I had to wake up early to start writing the first day report of the IWA Outdoor Classics 2017. As I have mentioned, a slow uplink for the broadband connection at the hotel, I do really need to be at the Nuremberg Messe early so I can upload the photos on the Popular Airsoft Facebook Page.

That means I had to send Masterchief on his way to do the videos for the appointments of the day, and that started with Vega Force Company where Ray showed the first real world reveal of the VFC Avalon Monster Leopard Series. These series have a handguards that are shaped like a leopard’s head at the frontend, and I believe somebody remarked if it can be used to open a bottle, though I believe it’s too wide for that purpose.

Next for him was to meetup with Charlie Suarez of G&G Armament, where he presented the products of the company for the year. He started with their Night Vision Goggles (NVG) which we first reported as the Lucie-Style one and got a lot of buzz in the community.  From there he shows the G&G Gas Blowback Pistol Series starting with three pistols: GPM92, GPM1911, and their own in-house design, the GTP 9. They also fully-licensed Knights Armament AEGs, and shows the ARP 9, G&G’s AR-style AEG that has a 9mm-style magazine.

By 1030H, I was already done and had to rush to the West area of the Nuremberg Messe where I had to handover the 7th Airsoft Players’ Choice Awards to Military1st’s Michael Grzybowski for winning the Best Gear Retailer For Europe Category which is a new category for the awards. He won’t be able to make it for the Airsoft Meetup the next day, but it is still nice to hand over the award to him in person. If they win again next year, hopefully they can accept the award at the awarding ceremonies.

I meet up with Masterchief back at Hall 7, at the booth of Valken Tactical, where Josh shows the line-up of the company this year. He explains that their Battle Machine line, which started with the entry level Polymer series, is now moving into the high-end metal series which they call the “Allow Series”. They have MOD-C CQB Variant of the Battle Machine line as well as  well as their news Accessories line, showing the Crane-stock that is designed to have a battery compartment for the rear-wired gearbox. They also have the enhanced pull-string 300-round high capacity magazine for AEGs. He also shows Tango Series of uniforms which they launched in 2016.

It was almos 1200H by the time we were finished at Valken Tactical so back to the press room for us so I can transfer some of the files of the photos I have taken as I needed to free up space for more and at the same grab some lunch. But we decided if we can make our appointments move along earlier than the appointed times, we might end the day of doing our job early. So we went to King Arms where we were lucky the Sarah Hung was already free.

Another licensed product that they have is the Predator Tactical which they started last year releasing with the Iron Shrike. Now, they have more pistols to show under the brand and for first time we see them having their own Peacemaker revolvers.

After King Arms, we moved to ICS Airsoft, finding Alice Chen to inform us that their presentor, Lee Morante was ready to show their offerings for this year. ICS Airsoft also have branched out into airsoft pistols, with their Black Leopard line-up and they will be producing even an airsoft Makarov. What is also interesting with ICS Airsoft is that they have a new member in the CXP family, which they first revealed in the real world at the IWA Outdoor Classics 2017, the ICS CXP-M.A.R.S. or the Modern Assault Rifle System Series. They have four different models and two colour schemes and they sport a LVOA-style handguard and feature the ICS Airsoft Transform4 system.

It was Gunfire up next for the video where Marek showed us the line-up from their Specna Arms and they have a Redline series, which is the part of the trend in airsoft where manufacturers releasing sport rifles plus a new line of water-transfer of Specna Arms AEGs with different camo patterns. He then led us to their E&L Airsoft display, high quality AEGs especially their AK AEG lineup that airsoft players appreciated.  E&L Airsoft also produce AR-type AEGs. Gunfire also carry other popular brands in airsoft such as LCT Airsoft, Tokyo Marui, and ICS Airsoft.

Gunfire also known to have series of products designed to support AEGs such as the Electro River electronic accessories such as chargers. Other products they had on display at their booth are the Rockets Bbs, Theta Optics, and Primal Gear, amongst others.

By 1600H, we went to the ASG booth where they were hosting cockatils with invited guests, and we are fortunate that have been invited but unfortunately left our invitations at the hotel. But we are lucky that the ASG twins recognised us and let us in. The airsoft media was already dear, such as NLAirsoft, Airsoft.nu, Femme Fatale Airsoft, Airsoft Action Magazine, and more. It was also a winding down for the day for us after a hectic day and happy to see familiar faces that we met in our travels covering airsoft events in Europe.

At around 1730H, we decided to call it a day as we had to rest a bit and freshen up for our annual dinner with Gunfire. It is a tradition now for us to meet up with them  to exchange information on the trends in the airsoft industry as well as talk anything under the sun, well, in this case under the moon. We met up with them at this nice Greek restaurant in the City Centre.

It is always enjoyable to have this talk with Gunfire, as we always exchange of  lot of stories, not necessarily about airsoft. Over great food and drinks, we realised that it was almost midnight when we decided to break-up the party. We were already knackered at this time, and unable to catch up with other friend who also had plans for that night. It looks like age is catching up this time, as we cannot keep up with our younger friends in the airsoft media and airsoft industry. So we decided to call it a night as tomorrow, there are still more appontments as well as need to be looking fresh for the Airsoft Meetup.

More photos at the Popular Airsoft Facebook Page.