Dart Zone Max Outlaw, Thunderbolt Announced!

Weekends like this make me jealous. I already had plans, but actual new blasters themselves made an appearance at Awesomecon, at Al the Geek’s booth! Fortunately, Dart Zone also released a new podcast episode showing off the blasters. So it’s not all bad on my end!

Expect these blasters at the end of July/beginning of August at Target!

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Nerf Super Soaker: What’s Happening? Part Two

At the end of last month, I noticed the large numbers of Nerf-branded (but not Hasbro-made) soakers hitting shelves. Naturally, it may have been easy to test the basic performance, but the weather meant not having any actual play scenarios. Neighborhood kids are a valuable resource, after all.

Now, after some testing, I am both surprised and disappointed. The blasters, by the metrics, perform better than advertised (even if the labels all claim different things). Durability, though, is questionable at best. I’d stay clear of these blasters if you want toys that last more than a season, let alone a weekend.

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Dart Zone Blaster Bash Colorado Update!

2023 is the year of sports field blasting, it seems. Jared’s Epic Blaster Battle is on a nationwide tour, and now Dart Zone has an event in Colorado Springs, provided you’re not at the Indianapolis JEBB the same weekend. Alternatively, maybe you have better access to plane tickets than I do. Who knows?

In any case, Dart Zone has a USLC soccer stadium reserved for Sunday, June 11th, for a day of blaster games and an evening of zombie-shooting shenanigans. Admittedly, the ticketing system is a bit strange, seeing as you can pay for one or two-hour slots, or for the four hours in the evening. And the prices add up if you want to stay longer. I’ll admit, I’m spoiled having a local club that can reserve an indoor airsoft field for $10 for four or more hours. But the prices listed seem…a bit out there.

Of course, there’s a good chance I’m totally missing something. Perhaps there’s a strong enough interest in Colorado itself for people to attend – the mountain states do get overlooked by both large blaster events and smaller, competitive qualifiers. So with enough local interest, the ticketing is more reasonable. But even with the prospect of seeing new blasters for 2023. I don’t see myself trying to fly out there, play for a few hours, then fly home and go back to work.

If you do have interest, find more info here!

Xshot Insanity Series and Hyper Gel Announced!

This is what I get for getting busy and forgetting to check the industry magazines. Credit to u/viche on Reddit for catching this in the May issue of Toy World!

The latest issue of Toy World not only has a full page advertisement, showing off the various blasters in each line, but has a short article detailing the Insanity series, with blasters focusing on big, massive combos and dart storage, somewhat like those old Gunvsgun videos on Youtube. They range from a budget single-shot blaster with lots of storage to a fully motorized, belt-fed blaster on a giant tripod. The Mega Barrel seems an odd design, given the massive ammo ring that feed it and the fact that it’s manually operated. And the example picture of blasters joined together is downright silly; how do you even operate everything? Still, it looks hilarious and fun, and kids are bound to love it.

The Hyper Gel lineup is also pictured, showing both magazine-fed and hopper-fed designs. What exactly powers the blasters isn’t known yet, but they do look bright, serious, and fun. Is everyone doing gel ball now?