The Nerf-Fortnite partnership keeps marching along and producing even more conversions from in-game weaponry to real-life foam flingers. The BASR-L was shown off by Hasbro at Toy Fair earlier this year. If you’re a fan of the games, it’s a nice blaster. If you’re just looking at it as a blaster, however…$40 is a bit steep. It’s still a fun blaster, but due to some compatibility and dart issues, you might want to leave it on the shelf (or else buy, then modify it).
Big and Goofy
Upon assembly, you’ll find various levels of comfort. The stock itself is large, and long enough to be comfortable. The main handle is adequate (thumbhole stock designs are hard), but it’s not something that will make your hand hurt after extended play. Also, there’s the need to match the in-game model! There’s plenty of space up front for your off-hand to hold the blaster, and the entire thing feels really light. There’s not enough weight to make any part of the blaster become uncomfortable over time.
The blaster is bolt-action, and indeed comes with two bolt handle that snap into place on either side, allowing both lefties and righties to use the blaster. However, since they snap into place, they don’t come back out without a lot of force (and possibly breaking tabs). So if you want to modify anything, I’d recommend doing so before adding both tabs.
Using the Blaster
Finally, the blaster seems to not like all dart types. The Elite darts it comes with? They fire without issue. Accustrike darts? Dart Zone? Anything else? Due to the long barrel, it seems like anything with a large dart head (including Hasbro darts) hits the side of the barrel and loses velocity. You could, of course, open the blaster and remove the barrel. But at that point, you’re just throwing away plastic.
Performance
Using the included darts, I averaged 68fps and up to two darts per second using slamfire. However, the velocity of other darts varies considerably, due to the issues discussed above.
Modification and Internals
Admittedly, I was a bit lazy on this part. However, if you feel like opening up the blaster (and possibly fixing the issues discussed above), just watch this video!
Final Opinion
The BASR-L is a fun blaster, but it has some flaws that make the $40 seem too high. That said, if you don’t mind opening it up and fixing a few things, it could be a good purchase. But even then, you couldn’t be blamed for skipping it. You shouldn’t have to remove the barrel of a “sniper” to ensure that all darts work.