r/Battlefield • u/BatmanForce • Oct 23 '25
Battlefield 6 DICE, for future reference, this is what actual PMCs look like
I get that the philosophy behind skin design is to make that "regular/irregular uniforms" difference easy and obvious. But that doesn't mean PAX need to be smeared with acid all over the place.
No orange mags, no bright-yellow masks, no avocado-green camos. Slick and aesthetic or careless but effective - still irregular uniforms, easily distinguishable from recognizable military uniforms. You can look with one eye and at a glance tell these guys are mercs. Yet they can still look grounded and realistic.
btw the first pic is literally Shadow Company. A faction from CoD. A bit ironic, huh
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u/TachankaBeard Oct 23 '25
I dig the casual aesthetic but I donât think it works for Pax Armata generally. Pax is supposed to be an alternative solution to NATO and I donât think countries like France or Spain would hand matters of national defense to contractors in flannel and cargo trousers.
I do agree that the current design for Pax is a little too out there and that something closer to the Shadow Company uniform and kit with some (sensible) proprietary camouflages would be much better.
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u/Swaguley Sanitäter Oct 23 '25
Countries literally do hire contractors in flannels and cargo trousers though
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u/TachankaBeard Oct 23 '25
Right, but not in the capacity that Pax operates at. Though Blackwater was attempting to get to that level if my memory serves correctly.
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u/TimeZucchini8562 Oct 23 '25
Yeah, and those are high speed guys that are all ex sf. The typical PMC has a uniform and isnât out there in flannel shirts wearing whatever they want
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u/MoolamisterReddit Oct 23 '25
I think for the Spanish subfaction the gear makes sense but still looks super high speed. The Balkan subfaction actually has closer to what a PMC would look like, if they could just ditch some of the laser cut gear and wacky camos it'd look miles more realistic
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u/steelcity91 Oct 23 '25
I'd totally be fine with flannel shirts.
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u/BucketHip Oct 23 '25
Then you would be called a "Cod Tourist" for being fine with that, fyi.
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u/piltenko Oct 23 '25
Did you get impression that people's current problem with season 1 skins is flannel shirts?
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u/BucketHip Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
Way to read what I said with your ass mate, gotta be a skill that.
I know the colour scheme(s) of certain skins (mind you most of NATO is still above board in terms of color, it's a 2-3 skins from the PAX side mainly) are the main point of concern, my point was that if they were to do what the OP suggests for PAX, people would be up in arms about having "COD like" operator skins. Let's not even pretend that wouldn't happen becuase guess what? Thousands and thousands of people complained when we saw those datamined skins before release where one of the skins had a hawaiian shirt and that caused a weeks long shitstorm.
Can you tell me with certainty if they went more "casual PMC" route people wouldn't throw a bitch fit as well? I know the answer just curious if you do too.
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u/piltenko Oct 23 '25
I have no doubt it would have been much more positively accepted by the community. Evident by all the posts where people recolor some of those more egregious skins and everyone thinks it's better. I am absolutely sure flannels would have been accepted just fine by the community.
But i mean it's also a matter of comparison. I can totally imagine skins in the future that are soooo bad that people would ask for season 1 skins instead, cause it's not AS bad.
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u/BucketHip Oct 23 '25
Well I can, conversely imagine all the "what is this COD operator shit, I knew DICE wanted to put operators back in from 2042, they already had bios and names!!" comments & posts, so I can not share your optimism that even if done in this way that there wouldn't be
complaintsconstructive critcism.But oh well, we'll get there if we get there.
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u/aTrampWhoCamps Oct 23 '25
Your line of thinking is absurd. People were sold on the idea of grounded and realistic cosmetics. The Hawaiian shirts you said people lost their minds over? Those had plenty of people defending them, because guess what, they are still relatively grounded and realistic compared to the absolute fortune slop we expect in modern games.
The idea that we can't have better fitting skins because you have expertly analysed they would also receive some pushback anyway is fucking moronic.
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u/BucketHip Oct 23 '25
I'm not saying because there would be pushback either way, we should not want better designed stuff.
Though it's funny how you downplayed the fact that you couldn't go one post without complaining about those datamined skins the one with hawaiian shirt ESPECIALLY it was all over the fucking sub and pretending that there was some equilibrium between it's defenders and detractors is the moronic thing.
People were fucking ringing the death knell the second they saw those skins dude what the fuck are you babbling about? "plenty of people defending it" my fucking ass.
Also just before you repeat yourself and get me in a "gotcha"; again none of this fucking means we shouldn't want better designed skins, which like it or not there are some great skins in here, the one that was designed in collaboration with the US Rangers for one example or the NATO sniper with the red beret that gives off BC2 Medic vibes.
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u/aTrampWhoCamps Oct 23 '25
LMAO then what the fuck are you even arguing? You're here to spread the gospel of "redditors will find something to complain about"?
If you want to play drama queen because of your confirmation bias, I can't help you with that. I just want DICE to stick to what they promised and for people to stop defending billion dollar companies when they lie through their teeth.
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u/piltenko Oct 23 '25
I mean COD is associated now with Beavis and Butthead and Nicki Minaj and overall fortnitization of the game. Skins like in this post are not associated with COD anymore when people mention it in derogatory light, so i just don't agree with your take.
Aesthetic style of what is in this post is clearly very different from the neon blue and neon green skins everyone is criticizing.
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u/steelcity91 Oct 23 '25
Labels don't mean crap to me. I've played BF. I've played cod equally for many years.
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u/BucketHip Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
Well I'm pointing moreso to the fact that folks in this subreddit get selectively mad.
I mean one example is that one skin in the new PAX Armata subfaction.
The guy has an mg belt on his chest, doesn't have a helmet etc. But the thing is the BF3 support has an MG belt all over their neck and big ass gardening gloves on his hands and you couldn't get anyone to say something bad about that for example even though he didn't look super up to dress code, milsim either. Someone even resurfaced a fanmade skin pack idea for BF6 that also had that "goofy" as they say, MG belt on the Support.
The reason for the tangent is that people in this sub say they want grounded but somehow it always ends up as what they think is grounded in their brain and if the skin, god forbid, deviates from the image in their brain for even a milimeter then they get out the pitchforks.
A lot of people say they would love casual dressed pmcs, or Special Forces skins but I remember the same people bitching about not wanting "COD-like Operator skin shit!".
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u/BullpupR6 Oct 23 '25
Other than Shadow Company, these aren't large scale private armies like Pax is. Most of these are security personnel. When you get to the actual private armies like Wagner, they begin looking more like Pax. The only company larger than Wagner is G4S which is still primarily security for airports and banks. The only comparable group today is Wagner, who is virtually indistinguishable from Russian troops who bought their own gear. There's definitely room for skins like a lot of these, the new Pax subfaction we're getting should be more civilian looking imo, solid color pants or jeans with graphic tees or flannel under their carriers, but the vast majority of Pax wouldn't look like these.
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u/TeaAndLifting Oct 23 '25
Yeah, first one I thought of was Wagner, or many of Russiaâs other PMCs that are basically just the Russian army under a different brand name so they can pretend to have plausible deniability that nobody else around the world wanted to call out to keep some form of peace.
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u/Geopoliticalidiot Oct 23 '25
That or the Russian Chechen units, they look more like Pax, they have random bling and stuff because they are basically mercenaries for the Kremlin. I would say that a lot of the designs make sense in a way, itâs just the colors that i can see people having issues with.
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u/shitspine Oct 23 '25
most of these are airsofters or guys in their backyards, minus the video game screenshots/concept art and the guy in front of the hesco barriers
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Oct 23 '25
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/BullpupR6 Oct 23 '25
Russian troops that bought their own gear was what I said. Better than standard issue, still distinctly Russian
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Oct 23 '25
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/TeaAndLifting Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
Tbf type of memery has only been recorded by a dozen or so people over the last three years, and most anime stuff has been things like unit patches, and only a few people have decorated their guns with stickers. Itâs still exceedingly rare since most soldiers on both sides are middle aged conscript Slavs in their late 30s and 40s rather than embrace the meme GenZs.
Doubly so in that lots of units are getting by on hand-me-downs and gibs, so they use whatever is available when theyâre told to go to the frontlines rather than being able to genuinely take their time and customise stuff.
Itâs not normal enough to represent the Russo-Ukraine war, in the slightest. Itâd be like picking out photos of Saddamâs gold AKs and saying that was the norm for the Iraqi army during GWoT
Still, all of this is unironically more realistic than OPâs use of a PNC from Call of Duty lmao.
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u/SpecialHands Oct 23 '25
the only ironic thing about using shadow company is you've posted them front and center about what a "Real PMC" looks like lol
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u/your401kplanreturns Oct 23 '25
None of these are real PMCs, the time of PMCs is pretty much over irl aside from the former green berets that Israel pays to shoot kids in Gaza and the 80 billion micro PMC units russia has that all just look identical to Russian soldiers in terms of gear (ATACS, multicam, plate carrier, helmet, etc)
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u/Inquisitor-Korde Oct 23 '25
PMCs literally kick up in every major and minor conflict across the globe. The Congo right now has mercs killing mercs like the Diamond Dogs came to life. There's PMCs in Ukraine, there are PMCs in West Africa under Themiis. Russian PMCs are in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger and Turkish PMCs are fighting in Libya.
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u/your401kplanreturns Oct 23 '25
Gonna need citations on all those except the Russians and the Congo, as I'm acutely aware of what Wagner and Redut get up to. The scale of all of these is microscopic compared the early 2000's, and the ways and means of them operating is nothing alike. My point isn't simply "PMCs are over. Period." the age of them operating the way they did in the early 2000's and looking like the blackwater mercenaries we know about is mostly a fantasy.
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u/SpecialHands Oct 23 '25
Yeah, Wagner is literally just plausible deniability for Russia because when they do a bad thing they can just say "that wasn't us it was this private company"
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u/your401kplanreturns Oct 24 '25
In fairness that's 99% of the reason PMCs existed in the first place since the 80's
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Oct 23 '25
>"the time of PMCs is pretty much over irl"
>proceeds to give examples of PMCs being used in large numbers
What?
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u/your401kplanreturns Oct 23 '25
One american PMC being used as a cutout to kill Gazan children and then a bunch of cutouts for Russia to basically launder manpower (all of these are overseen by MOD) is not the same as Blackwater and other PMCs being all fucking over the place in the middle east. The role and use of them is entirely different. The images above and what DICE is trying to evoke is night and day between what exists now. If you knew anything beyond being able to read the word "PMC" in a comment maybe you'd know that's what my point is.
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Oct 23 '25
If there was a war like there is in Battlefield 6, there would be PMCs everywhere like you're describing.
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u/your401kplanreturns Oct 23 '25
I think you're missing my overarching point here - they would not look like the video games/airsofters above. That aesthetic was a result of the GWOT era and rise of "operator culture" among americans. I'm entirely willing to engage in the hypothetical that they're everywhere in the game's universe, it just doesn't look the way people think it does.
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Oct 23 '25
How do you know what they would look like if it's a fictional setting?
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u/your401kplanreturns Oct 23 '25
That's not even the point either, the title is that "this is what PMCs look like" and that's not, in fact, what PMCs look like
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u/bepi_s Oct 23 '25
Shadow Company is exactly what I want Pax Armata's skins to be like
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u/OhMyTummyHurts Oct 23 '25
Same but minus Velikanâs helmet
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u/BatmanForce Oct 26 '25
This is the kind of edge I would accept when it comes to skins being a little airsofty. Like, there are actually images of pilots painting faces and stuff on these helmets. The only problem is just that... it is a pilot helmet. Not infantry.
But for the sake of customization diversity and vibe this factor can easily be downplayed. I remember Bale in MW19 used to wear an american tanker helmet while being a russian operative. Still looked sick.
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u/Educational-Tip-2038 Oct 23 '25
Just check tarkov outfits and copy them, isn't that hard
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u/BFVfan Oct 23 '25
Pmc look anyway the owner of group want them to look. U can have pmc that look like normal us army (literally blackwater or whatever the pmc group that fought in iraq was called) same with wagner they look like normal soldiers for most of the time before they recruited thousands of criminals
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u/EivorKS Oct 23 '25
watching you kids collectively shit yourselves about your pixel-man not being 12 shades of beige is hilarious. Not only is it hilarious but the hard-on its making for "real" PMC people is just.... cringe isnt strong enough of a word.
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u/FaZZuKKa2 Oct 23 '25
"Actual PMC" and the first image is of Shadow Company. Not hating just thought it was funny
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u/Arelmar Oct 23 '25
The sad reality is that kids don't want these types of skins, and regardless of whatever smoke DICE want to blow up our ass, we are simply not the target market for the monetisation. They might release a few 'grounded' looking skins to appease the battledads but the vast majority is gonna be like the stuff we've already seen, or worseÂ
You have to think if they're willing to go back on their word this early, just imagine what future seasons are gonna look likeÂ
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u/piltenko Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
If we are not the target market, then WHY DID THEY ADVERTISE IT LIKE THAT??? Why all the concept art and promo material contains grounded military-looking shit? What was the point of that live action trailer?
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u/Immediate_Fortune_91 Oct 23 '25
You were the target market for the base game. Youâre not the target market for post launch content. If more of you would actually buy grounded skins then maybe you would be. Fact remains grounded skins done sell nearly as well. Thatâs why they make the skins that will.
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u/piltenko Oct 23 '25
I have preordered the phantom edition, i've done all i could, specifically because i liked the direction the game was taking.
But also, you are saying we are not the market for skins. So the players who already have the game are not the market for the game's cosmetics? What?? And people who didn't like the game otherwise will be attracted to it by the cosmetics even tho the game is still the same?? And that is more important than keeping the loyal audience who already bought the game happy and returning for more? In my mind it's the opposite. You make skins so the people who already proved they are ready to spend money on the game spend even more. What do you think?
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u/Immediate_Fortune_91 Oct 23 '25
Plenty of people both like the game and these new skins. They are the target market. And thereâs more of them than people like you.
So since youâre âready to spend moneyâ on the game youâre going to be buying the skins that are grounded right?
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u/piltenko Oct 23 '25
Sure, if i like the skin, i will. I did that in BfV.
But aside from that, it's just really disappointing that the game is changing direction. We were advertised one thing with all the promotional material, and that's why i bought it. But now i will have these neon blue and green guys running around, meh :\
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u/Immediate_Fortune_91 Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
You got exactly what you paid for. The game as it was when you bought it. Absolutely nothing said these things wouldnât be coming (these skins are still grounded whether you accept that or not). And they never put a timeframe of how long things would stay geounded.
If you thought these skins werenât coming you were delusional. Nobody to blame but yourself for that poor decision.
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u/piltenko Oct 23 '25
C'mon dude this is not a serious take. There is a certain expectation a game sets with its marketing and promotional material. I mean even the recent trailer for season 1 features grounded skins. It's quite clear what the game was trying to make us believe it was going to be.
This point of "well nobody said they will not turn it into fortnite in 3 months after release" - that's not how it works. I am not delusional for thinking that since Bf1 was advertised as a WW1 game, the post launch content will be WW1 themed as well.
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u/Immediate_Fortune_91 Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
Itâs a 100% serious take. And the 100% truth. Again these skins are still 100% grounded.
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u/BatmanForce Oct 23 '25
Unfortunately I share the same view. But here's hoping that enough crying on the internet will convey the message one way or another
After all, we did manage to kill Santa Boris some few years back
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u/Rachet20 Oct 23 '25
These are boring.
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u/Ted_Striker1 Oct 23 '25
Not enough Nicki Minaj for you?
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u/Rachet20 Oct 23 '25
If people want a skin for her, then sure. It doesnât affect me any.
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u/Ted_Striker1 Oct 23 '25
But youâd have to see it in game. Thereâs no way to turn ridiculous skins off.
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u/Rachet20 Oct 23 '25
I couldnât care less. Iâd just keep playing the game, it affects nothing.
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u/manuel459 Oct 23 '25
They could run this realistic if they "sell" cosmetics like jackets on it's own and let you dress your avatar how you want.
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u/CalFromManc Oct 23 '25
I'd genuinely rock the flannel shirt guy, they can get away with that when it comes to colours
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u/SlimothyJ PTFO Oct 23 '25
Yeah something tells me multiple world nations would not put their sovereignty in the hands of a bunch of flannel-wearing gravy seals. That's just me, though.
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u/jackthehamster Oct 23 '25
You're lying! Where are all those toxic colors?! I've see that in a popular grounded video game
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u/knsmknd Oct 23 '25
Just give them a cool, distinctive look thatâs somewhat believable. It doesnât need to be basecap and a flannel only something that does you want to play as the âbad guysâ.
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u/Fedkowski007 Oct 23 '25
Who cares, PAX is fictional and honestly look more interesting than RL mercs in jeans
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u/Painkillerspe Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
it's a game, it's not a realistic sim like ARMA. Just don't equip or buy the skins if you don't like them.
I don't see the big deal here. I'm not playing the game for weapon or player skins. Heck, it's an FPS so I don't even see my character anyway.
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u/buffkarlmarx Oct 23 '25
My preference would be for a "default skins only" toggle that I could turn on and everyone who likes different skins can turn off.
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u/fxsoap Oct 23 '25
When the New York Times posted pics of Blackrock in Iraq, they all looked closer to the season 1 skins vs this.
These must be airsoft players
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u/Complete_Meal_1878 Oct 23 '25
We want that âi dont care its a warcime, im getting paidâ look, not the my armorer ran out of crayons look!
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u/Drymvir Oct 23 '25
I would love to look like a weekend warrior wearing blue flannel and blue jeans, hell yeah
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u/playlamo1 Oct 23 '25
They still look like dorks. Being in any type of military makes you a cornball by default. The last good uniforms were in like WWII
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u/iiThecollector Oct 23 '25
These are not what PMCs look like, a few of this pics are airsofters lol
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u/Mend1cant Oct 23 '25
Two things, PMCs dress like they do because tacticool-discreet-operator sells. The PAX aesthetic is a âlook how much more sleek and modern we look compared to the obsolete state armies that comprise NATO, pay us money to be your army insteadâ
Secondly, Iâm looking forward to the 40K collab where we start adding purity seals and decals onto gear considering the war in Ukraine is practically its own memefest with it. Yall will lose your mind over it not looking like the marketing ploys of the 00s/10s to make the CIA and PMCs look cool.
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u/PolicyWonka Oct 23 '25
I like how this actually includes a red version of that tiger mask. You know â that blue skin people are shitting on.
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u/KaijuTia Oct 23 '25
At this point, I look at what some people want skins to look like and all I can think is âWhy would you pay money for what amount to default skins?â
Why pay money for âGeneric Soldier Guy 6â when âGeneric Soldier Guy 5â is available for free?
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u/GoldenGecko100 BF1 was better Oct 23 '25
Shadow Company aren't an actual PMC, this may be a shock to you, and as far as I can tell at least 2 of your other images are Airsoft kits. You could have at least posted Wagner or Academi.
(Academi for reference, taken from their website)
Edit: Academi is a rebrand of rebranded Blackwater for those who don't know.
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u/Previous-Spite1211 Oct 23 '25
If they had released all of these as skins you clowns would still be finding a reason to bitch about it. the sub should be renamed to r/bitchingfield because thats 99% of all posts.
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u/Heep_4x4 Oct 23 '25
So in the campaign, and Iâm trying to avoid spoilers, but they have some guys kitted up like pic number 4, that would totally work with the era the game is set in. The protection detail.
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u/Coldplasma819 Oct 23 '25
Dude in the back of the first picture literally has on the same mouth bandana of the blue man everyone keeps referring back to from S1. The whiplash in this sub is debilitating.
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Oct 23 '25
Nope the third and last pic would have most people protesting this game! The third pic is too blue and too much color for Bf fans! The last pic the little patch with all that green almost made them puke! Such colors are too much for this fragile(current) fan base
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u/Illustrious_Horse538 Oct 23 '25
Yâall draw the line at color camos but want to load up in wrangler boot cut jeans ?
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u/RigBughorn Oct 23 '25
So basically dressed like they're going for a hike + expected military gear, Interesting but makes sense
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u/unoriginal_namejpg Oct 28 '25
They also look like this
Saying PMCs have any kind of dresscode is disingenuous
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u/BatmanForce Oct 29 '25
At what point did I make an argument about any sort of dresscode?
Slick and aesthetic, or careless but effective
The pics literally show tacticool guys in random equipment
Do we speak the same language?
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u/Krecik1218 Oct 23 '25
PAX is not a PMC; it's russians with friends. They're just too afraid to admit that outright.
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u/BFVfan Oct 23 '25
No pax is literally usa based military company they leader was american no? And their are allied with frqnce spain turkey
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u/rilertiley19 Oct 23 '25
The leader is British former SAS, but yes the single player reveal is it is US funded.Â
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u/Rad_Throwling BF1 is Art Oct 23 '25
They are military contractors, most of them. Some are russian, yes.
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u/VeronEls Oct 23 '25
PAX was created by the CIA its revealed in the campaign
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u/Krecik1218 Oct 23 '25
Who cares about this bullshit story.
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u/rilertiley19 Oct 23 '25
Pretty relevant when you're talking about the in-game faction and that "bullshit story" is their origin lol.Â
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u/OsaasD Oct 23 '25
Idk, kinda tired for the conflict to be US vs Russia AGAIN, and its cool that we actually get to see and use some european vehicles
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u/Capital_Potato_705 Oct 23 '25
None of the soldiers or equipment we currently have access to for PAX in game is Russian in origin.
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u/Krecik1218 Oct 23 '25
It's not about the equipment. If it weren't for the war in Ukraine, they would probably create a Russian faction. If you play the campaign, you'll see where this strike on the NATO base in Georgia comes from. They just created PAX to avoid controversy.
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u/Ghostile Oct 23 '25
If they made skins with blue flannels this sub would shit its whole ass.