Adventure Force Outlaw Showdown Review

Pretend play has seen a resurgence on store shelves recently; Xshot is releasing light and sound toy guns and props, and Walmart’s Adventure Force line is seeing more playsets, including one with Pirate props and a Dart Zone Buccaneer. We here at Blasterhub won’t be covering all of these items (our focus is on blasting targets and opponents, after all), but we will explore the packs including actual blasters when they pique our interest.

One of those packs is the Adventure Force Outlaw Showdown, a western-themed playset with two single-shot pistols. It’s fun, but it’s definitely oriented more towards the younger crowd.

Two Blasters! Yeehaw!

The playset comes with two single-shot blasters and four brown and orange darts. They’re actually Buzz Bee Accublast darts…but the blasters themselves just have “Adventure Force” stamped on the copyright. For the moment, I think the blasters are from some other manufacturer, and the darts are just borrowed. I’d be happy to get some kind of confirmation, though,

In addition to the blasters, the set comes with a small-fitting cowboy hat, two clip-on holsters (they literally just have long plastic tabs for hanging onto pants or a belt), a sheriff’s badge, and some play money. Because there’s an outlaw somewhere that needs to fight your local sheriff!

The blasters are rather unique. Single shot, hammer primed, but not in the ways we’ve previously seen. They’re also very kid-sized. I can prime it one-handed , but a kid may need to use both hands. Of course, if you and your dueling partner each have a blaster, then that’s not a big deal. But don’t expect little Timmy to be dual-wielding.

Performance

The blasters themselves are very much kid-ranges, with an advertised 50′ of range and ((in my testing) 47fps dart speeds. Being single shot, the rate of fire is naturally low.

Internals

The blasters have a unique hammer-prime mechanism! There’s a string tied to the plunger head, and that string loops around a wheel on the hammer and up to a tie-off point. It’s exploiting the pulley system to make the blaster easier to prime, but it’s still a stiff prime to do.

Given how much force is being contained, I do question the durability. I should also note that, when I first got a set, one blaster didn’t fire; it had too much slack in the string, so there wasn’t enough air to make the dart leave the barrel. Another set from Walmart worked just fine, but it is something to be aware of. If the blaster doesn’t fire, return the set.

Final Thoughts

The Adventure Force Outlaw Showdown set is a cool kit for young kids. I do question the longevity of the blasters, but for what they are, it’s a fun $20 way to live those Wild West fantasies.