Hybrid Goes Bye Bye

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  • mixwell2
    Searching for Tom Kaye
    • Oct 2003
    • 221

    #1

    Hybrid Goes Bye Bye

    Searched here and did not see it up so i am posting it.....from my experince AO'ers don't like Hybrid's attituded but like there stuff...anyway reactions wanted not so much about Hybrid
    but their concerns about the fall of the paintball "little guy" and the monopoly forming.

    This seems to be sorta what happened to AGD?!

    THE AGE OF CHANGE

    To everyone in the paint-ball community,

    With the current situation of an economic melt down. We are going to be in the situation of change.. Not just our company but the community of paint-ball as we know it. Most importantly, our country.

    We see the dying of paint-ball dealerships almost every day. We have seen and been involved in the constant bickering of paint-ball manufacturers to not alleviate an ridiculous infrastructure of an ever changing paint-ball community.. What we see is conglomerates and umbrella companies slowly try to corner it and kill, or be killed.

    Competition is progress. But when there is none, You have become a monopoly. A beast that becomes fat and become a cancer to its own body. Now we fight internally.. From disgracing the new player to never having a good time, to the recballer who gives a damn about nothing but playing and if a field is not around or he thinks that his local field only caters to other so called "important non-paying types", he becomes renegade ... lawless. To the dealer, who cannot figure out why no one comes in their store. To the dealer that decides to devalue industry product because they are now in survival mode to make ends meet. To the manufacturer who now must do the same to help with dealer margins, but bleeds its own margins and soon must be hasty in their decision making... We must stop and start reflecting!

    Players will not feel this because you have the options to stay home and play online but know its always best to go play our sport like you should. Players have the luxury to love and hate brands to prove a point not knowing that this industry right this very moment, ONLY NEEDS GROWTH, the growth of competition, the growth to be better ambassadors to the new, the old, and the ones who have fallen to a disenfranchised love of the sport. The west is feeling the crunch, east will follow soon enough. Soon their will be nothing you decide what you want, that is the day the industry as a whole may be destroyed.

    We have stepped sideways because first off, we can, and secondly, the consumer, the dealer are simply not buying how they use too. To the consumer that can afford to pay in other industries good money, but is educated to go cheap in paint-ball. If you cant afford it, you just cant afford it. HOWEVER, what must be done is to let new people embrace our sport so we can grow. To also provide a service to the community that we are legit. When we do, fields are easily accessible.

    Now working on other industry where competition is fierce, they still maintain order, respect, right to fight, but keep the margins in check so its industry will not implode. Buyers still buy. No matter what. You can see it by their own conventions...

    At this time I say we need a united front, a governing body, with two common goals; to thrive in our great industry, and to keep the industry from failing. We so love this sport? Then each player has a responsibility to improve it.

    History is repeating-itself and the more you see it then you begin to believe that the harvest did not justify to reseed because of a long winter. And we need to hold on to the fabric that made us great. to conserve, to demand, to supply must all come into play.

    We are a luxury sport, but when dad loses a job, or your parents lose their homes, who plays? who wins? most importantly, who survives? furthermore, who controls?

    Once more.. We are still here, not like how we do, but we are still here. Production I still have and whatever I got that you want. I have, till the industry warrants it. And if it warrants it I'll make more. And when I can get up to lick my wounds, heal, and get up off my feet and feel like I need to do something, I'm coming after you.. To the loyalists: I got a lot more in the war-chest that these fools haven't thought of yet! Just wait and see.. To my killers.. I will make things right.

    myspace.com/contractkillermma
    contractkillerclothing.com

    Chris Corcino, John Marques- Hybrid tech LLc (the only Hybrid), Contract Killer clothing Co.(The Last of Our Kind)
    who cares how your marker looks...just move fast and shoot straight
  • going_home
    Hebrews 13:8

    • Dec 2004
    • 8343

    #2
    Hybrid Paintball Steps Down For Reorganization




    Comment

    • ThePixelGuru
      Guru of Pixels
      • May 2005
      • 1461

      #3
      Originally posted by mixwell2
      Searched here and did not see it up so i am posting it.....from my experince AO'ers don't like Hybrid's attituded but like there stuff...anyway reactions wanted not so much about Hybrid
      but their concerns about the fall of the paintball "little guy" and the monopoly forming.

      This seems to be sorta what happened to AGD?!
      Are you seriously comparing Hybrid to AGD? A company that started with engineering and innovation compared to a company that started by ripping off other's intellectual property and images. A company that tried to educate consumers to make better choices and further the sport with things like HPA compared to a company that tried to make money by marketing poor sportsmanship. Starting to see what I'm getting at here?

      Hybrid was nothing but a blight on the public image of paintball and did nothing but hold the sport back. Good riddance.

      Comment

      • Lohman446
        Useful posts: 7
        • Jun 2003
        • 9315

        #4
        Competition driven by bringing better products to the consumer at price-points that they will buy is generally good for an industry. What Hybrid did was not innovative, and at times did not even seem legal in terms of intellectual property. I said seems, I was not there and do not have the insider knowledge to make that call.

        They lament a loss of profit as things moved from "garage" manufacturing to factory and overseas manufacturing. The fact of the matter is, if you produce an innovative product that the customers want you can still maintain margin. If you are going to produce the same thing that those factories produce and then lament the fact you cannot compete with them you are fighting a losing battle.

        Paintball stores have died since the beginning of paintball. It is, generally speaking, a high turn-over business. As often as not those starting it have little to no business experience or training and only see the roses and not the thorns. The fact of the matter is, most businesses have high turn-over in the first three years.

        Hybrid seems to be lamenting the drop in retail prices as of late as the industry shifts into factory manufacturing business models. "If you can't afford it you don't get it". The fact of the matter is that companies that are "making it" now in paintball have been ahead of the curve lately. They have managed to give the customer lower priced items while still maintaining a marquee name (DM7 vs. Proto). They have catered to a wider range of the industry.

        I'm sorry to see any company go. However, it is not the consumers job to keep companies afloat. It is the companies job to identify what consumers want, meet those pricepoints, adjust infastructure when needed, and keep itself afloat.

        Now, I alluded to "factory" business models. This is just one way to do it. As Palmers has proven, as Rogue has proven, there is such a thing as niche marketting. Market where the "big boys" don't want to on smaller scale. There are other ways as well of course. However, if you are going to go toe to toe with the big boys, in there own back yard, you had better have a great plan.
        "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. Its not" - Dr Suess

        Comment

        • garbageman705
          I was the garbageman
          • Dec 2007
          • 476

          #5
          Agreed, good bye contract killer, I never liked that junk anyway. Although the vegas and slut grips were kind of cool.

          Comment

          • phatty123
            Registered User
            • Aug 2007
            • 395

            #6
            "From disgracing the new player to never having a good time, to the recballer who gives a damn about nothing but playing and if a field is not around or he thinks that his local field only caters to other so called "important non-paying types", he becomes renegade ..."


            I did agree with this and it is a problem that I feel 1st hand at my field. I guess I am a recball renegade. I absolutely can't stand the "tourney" players at my field. Its just not fun to play with them and the fields caters to them and theya ren't shy about it. They take all the fun out of it being a recreational sport.

            -Barry

            Comment

            • OneUp
              BALLS OF STEEL!!!
              • Aug 2007
              • 252

              #7
              what exactly did hybrid do that makes you guys hate it? I've only been playing for the past few years....

              all I know is hybrid made decent prodcuts that were "hip" and they claimed some companies cloned their stuff? I didn't know there's another side of the story and I'd like to hear it.

              Comment

              • WalkingTarget
                Registered User
                • Mar 2007
                • 107

                #8
                Anybody else thinking 'Good riddance to garbage' ?

                Comment

                • warbeak2099
                  That is my foot!
                  • Jan 2004
                  • 4447

                  #9
                  I was just about to say that, "good riddance".

                  To answer yor question Oneup, Hybrid did the following:

                  1. Stole trademarked logos and pictures to put on their products
                  2. Created a generation of paintball players that thought it is part of the game to lie, cheat, and oh yea, steal pods.
                  3. Made products with foul language and abrasive slogans on them which just drove paintball further away from the mainstream.

                  Hybrid was a cancer on paintball's testicles that Capitalism just cut off.
                  My Feedback

                  Comment

                  • Scott Hudnall
                    "I am my kids Dad"
                    • Mar 2004
                    • 598

                    #10
                    [QUOTE=phatty123......the "tourney" players at my field. Its just not fun to play with them and the fields caters to them and theya ren't shy about it. They take all the fun out of it being a recreational sport.

                    -Barry[/QUOTE]

                    I agree with this to a point, but the vast majority of tourny players are stand-up guys. It is the unfortunate "few" who feel they have to wipe, play on, prove a point, etc, on a rec game open play day that really burns me up.

                    As far as hybrid leaving paintball, or side stepping to another business, good luck to them. All in all, they made some fun stuff, not really too innovative, but fun none-the-less. I really do wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors, but 10 years from now they will have been a blip on the paintball radar, like many many other small cottage industry companies have become over the past 20 years or more....but that's not just indigenous to paintball.....it's business.....that's all, just "business".
                    SPECTRE - IN





                    My Feedback here on AO

                    Comment

                    • OneUp
                      BALLS OF STEEL!!!
                      • Aug 2007
                      • 252

                      #11
                      Originally posted by warbeak2099
                      I was just about to say that, "good riddance".

                      To answer yor question Oneup, Hybrid did the following:

                      1. Stole trademarked logos and pictures to put on their products
                      2. Created a generation of paintball players that thought it is part of the game to lie, cheat, and oh yea, steal pods.
                      3. Made products with foul language and abrasive slogans on them which just drove paintball further away from the mainstream.

                      Hybrid was a cancer on paintball's testicles that Capitalism just cut off.
                      lol, i always thought they got permission for those bruce lee, hitman images...

                      so... where does the stripper image come from?

                      but from what I've seen, the foul slogans are much better than some of the conventional clothing. ("juicy" on kid sized sweat pants? cmon)

                      ionno. in my eyes they aren't the worst. but again, you guys have probably seen more of hybrid.

                      i dunno about the cheating lying thing either. I would've though SP was responsible for that.

                      i'd like some specific examples if there are any. im always up on digging deeper into things i am interested in but dont know about.

                      Comment

                      • garbageman705
                        I was the garbageman
                        • Dec 2007
                        • 476

                        #12
                        Well I remember seeing some backplates for the halo, "Wipe It" and "Cheat to Win". Also there was one that said those Guys". Just not my cup of tea. They never came out with a marker to my knowledge. Just some clothes and stuff.
                        Last edited by AO Moderation Team; 02-05-2008, 10:48 AM. Reason: Dont swear. WARNING

                        Comment

                        • OneUp
                          BALLS OF STEEL!!!
                          • Aug 2007
                          • 252

                          #13
                          Originally posted by garbageman705
                          Well I remember seeing some backplates for the halo, "Wipe It" and "Cheat to Win". Also there was one that said those Guys". Just not my cup of tea. They never came out with a marker to my knowledge. Just some clothes and stuff.
                          oh, the made some custom guns, like a hybrid traitor shocker or something close to that.

                          but i never paid attention to those halo plates. yeah, they're pretty bad for doing that.
                          Last edited by AO Moderation Team; 02-05-2008, 10:48 AM.

                          Comment

                          • Twistedpsyche
                            GOD WILLS IT
                            • Dec 2005
                            • 400

                            #14
                            Did anyone else have trouble reading Hybrid's "press release", or whatever you want to call it? Was that English?

                            Comment

                            • mixwell2
                              Searching for Tom Kaye
                              • Oct 2003
                              • 221

                              #15
                              Originally posted by ThePixelGuru
                              Are you seriously comparing Hybrid to AGD? A company that started with engineering and innovation compared to a company that started by ripping off other's intellectual property and images. A company that tried to educate consumers to make better choices and further the sport with things like HPA compared to a company that tried to make money by marketing poor sportsmanship. Starting to see what I'm getting at here?

                              Hybrid was nothing but a blight on the public image of paintball and did nothing but hold the sport back. Good riddance.

                              Hmmm well i thought i could get some discussion about the potential monopolization of paintball and what it is doing to the industry...but instead let the bashing begin. As i clearly stated i was looking for reactions to the fall of (whether you like them or not) a ultra popular mainstream company. One who had the following of the Pros as well as the novice and still could not keep up with the Big Brothers of the industry. I did not compare Hybird to AGD along the technology and/or innovation line, they were both small yet popular companies that did not have the resources to fight legal battles that forced them out of business (Yes i realize that AGD is still around but nothing like it was)

                              You can hate Hybrid all you want for their tactics, attitude and business savy(or lack their of). The fact is that with the exception of a few companies paintball has been reduced to an accessory driven market whose sole purpose is to cater to the gun whores of the world...please do we really need a new DMC, DM series, Proto, Rail, etc...........every year.

                              I have been in this sport for 18 years, non stop every week..i know what AGD did for the industry. I have used my Xmag in every tourney i ever played. No one here has more pride about AGD then me so don't think for a second that i am comparing the two...there is no comparison.

                              This was meant to spawn your thoughts on the direction of paintball today and the effect of the globalization of manufacturing. Lohman's and Scot's responses were exactly what i was looking for!!!



                              Did anyone else have trouble reading Hybrid's "press release", or whatever you want to call it? Was that English?
                              Yeah i actually read it 3 times

                              To answer yor question Oneup, Hybrid did the following:

                              1. Stole trademarked logos and pictures to put on their products
                              I think that pop culture icons and trademaked logos are 2 different things but thats another debate
                              2. Created a generation of paintball players that thought it is part of the game to lie, cheat, and oh yea, steal pods.
                              Damn how long you been around...players have been wiping and picking up pods/tubes since '88
                              3. Made products with foul language and abrasive slogans on them which just drove paintball further away from the mainstream.
                              Hmm never saw any of that on ESPN or Fox...and thats the ONLY exposure paintball has had to the mainsteam

                              Hybrid was a cancer on paintball's testicles that Capitalism just cut off.
                              Sounds like something a Contract Killer would say!!!
                              who cares how your marker looks...just move fast and shoot straight

                              Comment

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