Game/Event Writeup: Nerf Action Xperience Manchester
May 12, 2024As some of you know, I’ve had to pause writing between work, projects, and vacation. On that vacation, however, I did convince my wife to make a pit stop involving my hobby…
Nerf Action Xperience opened its doors in Manchester last year, at one of the city’s main shopping complexes. Even for random tourists, it felt like it was worth the money thanks to both the games played and the people we ended up playing with (a local group of 20-something coworkers). While admittedly I would have preferred less gel and more darts, the setup was still great – and I’d play again if I visited Manchester in the future.
Adventure Force Nexus Pro X Review
April 24, 2024The original Nexus Pro is four years old at this point. It helped start the trend of pro-level blasters on store shelves/websites, as opposed to hobby-related sources. In retrospect, several things have surpassed it, but for the time, at least, the score of 10/10 was well deserved.
Four years later, Dart Zone and Walmart have revamped the line! The Nexus Pro X has more power, more accuracy, more accessories, and all for the same price. And based on my extensive testing, it earns that 10/10 score, hands down.
Are you SCRD? Silly Tactical Gear Kickstarter Is Now Online!
April 12, 2024If you’ve been watching social media from either Containment Crew or Silverfox Industries, you’ve seen posts referring to new gear and different shades…and infection outbreaks. Some people even found the Kickstarter early based on the clues and got in on the Super Early specials.
Officially, though, today is launch day for the SCRD Kickstarter! This line of brightly colored tactical gear is aimed at bringing back the sillier side of the hobby, seeing as so much tactical gear in existence (be it from airsoft, paintball, or more recent foam-flinging setups) is in dark colors. We’re adults with toys, after all, so why not look like it and embrace the fun?
Nerf Junior Wild Sharkfire Review
April 5, 2024This blaster hit shelves slightly later than the Lionfury, but the appeal is the same: make a blaster in a fun animal shape, and gear it towards little kids. On those merits, it succeeds. The rest of us may not care for a blaster that (as of yet) I haven’t seen break 50fps. But it’s cute and easy to use and only $15. So it might be lots of fun for little Jimmy or Susan.
Let’s dive into the water!
Xshot Releasing Horrorfire Blasters! (And Unicorns!)
April 3, 2024
Editor’s note: I’ve been absent for a while! Let’s get things back on track!
Thanks to some early listings on Theisen’s website, we have updates on new Xshot releases for the year! The Insanity line expands with Horrorfire, the blasters an interesting mix of bone, metal, and saw blades. The Doomsday and Reaper X are both listed, but the main blaster (Dread Hammer, a retooled Crusher) has yet to appear online. Mechanically, nothing is new. But the blasters look amazing!
There’s also a fun Unicorn. That came out of left field!
Finally, the main line is getting updates – there’s a Micro 2.0 coming to shelves, and some blasters like the X8 Ranger and Caliber are finally hitting shelves near me. So you’ll have reviews soon!
Gel Ball News: Hasbro “Owns” the Market Now? Part 2
March 13, 2024At the end of last year, I wrote an article going partway through the legal battle surrounding gel ball blasters. Life then happened, and I didn’t get around to writing Part 2. Turns out that’s a good thing, because a lot has happened in the meantime. In any case, it would appear that Hasbro has ultimate say in the market. After all, most of the companies with gel ball blasters still being put on shelves have a licensing agreement with Hasbro – not to mention that in many stores, Nerf Pro Gelfire is in the toy aisle, while others are stuck in sporting goods.
Let’s get back into the legal drama, shall we?
Tiktok Ban? Will Nerf Content End?
March 11, 2024Apparently, there’s a new push to ban Tiktok over potential national security issues (owned by Bytedance, in China, etc.). Regardless of whether you think it’s needed, it does put an interesting spin on company advertising as well as regular content creation. We’ve seen Xshot have extreme success on social media at low cost, and Nerf even had a contest for “Chief Tiktok Officer” in 2021. Assuming Tiktok isn’t sold off to someone else, it’s quite possible that it will be banned.
The relevant legislation came out of committee with a unanimous vote, and now goes for votes in Congress. The President has indicated he would sign legislation, as well. So it will be interesting to see how both regular creators and corporations respond after investing time and money into using the new social media platform.
