TARGET ACQUIRED

He is quick for his tall 6-foot-1-inch frame and moves between cover like the shadows. He looks around analyzing his environment trying to mark the enemy for his teammates. Once he spots them he screams the position to his squad.

“Behind the bus!” He cries. “Move, move, move!” his teammates call.

He makes a dash to flank for his teammates. With precision and cunning he runs behind two enemies and pulls his trigger, quickly springing the trap.

“You’re out and you’re out,” he yells. In anger and frustration his opponents hold their hands up and walk off the field.

The remaining enemies on the field are taken out by him. A whistle blows.

Game over.

Colton Farmer, 22, a public administration major at El Camino College is also spreading the specialty niche of Magfed Paintballing on YouTube with over 8,500 followers.

Kosha Arabi, one of the pioneers who brought popularity magfed to California and owner of Magfed Proshop, an online web store, said it was a necessity to bring more people in because of the very limited magfed games that were available in California.

“Magfed’s popularity has been increasing for the past three years,” Kosha says. “Three to four years ago no one wanted to touch it.”

Colton’s team hosts magfed events and have an undefeated record at their biggest event “Dominion.”

“My team and I have been running events like these for about 33 months and we’ve won it every time,”Colton said.

Colton and his team are supported by multiple magfed brands to increase the awareness of this specialty brand of paintball.

PB Battalion is a movement Colton started to spread awareness that the YouTube paintball community existed. His goal is to make YouTube one of the main platforms paintballers can discuss tips and tricks with others around the world.

He has stickers he passes around to other paintball YouTubers saying “PB Battalion” to indicate that they are also a part of the online paintball community.

“My goal is to bring paintballers together, whether you’re a new paintballer or a veteran,” Colton says. “So that is why I started PB Battalion.”

Colton first tried paintballing in middle school when his dad took him to play.

“I didn’t really get into it after my first time,” Colton says. “It wasn’t until I was in high school when I picked it back up again.”

Once he was at South Torrance High School, he soon quickly realized how expensive paintballing was as a hobby as he spent money quickly on memberships to play on a field, protective clothing to wear, his weapons and his ammo or paintballs.

He changed from playing paintball to playing air-soft because it was a cheaper alternative and essentially the same thing.

Later in college at EC he started to have a steady income working at Giuliano’s Deli in Torrance so he could afford to play paintball again. He continues to work there with his current girlfriend, boss and EC student, Noel Miyoko.

“When I started to have money coming in, I knew what I wanted to do,” Farmer said.

Colton gears up with the rest of his Operational Detachment: Southern California (ODSC) team as they patiently load their paintball guns with ammunition.

The gas tank of his gun is now connected to his back. He has a pistol in hand, as he waits for his team to be called up through the speaker in the overhead booth of Hollywood Sports.

All of his worries about school and work fade away when he puts on his trademark PB Battalion black and white face mask with red trim. Attached to the mask is his GoPro which he uses to film videos for his YouTube subscribers.

Within those few seconds of the putting on his mask he becomes “PB Panda” his alter ego, a pistol specialist magfed player infamous for causing problems for any enemy.

Colton loves to be in the front line of the action and is a real adrenaline junkie with a joyous look on the face of brunette mixed Asian and Caucasian.

“The guns have magazine rather then hoppers so we have significantly less shots. So we have to make each shot count,” Farmer says.

Colton soon started posting videos of his skirmishes when he got more serious about the sport and made a name for himself in the paintball community. His PBPanda channel on YouTube showcases his skill as a calculated, fearless and cunning killer.

He wears a panda patch on his vest that has dual-wielding pistols to identity him on the field. Right next to that patch is his Raptor Squad badge. There are three members of this group.

“We are in the front lines going through brushes before people even know we are there,” member Joesph Henson says. “Colt is very fast, very smart and bright on field and works really well with Blake and I.”

Colton’s preferred weapon of choice in magfed is pistols. He has a black and red pistol that has nine shots per clip or magazine. He is also very proficient with his Tamaco MKP-II assault rifle.

In Corona, another match is beginning.

Dust clouds swirl in harmonious fashion like a scene straight out of a classic western.

He continues running like a man possessed out flanking the opposition sneaking right behind four other players tapping them each on the shoulder screaming “Surrender, Surrender, Surrender, Surrender,” as he runs by each and every one of them.

“That’s game!” a official called out.

Colton walks off the field with his pistol in hand. His team won again.

Game over, indeed.

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