TOY FAIR: Brand Name Chronographs Enter the Market

Well, warriors. Just after we released our review of a new option for nerf chronographs, two of our favorite companies came back at us with their own brand-name chrony merchandise.

Nerf came out with a chronograph and ammo counter combined. You can see it in the foreground of this pic from Foam From Above. He was all over the showroom early on at the Toy Fair in New York this past weekend.

It looks like their product attaches as a barrel accessory with all the compatible streamline/elite firing blasters. Plus, there is a tac rail on the underside. The release is pasted at the bottom of this post. Check out Foam From Above's first-hand write-ups for more on this new release. I am pretty excited about the price-point.

Sighting Report - NERF Rebelle Secrets and Spies

The products that we've been awaiting from the Rebelle Secrets and Spies line have hit the shelves! No sign of the Rapid Red, but everything else seems to be there -at least at the Toys R Us in Colorado Springs.

Of the most interest may be the Agent Bow. It's NERF's first real foray into the world of actual bow-fired arrows. Sure, they've had things with the word "bow" in the name. However, this one seems to be the first direct competition to the Zing bows from NERF.

It claims 85 feet for the Range. That's shy of the 100 foot MEGA distances. I wonder how they will fair with this completely new-to-Nerf projectile! BTW, you'll drop 30-bucks plus tax on it.

Strangely, it is not on ToysRUs.com or the Rebelle website. Well . . . none of the new Secrets and Spies blasters have popped up on the official website.

The Spylight does look like a Strongarm with a flashlight attachment as expected. I left this one on the shelf, but I can see the appeal for some. I think I may stick with the Firestike if I want a light and the Hammershot if I want a revolver.

It lists at $19.99 - so you're spending another 7 bucks over the Strongarm for the flashlight and the Messenger darts.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the Diamondista. It's modeled after a crossbow like blasters across the NERF branding.

At $9.99, this is the most basic blaster in price and size in the Secrets and Spies releases. The original description NERF sent describes this as a blaster for missions that require elegance.

We did grab one of these too, so some more info will be on the way.

I don't know what happened to my picture of the Messenger blaster, but you can see it to the left in this shot of the Knock Out Gallery. All of the Secrets and Spies blasters come with the tech to "decode" messages from this one. It's S14.99 for this one. Obviously, you seem to be paying for the new "secret messaging" tech here.

As for the Knock Out Gallery, it's a basic target-shooting blaster. Meet the Jolt, Rebelle version. When I was in store, they had a deal running where you could buy the Knock Out Gallery and get a 12-pack refill of Rebelle darts for free.  Turns out they are running a promotion online where you can get the free 12-pack with ANY Rebelle blaster that costs $9.99 or more. Note that its the regular dart refill pack and not the Secrets and Spies version.

Target was running a similar deal today in Colorado Springs where you could get a free 12-pack of elite darts with any qualifying N-Strike, MEGA or Vortex purchase.

Foam Assault - NERF in the News

Well Warriors, I guess you'd better be careful who you toy with. Apparently some cops will charge you with assault for firing a foam dart at someone. Also, KMOV reported this as an attack. Technically it is, but come on! You don't have to say dumb things just because the local law enforcement folks did. In my day job, I am an assignment editor for a local news station. I would go find the couple to react to the ridiculous charges or even a worker or manager from the store to tell you why they want to press charges.

Super Soaker 2014 Already Coming Out!

Warriors, It was less than 16 degrees in Colorado Springs when I walked into the NERF section at one of the local Walmarts and made a discovery. They already have a couple of the new Super Soaker blasters on the shelves from the 2014 line! At first, I was thinking that they must be crazy. However, it is nice to get an early look at these blasters to see what I want to use for the next season of water wars! Strange to see the Super Soaker clip system going away, though.

The Hydrostorm is an electronic water blaster that holds 25 ounces in an internal tank. You can see where the batteries will go in the front of the blaster. I know that some of the younger warriors in out last water war were having issue with anything that carried more than 25 ounces, so this may be a good thing for them. You can hit your target up to 30-feet away with this one. I wonder if the stream is any larger than electronic water blasters in recent years? After last year's tacticool releases, this design seems a little clunky to me. That doesn't necessarily matter too much when it comes to effectiveness of the blaster, though.  You can grab this at Walmart for about 20 dollars.

New Sighting Reports - Walmart, Los Angeles Area

Coop has been busy perusing the shelves in Los Angeles, warriors! He turned up several sightings at a local Walmart there. Just some pic spam of the most notable:

The NERF Cyber Hoop has arrived in LA Walmarts. We're hearing a lot of good reports on this things from readers like you. Sounds like they are a hit at sleepovers and daytime get-togethers alike!

Another Xploders blaster on the shelves. This Xploderz Sneak Attack is designed to let you shoot around corners. It also lets you choose one, two or three rounds at a time. We haven't met an Xploderz blaster we like yet, so maybe this will break the mold?

It's the NERF Mission App Cradle. We'll be testing this thing out soon and looking at how it enhances your game play versus the Tek Recon app and on-line game.

In other news, our Tek Recon kickstarter reward just arrived at the office today. More to come on that! ~Chris