Nerf Better Than Balloons Review

I mainly review blasters on this website. But sometimes there are related items that are worth a try. For example, Zuru’s Bunch o Balloons line has been great for quickly getting ammo ready for water warfare. Even so, they’re still water balloons, coming with all the cleanup afterwards of rubber bits.

Hasbro, meanwhile, has taken a different approach. Better Than Balloons aims to fill plastic water pods quickly (albeit with the need to separate them after), pop open on impact, and keep each “balloon” in one piece for easy cleanup. They’re sturdy enough to be handled roughly, but can be thrown, stomped, squeezed, etc. for whatever soaking action you want. Are they worth it? Perhaps, if you want to do the messy part ahead of time – and have time.

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Dart Zone Reveals the Nexus Pro X and Aeon Pro X!

Toy Fair in the US might be gone this year, but fairs elsewhere in the world are still on the calendar. Today was the first day of the Nuremburg Toy Fair, and it started out big for the blaster hobby. Dart Zone is redoing the first two entries of the Adventure Force line, with new looks, a focus on short darts, and many upgrades. And as of the end of January, there are links for the Nexus Pro X and the Aeon Pro X on Walmart’s website! Let’s jump in!

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Nerf Rival Continues into 2024! Mirage and Challenger!

There have been sneak peeks on toy wholesaler websites until now, but at last, we have listings at Walmart for the Nerf Rival Challenger and the Nerf Rival Mirage! At $35 and $22, respectively, the two blasters feature a new design motif along with sone interesting features; the first is a Rival Stryfe with a funky banana mag, while the other is a springer that can be breech-loaded or mag-swapped.

As soon as these go on sale, they’ll be in my cart!

 

Nerf Elite Jr Racer Review

Sometimes, simple is better. That’s especially true in the case of Nerf Elite Jr. You need to make blasters usable by young hands, but if you do too much with a blaster that fires lower velocities (like with the Explorer), you get a terrible product.

The Racer avoids that problem entirely. It fires two darts, without asking extra from the propulsion system. It’s easy to prime and fire, between the oversized trigger and priming handle. And it’s only $5! It’s hard to argue with the results here, because this is the perfect blaster for introducing young kids to the world of Nerf.

Welcome to 2024!

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Nerf Zombie Driller Review

The Nerf Zombie Strike line has been dead for several years, without a whisper as to whether it would return to the land of the living. Now, however, Hasbro is (at least spiritually) bringing the undead flavor back! The Nerf Zombie line so far has a few blasters, with paint all over (somewhat like the Xshot Skins line, as well as the recent blaster reskins for Transformers and TMNT). The first blaster, the Driller, has the look of an exaggerated Electric Drill, but keeps the function of the Hammershot. It’s larger and more expensive, but is it still worth it? For most people, I’d say yes.

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Nerf Pro Gelfire Ignitor Review

Gel ball, meet Jolt. That’s the basic premise of the Nerf Pro Gelfire Ignitor, which uses a grip plunger to fire balls from an integrated hopper. For $10, it actually meets or exceeds all expectations I had for it. It’s still not a 200 to 250+ fps primary, but it’s a fun little blaster that gets the job done, even with a couple quirks. And with a few mods, foam dart hobbyists might grab some, as well!

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Dart Zone Max Omnia Pro (Gen 2) Review

Author’s note: Of all the months to be so busy to not post…why did it have to be DECEMBER???

Earlier this year, the Omnia Pro was released on Walmart’s website, only for consumers to find a number of problems. Dart Zone took note, making revisions for future runs while pledging to ship new blasters to those who had bought the first wave of blasters. This week, most people got their replacement Omnia Pros, just in time for us to see whether the improvements make the blaster worth the $90 MSRP (or at least the $60 Black Friday sale price, as it turns out).

The new Omnia is definitely an improvement over the original, between the reduced shot delay, the various quality of life tweaks, and proper flywheel cage alignment. Even so, while it’s a great full auto blaster, it still doesn’t get select fire quite right. That being said, it might be worth a peek, depending on both your budget and your control of your trigger finger.

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