Toy companies don’t just make products and expect stores to sell them. There’s a process of showing off samples, negotiating prices, and presenting marketing data to show the toy will sell. Other times, a store will ask for a specific item to fill their shelves, be it due to good sales or for needing to fill aisle space (e.g. Nerf Doomlands at Target during the pandemic).
Even so, it’s not often that a completely abandoned concept or product line gets revisited. Such is the case with the Air Max Boss. Buzz Bee’s Mega-firing dart blasters launched in 2015, but they were abandoned after disappointing sales in many places (I still have boxes full of $1 or less refill packs from Walmart, as well as magazines from clearance Tyrants). One store they apparently did not disappoint was Dollar General, which carried the Air Max Boss for $10. Now, just for this year, they’re appearing on shelves again. The price is up a bit ($13), but even then, it’s still one of the best Mega blasters you can buy.
All About the Magazine
This time around, the Boss only advertises 65′ ranges. However, aside from the new box and sticker, it’s almost identical to the one that came before. We’ll cover that key difference at the end.
The blaster comes with 6 XL darts (as opposed to 3 last time). And it operates like most magazine-fed blasters. Pull back the priming slide, insert the magazine, push the slide forward, and fire. A system of internal locks keeps you from accidentally firing until all steps are completed.
Performance
I have yet to jam the blaster in normal operation.
Internals
Here’s where things get interesting. The Boss has a fairly standard layout, with a floating breech sealing off the front of the plunger tube. The front orange barrel is solvent-welded in place (as well as hiding one screw), but you can open the shell enough without messing with that to see and handle the guts.
The reason why the blaster is weaker? There’s a hole drilled into the base of the breech, behind the air restrictor! The blaster still works with the hole there, just much less efficiently. I filled the hole, perhaps overzealously, with JB weld, placed a strip of tape over that spot, then turned the part upside down and let cure. After that, I was averaging 76fps. For Mega darts, that’s a huge difference, and you’re hitting 90’+ at an angle. And since this type of dart is reasonably accurate, you’re looking at a very effective blaster. A spring spacer at the back could boost the numbers a little higher still.
Last Thoughts
The Air Max Boss was a winner in my book when it was originally released, and it’s still one of the best Mega blasters out there, even with the slightly higher price (curse you, inflation!). It’s great in stock form, albeit made weaker than before; that’s the one reason it isn’t scored higher. And if you’re one to care that much about performance, it’s easy to rectify those concerns.
Add in the universal mag compatibility, and you’re looking at a Mega blaster you could run as a primary, if you really wanted to. Believe me, I’ve done that in Humans v Zombies games before, and it was amazing.
It’s a blaster that’s great for any age, and any level of play. At least if you try hard enough on the extreme end of things 😉