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.
Dart Zone Talks About the Nexus Pro X and Aeon Pro X
March 2, 2024
Nerf Junior Wild Lionfury Review
February 25, 2024The Nerf Elite Jr. line certainly isn’t meant to be a powerhouse – I’m not sure how to rate it in that regard in terms of range, as you’ll see below. But don’t let a low range score fool you; for the target age range, the Lionfury is a great choice for entering the world of dart blasting. Not to mention I appreciate the return to cool alternative blaster designs – who knew I wanted a spiritual successor to Max Force 2112?
Nerf Rival Challenger Review
February 18, 2024Here’s a fun fact: we haven’t had a new Nerf Rival flywheel blaster in over four years, since BEFORE the Covid pandemic. The last one was the Charger, which came in at $35, featured an internal magazine, and focused on being a compact primary blaster. This year, with the continued Accustrike refresh of the product line, we have the Charger – a blaster for the same price, but with much more capability. It’s essentially a Rival Stryfe, and that’s a great thing.
Tidal Storm Aqua Thunder Review
February 12, 2024There aren’t too many new things in the world of soakers this year. For the most part, we have variations of products from last year, just in a different or larger format. Prime Time Toys (makers of Dart Zone), though, seems to have settled for a throwback of sorts. The Tidal Storm Aqua Thunder is a battery-operated water blaster that is fed by “magazines”, not unlike the Nerf Super Soakers of a decade ago (or models far older than that). The capacity is limited (both by volume and by a current lack of replacement magazines), as is the range. But the ergonomics are great, and there are a couple other surprises in store for hobbyists, should they want to tear it apart.
In any case, when it comes to arming the children, the Aqua Thunder does the job.
Hasbro 2024 Product Lookbook – New Nerf Incoming!
February 8, 2024We don’t have Toy Fair in New York this year, but companies are still announcing new products right now. In the case of Hasbro, that apparently includes late-night emails with PDFs full of product entries!
Nevertheless, let’s take a peek at some of the products announced – some we already know are coming, and a few that are new!
Nerf Better Than Balloons Review
February 7, 2024I 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.
