Nerf Elite 2.0 Double Punch Review
May 25, 2023For the moment, the Double Punch appears to only be in Canada. When it hits stateside, however, it looks to be one of the most fun, quirky, and innovative blasters to hit the Elite 2.0 line. And at its price, it’s hard to beat adding one to your collection.
Xshot Skins Goes Pro!
May 21, 2023Big news hit the Nerf forums and chat rooms yesterday: the rumored Xshot Pro Series is finally coming to stores! A product entry on The Entertainer revealed the Skins Longshot blaster, listed for just £34.99 ($40-$45 when converted). Let’s take a look!
Nerf Super Soaker: What’s Happening? Part Two
May 19, 2023At the end of last month, I noticed the large numbers of Nerf-branded (but not Hasbro-made) soakers hitting shelves. Naturally, it may have been easy to test the basic performance, but the weather meant not having any actual play scenarios. Neighborhood kids are a valuable resource, after all.
Now, after some testing, I am both surprised and disappointed. The blasters, by the metrics, perform better than advertised (even if the labels all claim different things). Durability, though, is questionable at best. I’d stay clear of these blasters if you want toys that last more than a season, let alone a weekend.
Dart Zone Blaster Bash Colorado Update!
May 11, 20232023 is the year of sports field blasting, it seems. Jared’s Epic Blaster Battle is on a nationwide tour, and now Dart Zone has an event in Colorado Springs, provided you’re not at the Indianapolis JEBB the same weekend. Alternatively, maybe you have better access to plane tickets than I do. Who knows?
In any case, Dart Zone has a USLC soccer stadium reserved for Sunday, June 11th, for a day of blaster games and an evening of zombie-shooting shenanigans. Admittedly, the ticketing system is a bit strange, seeing as you can pay for one or two-hour slots, or for the four hours in the evening. And the prices add up if you want to stay longer. I’ll admit, I’m spoiled having a local club that can reserve an indoor airsoft field for $10 for four or more hours. But the prices listed seem…a bit out there.
Of course, there’s a good chance I’m totally missing something. Perhaps there’s a strong enough interest in Colorado itself for people to attend – the mountain states do get overlooked by both large blaster events and smaller, competitive qualifiers. So with enough local interest, the ticketing is more reasonable. But even with the prospect of seeing new blasters for 2023. I don’t see myself trying to fly out there, play for a few hours, then fly home and go back to work.
If you do have interest, find more info here!
Xshot Insanity Series and Hyper Gel Announced!
May 5, 2023This is what I get for getting busy and forgetting to check the industry magazines. Credit to u/viche on Reddit for catching this in the May issue of Toy World!
The latest issue of Toy World not only has a full page advertisement, showing off the various blasters in each line, but has a short article detailing the Insanity series, with blasters focusing on big, massive combos and dart storage, somewhat like those old Gunvsgun videos on Youtube. They range from a budget single-shot blaster with lots of storage to a fully motorized, belt-fed blaster on a giant tripod. The Mega Barrel seems an odd design, given the massive ammo ring that feed it and the fact that it’s manually operated. And the example picture of blasters joined together is downright silly; how do you even operate everything? Still, it looks hilarious and fun, and kids are bound to love it.
The Hyper Gel lineup is also pictured, showing both magazine-fed and hopper-fed designs. What exactly powers the blasters isn’t known yet, but they do look bright, serious, and fun. Is everyone doing gel ball now?
Nerf Super Soaker: What’s Happening?
April 30, 2023Note: This is an editorial – I’ll buy a few of these on the off chance that I’m wrong. But claimed 9′ ranges don’t inspire confidence.
As per press releases last year, Hasbro partnered with Wowwee Toys last year to license the Super Soaker brand for various toys. We saw several items in stores, ranging from the Storm Ball Wrist Rocket Launcher to the RoboBlaster (while not my cup of tea, it’s a very cool idea). This year, they’re partnering for more products, including some with Hasbro Gaming themes.
Behind the scenes, though, there are more than just those products being made. Be it at Dollar General, Ross Dress for Less, or other stores, I’m seeing Wowwee Toys make actual soakers, with the Super Soaker name slapped on them. Considering the lack of regular Hasbro soakers (two tiny Minecraft models, and two others that aren’t on many store shelves), the sheer number of blasters I’ve seen makes it look like Hasbro is just farming out the brand. And between their feel and self-proclaimed performance, it doesn’t look like a good idea.
Xshot Insanity Motorized Rage Fire Appears!
April 22, 2023This one was just a matter of time before an image slipped through the cracks between wholesale toy sites and cached Google search results. But we now have an image of the Xshot Insanity Motorized Rage Fire! And…it looks like something out of a GunVsGun video?
In any case:
Insane combos, ammo and action with X-Shot Insanity! The Motorized Rage Fire is so big it comes equipped with a tripod. Load up its 40 dart auto feeding belt to take out multiple targets from up to 27m / 90 feet away in seconds! Plus it comes with an insane amount of accessories and dart storage to hold an additional 46 darts.
Based on the picture, you could stack more of those dart storage drums together to make a massive sentry blaster. Useful? Perhaps not. But it definitely would have looked cool to 8 year old me!
