Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Move over, triffids.

BLDGBLOG introduces us to the feral majesty of the Ghillie suit:

Manufactured under the tagline "It's what they don't see that's important!" Ghillie suits are made for paintball -- but they are an amazing example of fashion design and landscape simulation together in one. Less a style of dress, they use garments to represent -- and thus blend into -- the earth's surface.






These things are positively fascinating from a science fictional perspective; an entire series of "B" movies could be filmed using little more than a handful of suits and mock firearms. And, unlike most low-budget sci-fi monsters, they're authentically creepy.

(I have a strange whim to purchase one and transform myself into some rogue Gaian archetype, offing unsuspecting hunters as they prepare for the kill . . .)

Has Loren Coleman seen these things yet?

9 comments:

Katie said...

These are nothing new, really. Military special forces and snipers have been using them for years. The guy in the picture is actually doing it wrong.

The suit is the incorrect color for the environment. It should be lighter in color so that he blends in with the ground, and he should be adding leaves and twigs and stuff to it to camoflage even more.

Anonymous said...

See the Doctor Who Episode 'Seeds of Doom' featuring a creature called a Krynoid ...

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Krynoid

Mac said...

@Katie

Man, Katie, you're such a fun-killer! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Nice idea. I'd like to see an urban version, made of discarded soda cans, plastic bottles, newspapers, and cigarette butts.

Anonymous said...

Triffids go back a long way. I read that about 40 years ago. If you do decide to shop for a ghillie suit, I would be most happy to accommodate you at http://www.ghilliesandstuff.com

Mac said...

@dmduncan

Behold the "urban tumbleweed"!

http://posthumanblues.blogspot.com/2008/10/urban-tumbleweed-next-natures-trash.html

Anonymous said...

An urban version would have to have a lot of concrete in it.Awfully heavy.

Review Daddy said...

Cool

Brown Suit said...

Its commonly use in military combat,camouflage dude.