Art School, the Army, and a $10,000 Star Wars Blaster: Hailey Lujan on First, Last, Next

Hailey Lujan does not fit into a single box, and she is not trying to.

She is a seven-year Army reservist. An art school grad. A TikTok meme who survived a conspiracy theory about being a literal government psyop. A YouTube creator who films obscure firearms in historical costumes. And somehow, all of those things make sense once you hear her talk.

This episode of First, Last, and Next was different in the best way. The conversation moved from Japanese pirate blasters to Sephora skincare to the emotional weight of creating things publicly to a Henry Golden Boy that connects back to her late grandfather. It was funny, honest, and a little bit all over the place, which is exactly how a good conversation should be.

If you have not heard of Lujan before, you are about to understand why so many people have.

The Accidental Meme

Hailey started posting Army content on TikTok a few years ago for a simple reason: she was tired of feeling like she had to hide it.

For her first couple of years in the service, the people on her civilian side, especially the ones she went to art school with, would look at her differently when they found out she was in the Army. Some people called her a war criminal. She was a private with no deployment. But it got under her skin enough that she just stopped talking about it.

Then something shifted. She started to find a real family in the Army. She stopped feeling guilty about it. And she decided that if she was going to be in this, she was going to show other people that you can be in the military and still have a personality. Still be a goofball. Still be yourself.

So she started posting. And it blew up.

There was even a conspiracy theory that she was a psyop for the US government. A literal government-planted content creator. That is how fast things moved.

She survived all of it. And now she is on YouTube making gun videos about obscure firearms tied to pop culture bits and historical costumes, which is about as far from a government psyop as you can get.

Art School Meets the Army

Hailey grew up in a hippie part of Northern California. She described it as a place that was not exactly well-serviced, where they tried experimental teaching methods and phonics was not part of the program. She learned to read late. She got on Tumblr young. She liked painting and drawing. She was an artsy kid through and through.

She was also in the Army.

Those two things did not make sense to the people around her. Art school and the Army Reserves do not show up on the same resume very often. But for Hailey, they were both just things she was doing. She did not pick one over the other. She showed up for both.

The tension came from the outside. People at art school would look down on her for being in the military. She would get comments about being a war criminal from people who had no idea what her actual rank or job was. It was enough to make her stop talking about the Army entirely for a while.

That changed when the Army started feeling more like family. When she realized she actually loved what she was doing, she decided she was done hiding it.

Creating Without Being Perceived

One of the most interesting moments in the conversation came when Hailey talked about her side project, Psych Ops.

Psych Ops is an account she started a few years ago. It is basically an aesthetic photo dump. She designs t-shirts, patches, and other visual work. No face. No persona. Just her creative playground.

She started it because the attention from going viral was heavy. Not bad, necessarily, but heavy. She wanted a space where she could make things without being watched. Where the work could just be the work.

That led to a moment where she stopped mid-sentence and realized something she had not put into words before: when you are a creative person who finds success, the creation stops being just for you. Every project becomes about what other people will think of it. You pick it apart. Sometimes you do not post something you worked hard on because you are worried about what it says about you.

It was a real moment. And it is something a lot of creators deal with but rarely talk about out loud.

Hailey said this year she is going back to Psych Ops. Back to the original plot. Just goofing off and having fun. Hopefully painting and drawing more too.

First Gun: Henry Golden Boy

Hailey’s first gun was a Henry Golden Boy.

After she went viral and started getting noticed in the firearms world, she went to her first SHOT Show. Henry Repeating Arms reached out and offered to send her a few firearms. She could not believe it. Free guns. They sent her three or four, but the Golden Boy was her favorite.

That gun means more to her than a typical first purchase, though. It connects back to her grandfather.

Hailey was incredibly close to her grandpa growing up. He was the one who first taught her how to shoot. Pellet guns on Folgers cans in the backyard. The basics. The foundation. When her content started taking off, he downloaded all the social media apps just to keep up with her. He was anti-social media his whole life, but he did it anyway because he wanted to see what she was up to.

Then he got cancer. It moved fast. About a month from diagnosis to the end.

Two weeks before he passed, he could not talk anymore. Giant brain tumors. But he could still understand. When Hailey told him that Henry Repeating Arms was sending her guns, something clicked. He had not spoken in days, but he perked up. He said it was awesome. He was excited because he knew Henry. He loved that brand.

That was one of the last real exchanges they had.

The Henry Golden Boy is staying with Hailey forever. It was also the subject of her first YouTube video. Some things are not just guns. They are anchors to people you do not want to forget.

Last Gun: A Custom URG-I Built by a Friend

Hailey’s last gun was not something she bought. It was something her friend built for her.

Micah, who is one of her best friends and also her cameraman, built her a URG-I upper on a Colt M4 lower for Christmas. He chose the Colt lower for the Army vibes. The whole build was his vision of what Hailey’s AR setup should look like, based on everything he knows about her.

Micah is, in Hailey’s words, autistic about guns in the best possible way. He is particular. He is intentional. He does not do things halfway. So when he built that rifle for her, it meant something.

They took it out to the range while filming a Calico video. Hailey did not have sights on it yet, but she wanted to feel how it shot. She posted a video of herself shooting it, and the comments lost their minds about the missing sights. So the next day, she went back, threw four optics on it, and posted a follow-up. Problem solved.

That rifle was also a first for the show. In fourteen episodes, no one else has had a gun that a friend custom-built for them as their last gun. That says something about the people Hailey surrounds herself with.

Next Gun: A Star Wars Blaster That Costs More Than a Car

When asked what she wants next, Hailey went straight to something absurd: a Red Line Mauser, the broom-handle variant that was the basis for a lot of the Star Wars blasters.

She has been looking at them for a potential YouTube video. The idea is a Princess Leia costume paired with the real firearm that inspired the A280 blaster. Classic Hailey. Historical accuracy meets pop culture meets full costume commitment.

There is just one problem. They are running about ten thousand dollars and up right now. So that one is staying on deck for a while.

In the meantime, she recently picked up a Smith & Wesson M&P after doing pistol training with Valiants Training out in Boise, Idaho. She had been running a Glock 45 but did not love how it felt in her hands. When one of the instructors let her shoot his M&P, the grip and the feel clicked immediately. She got one of her own and is having it worked on by Agency Arms.

So the next gun is a Star Wars blaster. But the practical next gun is already in the shop getting built.

First, Last, Next Recap

First Gun: Henry Golden Boy, a gift from Henry Repeating Arms that connects back to her late grandfather who first taught her how to shoot.

Last Gun: A custom URG-I with a Colt M4 lower, built by her best friend and cameraman Micah as a Christmas present.

Next Gun: A Red Line Mauser broom-handle variant, the real firearm behind the Star Wars blasters, for a Princess Leia costume video on YouTube. Ten thousand dollars and counting.

Hailey Lujan is not just making gun content. She is making art school meets the Army meets pop culture meets full-costume historical deep dives, and she is doing it all while refusing to take herself too seriously.

That is the whole point. And after listening to her talk, it is hard not to root for her.