Nerf Charity Drives! World Foam Alliance Livestream, Joy of Sox, Sub Zero Blaster Battle!

This post is slightly late, but better now than after the events! We have several community-oriented events raising money for good causes, ranging from a 24hr live stream this coming weekend to an indoor war in January! Let’s look at what’s going on!

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PA Survival Fest Heads To Penn State, and Nerf Does an NYC Popup!

Major hobby news: while the theme has yet to be announced, we have a date and place for PA Survival Fest! After many long years, a large Humans v Zombies game will be taking place at Penn State University again!

As for the rest of the article…if you’re in and around NYC next weekend, Nerf has a fun pop-up event, both for showing off/getting you to buy new goodies for the holidays, as well as some free family fun!

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Out of Darts Releases the Juno Rival Blaster!

I certainly wasn’t expecting this, but I feel like I need one now! Out of Darts, that one guy (and his associates) that brought us the Proton Pack and other fun things, has a successor to the Jupiter now on the website! It promises better performance, features, and free-to-use files for printing or modifying at home! Let’s take a peek!

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Nerf Brings New Action-XPeriences – and a New Blaster?

Nerf has been busy with their event centers! Although the Nerf Challenge in Toronto may have finally ended, there are new Action Xperiences popping up around the world! The Chinese market will see them in 2025, but you can visit one now in Great Britain…and possibly see a new blaster? Let’s get the press stuff out of the way, then talk about the blaster!

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Dart Zone Max Solo Review

This was a fun thing to see appear this week!

Out of the blue, in time for Black Friday and the holiday rush, Dart Zone puts out a high performance, single-shot blaster that can be easily stowed away in a pocket or other place. The Solo may not be the best Pro blaster on the market, but that’s not due to any inherent flaws. After all, single shot blasters can only do so much.

The difference? The Solo makes that shot count.

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Gel Ball News: Hasbro “Owns” the Market Now? Part 1

The gel ball market has been on a wild ride, between everyone joining the market (even Xshot joined the game this summer) and legal battles raging in the background (starting with Hasbro filing infringement complaints, and continuing with some settlements). Indeed, given the mass influx of products both on store shelves and online, it would seem that the market, at least for the time being, is going to grow dramatically, and there’s a lot of money at stake.

As of yesterday, documents became available online detailing the results of Hasbro’s infringement complaint, with them winning the case against Prime Time Toys, the only company to not settle beforehand. Between licensing settlements and the possibility of kicking a competitor out of the market, it would seem that Hasbro is set to make money on ALMOST everything – they can sell blasters, get royalties from other companies, and use this as precedent for going down the line of companies that have yet to be dealt with (I somehow doubt that X-shot went to Hasbro and got a license, for example). That’s not the whole story, however, because there are legitimate questions as to how Hasbro got into the market in the first place.

Are the patents valid? Did Hasbro steal IP from Gel Blaster in their rush to put blasters on shelves? Are we seeing the difference between what is legal, and what is ethical?

This is going to be a VERY long subject, filled with both information and some opinion sprinkled in, and context is a must. Take a few minutes, strap in, and hopefully I can make it all make sense over the next few posts.

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Gel Zone Pro Kratos Review

Blaster companies don’t always undersell their blasters. Range claims, after all, tend to be the maximum you see, not the typical. In that sense, the Gel Zone Pro Kratos is far better than you’d expect from the price and advertised performance. 200fps? Try 252fps average!

With a $70 price tag, high performance, and the small bonus of glow in the dart rounds, it’s hard to beat the Kratos when it comes to off the shelf gel blasting.

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