Nerf Marvel Wolverine Blaster

One the one hand, the Wolverine Blaster looks really cool, from the claws that move with the pump grip to the X in the stock. On the other hand, the performance isn’t that great, especially for $30. Should you get one anyway? That’s for you to decide…

Wait, Those Are Elite Darts!

The Wolverine blaster uses Elite darts, like we saw at the Hasbro booth at Toy Fair earlier this year. N Series is gone…sort of. While the old darts are back, the Wolverine blaster has the unmistakable construction and stylings of the Nerf Loadout line. As a result, there’s some shell flex, as well as quite a bit of movement at the grip/stock attachment point. Granted, if you’re pressing a stock toy blaster into your shoulder in order to prime it…you’re doing it wrong. But the flexing will naturally be a concern if kids (or adults, for that matter) are treating the blaster roughly.

The blaster comes with a yellow stock that attaches to the bottom of the grip, and holds six darts in reserve. It also comes with a faux scope for the pretend play value – I think I have mine on backwards half the time, but it doesn’t matter too much. The tactical rail is the updated tac rail that debuted with the Loadout series – old attachments will still fit, but the rail looks a bit more serious.

Operating the blaster is easy – load six darts up front, use the pump grip to prime, then fire. There’s a tiny window at the back of the “Wolverine ear” iron sights for a priming indicator. And yes, having the molded claws move as you operate the blaster just looks cool..

Performance

There is no slamfire, but given the short priming distance, it’s quite easy to fire three darts per second. As for velocity…it’s a bit better than expected in terms of drop-off. The initial shot averages only 62fps, but the last shot was averaging 48fps. Given how many chambers the air has to pass through to get there, that’s somewhat impressive. However…

Gameplay

…if you’re not using fresh darts, you’ll soon have problems. I don’t expect perfect performance with old darts…but with this blaster, the barrels don’t grip the darts very tightly. Which means that worn darts can be physically pushed forward by the safety valves within the mechanism! That can lead to firing weak shots, double shots, or in the worst cases, nothing at all, depending on dart condition and combination. Having to monitor your darts in the middle of combat isn’t ideal, to put it mildly.

Internals

Were you really expecting something novel here? It’s just a basic design inside.

Do note, however, that the catch spring is super compressed against the top of the shell. So if you take the blaster apart, you’ll have to be careful that it doesn’t try to escape. You’ll also have to make sure you’re not partially smashing the spring on reassembly due to misalignment.

That’s all I have for now. Admittedly, it would be humorous if someone cut out a slot for a magazine where the pump grip is, designed motor wells that bolt onto the sides, and made it a flywheeler. But that’s a very involved project for another day.

Last Thoughts

Was it really worth it for me to purchase this blaster? Probably not, especially for the $30 asking price. But I’m absolutely going to do my best to have fun with it!

In the meantime…just be warned that it’s probably not the best purchase.