Last year saw the debut of the N Series line of blasters from Hasbro. It also saw fierce competition from other blaster brands, resulting in a loss in market share. On top of that, Hasbro has to counterbalance current and potential tariffs by cutting costs, both as a company and in the manufacturing process. Admittedly, the toy industry as a whole is in a rough spot. But when the new generation of blasters starts appearing on Amazon, you buy them anyway and hope for the best.
However, if the Nerf Loadout Shadowspeed Recon is the result, then the outlook is dim.
Feeling Flexible
The packaging is as minimalist as you can get, with a few plastic loops holding down the blaster and ammo storage attachment. Unfolding the box in the bottom reveals the 14 included darts. As far as packaging goes, it saves money while managing to look good. No problems there.
Taking the blaster out of the box, however, issues became apparent (at least for the blaster I got). While materials in Nerf’s blaster design have been shifting in favor of more polypropylene, last year’s blasters still felt solid and comfortable. The Shadowspeed Recon, though, flexes. The main grip gives somewhat when squeezed, and the priming grip has noticeably thin areas as well. For matters of functionality, it’s strong where it needs to be (going straight back and forward). But everything else is flimsy. In addition, my blaster had a noticeable “bump” in priming, and once I opened things up, the smashed ribs, screw stress marks, and other initial assembly issues became apparent.
In addition, there are wide gaps in the blaster shell without supports. You’ll see why in a bit, but it does mean there’s some give to the blaster body. Which wouldn’t be as much of an issue if the plastic was thicker.
The blaster works and does its job, but it’s a far cry from last year.
Retooling the Tactical Rail
There’s another bit that’s weird on the new Loadout series: the Nerf tactical rail has changed. To be fair, old rail attachments work on this blaster, and the ammo storage attachment fits perfectly on old rails. It feels like Hasbro wanted the modularity of Picatinny without actually using that standard, like Xshot and Dart Zone have in recent years, and also wanted the old attachments to still work. The sum decision works, but it still stands out as Nerf wanting to be their own ecosystem.
Finally, there’s a barrel attachment lug, but due to the wider diameter of N1 darts, don’t expect old barrels to work here, only new ones. They made sure that part was incompatible, for obvious reasons.
Until other blasters release, I have no opinion on the attachment point at the bottom of the grip. We’ll wait and see. Meanwhile, the rear stock attachment point is standard.
Performance and Gameplay
In testing, the blaster is simple to use and fire. Pump to prime, pull the trigger. You can continue pumping to rotate the cylinder for reloading, or simply rotate it by hand. There’s no slamfire, but you can still easily do two darts per second. On average, I was seeing 84fps darts coming out the front, with very little deviation.
Practically, however, the blaster doesn’t hold up as well to competition. Granted, I was using it in rounds with a cap of 150fps, so the pool of blasters in use ranged mainly from 3d printed hobby blasters to entry level pro (14+) blasters. Even so, it was clear that I didn’t have both the accuracy and distance required to hit opponents, and darts curved away from targets even at close range. Things would be fairer against other 8+ age range blasters…but only by so much, because nearly any other standard dart you can buy on shelves is more accurate. And for $15, I can get blasters with better accuracy, more capacity, more range, or some combination thereof.
Inside the Blaster
Here’s where it gets interesting. The blue plastic is polypropylene for sure, and it actually forms a general frame for the blaster, from the grip and rails and pump slide track to the internals. The red plastic sides then attach to that frame for both decoration and stability. It works, but it doesn’t feel great
The internals work the exact same way as the Agility, but with the priming handle and rotation tab underneath, and with an extra long priming bar to account for the space required. I have ideas, at least…
Last Thoughts
Remember when Nerf NStrike Elite 2.0 launched? The initial blasters were…not that great, taking some of their cues in cost-cutting from the Alpha Strike line and producing less than spectacular results, even if a few blasters were neat. It ended up taking time for exciting new things to come out of Elite 2.0.
It feels a bit like that here. Nerf N Series had cool designs, even if the new darts weren’t agreeable to everyone…and then a production cycle later, quality has dropped. Granted, there are lots of factors that Hasbro can’t control, and they’re trying to keep things profitable…but when the blaster feels bad, it’s that much less appealing.
This is only the first of many, and I have much higher hopes for the Galactic Commander…but the first blaster out the gate is just okay, at best.