Interview with Bronzey: How Crazy Thieves unites esports and culture worldwide

Earlier this year, 100 Thieves and Crazy Raccoon formed Crazy Thieves to compete in the Apex Legends Global Series 2026 Championship (ALGS 2026 Championship), also known as the Year 5 Championship. Deston "Bronzey" Nguyen, 100 Thieves' marketing manager and former competitive Apex Legends player and head coach, led the partnership between the two organizations. In an exclusive esports.gg interview, Bronzey went into how he steered the collaboration and what fans can expect from Crazy Thieves in the near future.

In his interview with esports.gg, Bronzey shared that his past experience helps him understand what an organization can and cannot do. That is, understanding logistics and player needs helps him manage expectations and plan experiences. He applied this perspective when working on the Crazy Raccoon and 100 Thieves partnership, which began as an apparel project for the Year 4 Sapporo event. The Initial meetings in Japan kicked off the connection and friendship between the organizations, and Crazy Raccoon later approached 100 Thieves through Discord to work on a collaboration for the Year 5 Championship and beyond.

"For me, what really pushed it was that we set up some meetings with Crazy Raccoon, but the time difference, especially with time zone changes and daylight savings, made it hard to align," Bronzey recalled. "One time I was in Japan, and I told my bosses, Pat and Chase, ‘How about I just go over and talk to them in person?’ This would be my first meeting. I was really nervous, but Crazy Raccoon was super excited to talk in person. We found a time that worked for both of us. I was on vacation and just stopped by. We kicked it off, and that's where it started smooth sailing for the apparel side."

He continued, "In terms of esports, we built this connection and friendship from the apparel, and we were doing another apparel collaboration outside of esports. Then I got approached by Crazy Raccoon one night through Discord, and they were like, 'We would like to join you guys in making this world champion roster and continue it for Year 6.' That’s when everyone at 100 Thieves started coming together to make sure the deal worked and figured out what we needed to do to make it happen."

Bronzey noted how Crazy Thieves is East-West collaboration as well, and the two organizations bonded over making esports fun and exciting.

"The biggest thing we bond over is how do we make esports and gaming cool to the public? It's not just people sitting at home playing video games and doing nothing else. It's like any other hobby people have that's considered cool. Skateboarding is sick. Dancing is sick. Sports are sick. Gaming was always looked down upon, but we want to elevate gaming and the culture around it. They understand the lifestyle and apparel side just as well as us, and it was the perfect organization to come together to make something bigger."

The partnership also made sense to him because Los Angeles and Tokyo share many interests. Bronzey talked at length about a culture-first approach that can build a lasting global fan base across both Eastern and Western markets.

"I think the best way to do it is introducing each other's brand and community culture to the other. Luckily, Tokyo, Japan, and Los Angeles, California are really in sync. LA has a ton of respect and appreciation for Japanese culture, from fashion to food to fandom, and I think the same is true vice versa," Bronzey told esports.gg. "The vintage shops in Tokyo are stocked with 90s-era Harley Davidson tees, Disney memorabilia, and old Carhartt, so it was perfect for 100 Thieves to bring our version of Americana style to Tokyo. As we evolve the partnership and look to activate in the US this coming year, we’ll bring some Japanese inspiration to the states."

Shortly after the ALGS Year 5 Championship, Crazy Thieves had a pop-up shop event. According to Bronzey, the reception for that was great. He recalled that Crazy Thieves' presence was really great at ALGS in Sapporo and how the team had the biggest and most polished organization-operated booth there as well.

Fans from all over the world showed up, and the team performed well in the end. What stood out him the most was when Josue "Phony" Daniel Ruiz, Noyan "Genburten" Ozkose, and Evan "Verhulst" Verhulst visited the apparel booth and fans got to interact and take photos with them.

"It was a testament to how 100 Thieves and Crazy Raccoon look to grow esports through community," he added.

As for parting words, Bronzey revealed that fans can expect at least one more collection in 2026 plus a bigger collaboration and potential crossover content with Crazy Raccoon's creators before ALGS Year 6 in Sapporo.

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more Apex Legends interviews, news, and updates!