Nerf Mega XL Big Rig Review

Normally, you’d expect a basic “pistol” in the line to be the starter experience you want for the line. For Mega XL, the Big Rig fills that role. Complete with open packaging to show off the blaster, it hopes to impress you with just how large the barrel is for the ammo you’re firing. And fire it does! But some ergonomic and feel issues keep the Big Rig from being as appealing as other blasters in the line.

Everything Oversized

The Big Rig is designed to advertise the HUGE NATURE OF THE MEGA XL LINE. Such is the current marketing scheme. In this case, even the priming slide is oversized…to the point where it seems more of a detriment. You’re paying for a lot of unnecessary plastic, and once you’ve started to reach the end of the priming motion, the lack of shell underneath leads to some flexing of the sides. It certainly doesn’t feel ideal, and you’re spending a lot of time simply priming the blaster. Granted, the spring inside is really strong. But I feel like implementation could have been better. Like how the Ultra 4 had a simple pullback mechanism.

Shouldn’t the single shot blaster be nice and efficient, like the Nitefinder, Firestrike, Volt, Hotshock, etc.?

My gripes on size aside…there’s reasons for some of the plastic. Under the main barrel are two storage slots for spare darts (the blaster ships with three). The main grip is sufficient, but not nearly as comfortable as the grips on the other Mega XL blasters.

Aesthetically, the blaster has the same appeal as the Boomdozer and Double Crusher. White blaster with blue, black, and orange. Logo busting out the side of the blaster. It’s simple, but effective. Can’t say the designers don’t know how to appeal to the kids!

Performance

The Big Rig does as well as you’d expect, based on the other blasters we’ve seen. It averages 56fps with the humongous Mega XL darts. However, given both the time to reload and prime the blaster, you’re only looking at a shot every three seconds or so. This blaster is much more oriented for plinking than the other two in the line.

Internals

As stated above, the spring on this blaster is quite strong. Inside the blaster, we have a mechanism similar to that in the Ultra Four; that is, an extremely long priming motion is converted into a short movement of a stupidly strong spring.

Noticeably, the plunger rod is actually already somewhat bent, due to the spring already being under compression. The blaster still works fine, but I doubt that’s intentional. I’ll keep an eye on that, and see how long the blaster survives.

Last Thoughts

The Big Rig fires big darts from, well, a big rig. It lives up to its name. Even so, it seems overdone for the entry level blaster of the Mega XL line, with a grip that could be better and a priming slide that feels…off. Maybe I’m just picky about going too big on this design philosophy. The Double Crusher and Boomdozer are still better bets if your goal is using Mega XL effectively at a Nerf War. But if you’re just wanting to dip the toes in the water, the Big Rig will be just fine.