With the love for Stalker, came the love for gas masks. There isn't really a reason for liking them- besides holding a piece of history, them looking cool and being a good collectible. I have a small collection IRL, and it includes a ShM-41, or GP-5, as it's more commonly known.

Surge on the other hand needs one for his job. While he has a filter system in his air intakes, it's a lot pricier to get a replacement for that than to simply strap a GOST filter to a ShMP-41- so he wears a gas mask whenever there is a threat of dangerous particles in the air. Like spicy air for example.

and yes- I do realize he's strapping a NATO filter onto his GP-5. 200 IQ play here, he has a special little adapter that allows him to both use GOST and STANAG filters on the mask.

Art and character by me  Ryskadragons