft experience?
Being for such a long time in this hobby, I, of course, have tons and tons of goofy, fun, awesome flashes of memories. But soul-searching myself, I concluded that the two years leading my forces to victory as Commander in my team’s (Cannibal Hippies) annual weekend-long big game scenario “MERCS”. Having 150-200 players under my command, deploying them, constant radio comms, reacting to combat and Intel. During one of these, I also got my Callsign RAINBOW from my players.
3. How do you stay competitive in the Airsoft community, and what strategies do you use to improve your skills?
Actually, for me, it’s not important to WIN and be the BEST. It’s important to have FUN. It IS fun to win, though. So, it’s not like I’m not bothered at all. I enjoy the teamwork aspect of Airsoft more than having “insane killstreaks”, so my version of being competitive would be to communicate with the team, my group, my wingman, or whatever other cooperation is going on in the field. That directly ties into strategies, coming up with attack plans, defense plans, etc., together.
I do not mind being sacrificed as cannon fodder/distraction if that means that my teammates get the mission’s goal, secures another point, or whatever is good for the team to bring the win to us hopefully.
But when “flying solo”, I know I’m not the fastest shot, so I always try and utilize movement and placement. Use the environment to my benefit. Don’t use the obvious corners; hide in the shadows, and think outside the box. Be aware of your footings, move as silently as possible, all those basic things often forgotten in the heat of battle. And never have a fight at the same place you just shot someone. Always move.
4. You are known for your “Pink Airsoft Glamdalorian” How did you develop it? What was the process of getting it all together, and are there any interesting facts about it?
It has actually been a long process with several steps. It started in 2018 when I finally decided to play in a pink-colored uniform and helmet. Then in 2020, I decided to finally unite my love for Star Wars, Boba Fett, and pink by creating my FIRST version of my pink Mandalorian. The first version was by just repainting a vest I had used for my Juggernaut (a TF3 vest), adding a “Spartan” face mask to the FAST helmet, and putting soccer shin guards on the arms as the bracers. This was popular, especially with my friends, but I noticed many of my Instagram followers also enjoyed it. After having played with that style for a while, I really felt I wanted to upgrade my armor to the Galac-Tac replica from China.
By putting up a Crowdfunding project, I got the funds to buy both that armor and a TierNone face mask, creating my new Glamdalorian. Also, everyone donating to my Crowdfunding got their name engraved on my armor, so I have several engravings of my donors’ names written in Mando’a (the Mandalorian language), forever honoring them. I did make some alterations to it, such as sawing in the chest plates to make room for the Mandalorian Iron Heart, a vital piece of Mandalorian culture.
My signet of the Unicorn on my left shoulder is handmade by my daughter with a hot glue gun! And generally, I love pushing stereotypes. I’m not just a straight male playing a “macho” military game in PINK, but also in dress-up pink?!
5. How do you deal with long Airsoft matches’ physical and mental demands, and what strategies do you use to maintain focus and stamina?
Hydrate and energize! Water, rehydration, energy bars, power bars. I use my actual military training from exercises to always have some kind of source of re-energizing with me out on the field. Never have candy other than in emergency cases. It’s short-burst energy. And if in a day-long or weekend-long scenario, REST and power nap whenever possible or “safe” to do so. You never know what situation you can end up in later.
What advice would you offer new Airsoft players just starting, and what do you wish you had known when you first began playing?
”Relax..” honestly. You don’t need the expensive gun, the “correct” gear. Just grab any clothes that can stand up to a beating, borrow or rent a gun and go out there and have fun! After a couple of games, you’ll learn what gear you wanna get, what gun you wanna play, etc. And also.. as fast as possible, get rid of your high-cap mag! 😉 And DON’T CHEAP OUT ON YOUR FACEPRO!
6. What’s your favorite Airsoft gun, and why?
BULLPUPS! And specifically P90. I love compact rifles. Therefore, the bullpups are my favorite—compact frame with same barrel lengths. And for me right now, the best P90, in my opinion, is the Novritsch P90. That mosfet with precocking is brilliant and makes it SO responsive. I’ve owned AUG, UAR, and P90, and I’m looking at getting an SRU bullpup conversion kit to an M4.
7. What’s your favorite type of Airsoft game to play?
I love (clock) domination and games with a running point score during a set time. Not just “run and dash” as Capture The Flag. I love Domination games since they demand constant work toward the objective. Visit the hot spots, re-visit, and secure. One doesn’t NEED to fight but can stealth around if one wishes or make full-out frontal attacks if that’s the mood—the best of both worlds.
8. What’s the coolest Airsoft accessory or modification you’ve ever seen?
I don’t know if Ares Alpha really is what you’re asking for really, but THAT is a true game changer for me. But for accessories on a gun or player, I could not say more than perhaps the tracer with Chrono built-in or perhaps the internal HopUp-tracers such as Maxx. But since I build, modify and customize almost all guns I own, I always love to see cool 3D-printed projects or heavily modified guns.
I actually won a “build a custom”-competition from King Arms with my gun Dracarys once. I like to joke that winning that competition technically makes me the best gun customizer in the world. 😉
9. What’s the funniest or most ridiculous moment you’ve experienced while playing Airsoft?
My most funny and ridiculous was definitely one time at Tjärnan, the Mental Asylum I describe in the next question. We had a three-team scenario, and my team Red had just had an intense fight against Yellow in the Stairway junction of the building coming from the right wing. My group was defeated, and we stood in the junction waiting/hoping for medics from our team, still hearing the Yellow team on the other side of the door to the right. The sound of our fight had drawn out the BLUE team from the left wing instead, and they attacked from the left, still with poor us, Red in the middle.
So the situation was that we, Red stood in the junction hallway with a door to the right with the Yellow team behind, and a door to the left with the Blue team behind where the two other teams peeked open the doors, took some cheap shots and just tried to gain an advantage. Suddenly by some subconscious timing, BOTH TEAMS throw open their respective door, and THEY EACH throw a grenade towards the other door to try to breach and clear. So one grenade sails beautifully from right to left and lands in the left corridor, and the other grenade sails equally beautifully from left to right and lands in the right corridor.
For me, the feeling was like in the movies, seeing them sail past in slow motion! And then the lovely concussion of TWO pyro grenades exploded simultaneously, and everyone yelled, “HIIIT!” It took us all, all three teams, a split second to realize what just happened, and then everyone exploded in laughter and high-fives.
10. What’s the most interesting location you’ve ever played Airsoft in?
That would be the game site “Camp Solbacken,” aka Tjärnan in Sweden. An over 100-year-old disused mental asylum/hospital with three floors, a big cellar, and an attic and forest surrounding it. It has been used for airsoft and LARP for over a decade, so it has some amazing scenario rooms, and is stunning to fight there. I’m part of the crew running Sweden’s largest indoor CQB arena, “T3mpus Arena”, located in an old furniture store. Everything we build or create in that arena is always inspired by Tjärnan.
11. Have you ever faced any challenges or setbacks while playing Airsoft, and how did you overcome them?
My mental state often! I might have second thoughts on the morning of the game, wanting to stay home instead. It’s my mild introvert personality and social phobia. Those times I have to push myself and tell myself this is something I WANT to do, I know how to do it, and I enjoy it, and I know that when I start playing, I will have fun. And it’s always true that I have fun when I finally get there. But it has been several years of mental training.
12. How do you see the future of Airsoft, and what changes would you like to see in the sport?
I believe that more and more of Airsoft will be technical/internet connected in such ways as, for example, Ares Alpha or AttackSense. The lines between pure airsoft and computer games will be more and more blurred, which I personally enjoy!
13. Have you ever participated in Airsoft tournaments or competitions, and how did you perform?
So far, I have only participated in one “real” tournament in the second year of my airsofting. It was with my team at that time, of which I was the team leader, and from what I can remember, our result was pretty mediocre. We ended up in the middle somewhere. It’d be fun to try another tournament to get a measurement of myself.
14. How do you stay updated with new Airsoft gear and technology, and what’s your latest purchase?
I subscribe to several resellers’ newsletters and am part of many airsoft groups on Facebook, so I’m usually pretty up-to-date with new stuff. My latest buy is actually a 7€ springer shotgun! Before that one, it was the 350€ SSR90 (P90) from Novritsch. And believe me, money doesn’t mean joy, because I’m having fun in different ways with both. The SSR90 is serious fun, and the shotty is laugh-out-loud silly fun.
Social Media links;
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/callsign.rainbow/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callsign.rainbow
Youtube: https://rb.gy/j3t8t
T3mpus Arena: https://www.facebook.com/T3mpus.cqb.arena
Cannibal Hippies: https://cannibalhippies.se/
Patreon: http://patreon.com/Callsign_rainbow
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