LATEST Blasters Announced

Well Warriors. We've got quite the smorgasbord to choose from when it comes to Nerf blasters in the Fall 2018 lineup. Here are two of the latest blasters to be announced when video of my thoughts on the issues:

Please look out for Foam From Above's posts from Toy Fair 2018. He's got the first appointment for Hasbro and NERF and I'll be really excited to see what he tries out with some of these blasters.

As for the rest of the 2018 Fall lineup, I split the video into a second part and you can find the rest of it here:

I definitely want to get in on that Infinus action, but I am unsure about the rest for me personally. I'm still thinking about the Nemesis when it comes to Rival power and mag/hopper size!

Let me know what you think about the latest announcement. Please also consider subscribing to the Youtube channel. We've preserved partner status so far, but I would love to solidify that going into our new series this Spring!

Thanks for all you do,
CJ

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).

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

Demolisher and Others Available Online

Check out Amazon.com, warriors. It holds all of the blasters we just saw at the Nerf All Access event last night! You need to see #nerfallaccess on social media for other little tidbits. Don't worry, we're working on more video too!

The Nerf Elite 2-in-1 Demolisher is listed at it's MSRP of $39.99. It comes with 10 Elite darts for the banana clip and two missiles -one for the chamber and one for the storage.

The missile launcher definitely brings the intimidation factor back like the Titan used to show off. If you want an updated Stryfe with the added joy of a launcher, this is your new main.

The Nerf MEGA Thunderbow is listed at $39.99 too. To be clear, when Amazon says the blaster fires 5 darts at a time, they mean in a row -not at once.

I really look forward to getting the Thunderbow. Along with the bow from the Rebelle line, I think it this will be the first time NERF has given us a completely new option. The Zing bows really do get some competition with this one.

The NERF Cam ECS 12 also showed up on Amazon. It lists as The Nerf Pro-Cam. The folks at NERF HQ told us that this will remain as an online-only blaster for now, so don't bother waiting for it to show up in stores.

The price-point is still really high on this one. You're looking at dropping $70 on it. The performance was really good at the All Access event. 70 bucks good? I'm still not sure.

The Slingfire was also listed on Amazon, but it went back to "currently unavailable" at the moment. The Slingfire is back up on Amazon too! This one seems like a lot of fun. Using it, you get a great feel like you are in a cross between the wild west and post apocalyptica. And have you seen the trick shots that Vas the Stampede and F2A was pulling off?

The NERF Attacknid was at the event too, but was still a prototype. For now I still have my eyes set on the Stealth Stryder from Combat Creatures. A designer with the NERF Attacknid told me that they worked to simplify the NERF version. It won't have all the bells and whistles, but should function well for everybody.

Any specific one of these you're going after? ~Chris

Shot of the Week Winner!

February 8th Winner

Randall Slinkard on facebook pulled out the win for his awesome Shot of the Week entry! I loved this one from the moment I saw it. I have to admit that the Attacknid creatures are simply awesome -even if they cheat at Chess! This one in particular is the Combat Creatures Attacknid Doom Razor. I'm interested in picking on up too!

Warriors! Remember to get your shot of the week entries in by Thursday night every week. But if we get stuck doing something else, we may include weekend entries as well. Have a great week and remember to snap your favorite foam moments on camera! ~Chris

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.

Crossfire wins Best New Toy at UK fair

One of the things they do annually at the UK Toy Fair is to award the Best New Toys of the year. In the words of the fair organizers: "The Toy Fair Best New Toy Awards are voted for by a panel of independent toy retailers as the 2014 Toy Fair products with the most potential to make a mark on retail throughout the year and beyond." The Toy Fair there is put on by the British Toy and Hobby Association.

The NERF Zombie Strike Crossfire is one of 39 toys to win the honors. I would suppose that it's due to the iconic reenactments that it will enable kids to do. After all, crossbows were a favorite for many now-teenagers as they cut their teeth on COD: Black Ops and perhaps are watching Walking Dead.

From the initial tests we've done, this won't be the best performing blaster of 2014. However, as they note above, this award is about making a mark on retail throughout the year. The Crossfire is a likely blaster to do that for the general population.

Can you think of any other new or newly announced blasters you would have awarded Best New Toy to?

Zombie Strike Slingfire - 2014 New Blaster Reveal!

Alright, Warriors! We've been waiting all weekend and it's finally here. The newly announced NERF blaster is: The NERF Zombie Strike Slingfire!

Thoughts on the Fusefire - Review

Warriors,

I stayed up way too late working on this review. I hope it makes sense and that you enjoy it. As always, please share it through G+, facebook or wherever else you care to! We love hearing your thoughts about the blasters also, so please feel free to comment. Meet the Zombie Strike Fusefire.

This blaster was impressive to me for a Vortex-type release. Still having a little trepidation in picking it up for $20, though.

Don't forget that we have big NERF news coming out in a couple of hours! ~Chris

Sighting Reports - Newest Zombie Strike on Store Shelves

Well, it took a while, but we finally see the Crossfire and Fusefire in stock at Walmarts in both Los Angeles and Colorado Springs. So, if you haven't seen these in you're area yet, they're probably close. We've been waiting to get our hands on both of these NERF Zombie Strike blasters. You're looking at about 20 bucks for each of these systems. Not too bad.

You may recall that the Fusefire is a Vortex inspired Zombie Strike Blaster. It incorporates firefly technology for glow-in-the-dark discs. This blaster also seems to have a similar loading mechanism to the NERF Vortex Proton. The extra storage space on the front can't hurt either. I am looking forward to trying this one out.

Now the Crossfire crossbow is a bit of an interesting one. NERF claimed that it was the first crossbow for NERF. Rebelle already came out with their crossbow, but Hasbro has separated NERF Rebelle from the rest of the NERF lines. They choose to market the lines uniquely, so they still feel that this can be called the first crossbow. I excited to throw on my favorite stock attachment to the back of this blaster and get to work. Maybe a little Van Helsing action to come? ~Chris

Sidestrike is Here! Zombie Strike 2014 Coming Out NOW!

Not surprising that some of the Zombie Strike blasters that were announced for early 2014 have made it in time for Christmas. I saw the Sidestrike on Toys R Us shelves. Of course, they were charging $17.99 for the privilege of waiting for over an hour in line to purchase it. The MSRP is $14.99 and it is already listed on Amazon. Needless to say, I decided to wait on that one. . . but then I went back and got it when the lines subsided.

Did You Pick Up the Best New Sidearm Yet?

Hey Warriors! In case you missed it, there is a great new sidearm available. This is probably one of the best new releases I've seen in quite a while. The Hammershot has been taking the NERF community by storm recently and there are some good reasons why. Check out the double review of the NERF Zombie Strike Hammershot and NERF Rebelle Sweet Revenge.

This opens up a lot possibilities for one-handed nerfing or getting one shot off on the fly! Do you have another sidearm you like better? Why?

Feel free to comment! ~Chris

SledgeFire, Rapidstrike and Revonix in the House!

NERF was so kind as to send us most of their final releases of the 2013.  As you can see in the Vine post below, we now have the Vortex Revonix 360, N-Strike Elite Rapidstrike and the Zombie Stirke SledgeFire to check out! . . . I already broke the Revonix, so we'll see what to do about that one.



So we were able to do an unboxing of the NERF Zombie Strike SledgeFire. This has some potential in Humans versus Zombies. Some say they wish the grouping was a little more spread out on the blaster. As I've said before, it really depends on if you use an optional rule for what effect multiple darts have on a zombie in the game. Think about it for stopping power rather than for spread and perhaps it will appeal to you more. Or not :)

I'm still really looking forward to getting my hands on the Zombie Strike Hammershot as well, so we'll get a sighting report up on the new pistol as soon as we see it. August 1st is coming up in a couple of days, after all. ~Chris

Zombie Strike 2014! - A Whole Line of New Blasters!

Check it out, Warriors!

Not only did NERF officially announce the Zombie Strike line for August 2013, they now have revealed Zombie Strike releases for early 2014 too! While the 2013 blasters are exclusive to Target, these blasters will be available at most retailers and HabroToyShop.com.

Meet the Zombie Strike Crossfire bow. They say this bow is "boasting 75 foot ELITE distance and authentic pull-back firing action". It comes with four of the new Zombie Strike darts. You can see that it seems to have the fitting for a stock attachment on the back. But it looks like none of the new line comes with an actual attachment. We'll have to see if the current attachments look okay with this thing. I don't hold high hopes with the yellow, blue or mostly white blending with this crossbow to look good. The Crossfire has a suggested retail of $19.99. They say this will have the honors of being the first crossbow in the NERF line in almost 20 years. Which leaves me asking when we will see the NERF Rebelle crossbow.

The new NERF FuseFire hails from the Vortex line to join the Zombie Strike blasters. This looks a bit similar to the NERF Vortex Vigilon, but just different enough. A big thing is that this blaster will sport glowing discs. It seems like they must have added firefly technology into the blaster again, instead of a clip like the Rayven and Lumitron blasters. They've also added a storage option on the front of the blaster. Five discs will tuck into the front of the blaster. I'm wondering if they cut down the size of this blaster from the Vigilon enough to fit into a cargo pocket. The release says that this system will host a continuous loading system. From the pic, I'm assuming it will be something similar to the Proton's loading feature. This will also post at $19.99. Not sure I'd pay this much for a pistol, no matter how large.

At this point, I noticed that the blasters started having their names typeset on the side in a courier font. This is a win for me because I was a big fan of the typeset in the original Resident Evil on Playstation. That and X-files! It brings back memories and smiles. So there . . . moving on.

The next in the line of announcements is the NERF Zombie Strike SideStrike. This is a front-loading sidearm where you load one at a time, then prime and fire. It will also sport a holster that they say will be compatible with the NERF Elite Firestrike. That makes sense considering that they are similar blasters to begin with. This is also said to  boast the ELITE 75-foot ranges. The proclaimed retail price will list at $14.99. I'd complain about that except for the NERF-specific holster for sidearms. I'd rather they make a holster for the Hammershot, but maybe that would be too bulky.

They don't have much to say about the new NERF Zombie Strike Blade. In reality, it looks like a re-make of the NERF N-Force Vantage. Perhaps the most notable thing is that this means that they haven't given up on the N-Force products completely. It's going to sell at a suggested price of $12.99.

The NERF Zombie Strike RipShot will also sport an integrated disc storage. It will store 3 discs in the front. It's pretty straightforward other than that. They call it "stealthy" but I think they are just trying to say it is more easily concealed. It sports a suggested price tag of $9.99. I'm not sure I would feel the need to by it over the Proton if we weren't so interested in getting every blaster for testing!

The NERF Zombie Strike Ricochet. Another NERF Vortex pistol design sporting the Zombie Strike branding. I was about the razz NERF for making too many pistols for this line debut, but perhaps I should hold off. "Pocket-sized but powerful" makes this sound like the Vortex version of the Jolt. Worth checking out at $7.99? Yup.

There was not a picture, but NERF is also releasing a Zombie Strike target set next Spring. They say it will include "one small ZOMBIE STRIKE blaster, three ZOMBIE STRIKE darts and a ZOMBIE STRIKE target". They don't specify what the small blaster will be. Perhaps a zombified Reflex?

So, in all, I'd certainly looking forward to Spring of 2014 for the further Zombie Strike releases. Which of them are you most interested in? ~Chris

Zombie Strike 2013 Officially Revealed!

Good news, warriors!

Hasbro and NERF have seen fit to officially announce the new Zombie Strike line for 2013 and 2014! In the official release it is "Zombie Strike" rather than "ZombieStrike" like you might think from looking on the boxes.

If you've been paying attention, you've already seen some information on the 2013 blasters - Sledgefire and Hammershot. Both are supposed to be available August 1st exclusively from Target along with a 30-dart refill package we showed you before. Read on for some thoughts on those or click here for the newly announced Zombie Strike blasters of 2014.

With the Sledgefire they say: "A new triple dart shell-system allows for simultaneous multi-shot blasting and quick dart reloads on the run while extra storage space for darts keeps zombie invasions at bay." It's official retail is listed at $27.99, but whereas Toys'R'Us upcharges, Target seems to beat their own prices. So, we may see that price a couple of bucks lower.

The Hammershot is still the most interesting release in my book because of the "unique pull-back hammer mechanism". The chance of this blaster becoming a go-to sidearm for many warriors is high. Can't wait to get out hands on it for a good set of tests.

I'm still not so excited about the Zombie-specific line. The blasters, yes. However, Zombie Strike branding won't turn me off of the line either. I;m just saying it's not actually necessary when you already have great products. ~Chris

Target Denies Existence of Zombie Strike

Well I suppose target's web folks were too excited about the release. My Last Dart has a good write-up on what seems to have happened after work got out about the Zombie Strike line being posted on target.com. It's gone now and who knows when it will be up again.

Check out MLD's story.