Xshot Releasing Horrorfire Blasters! (And Unicorns!)
April 3, 2024
Editor’s note: I’ve been absent for a while! Let’s get things back on track!
Thanks to some early listings on Theisen’s website, we have updates on new Xshot releases for the year! The Insanity line expands with Horrorfire, the blasters an interesting mix of bone, metal, and saw blades. The Doomsday and Reaper X are both listed, but the main blaster (Dread Hammer, a retooled Crusher) has yet to appear online. Mechanically, nothing is new. But the blasters look amazing!
There’s also a fun Unicorn. That came out of left field!
Finally, the main line is getting updates – there’s a Micro 2.0 coming to shelves, and some blasters like the X8 Ranger and Caliber are finally hitting shelves near me. So you’ll have reviews soon!
Gel Ball News: Hasbro “Owns” the Market Now? Part 2
March 13, 2024At the end of last year, I wrote an article going partway through the legal battle surrounding gel ball blasters. Life then happened, and I didn’t get around to writing Part 2. Turns out that’s a good thing, because a lot has happened in the meantime. In any case, it would appear that Hasbro has ultimate say in the market. After all, most of the companies with gel ball blasters still being put on shelves have a licensing agreement with Hasbro – not to mention that in many stores, Nerf Pro Gelfire is in the toy aisle, while others are stuck in sporting goods.
Let’s get back into the legal drama, shall we?
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.
