Austrian Airsoft TV. Unfortunately this is not a 24/7 cable channel. AATV is Website where you can watch reviews and other airsoft-related short movies. Many of you probably downloaded some of their work already. If not, just visit www.aatv.at to see what these guys are doing. I don’t want to talk about them too much I would rather let them do the introductions.

Popular Airsoft: The whole thing started as a joke?

Gregor of AATV: Yes, kinda. There was a big skirmish with over 100 people (yes, that’s big in Austria). TC el Torro (my cameraman) and I wanted to take a different approach on doing an airsoft video, instead of the usual fast-paced action style skirmish flicks you see all the time. So we dressed up as UN soldiers with flak jackets and blue helmets, running around, asking stupid questions and making fun of everybody. The video was about 25 minutes long and most of the folks who watched it, seemed to enjoy it. At least they didn’t try to sue us.

You guys always played together as a team or just friends with the same hobby?

We (Shadow, TC el Torro and me) are part of team Ghost Recon. The team has two other members: Augustus and Habakuk who are great guys and hardcore modern US reenactors. They still play very often, while we others are rather inactive and focusing on airsoft videos.

I think your “About Airsoft” video should be posted on each and every airsoft-related Website. What do you think, why people take airsoft often too serious?

Airsoft is about competition and when there is competition, there are always winners and losers. Those who want to win, instead of having fun, tend to suck. These are the people that swear, threaten others, and stuff like that. Unfortunately, you can find those kinds of people at nearly every airsoft skirmish.

What is your way of airsoft?

Doing videos! I’m not really active anymore because I couldn’t stand the whole fighting and hating that occurrs during airsoft skirmishes, and the following flame wars in the forums. So, I rather do videos now and watch other people flame me and my crew in the forums and YouTube comments, instead of taking part in it.

AATV is not all about fun. You also do reviews and share those videos with the community. Those products are from your personal armory or donated by retailers?

Nearly all of the stuff in the videos are part or have been part of my private collection. Special thanks goes to www.xcalibertactical.com who donated the Strafer MK4; to Henry and Johnny from www.ratech.com.tw who sent me the GBB AKSU for reviewing and of course to airsoftinnovations.com for letting AATV manhandle their Tornado airsoft grenade. Extra special thanks to Markus from www.airsofthq.at, which is a big supporter of AATV, by lending us guns for reviews. Oh, and no thanks to all those airsoft toy manufactures, who don’t even bother to answer my request and suggestions about reviewing their products. Like CA, Tokyo Marui, G&G, VFC, ICS, WA, WE…

Your way of reviewing gives you advantage over the written articles but on the other hand you cannot post 500MB videos. I’ve noticed that you always put the necessary fun into the reviews but keep them as practical as possible at the same time. How you decide what you’re going to talk about when handling a review?

I started with airsoft nearly 10 years ago. So the videos are based on my, and Shadows’ knowledge and experience. I know that we can’t show everything, but on the other hand I doubt that people want to watch reviews longer than 15 minutes. That’s why we usually skip the precision test for example and we just show that when it’s really important for the gun we are reviewing like a sniper rifle or really high priced AEG.

You think your work will get back to one of the manufacturers one day and change something? Or you never thought about this?

Remember what I said about answering mails? The airsoft manufacturers seem to be not interested in feedback, especially not from someone who knows what he is talking about. They just want to sell lots of stuff. As long as the people buy their products, nothing will change. There is one more reason why I do the review videos: It sucks when you order a gun online just to learn that it’s a big doodoo right after you take it out of the box.

Did you guys already found the ultimate airsoft weapon? Which brand you think is the most reliable?

There is no ultimate airsoft weapon. Get the one you like the most. Nearly all faults can be cured by aftermarket parts nowadays… early. So find a gun you like, look at some reviews maybe there are major faults you can’t fix. If there is none, buy it, tune it and upgrade it to what you want. Working on your gun is half of the fun too. As for reliability: There is no perfect reliable gun. From my experience, Marui guns failed me the less, but that’s of course, if you tune and upgrade it probably.

Is your crew ever serious?

Is Austria the home of kangaroos? Yes, if you visit the Zoo. So if you cage my crew, they might get serious… maybe.

Do you accept donations from individuals as well? What if someone has an old AEG collecting dust in the corner or a huge bag of BBs? Can you use those or you expecting fresh things?

Donations are always welcome, from individuals as well. If someone wants to share his rare or classic airsoft gun, I would accept it. No seriously, the best donations are either parts or accessories for our video camera (an 8 year old Panasonic NV-DS15EG) or money.

You receive requests to make videos on airsoft events?

Nope, haven’t received anything like that yet.

Can you tell us the story behind your action flick? Can we expect similar videos in the future?

I wanted to see if it’s possible to create a short movie/action scene with airsoft products and minimalistic setup. All we had was the help of some fellow airsofters and our 8-year-old video camera. No after edited gun sounds, CGI muzzle flashes or any other fancy tricks. I think it turned out pretty well. I’d love to do a new action video, but it’s hard to find enough people who would like to star in an action movie. It is also hard to find a place in Austria, were you can film without people panicking or thinking we are Nazis on a parade.

When we can expect the first DVD?

Probably when people are willing to spend money for a silver disc full of stupidity, your mama jokes, beer shooting and some bits of information in between.

I hope AATV soon becomes a worldwide network and we can watch your flicks 24/7. Do you have big plans for AATV or you will keep this thing “real”?

No plans, just goals. I’d love to get the support of manufacturers, to do reviews on newly released or upcoming products. Another goal is not lose money with every review. May that be the costs of the guns I have to buy to review them or the cost of hosting the videos or the expendables (the beer targets aren’t free either…).

What’s your current project?

Mostly reviews. There is one with a new approach to it, involving 10 guns, 10 players and a skirmish. But we need to find a skirmish site first… and 10 players… and the 10 guns…

Do you have any exclusive or unseen footage for our readers?

Sorry, but the take outs, especially were I go mad at Shadow because he screwed up the scene for the freaking 7th time in a row, are not really suited for the public.