Disclaimer: thanks, Hasbro, for sending one of these blasters for free!

Purchase here (affiliate link that supports the website)

Trailing the rest of the Fortnite crossover release is the replica of the Tactical Shotgun (TS). It loads and fires four Mega darts, has storage for more, and is generally just a large blaster. It’s not ergonomic perfection, by any means. But it is a fun blaster with good performance.

Coming to Life

If you turn up the brightness, you’ll see a person dabbing.

The Tactical Shotgun retains all the little flourishes from the game, from the paintjob to the battle “damage” molded into the blaster. It still says “Bossmerg-12” on either side of the blaster. Even the front of the blaster has that extra touch, with a dabbing player lightly molded into the orange plastic.

The pump handle matches the game; however, it doesn’t make for great comfort. Due to the unusual forward slope, it’s hard to get a good grip for priming the blaster. I ended up wrapping my thumb around the front of the grip, which still feels less than ideal. The ridge at the back of the grip isn’t very large and thus not the best way to prime the blaster, either. As much as game-matching aesthetics matter, this one could’ve been tweaked for use friendliness instead.

The main grip is large and open, albeit a bit blocky. The stock is also serviceable, and has a storage compartment for four Mega darts. It could stand to be larger, but again, video game accurate aesthetics. Overall, the blaster looks amazing, but it has several features that can annoy fans using it as a blaster; the pump grip is simply the most egregious of the lot.

Performance

The TS holds four darts in an internal magazine, loading from the bottom. In that regard, it is an upside down Magnus with room for one more dart. Loading the magazine is quick and easy.

Dart performance is very consistent with Mega darts, averaging 73fps. In addition, the rate of fire for this large blaster is two darts per second, with slamfire. Not the fastest rate of fire, but you only have four shots anyway before reloading. No reason to use all of them at once!

Internals

The TS is a simple blaster on the inside, with a breech being pulled back via a large internal sled. I will have some pictures later – between work and preparing for Nerf trips, that picture simply got overlooked.

Final Thoughts

As far as game-accurate props go, the TS is one of the best in the series. As far as war-ready blasters go, the TS is decent. It had good performance, if only the capacity of a pistol-type blaster. It also has its ergonomic issues. If you’re looking purely at blaster usefulness, the TS may not satisfy. But if throwing Mega darts down range is your thing, and you like the video game crossovers, then you’ll probably like the TS.