Nerf Fortnite SMG-E Review

It’s supposed to come out at the beginning of 2020. However, supply chains being like they are, sometimes things arrive early. To that end, we have the Fortnite SMG-E. It is, at the most basic level, a Stryfe. Even so, for $30 it’s also an inexpensive one, if you don’t mind ditching compatibility with accessories. Also, being goofy and useful gets point in my book.

Size Matters? Perhaps Not

The SMG-E is functionally the same as the AR-L (and its various reissues) – it’s a Stryfe in operation. In this case, though, we ditch the giant shell for something more compact. In this case, a more colorful recreation of the in-game Tactical SMG. It’s easy recognizable for Fortnite fans, but with all the Nerfy proportions and colors that a blaster toy requires. The blaster does come with a custom six-dart magazine and six darts, and needs 4 AAs to function.

The blaster has no regular attachment points – no rails, no barrel attachment lugs, etc. You can, however, use the various cosmetic parts as sling points. There is a jam door; imply lift up on the grey tab above the magazine to access the inside of the blaster if needed.

The blaster is light in hand, and comfortable to hold – the largest hands might have to rest a pinkie over the lower ridge in the grip. Otherwise, I can’t think of any real complaints about handling the blaster. Just pull the rev trigger to spin up the flywheels, and use the main trigger to fire darts at the target.

Performance

My SMG-E seemed to perform especially well compared to other semiauto Nerf blasters – averaging 77fps on fresh alkaline batteries. I’ll have to handle another to see if mine was an outlier. That being said, it’s great performance. As usual with semiauto electric blasters, you can manage three darts per second easily – but on alkaline batteries and with little time to recover, successive shots will lag.

Modification Potential

And here we are at that one fun corner of the hobby! The guts of the SMG are mounted on the opposite side of the blaster compared to most other similar Nerf items. The cage itself is shaped slightly differently, with wider wheels. It does however, share the same screw post spacing as the Nerf Stryfe. Just, you know, mounted on the opposite side of the blaster. Stryfe cages can be made to work, but depending on the design may need spacers of some kind to alight them correctly within the blaster.

Final Opinion

The Nerf Fortnite SMG-E is a fun blaster for starting out the new year. It’s a Stryfe, yes, but in a fun, comfortable new skin. It’s also at a surprisingly nice price. Unless you’re (for some reason) desperate to use various attachments with your blasters, the SMG-E makes for an excellent addition to the collection.