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.

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.

Project Scorpius Begins

So, warriors, we can collect blasters and talk about the new stuff until we're blue in the face. However, it really comes down to what we can do with what we have. It's also about having fun. Right? So I've been going after an idea.

The Scorpius Project is a concept that has been in the back of my mind in one way or another since about a year into Click Click BAMF. We thought about bringing out another channel to look directly into mods and the like. We also thought about making a character for the channel so that the same guys weren't advocating mods on one channel and no mods on another channel. We never made the other channel, so a couple of ideas have been hanging out.

Between meeting the Nerf Ninja at Dart Wars and watching one of Basic Nerf's loadout videos, I've been thinking on and working on a loadout/costume of my own. You can see a photoshop/sketch design I've been working out.

One of my favorite elements of the loadout is the Kunai knife bracer from Calamacil. I hadn't seen any warriors around me incorporating these into their wars, so I just had to give it a try. Check out the un-boxing. We'll have a review coming on that too:

BOOMco Part 2

Well warriors, there was a lot of initial excitement with Mattel's new line of blasters. BOOMco just started getting more widespread coverage in the community. Then UK Nerf got us a reality check. These are not another entry into the the foam warriors' arena like we first thought.

I'm still interested in trying these new blasters out, but they aren't foam launchers. They launch what essentially comes down to straws with sticky tips on the end. Also, as expected, the sticky tips are the kind that can become dirty somewhat easily when they hit the ground. Apparently these darts will only stick to BOOMco targets so you're more sure of when you score a hit -if the darts are mucked up with crud from the floor etc.

The other sad part is the size that UK Nerf discovered when researching the Farshot. It is far smaller than it looks in the graphics from the Argos website. I was hoping for a full-sized sidearm.

One of the cool things confirmed though, are the side panels that sit alongside a couple of the blasters. They are made of the same material as the Smart Stick targets so you can catch the darts fired at you to fire back. It's a cool, yet strange tech. I mean, many wars will count blaster hits as regular hits or at least ask that you treat your blaster as non-functional for the rest of the round. I'm looking forward to seeing how this would work out for a war. I guess you could treat it as a shield.

Pictures of even more BOOMco blaster concepts are out there now. It looks like Mattel is ready to bring these blasters out in force. I am looking forward to when we can bring you a comprehensive review on this line.

What do you think warriors -are you willing to try out any blaster from the new Mattel BOOMco line?

Breaking News - BOOMCO - Here comes the Boom?

Check out the latest information moving around the Nerf internet community. Mattel is getting into the blaster game full-force with the release of their BOOMco line of blasters this Fall (2014)! Well, some material has said Fall, some has declared Summer. Either way, we're interested.

BOOMco released their promo videos a couple of weeks ago on Youtube -giving BOOMCco their own channel, but the news is really starting to circulate today thanks to MarcusH26051 on Reddit and other bloggers like blasterlabs and Adult Fans of NERF on the trail.

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).

NEW NERF Attacknid VS Stealth Stryder

It's interesting to see Combat Creatures and Nerf come together like this. Foam From Above and others saw a NERF version of the Attacknid at the NERF booth at the New York Toy Fair. Thanks to Foam From Above for the coverage!

You can see that this version of the Attacknid has no armor to shoot off and you can't really see a head like on the original creations. I like what the original Attacknids have with the armor etc. I hope that NERF goes back in that direction as they develop their version for release.

Vas the Stampede from Foam From Above was told that everything is rather preliminary on the product, so we'll probably still be seeing some changes as they go. Even the box art was a concept that they put out to tease us. A $79.99 price was being quoted by some reps to bloggers. We should be seeing these in the Fall.

Unless NERF convinces Combat Creatures to disappear from Target and Amazon.com, I'm afraid they'll have a hard run for their money at that $79.99 price. The Attacknid Doom Razor with Snypa dart launcher is down to 50 dollars in local Target stores and the version with a disc blaster is 50 bucks on Amazon.

Even better, Combat Creatures just announced the release of their newest Attacknid, the Stealth Stryder. This one can be operated by an app on your smart phone! It started out on Amazon for 70 bucks.

With these options available, I don't think I'd be inclined to drop more money just for the NERF name on the product. Again, they said things would be changing, so perhaps we'll see something even better by this Fall.

So we have foam drones with tracks, wheels and legs -even some that fire from the air (though not foam). We'll have to pull off some head-to-head reviews as we go to see how these will stand up against each other. So far, it looks like it will be a Combat Creatures Attacknid versus the VMD Cannon Commando! ~Chris

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)

Sidestrike, A Trusty Sidearm

Warriors! We took the opportunity to release the review of the new NERF Zombie Strike Sidestrike this weekend. I must say, it performed really well for me in the latest war. I need to go back and test out the Firestrike again though. Sidestrike may have lost on distance.

Don't forget about our Shot of the Week contest!! You can enter now. The winner is picked late on Thurdays.

NEW Blaster! - Rebelle Agent Bow

The props go UK Nerf for this info. I just had to pass it along because it's super-interesting.

This new bow looks like it may blow any of the other Rebelle products out of the water. As UK Nerf puts it, " . . . a bow powered bow! The foamy gods be praised!"

The description is as follows: "The Nerf Rebelle Agent bow is perfect for high-profile missions that require accuracy and skill. Release the string and watch as the first ever Nerf Rebelle foam-dart arrows soar up to 85 feet across the sky making a whistling sound! For added precision, the Agent Bow features an electronic glowing red dot that provides better aiming accuracy with every shot."

Vulcan is Back? Why?

Well Warriors, you may have seen from some of our fellow bloggers that Argos in the UK has listed a new NERF Elite Vulcan for upcoming sale. They actually call it the "NERF N-Strike Elite Havoc Vulcan". Though the color scheme that Argos pictures is much more akin to the Whiteout Series that NERF released ahead of the new Elite blasters. On second thought, the color looks almost exactly like those Max Force spit-wad blasters that came out a couple of seasons ago.

I really want to see how this Elite version of the Vulcan will behave when matched up against the N-Strike Elite Rapidstrike. One would have to assume that the speed and accuracy will be updated, but will even an updated Vulcan have a chance against the speed of the Rapidstrike? In an old head-to-head video, we actually awarded the win to the Vulcan over the Stampede because of weight and versatility among other things. I'm not so sure that the fight would come out the same way with these Elite blasters.

Now, I'm not saying that I have no interest in the new Vulcan. Come on now, the idea of a belt-fed blaster is just too cool to stay away from. Maybe we will finally have a realistic turret weapon to use if it's fast enough.

Also, NERF has done a fairly good job of getting the prices of even their premiere blasters to an acceptable level. So even the average player may be able to get in on this.

Thoughts? ~Chris

Product Placement As An Equality Argument? WTH?

Fair warning, Warriors: This is going to be a rant in response to a series of straw-man arguments that complain about gender inequality in the marketing of NERF products.

I just happened upon a tumblr blog from marzgurl about gender inequality in NERF. Actually I was directed there by the writer herself who promoted her argument on the NERF facebook page. Rather than being that increasingly stale argument about how girls don't need a new line and pink is a sexist color, this blog complains that Rebelle is a segregated line from everything else NERF and that the people marketing the product are to blame. People really should stop throwing words like equality around. Well, it worked. I linked to her blog too . . .

Fun Foam Moments - "Call me Katniss Everdeen!"

Sometimes you just get a chance to catch those really cute and fun moments in nerfdom. I have been taking foam weaponry into my place of work more and more often recently. One one recent trip (I think this one was Thanksgiving), one of my reporters got a hold of the Zing Zombie Slayerz bow and showed my friend, photographer Dennison Howard what it was like to get hit by one of these arrows.

I consistently watch these Zing bows impress the heck out of everyone I let pick them up. They are simple, fun and effective. If you don't have one, this should be on your Christmas list.

Zing was awesome enough to send us an Air Storm Z-Curve to try as well. I got a chance to try it out with some family members (also over the Thanksgiving holiday) and I have to say that each iteration of their box continues to impress me. As they keep coming out with versions, I want to pick on them for a repeat product, but honestly, I like them too much! Why not keep coming out with a great thing. If you buy several, there are more for your friends to join you!

A full review will be coming shortly. I've just been having way to much fun using these!!! ~Chris