Nerf Rebel Ops Operation Vanguard Warpath Review

Hasbro rebranding other blasters under the Nerf name doesn’t have to be a bad thing. As we saw with the Ripshot, some off-label blasters are just fine for regular use.

This is not one of those cases.

The Warpath is inferior to any other standard Hasbro-designed flywheel blaster, but is being sold under the Nerf brand. Its tolerances are questionable, the front hurts performance, and it has multiple compatibility issues. The core idea of the blaster is sound, but the execution is lacking. And now that it has an official label on it, it’s even more disappointing.

Slightly More Context!

The Warpath isn’t a new design; as others in the community have noticed, it’s been sold under the FUNGUN label in Russia and Asia, and appears to be produced by Baihui Toys, the same manufacturers of the Fast Pioneer line of blasters. Those blasters aren’t always distributed in the United States, and you often only see products occasionally on Amazon, or during the holidays. Had the Warpath not popped into existence, for example, I would’ve grabbed a different Stryfe-style blaster at Menards on sale for $15-$20 (after rebate).

I might have ended up disappointed, but I also wouldn’t have spent much money on the endeavor.

Instead, we have the Warpath, which I got from Amazon for $35. Let’s start this sad journey!

A Quick Coat of Paint Solves Everything?

Even if the blaster is the same as the one above, the Nerf version at least makes the attempt to use both different colors of plastic and an external pain scheme. It should be noted, though, that the paint job is very low-rez, looking worse than the computer-generated version displayed online and on the outside of the box.

Even the “real” picture on Amazon’s listing, while at least showing the actual paint colors, is better than the resulting product. Especially the light blue paint along the bottom. Obviously, the farther away you are, the better it is…but wow, it looks bad when you pull it out of the box.

Tolerance Issues, Part One

My Warpath is interesting. The front barrel attachment, itself a ripoff of a Hasbro accessory, had a nice sharp molding artifact where the web of my hand would go (had to be clipped off and filed). The barrel lug, while compatible with NStrike, isn’t actually unidirectional, so things can be put on upside down. It also seems to be made with minimum clearances possible, to the point where the included attachment had to be forced into place. A smattering of Nerf barrels on hand are similar, although if you’re willing to repeatedly attach a barrel, you’ll shave off enough plastic to make it work.

Oh, and legit Nerf barrels are a few degrees short of sitting vertical when attached. The retention balls on my older barrels don’t line up with the crevice on the Warpath. So the angle on the barrel lug isn’t quite right!

The stock attachment point works with NStrike stocks, but there’s quite a gap when using other stocks. Use the included one.

Expecting to use other attachments? Guess again. Those aren’t real attachment rails on the sides of the blaster. Only the top rail works with NStrike, and how well will vary depending on the attachment footprint, since it’s not a complete copy.

Part Two: THE MAGAZINES

Here’s where things get annoying. The magazine well (and the mag storage in the stock) isn’t made to Nstrike magazine dimensions! It’s narrower than the 26mm you’d see in a Hasbro product, and the gap between the inside ridges, which go on either side of the feed lips, is also shorter than the 50mm you should be seeing.

The included magazines narrower feed lips that have also been flattened down on the outside…but that leaves *nearly every other full length mag in your collection*. You have to squeeze those magazines up into the blaster to force them into place. With those internal ridges at the narrowest spec possible, you’re rubbing away plastic at best, and not fitting other mags at worst. A few of the mags I tried (ranging from 6s to 18s to various drums) didn’t catch.

Very consistently, genuine Nstrike mags tend to see the first 1-2 darts become really hard to push into the flywheels. Occasional hang-ups occur throughout the magazine. Is it dart alignment? It feels like it. Is the magazine flexing on insertion moving darts up enough that you’re trying to push two darts? Likely a part of it, too; if you remove the mag and reinsert, the problem starts over. And it doesn’t seem dependent on how full the magazine is – you could have 18 darts or 3 loaded, but the jam on insertion happens.

 

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Similar compatibility issues plague the mag storage slot in the stock. You not only have to forcibly shove regular magazines up to even catch, but trying to remove them while depressing the release button is hard, perhaps too hard for a small child.

Forget the paint; the mag issues border on unacceptable all by themselves!

Enough with these complaints. Let’s use the blaster.

Operation

At the very least, firing the blaster goes as you would hope. The blaster takes 6 AA batteries (not included), and comes with 60 “Waffle” darts, of the same design we saw come with the Ripshot. The blaster shoulders very well, and the two grips have plenty of room for your hands. There’s a jam door if you end up needing it. It’s not connected to any sort of safety switch, so you, too, can stuff a magazine into your blaster and watch to see whether or not that top dart fires!

Feed issues aside, the rev trigger is responsive with not too much movement needed, and the main trigger is smooth to operate.

Performance

Here’s another point where things are disappointing. We’re used to Dart Zone and other brand blasters shooting 80-100+ fps on 6 AA batteries. In my testing, I averaged 68fps, on par with other Nerf blasters. Granted, it seems that instead of higher fps, we got motors that spin up to full speed VERY quickly, to the point where there’s barely any fps drop, even when spamming darts. That, I can at least appreciate…even if I don’t think that was the goal in mind.

Funny enough, if you’re using the barrel attachment, your average will decrease by a lot, just from darts hitting the inner walls. Some shots came out straight, while others could be in the 50s, or even in the 30s. That’s not great.

You can easily shoot four darts per second with this blaster. Rate of fire isn’t a weakness for semi-auto.

Internals

There are a lot of screws to remove, and they’re all of a smaller type than you’d see in Nerf products. So if you’re not careful removing them, you’ll bore out the screw holes.

The circuit is as simple as it gets, with all black wire connecting the tray to the rev trigger switch and the motors. The cage itself is interesting, with wheels that feature holes. There are felt pads on either side of the cage to help dampen the noise (and there is a LOT of noise during operation).

I considered designing a replacement cage, but the blaster itself is maddening enough that I’ll likely leave it be.

Final Thoughts

Who at Hasbro thought it was a good idea to farm out part of their dart blaster line? Are things really so cutthroat that they’d rather cheaply pay for someone else’s existing *bad* design, rather than design something that’s at least enjoyable to use? Did someone just assume that because a magazine can fit in the blaster, that everything was fine? Because it’s not.

Ultimately, the blaster, while low quality, does work out of the box. It’s when you try to use it with literally anything else that bigger problems arise.

Don’t put this one into your Amazon cart. It’s better left alone.