Ryan’s Dart Tag Renegade Review

The previously reviewed Ryan’s World blasters, while unique in design, took heavy inspiration from the Xshot Reflex pistol. The Renegade, however, goes a step farther and simply copies the internals of the Turbo Advance!

Of course, that’s not a bad blaster to copy. But does the Renegade do it well enough to be worth buying?

Oversized for Capacity

Like the Turbo Advance, the Renegade is dominated by a forty round drum; two rings of twenty darts sit within. Attaching the drum to the blaster consists simply of pressing the red button on the front mount, sliding it forward, inserting the drum, and sliding the front mount to the closed position. The ring of darts you fire, meanwhile, is picked by a selector switch at the back of the blaster. The switch drives an internal gear system to rotate the plunger tube (and its outlet). However, unlike the Turbo Advance, the drum doesn’t like to spin by hand. This makes reloading slightly longer, as you need to keep pumping the priming handle to rotate the drum. Finally, a large barrel with an oblong cross-section allows darts from both rings to travel unobstructed.

The Renegade is actually slightly shorter than the Turbo Advance, with a large, stocky shell instead of a long, thin one. It also trades in the original blaster’s horizontal pump grip for a vertical one. Differences aside, it remains a blaster largely suited for hip firing. There’s technically an iron sight…but it’s so large as to be more decorative than useful.

Naturally, the blaster features a molding and color scheme that screams “I COME FROM RYAN’S WORLD!”. There are quite a few overlapping plastic shell pieces, from the main shroud to the faux stock to the large red “R” that forms the handle. As with the pistols, the “R” handle is more comfortable than expected, with plenty of room for hands of all sizes. And the plastic is thick and sturdy, much more so than the Xshot alternative (even the drum well “covers” are thick plastic).

Fifty of the Ryan Dart Tag streamlines are included.

Performance

The Renegade shoots about as well as the blaster its based on. My sample averaged 75fps, both with the included darts and with Adventure Force waffle darts. There is no slam fire on this blaster, so you’re limited to about two darts per second. Considering the sheer capacity, it’s still nothing to sneeze at; you’ve got plenty of ammo for an extended battle, even if you do nothing but fire as fast as possible.

Internals

As stated above, this blaster is a Turbo Advance-based platform. Although it’s less based on it, and more copied! There are a few minor differences, of course, once the shape and size of the blaster is considered (trigger and catch placement and shape, etc.). Even so, it’s at least a tried and true mechanism. It also means that, in theory, you should be able to upgrade the spring slightly for an fps boost.

Do note that there are a TON of screws to take out before you can even begin to split open the blaster. Also, with the overlapping plastic pieces on the shell, you may have to remove a few bits first before you can access all the screws.

Final Opinion

At $25, the Renegade is a fun blaster with decent range and lots of capacity. Think of it as a unique skin for the Turbo Advance; once you’ve reached that point, it’s easy to accept.

If you’ve got a child who loves Ryan’s World, however, this is an amazing stepping stone between that brand and the blaster world in general.