Reflections - 1996 in the GTA

lt_poncho · October 5th, 2005, 17:51

As we come to a close on another summer of Airsoft, certainly not the end of this season by any means, I realized that itâ€™s been exactly 10 years or so since the Electric Age of Airsoft hit Canada.

I moved to Toronto late that year (1996), after having helped Peter Kang get Asia Pacific off the ground in Vancouver. Airsoft was becoming a major discovery in Canada.
After a couple guys on my team out in Vancouver finally convinced me of AEGâ€™s (Iâ€™ve always been partial to GAS) â€“ I caved and got a fully loaded MP5 PDW (Used it recently at TTAC3, yeah baby!). Dual Mag clamp, claw mount, Red Dot, toaster oven â€“ come one man, the LCF is the shit.

Back in Toronto, I remember an Indoor Paintball place in Toronto just off the 400, itâ€™s closed now, but it was on Norfinch Drive between Steeles and Finch. I was talking with none other than a very old, good friend Kwokwai Wu here on ASC at the time â€“ I think it was there that we hooked up for the first time, and I â€˜demoâ€™ed my JAC MP5 SD6 as well as my JAC M16A2. Airsoft then was referred to "Holy Fu*k..."
I have a hard time remembering the names (itâ€™s been 10 years!!!), but these guys were actively involved in bringing Airsoft to places like Sgt. Splatters and Paintball City. (Kwokwai, help me out here buddyâ€¦who was the guy that drove that Black Ford Contour?)

I also hooked up with Wilson from SD-Unit, and the 3 guys at AMC (AutoWings) shop in Pacific Mall â€“ from there we all started to organized a lot of games at the old Flag Raiders, Sgt. Splatters, Wasaga. Before that, I hooked up with Kelley from REGIMENT Airsoft, and I actually did a road trip with X-Ring and 2 others on my team to London to go see him and see his downtown storefront shop. That was interesting to say the least. $3 to test fire in his range. Or was it $5? Ah the memoriesâ€¦

Anyone remember an abandoned Paintball field in Tillsonburgh? Thru Kelley at Regiment and another old friend of mine I know â€“ Tony Boros out of London â€“ we organized a few skirmishes there. This was PRE INTERNET days mind you, not to say that the internet wasnâ€™t around, but shit, we didnâ€™t even have email to alert others of upcoming games. I would spend entire Saturdays on the PHONE calling a list of players at HOME (Pre CELL!! LOL!!!) to organize games. Ammo was like â€“ the hardest to get back then. Somehow tho we managed, and we had a few good turnouts back then at that field (20 or so players). We only played there a few times tho, as the commute from Toronto to Tillsonburgh was a little much. Looking back, I now know why I have 250,000 kms on my frikkin car.

Airsoft bloomed as the Internet did, and retailers such as APEC, SD Unit and AMC were doing really well. I practically lived at Wilsonâ€™s house during those years â€“ I got the comment from one of his aunts that this gwai-lo used chopsticks better than their kidsâ€¦1997 was a busy year with an Airsoft game happening at Flag Raiders almost every 2nd weekend. We were constantly fighting for time slots with Paintballers â€“ and I think for anyone whoâ€™s been around that long can always recall the look on a Paintballers face when the Airsoft crew hit the field. Woodland was the ONLY pattern back then, that and SWAT BLACK! In the BUSH! Yeah baby!

Another guy I remember was Casey Wong â€“ a really great guy that I miss. He brought his group of players out to many of the games we organized, and even tho there was the language barrier and everything â€“ we certainly had some kickin' games that left us laughing.

Iâ€™ll have to scan a few ancient pictures to go with this thread, as Digicams were the size of a 1982 Cell Phone at the time. Anyone have any stories from the GTA Area in the 1996/97 era? I figure if anything, this would be a USEFUL contribution to this board, rather than seeing so many â€˜I got scammed by <Insert ASC User here>, â€œWhat the hell is wrong with <Insert Retailer Here>â€¦.*sigh*

concept_8 · October 5th, 2005, 18:02

Good stuff.
Still being what I consider to be a noob myself, I always wondered what the airsoft scene was like back in the day.
Sounds like you guys had some pretty good times.

Syphen · October 5th, 2005, 18:58

You guys predate me indeed. I was reading and wishing I could get into airsoft back in 99-00, I was in highschool still and couldn't afford it. Low and behold, I get out of highschool, goto college and found the money to do it some how!

Its wierd to think of a field where everyone had gas rifles and guns.

Arnisador · October 5th, 2005, 20:14

Poncho, you need to tell the tale of the team who played for "keeps". You know, the guys who'd play a best of 3 games...winner keeps the loser's guns.

lt_poncho · October 5th, 2005, 22:01

1. Group shot - i'm sure there's a few faces in there that someone recognizes...(1996? 1997?)

2. Old Flag Raiders staging area - gas masks were teh shizzle back there.

3. I used to host, slap that shit down...back in da day...(1997)

4. Indoor action at Paintball City (1997?)

5. Kinda off subject - gas gun only games in Mt Tremblant, Quebec - 1996. From left to right; Bagger (Van), Zerk (Mtl), BlackFox (Cimmarions), Poncho (Mars), Joey (Mtl), Spectre (Mtl) - AEG's weren't even on the radar!

made Man · October 5th, 2005, 22:08

something isnt working. All i see is
"Ã˜Ã¿Ã*" all over the page.

Agit-Prop · October 6th, 2005, 00:25

Predates me by a few years. I got into it in '98 or '99. First games I played were at the old FR feild. Duelling with Cooper, watching Lynch using every part of the feild, including streams and sink-holes (haha)

Gary Wong and his ugly-ass M16 sniper, and the accidental pot-shot he took at FR.

Online battles on ASG, ASZ, and Lynch's.

Tru and I were mortal enemys for about a month. (What a chodah chomper)

Wank-tastic teams that made moronic challenges (Team OCD?) or used oxy-propane pop-bottle bombs in games, thinking it's a great idea.

FOX_111 · October 6th, 2005, 01:41

By that time, airsoft was not here, so we played paintball deep in the wood.

I had a silver Raptor that I wrapped in camo cloth. I was the first in my gang to have a semi auto gun.

Even at that time, I wished I had a gun that looked more like a gun.

Than airsoft came!

TheMonkeyMan · October 6th, 2005, 02:55

*Drool* So many gas guns.

Scarry to think Im one of the "older hands" around here and I didnt get into it till 01 or 02.

Nice pics BTW.

Rob

Grim Fandango · October 6th, 2005, 03:29

Man I started collecting airsoft in late '99. Signed up to ASC in '00 or '01 I think, on the ooollldd boards. Got the confirmation email, but couldn't get the confirmation code to work when signing in, figured i'd wait a while and try again later. Well I completely forgot, then one day a year later, I found that email while cleaning out all my old emails. Tried the code again and it work, that started me on ASC. Although that was my old nickname. I changed it after ASC changed servers and created a new look. Man I can't even remember what the old ASC looked like. Bought a used MP5 off the boards, which turned out to be broken. Then started playing at PBC games hosted by SD-Unit with akamikee. As for '96, well that predates me. But after hearing several stories from people like Gump, Wildcard and Ryan Clark about the old AMC vs. Hot Shots games i'm somewhat glad I missed those days. I do remember trying to visit AMC, only to find out it closed up a year earlier, they just never took their website down..

Barf · October 6th, 2005, 07:38

I remember Team UCD. Last I remember, STAT still owes them their guns for foreiting UCD's challenge.....ie. didn't respond to their email

Sgt_Lynch · October 7th, 2005, 01:09

It's been 10 years?????

Holy Fuck I'm OLD!!!!!!!

Primus · October 7th, 2005, 08:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agit-Prop

Predates me by a few years. I got into it in '98 or '99. First games I played were at the old FR feild. Duelling with Cooper, watching Lynch using every part of the feild, including streams and sink-holes (haha)

BWAHAHAHA, Lynch will never live that one down

Actually that was my first Toronto game and it was way different from the 4-6 people skirmish we would have here in Ottawa. Good times, good times.

Kwokwai · October 7th, 2005, 11:25

Holy moley, this is going far back. Who would'a thunk we'd be where we are today?

Heheheh. That was Adrenaline Zone run by Jules I think his name was... were you referring to Andrew Blackburn (sp?)? I think that he was the one with the Ford Contour.

Ponch, it was great finally meeting up with you for the first time at Kipling with your massive duffle bag of "goodies". I remember the "oh $^*t!" from behind the meeting room door when they heard your gas gun firing up as well as those guys one-hand racking your shotgun with the cracked outer again, and again and again with the silly grins on their faces...

MMMiles! · October 7th, 2005, 12:26

You want to get freaky?

It's like ASC's highschool yearbook (although I wasn't hacking the site itself up til 2002... Tru, Primus were the masters of this domain)

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://airsoftcanada.com

http://web.archive.org/web/200210040...bbse/index.php
Checkout the last forum in the General section, hahaha.... ugh. Stupid fucking Greg Auch.

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October 5th, 2005, 17:51	#1
lt_poncho Trader rating Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: GTA	Reflections - 1996 in the GTA As we come to a close on another summer of Airsoft, certainly not the end of this season by any means, I realized that itâ€™s been exactly 10 years or so since the Electric Age of Airsoft hit Canada. I moved to Toronto late that year (1996), after having helped Peter Kang get Asia Pacific off the ground in Vancouver. Airsoft was becoming a major discovery in Canada. After a couple guys on my team out in Vancouver finally convinced me of AEGâ€™s (Iâ€™ve always been partial to GAS) â€“ I caved and got a fully loaded MP5 PDW (Used it recently at TTAC3, yeah baby!). Dual Mag clamp, claw mount, Red Dot, toaster oven â€“ come one man, the LCF is the shit. Back in Toronto, I remember an Indoor Paintball place in Toronto just off the 400, itâ€™s closed now, but it was on Norfinch Drive between Steeles and Finch. I was talking with none other than a very old, good friend Kwokwai Wu here on ASC at the time â€“ I think it was there that we hooked up for the first time, and I â€˜demoâ€™ed my JAC MP5 SD6 as well as my JAC M16A2. Airsoft then was referred to "Holy Fuk..." I have a hard time remembering the names (itâ€™s been 10 years!!!), but these guys were actively involved in bringing Airsoft to places like Sgt. Splatters and Paintball City. (Kwokwai, help me out here buddyâ€¦who was the guy that drove that Black Ford Contour?) I also hooked up with Wilson from SD-Unit, and the 3 guys at AMC (AutoWings) shop in Pacific Mall â€“ from there we all started to organized a lot of games at the old Flag Raiders, Sgt. Splatters, Wasaga. Before that, I hooked up with Kelley from REGIMENT Airsoft, and I actually did a road trip with X-Ring and 2 others on my team to London to go see him and see his downtown storefront shop. That was interesting to say the least. $3 to test fire in his range. Or was it $5? Ah the memoriesâ€¦ Anyone remember an abandoned Paintball field in Tillsonburgh? Thru Kelley at Regiment and another old friend of mine I know â€“ Tony Boros out of London â€“ we organized a few skirmishes there. This was PRE INTERNET days mind you, not to say that the internet wasnâ€™t around, but shit, we didnâ€™t even have email to alert others of upcoming games. I would spend entire Saturdays on the PHONE calling a list of players at HOME (Pre CELL!! LOL!!!) to organize games. Ammo was like â€“ the hardest to get back then. Somehow tho we managed, and we had a few good turnouts back then at that field (20 or so players). We only played there a few times tho, as the commute from Toronto to Tillsonburgh was a little much. Looking back, I now know why I have 250,000 kms on my frikkin car. Airsoft bloomed as the Internet did, and retailers such as APEC, SD Unit and AMC were doing really well. I practically lived at Wilsonâ€™s house during those years â€“ I got the comment from one of his aunts that this gwai-lo used chopsticks better than their kidsâ€¦1997 was a busy year with an Airsoft game happening at Flag Raiders almost every 2nd weekend. We were constantly fighting for time slots with Paintballers â€“ and I think for anyone whoâ€™s been around that long can always recall the look on a Paintballers face when the Airsoft crew hit the field. Woodland was the ONLY pattern back then, that and SWAT BLACK! In the BUSH! Yeah baby! Another guy I remember was Casey Wong â€“ a really great guy that I miss. He brought his group of players out to many of the games we organized, and even tho there was the language barrier and everything â€“ we certainly had some kickin' games that left us laughing. Iâ€™ll have to scan a few ancient pictures to go with this thread, as Digicams were the size of a 1982 Cell Phone at the time. Anyone have any stories from the GTA Area in the 1996/97 era? I figure if anything, this would be a USEFUL contribution to this board, rather than seeing so many â€˜I got scammed by <Insert ASC User here>, â€œWhat the hell is wrong with <Insert Retailer Here>â€¦.sigh*

October 5th, 2005, 18:02	#2
concept_8 Trader rating Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: sudbury Ont.	Good stuff. Still being what I consider to be a noob myself, I always wondered what the airsoft scene was like back in the day. Sounds like you guys had some pretty good times. __________________ "Death in the tall grass"

October 5th, 2005, 18:58	#3
Syphen Trader rating Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Orillia, Ont.	You guys predate me indeed. I was reading and wishing I could get into airsoft back in 99-00, I was in highschool still and couldn't afford it. Low and behold, I get out of highschool, goto college and found the money to do it some how! Its wierd to think of a field where everyone had gas rifles and guns. __________________ Sponsored by Boland Howe: Cause Scheisse Happens www.bolandhowe.com

October 5th, 2005, 20:14	#4
Arnisador Administrator Trader rating Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Regina, Saskatchewan	Poncho, you need to tell the tale of the team who played for "keeps". You know, the guys who'd play a best of 3 games...winner keeps the loser's guns. __________________ It doesn't seem much, to stir a man's soul. Just a moth eaten rag on a worm eaten pole. But 'tis the deeds that were done 'neath this moth eaten rag, when the pole was a staff, and the rag was a flag. CUM CATAPULTAE PROSCRIPTAE ERUNT TUM SOLI PROSCRIPT CATAPULTAS HABEBUNT

October 5th, 2005, 22:01	#5
lt_poncho Trader rating Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: GTA	Pics! Teh scanned... 1. Group shot - i'm sure there's a few faces in there that someone recognizes...(1996? 1997?) 2. Old Flag Raiders staging area - gas masks were teh shizzle back there. 3. I used to host, slap that shit down...back in da day...(1997) 4. Indoor action at Paintball City (1997?) 5. Kinda off subject - gas gun only games in Mt Tremblant, Quebec - 1996. From left to right; Bagger (Van), Zerk (Mtl), BlackFox (Cimmarions), Poncho (Mars), Joey (Mtl), Spectre (Mtl) - AEG's weren't even on the radar!

October 5th, 2005, 22:08	#6
made Man Trader rating Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Vansterdam	something isnt working. All i see is "Ã˜Ã¿Ã" all over the page. __________________ You dont choose who you love, love chooses you; and that little fucking son of a bitch sticks itself to your face like the godless bloodsucking bastards in Alien and refuses to let go until it has drained your soul and left you an empty shell of a human being. I am worth $2,106,266.00 on HumanForSale.com* <axel026> i need help please <^cell^> do you have an appointment? <axel026> im french <^cell^> i see... thats a terrible disorder

October 6th, 2005, 00:25	#7
Agit-Prop It's True He's Not Dead! Just Molding! Trader rating Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontariariario, Canada	Predates me by a few years. I got into it in '98 or '99. First games I played were at the old FR feild. Duelling with Cooper, watching Lynch using every part of the feild, including streams and sink-holes (haha) Gary Wong and his ugly-ass M16 sniper, and the accidental pot-shot he took at FR. Online battles on ASG, ASZ, and Lynch's. Tru and I were mortal enemys for about a month. (What a chodah chomper) Wank-tastic teams that made moronic challenges (Team OCD?) or used oxy-propane pop-bottle bombs in games, thinking it's a great idea. __________________ Hate me??? Buy the T-Shirt!!! FREE TIBET* *With purchase of Tibet of equal or greater value

October 6th, 2005, 01:41	#8
FOX_111 Le Roi des poissons d'avril Trader rating Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Terrebonne, QuÃ©bec	By that time, airsoft was not here, so we played paintball deep in the wood. I had a silver Raptor that I wrapped in camo cloth. I was the first in my gang to have a semi auto gun. Even at that time, I wished I had a gun that looked more like a gun. Than airsoft came! __________________ VÃ©rificateur d'Ã¢ge: Terrebonne

October 6th, 2005, 02:55	#9
TheMonkeyMan Trader rating Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Regina, SK	Drool So many gas guns. Scarry to think Im one of the "older hands" around here and I didnt get into it till 01 or 02. Nice pics BTW. Rob __________________ Tweeter and the Monkeyman were hard up for cash They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash To and undercover cop who had a sister named Jan For reasons unexplained, she loved the Monkeyman

October 6th, 2005, 03:29	#10
Grim Fandango Trader rating Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Toronto, Ontario	Man I started collecting airsoft in late '99. Signed up to ASC in '00 or '01 I think, on the ooollldd boards. Got the confirmation email, but couldn't get the confirmation code to work when signing in, figured i'd wait a while and try again later. Well I completely forgot, then one day a year later, I found that email while cleaning out all my old emails. Tried the code again and it work, that started me on ASC. Although that was my old nickname. I changed it after ASC changed servers and created a new look. Man I can't even remember what the old ASC looked like. Bought a used MP5 off the boards, which turned out to be broken. Then started playing at PBC games hosted by SD-Unit with akamikee. As for '96, well that predates me. But after hearing several stories from people like Gump, Wildcard and Ryan Clark about the old AMC vs. Hot Shots games i'm somewhat glad I missed those days. I do remember trying to visit AMC, only to find out it closed up a year earlier, they just never took their website down..

October 7th, 2005, 01:09	#12
Sgt_Lynch Trader rating Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Anger Management class.	It's been 10 years????? Holy Fuck I'm OLD!!!!!!! __________________ When the going gets tough... the tough go cyclic.

October 7th, 2005, 11:25	#14
Kwokwai Trader rating Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Mississauga, ON	Holy moley, this is going far back. Who would'a thunk we'd be where we are today? Heheheh. That was Adrenaline Zone run by Jules I think his name was... were you referring to Andrew Blackburn (sp?)? I think that he was the one with the Ford Contour. Ponch, it was great finally meeting up with you for the first time at Kipling with your massive duffle bag of "goodies". I remember the "oh $^*t!" from behind the meeting room door when they heard your gas gun firing up as well as those guys one-hand racking your shotgun with the cracked outer again, and again and again with the silly grins on their faces...

October 7th, 2005, 12:26	#15
MMMiles! Part man, part machine Trader rating Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Toronto, Ontario	You want to get freaky? It's like ASC's highschool yearbook (although I wasn't hacking the site itself up til 2002... Tru, Primus were the masters of this domain) http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://airsoftcanada.com http://web.archive.org/web/200210040...bbse/index.php Checkout the last forum in the General section, hahaha.... ugh. Stupid fucking Greg Auch.