Blaster Throwback: Larami Supermaxx Thunder Blast Ball Shooter

Sometimes, when you’re looking in thrift stores for blasters, or looking online for deals, you stumble across amazing finds. I essentially tripped into this one, because I didn’t even know about it until I went to pick up the blasters. But somehow, I’m now in possession of one of the rarest blasters to see these days: the Supermaxx Thunder Blast Ball Shooter.

Let’s gather some info and open things up!

How???

The Facebook Marketplace ad I responded to was selling a 1994 Nerf Ballzooka (with ten balls) for $3. Considering the condition of the blaster and the inclusion of balls, that was already an amazing deal – as well as a solid dose of nostalgia (that was my first blaster). I offered to pick it up the next day, and shortly after, the poster said the had a box with other Nerf guns (some working, some not) if I just wanted everything for $10. I of course said yes, wondering what I was going to get ($10 for a Ballzooka was still worth it, regardless of what else was there).

The pets were not part of the purchase.

I showed up the next day, $10 in hand, and ended up getting *way* more than I expected. Everything had been thrown in individual bags, lots with original ammo (and some loose ammo in a separate bag), and lots with at least part of the packaging or the original box. In the case of the Motorized Ballzooka, “not working” simply meant needing to buy batteries. For the Cyberstrike Rototrack, it meant some cracking in the dart chain.

The biggest shocks, however, were a Nerf Supermaxx 5000, with the original box, attachments, and ammo, and a blaster that originally I only saw the barrel of…but immediately knew what I was getting. The only question was if it really worked or not – apparently these had all been in storage for a long time.

Naturally, I did the dumb thing and used the blaster at a war to find out!

Super Soaker DNA

For those who don’t know, Larami was most famous for being the creators of the Super Soaker brand (licensing toys and patents from Lonnie Johnson). Larami ended up firing more than just water – we also got the Supermaxx line of dart/ball/arrow shooters. Some, like the Supermaxx 1500, were commonly modded blasters in the early days of the Nerf Internet Community. Some models, however, were either limited in release or just didn’t sell as well. The Supermaxx 5000 (or the far less common Supertech 9000) had large air tanks and could be modded, but were often too powerful compared to other modded blasters of the time.

This particular blaster, however, retains the giant reservoir of the Super Soaker days, using it to fire semi-flexible plastic balls (slightly smaller than ping pong balls). You can pull the trigger to fire all the air (and balls) at once. Importantly, however, there is a burst mode that disengages the trigger after pulling a certain distance; the valve slams closed, and you get a metered shot that fires 1-2 balls.

If you need a better visualization, IAmBobololo has a helpful animation. Here you can see Lanard balls/popper balls being used because they’re similar enough in diameter. The burst mechanism had worn down on his…it seems I’m lucky to have a working one 30 years after release.

What Now?

More than likely, I’ll end up selling these. It’s hard for me to resist using toys as toys, and with me going back to school, money for gas/books/etc. is far more important.

Until that point, however, I get to enjoy finding a neat piece of blaster history.