Behind the Zombie Strike Crosscut

So, warriors, the N-Strike Elite Dual-Strike was not the only Spring 2016 release we got the heads up about. You may have see the first peek at the Nerf Zombie Strike Crosscut on our youtube channel from a couple days ago. It's a single-shot blaster (two-barreled) that incorporated a rubber-foam blade that actually spins. The blaster will help us ring in the new year at $14.99.

The video is below again in case you are curious.

Nerf N-Strike Elite Dual-Strike Revealed!

Oh, warriors! Meet one of the newest blasters revealed from Nerf. It's the NERF N-Strike Elite Dual-Strike. Heck. YES. 

You can see here that the product is ready for merchandising and yes, it will be released for the Spring 2016 season. What that translates to is that you will possibly see them on shelves ahead of Christmas 2015 as some stores work to get their product out early. BTW, it's set for a suggested retail price of $19.99.

NERF HQ Visit Tomorrow!

Warriors! We are on the eve of a really cool thing. Right now, I am on the way to Rhode Island to visit with the Nerf HQ team and several community contributors.

It's one of the few times that Nerf has brought in just fans off the street to view their facilities and we get to be a part of it! Granted, we aren't quite just "off the street". Several bloggers, youtubers and forum contributors were specially invited by the team to meet up at HQ to see and discuss the up and coming directions that Nerf is headed in.

There is a pesky little NDA (non-disclosure agreement) that stops us from leaking some stuff, but the PR team tells us that there will be plenty of tidbits that we will be released to share.

You may have seen some of the discussion in from our recent hangout with the Nerf HQ team the brought of some SUPER interesting possibilities for what we might see at tomorrow. Are there any burning questions that you are hoping to get the answer too?

Hit us up! ~Chris

NERF Doomlands 2169 Officially Confirmed!

Official word came down, warriors. The future is now: NERF DOOMLANDS 2169, FALL 2015.

They describe this line as having sci-fi steam-punk designs with visible firing mechanisms. From everything in the product descriptions, it seems that they are actually intending this to be more of a cyberpunk affiliation with a wild west flair. In fact, the folks over at gizmodo call this a mix of Mad Max, Star Wars, and Firefly. Firefly has been in my head, but Borderlands comes up on its heals too. 

I also find it interesting that Nerf's second theme-based line is placed in a post-apocalyptic setting line like Zombie Strike is. They describe the Doomlands this way: "The post-apocalyptic wasteland once known as earth is filled with bands of marauding thieves and all manners of creatures."

It's a Target exclusive to start with. You may remember that Zombie Strike Started out the same way with the first few in their line too.  It makes sense that the Walmart exclusive Split Strike will come out about the same time. I wonder what else Toys R Us will get? I imagine that we'll see the Doomlands line expand to other stores by at least Spring 2016.

Here's the word-for-word details with high-resolution images on the two new blaster that have been leaking out and appearing.

Questions Answered During Nerf HQ Hangout 2015

The season is upon us, Warriors -The smell of new blasters is in the air! That and we had another chance to sit down with NERF HQ to ask some burning questions about their products. We asked some pressing questions that have developed on the community and got to watch fellow bloggers and enthusiasts in action as well. You'll be seeing their coverage pop up as well, I'm sure. Blasterlabs, Foam From Above, Lord Draconical, Nerd Drop, Nerf Haven and Shining Foam all had good questions to throw out there during this exclusive Google Hangout with design, brand and marketing team members.

Every time we get together with the team at Nerf HQ, whether it's on Hangouts, in person at release parties, or just trading e-mails - you can tell that they all have an actual passion for what they do. There is a lot of fun in playing with these toys, but a lot of fun in making them too! We aren't allowed to share visuals and audio from the event, but if I could, I guarantee that I could pick out dozens of smiles for you from the entire panel (both HQ team members and NIC members).

SplitStrike Officially Confirmed for Fall 2015

Our contacts at Nerf will officially note that the blaster leaked in these images is called the SplitStrike. It's set up to be a Walmart exclusive and to be sold starting August 1 of this year. The suggested retail price is supposed to be $19.99 which is a bit steep-sounding for what it can do.

They didn't call it an Elite blaster, but the writing is on the wall . . . of the blaster if you look closely in a shot.

They don't have any official images yet, but are working on getting us some beauty shots and a little more info.

NY Attorney General and Amazon Stifle AirForce Blowguns?

Updated June 6th:

Warriors, I just got a heads up on something sad. The NY Attorney General's crusade against toy guns has possbily killed a product of one of the companies we have proudly covered in the past. Air Force Blowguns is still selling on their own website here: http://airforceblowguns.com/.

According to the company, they were rocking 70 orders per day exclusively through Amazon up to December of last year. They were really rocking it and just about to make the next order to the factory when Amazon pulled the plug on their online sales. No explanation was given for days and then they finally cited a letter.

You see, in December 2014, the Attorney General's office of the state of New York sent cease and desist letters to major retailers they accused of selling realistic looking toy guns. Amazon's response was to arbitrarily pull certain toy guns and blasters off of their digital shelves.

Owners Zac & Becky Poulter say of Amazon: "They have some attorneys looking into the NY statute, but I don’t think it’s a real high priority for them. Just easier to pull us down. We realize we sell a really “politically incorrect” product…"

So, Amazon's excuse is that they apparently can't get their software to simply prevent sales to New York state. That sounds lame. I have contacted them to see if they have a clarification or response to this. So far, there has been no response to my contact.

I'm not sure how you can justify keeping this up on the site:

YK Night Hawk M16+

when you won't sell this:

Air Force Blowgun

Regardless, AirForce Blowguns is selling what they have left on their own website at airforceblowguns.com.

In their own words: "We’ve considered other options, but have decided to just sell through what is left.  When they’re gone, they’re gone for good," said the Poulters.

They are still running a special though, so maybe there is hope for a rebound!

"We’re also running a Father’s Day special - Get a free 50 pack of darts for every two guns purchased by June 20th. (If you’re trying to get them for Father’s day though, you need to allow a week for shipping.)"

~Chris

Dude Perfect at NERF HQ

This week, Hasbro released some shots of a visit from Dude Perfect to their HQ. It's nothing to stupendous as far as cool shots or anything, but there are a couple of cool things to see!

(Stew Milne/AP Images for Hasbro)

You can see the Rotofury just hanging out on the table there while the team meets fans and signs autographs. We haven't seen any trick shots with the new blaster yet.

We can tell you that the Rotofury has been spotted on store shelves at least in Hong Kong.  Check out our previous entry for that article.

(Stew Milne/AP Images for Hasbro)

I like this shot a lot for a few reasons. It's unique in the way that it's shot and all the attention is on the subjects. Tyler Toney from Dude Perfect is all about the concentration here. I wonder how the guys from Dude Perfect envision the shot in their head sometimes before they pull off those popular tricks.

Even cooler in my mind is the pure look of enjoyment on Hasbro's Sam Proctor right there. If you can't enjoy the heck out of your product you should probably be looking for something else to do with your time. More and more these days, I am finding moments to smile like this.

(Stew Milne/AP Images for Hasbro)

The reason this image is cool is what it hints at. There are multiple shots that Dude Perfect pulls off, but the coolest videos are those when they do multiple shots in combination.  I am trying to figure out what combination of shots they will accomplish with the two balls they are holding and the MEGA Cycloneshock.

Our friends at NERF tell us that Dude Perfect took over the cafeteria at the HQ to pull of their latest. So, I expect we'll be seeing new videos soon! ~Chris

Rotofury on Store Shelves?

Reddit has it boys and girls. User, _Emotionless, posted a find from a store in Hong Kong in the Nerf subreddit.

_Emotionless found it listed at 298 Hong Kong dollars which translates to $38.44 in US dollars. That's not bad considering the MSRP below.

The Rotofury is something we've been hearing about officially since January. NERF sent our the press release with these details back then.

***NERF MEGA RotoFury Blaster***Image and Information Under Embargo until 1/19/15

(Ages 8 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $34.99/Available: Fall 2015)

Supersize your NERF battles and dominate the field with the highest capacity MEGA blaster ever! The MEGA RotoFury blaster gives you the option of firing one MEGA Whistler Dart at a time, or slam firing a steady stream of ten darts in a row. Hear the darts whistle as they fly through the air and hit targets up to 90 feet away.  Includes 10 MEGA Whistler Darts. Available at most major retailers nationwide and HasbroToyShop.com.

Good images of the blaster have been coming out since Vas from Foam From Above was blasting out images from his annual visit to the Toy Fair! I am excited to see which other blasters from the fair will come out soon. Look over at F2A for images of the other cool blasters such as the Thunderblast which I am totally excited for!!

I want to get hands on this blaster. The assumed mechanics in this one remind me a lot of what I expected the NERF Vortex Revonix to be. Pump-action blasters please me when they are fed by a magazine. Generally the ammo feed works out pretty well in that case. I haven't had as much luck with the turret/barrel situation on pump-action. Really want to try it out, though! ~Chris

The Thunderdome

Warriors, if you haven't heard of the Thunderdome, you should check out the concept.

It takes the idea of a Nerf Arena and puts that right in its creator's back yard. Literally. It's a Nerf arena in a guy's back yard of his house. But that's just what physically exists in Springfield, Missouri. The concept is what creator Rob Lehr does with his love of Nerf and his unique space. Unlike other, commercial arenas, Thunderdome is meant to be free to those who participate in it. Lehr says he wants to spread the concept around to other communities by helping people to start their own clubs too. It's more than just a Nerf Arena. Lehr explains loads more about it with me in the interview we sat down to do this yesterday morning. Check it out:

More info after the jump!

Flameless Fireworks? - The Firetek Rocket!

Cool treat here, warriors. Our friends at Zing sent us a Firetek Rocket system recently and urged us to give it a try. We just had to get some night tests going ASAP.

The Firetek Bow from Zing! was already a lot of fun. I think this gives a lot of fun too at a little lower cost. Though, the Rocket is really not designed to use as a weapon so much as it is built to be a fun launcher. The thing is that you can't fire Rockets from the bow while you CAN fire Arrows from the Rocket sling. So, I would recommend buying extra Zing Firetek Arrows and using them in both of these products so that others can fire them back! I might argue that you can use this as a weapon is some cases -like when you have "explosives" rules in play at Dart Warz or other places where you are using bunkers and the like. More to come on that.

I titled this as "Flameless Fireworks" because I think you can get almost as much fun out of just watching this thing at night as firing it. But what are we missing? More colors!!!

(More after the link!)

The Current MEGA Line

Hey Warriors!

You know those reviews we've been promising? They're coming up now. We just posted the MEGA Cyclone shock review. There are a LOT of good things coming from this blaster. There was a little disappointment in there as well though :( Check out the review to find out what we're talking about. BUT THE BIGGEST PART: Could there be a giveaway announcement tucked in there too?

While we were finishing up that review, Dart Warz put up a group review for the MEGA BigShock we were honored to be a part of! They had their tournament recently and I had a complete blast being part of it along with the store teams and Vas from Foam From Above!

We have our individual BigShock review coming up in a while, but don't be shocked if a lot of what was said in the Dart Warz video is reflected there too! ~Chris

MEGA CycloneShock - Behind the Blaster

Warriors: I think I'll finally get some of those reviews up at the end of the week.

In the mean time, I've got a pretty fun sneak peak to throw your way. Our friends at NERF wanted you to get an early look at their latest video. Check out the excitement that some of the team at NERF HQ have for the MEGA Cyclone Shock!

I think the CycloneShock is actually pretty exciting. Yeah, maybe it can't really knock over humongous signs like they show in the video, but it sure can make the enemy duck on the battlefield. More to come on that! ~Chris

My First HvZ Experience - Meet Game of Foams

I know, warriors. I still didn't get our next review up. Forgive me. We've had more fires ignite in Colorado and I was a little tied up in my day job with some repercussions of that. No worries though, the firefighters got them out fairly quickly and no one in our region has lost homes to wildfire this year so far.

In good news, I do have a new video for you! We had a great time with a company called Game of Foams that is putting on short-form HvZ-styled events they call Survivors versus Zombie. They let us come up to Longmont and play with them, getting this footage to boot. It was a great opportunity to see how the ECS Cam Blaster would actually behave in a dusk setting outdoors. So I ran that with a dual banana "clip" I taped together after ganking them from a couple of our Demolishers.. Check out the results (below the jump)!!

New Logo?

What's up, warriors? I'll tell you what's up: a new logo. We've been wanting to get a badge design going for a while now and to update our current logo a bit. So we finally pulled the trigger. Our designer came back to me with a few designs. We've narrowed it down between a few and will likely make a decision soon! What do you think? ~Chris

Detroit Dart Club

Greetings Warriors! As you know, we've been monitoring businesses popping up all over that offer NERF warfare as a service. A few months back, Vas the Stampede over at Foam From Above pointed us in the direction of the Detroit Dart Club. This past January, we had a chance to travel there and see what it's all about.

Connor McGaffey is bringing his dream to life. Detroit Dart Club started up in August of 2014 and has been making great strides ever since. Check out the episode after the jump!

Dart Warz is coming

Warriors,

Last year I got the chance to go hang out with the creators and the staff at Dart Warz during their epic inter-store tournament. They brought their store staff out from Meridian, ID to battle their store staff in Centennial, CO. It was an epic day of foam carnage. Warriors gave their all and it showed.

Due to loads of unforeseen circumstances, I dropped the ball on bringing you the epic goodness of that video along with bunches of other stuff on the blog. Well, now... it's coming.

Could it be that another tournament is coming too?

Motivation Behind the Flipfury

Greetings Warriors! Long time, no talk...

Click Click BAMF has been on a hiatus for just about six months now. Waaaaaay longer than ever intended. We'll be working to remedy that starting now.  Speaking of which:

Have you seen the new behind-the-scenes video from NERF? Check it.

This is a pretty darn cool blaster that has been hitting stores early this year and, in some places, late last year. The utility of the flipping chambers means that you have twice as many shots as the Strongarm to empty at your enemy.

This wouldn't be the ideal blaster to try carrying around as a secondary, but is it tempting enough to make your main on a battlefield? People are loving it at the Detroit Dart Club:

Warriors, we are using this month to gear back up and get some thing ready for production. What is it you might want to see the most? Any reviews your really hoping for? Events? Click one of those social buttons on the right side of the screen -or, you know, comment! ~Chris