Quadrobbers and Company – Teenage Escapism During Wartime

Forget about metalheads, rappers, skinheads, punks, Rastafarians, hippies, and other well-known subcultures of past decades – at the core of each of these was a protest ideology aimed against the cynical adult world. In contrast, today’s teenage subcultures, such as the quadrobbers, do not aim so much to change the bad world around them as to simply escape from it.

The hippies had Ken Kesey, the punks had Sid Vicious, the rappers had Tupac Shakur, the Rastafarians had Bob Marley, and the metalheads had Ozzy Osbourne. Each subcultural guru embedded certain philosophical and ideological foundations in their songs or books, around which teenagers united. But times have changed – modern teenagers, who want to make a bold statement and stand out from the repulsive grey mass of the rest of society, draw inspiration from freaks on TikTok, short YouTube videos, and Instagram, devoid not only of ideology but often even of common sense.

The first sign of the future quadrobbers appeared 10 years ago with the Japanese man Kenichi Ito, who had been ridiculed since childhood for his strong resemblance to a monkey. In the end, he decided to turn this flaw into a feature. Fascinated by the way monkeys move, Ito began training to run on all fours. After years of practice, he achieved unprecedented success in this endeavour, managing to crawl 100 metres in 15.71 seconds.

Fitness trainers, always on the lookout for new ideas to get clients into the gym, started promoting this concept of moving like an animal as a new fitness craze, dubbed "quadrobics" ("four" + "aerobics"). However, sensible people continued to opt for their usual evening yoga, Pilates, and stretching after work, and quadrobics would have faded into the small gyms of California enthusiasts if not for the 2020s, which first brought us the pandemic and then the war in Ukraine.

Amidst prolonged stress, economic decline, fears of a third world war, and more – parents paid less and less attention to what their teenagers were watching all day on their smartphones. Eventually, videos of people wearing animal masks, paw-shaped gloves, and fluffy tails, behaving as if they were cats, foxes, or who knows what else, began to go viral on social media. Unlike Kenichi Ito, quadrobbers do not attempt to set new sports records or get into the Guinness Book of World Records. Their goal is simply to imitate animal behaviour because… well, it's hard to understand why they do it at all.

In fact, you might have already seen quadrobbers who just didn’t call themselves that – they were students of various theatre schools, taking an exam and having to transform into a tiger, dog, bear, or sparrow to amuse their instructors. To trace the origins of quadrobics, one could also look at the legendary pranks of Remi Gaillard from 15 years ago, where he fooled people by pretending to be different animals, such as a kangaroo:

However, these animalistic acting exercises take on a different, one might say eerie, effect when they occur not on stage, not for a grade or a silly joke, but in everyday life – simply as an escape from reality. For example, not long ago, in the frontline Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, a teenage quadrobber became so immersed in his role as some kind of feline predator that he foolishly attacked a cyclist and even knocked him down. 

There is nothing surprising here, as animals are not always peaceful and calm; some of them behave aggressively – and so, from time to time, do the quadrobbers who imitate them. According to Ukrainian media, in another frontline city – Odesa – a group of teenage quadrobbers attacked a pensioner. Running up to her on all fours, they started barking, grabbing her legs, and even biting her dog until it bled. It’s unknown how this attack would have ended if not for a passing homeless man who scared off the quadrobbers by throwing empty bottles at them.

Hobby Horsers

Source: hummahorses.com

Before quadrobics, the main obsession among teenagers that immediately raised numerous questions – questions which never found answers – was hobby horsing. It began to gain popularity in 2010 in Finland, thanks to a girl named Alisa Aornimäki. She once tried an old May Day pastime of fishermen – making a stick with a horse's head and pretending to ride it – and was absolutely thrilled by how fun it was. Now, hobby horsing has somehow attracted up to 10,000 Finnish girls, and this strange hobby has spread worldwide. For instance, the official Federation of Hobby Horsing in Ukraine was registered in the infamous pandemic year of 2020.

Furries

Another precursor to quadrobbers is the still active furry subculture. This subculture is made up of people fascinated by animals with human traits. In fact, if one wanted, they could even consider the ancient Greeks, who created the myth of the Minotaur – a creature with a human body and a bull’s head – as the earliest furries. However, modern furries are less about monstrous beings from ancient labyrinths and more about cute anthropomorphic cosplay (as the name suggests, very fluffy). Furries draw human-like animals, read books about such characters, watch related films, and, most importantly, gather at various conventions and meetups where they themselves dress up in fluffy costumes, transforming into intricately designed avatars – or, as they call them, fursonas (from “furry” and “persona”).

Anime Fans

Members of this youth subculture are usually hard to identify by appearance, unlike quadrobbers or furries – you have to listen to them. As soon as you hear a teenager say “Nya” (imitating the sound made by cats) or “Kawaii” (a Japanese term that roughly means “cute”), you can be sure you're dealing with an anime fan. Essentially, this could be any teenager obsessed with what they believe to be Japanese culture, though in reality, they just spend day and night watching anime and reading manga. Anime fans generally don’t seek to shock society or make radical statements about their unique personalities; instead, they prefer anonymous interactions on themed forums. Overall, it’s a harmless hobby that tends to fade completely once the anime fan gets their first job and starts earning a living.

Tumblr Girls

Source: Pixabay

Psychologists say that people usually become nostalgic for what happened 25 years ago, but the pandemic and the war in Ukraine accelerated this period to just about 10 years. This is easy to understand, as most people just want to return to the comfortable hipster world of the early 2010s without all the cursed viruses and Putin's bloody hordes at Europe’s eastern gates. However, no matter how things were before, they will never be the same again, but this doesn’t stop many young girls from escaping reality into the world of their past Tumblr blogs. Sharp black eyeliner, soft grunge-style clothes, rhinestones, glitter, and endless “wise” quotes from popular indie band songs – yes, all of this is back in fashion.

Alt Girls

Source: MyFreakyWorld

Once upon a time, if a girl couldn’t successfully match her wardrobe pieces to complement each other, her more stylish peers would simply make fun of her. Now, however, we have TikTok, which, during the pandemic of 2020, split into two segments: straight and alt. So, the world, in case you didn’t know, is divided in half, according to young people, not along the lines of civilisation and barbarians at Ukraine’s frontlines, but between creators of traditional "boring" content and "vibrant" alternative content on the Chinese social network. The rebellious alt girl, in pursuit of shock for the sake of shock, throws on whatever she can find (usually oversized hoodies, chunky boots, and baggy trousers) and dyes her hair in some neon colour. Then, she teams up with others like her, and together they bully those girls who, at least, have some sense of style.

Dead Inside

Subcultural teenage boys are not far behind the girls. In 2014, a famous Ukrainian eSports player, Illia Korobkin, before Dota 2 matches, used to say that he was "dead inside", meaning he didn’t care about the game. The phrase became a meme among gamers and later evolved into an entire subculture of nihilistic boys boasting about their depression and indifference. The quintessential "dead inside" visually imitates Ken Kaneki – the protagonist of the dark fantasy manga Tokyo Ghoul – by dressing entirely in mournful black and dyeing their tousled hair ash-white. These boys usually don’t attract much attention from girls, but they’re not seeking romantic relationships anyway, because, as you might have guessed, yes – they’re dead inside.