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

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).

Hanging Out With NERF HQ

Some inside news coming your way, warriors! We had a great opportunity to sit down -albeit digitally- with NERF team members this week and ask some questions that you've been throwing our way. It wasn't only us though. We had the chance to join forces with Adult Fans of Nerf, Blasterlabs, Basic Nerf, Foam From Above and Shining Foam too. Everybody had some great questions to pitch and members of Design and Marketing at NERF were willing to play ball. As promised, details on a new contest are at the end of the blog! Now, here are some of the highlights from the hangout:


Up front, the team made sure we knew that not all the tricks were out of the bag this year. They told of a new big release coming in Fall timeframe (in time for the Holidays). There is at least one big blaster that hasn't been announced yet.

With that said, let's get into some of the questions!

NERF Summer Gear Drop 2014

Warriors. We were lucky enough to get a new box from NERF this week. Check out some of the swag! Nerf threw a limited print T-shirt our way. Really just going to spam these up. with a little commentary.

The letter we got, signed by a Hasbro VP, tells us that this is a limited print T-shirt that won't be in stores. I'll wear this proudly!

They made sure to include another Super Soaker Double Drench after I told them we were getting a kick out of the first one they sent.

You see we got a second Ultimate NERF blaster book. Methinks there will be a book giveaway soon at Click Click BAMF!

Nerf dog football. I scared the heck out of my cats and myself when I discovered this was a squeaky toy at  in the morning!

NERF Hat. Represent.

 NERF water bottle. Gots to stay hydrated with all that warring. Seriously, make sure you drink enough water in the hot weather guys. Even in a water fight, you're getting dehydrated.

This NERF poster is cool. It makes me think of a lot of 80's and 90's designs I grew up with. Check out the blaster silhouette on it. Makes me think of our logo just a bit!

I've had my eye on the walkie-talkies for a while. Now we get to see how they hold up on foam combat! Have you had any experience with them? Let me know!

Keep your eyes open warriors. Within a day, I'll have highlights from an exclusive hangout some other bloggers and I got to have with some folks at NERF HQ. Even more new NERF coverage coming within a week from now! And about that giveaway? New details in the next blog! ~Chris

BREAKING! - NERF TekStrike, New Tech for Nerf Blasters!

Exciting tech news from the Toy Fair floor, warriors! EyeSpy Toys just gave us a direct heads up on a new product line called Nerf TekStrike. Programmable Smart Darts, hit recognition tech and Bluetooth connectivity. Well, it looks like NERF is taking the next step in wireless play!

This is the "TekStrike Storm Shield" which attaches as an accessory to any NERF tactical rail. With the use of Bluetooth and RFID tech, the Smart Darts are tracked all across the field. Apparently we will be able to assign HIT points to a shooter/player and then the Shield will track hits and damage.

I am interested to see if this technology will be as easy to use as they say. Apparently you mark darts as yours by just swiping them against your own Storm Shield and start firing. You also can use your smartphone to keep track of stats and do upgrades as you earn them. They say all of this will be free (instead of purchasing upgrades like with Tek Recon).

NERF Successes Shared at Hasbro Investor Meeting

Hey warriors, I was able to take a few minutes this morning to look over the information from Hasbro's Investor Update they publicized ahead of the New York Toy Fair. Again, anyone claiming exclusive on this is being dishonest or is very misinformed. Our take on this may be exclusive, but the information is and has been readily available online!

Unfortunately, There are no new goodies that we can share with you after perusing the material. It seems that all of the blasters for the fair have been "leaked" by the company itself ahead of the big day(s). 

Yes, there is another angle on the previously revealed Demolisher. You can see the vent on the front of the launching post for the missile. Strangely, Brian Chapman (Senior Vice President over Global Design & Development) called this projectile, what he calls "the Thumper", the largest one done in Nerf. I really don't think it's any bigger -or even quite as large as the Titan rocket. Maybe they forgot about that one.

(More on new Rebelle products and Nerf's success after the jump)

Extreme Indoor NERF - Dart Warz

Warriors, a couple of weeks ago we got a great tip from @thelomdr on twitter. I had heard rumors of a NERF arena in Colorado, but hadn't seen the evidence for myself. Turns out that they had opened an arena (Dart Warz Centennial) up the road from our mountain division in November and have been serving up local NERF fun since then. Stanton and Randi Wilkerson were awesome enough to invite us up for a tour of their facilities.

These are some of the same people who brought the world Dart Zone Meridian in Idaho -which is incidentally in the process of a name change to Dart Warz as well. They've had two years there to perfect the process and bring it over to Colorado. Check out the exclusive video to see what they've brought to the NERF Community!

Sighting Report - Sonic ICE Series

Vincent cook on youtube asked me the other day if I had seen the new Sonic ICE series from NERF on store shelves yet. I hadn't, but Toys'R'Us noted that the series was available for pick-up at the store in Colorado Springs. Sure enough, they've made it to shelves. I don't know what my local TRU guys are thinking because this new line is tucked on a bottom shelf under some of their Air Zone products. They're on the other end of the aisle from all the rest of the NERF!  These are a Toys'R'Us exclusive blasters, so you would think they'd be placed prominently on the shelves like their original Sonic Series blasters have been for the last couple of years.

Mini-rant: Personally I think that stores should be required to do a certain amount of featuring and promotion of their exclusive products. Why should they have exclusive contracts if they aren't going to show the product off?

Mini-Rant 2: Why are these called Sonic ICE? There is nothing Sonic about them. Of course, there was nothing sonic about the original Sonic Series either (the translucent green blasters, exclusive to Toys R Us), but we had come to accept the name in the Nerf Internet realms. Now they come out with these ICE blasters and I figure they should have just kept the name at ICE. LOL, oh well.

Anyway, you can see the Hail-Fire in the picture above. Personally, I find the ICE Rampage to be the most appealing. If I was going to go out and buy an Elite Rampage, I'd be really interested in getting one of these! But not at the $40 price tag. Oops, here's another mini-rant. TRU is lame for marking up their own exclusive blasters too. It's already bad enough they do it on those available everywhere. Note that you can get the ICE Rampage online at toysrus.com for 29.99 as I write this, but you'll get gouged if you walk into a store without looking first.

Lastly, there is the ICE Retaliator. I still think there are better single-action blasters out there. If it's your cup of tea, cool. Again, watch out. TRU is trying to yank $40 out of you for this on the shelves too.

Enjoy! ~Chris.