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!

Zed Squad

Warriors! By now you may have heard about the new "Zed Squad" blasters that NERF is putting out.  In the past week, Target has listed the new products and apparently they will get the new stuff as exclusive through at least this year.

Warriors have been asking for a new Longshot for years and hearing rumors of the Zombie Strike Longshot for weeks. Now it's listed at Target! As you'll see in a blog later today, the design team tells us that the ranges really will not have changed much for the blaster, but it will be using the Zombie Strike/Elite darts. Plus, accessories aren't completely dead with the return and repaint of the Longshot scope!

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

Road Trip

Hey Warriors!

Writing to you from the airport in Seattle right now. Moved my brother out this way over the weekend and decided to include a couple of blog-related stops on the way.

Sadly, I missed being able stop in at Dart Zone Meridian in the Boise area. They had a glow-war night on Friday that I wanted to check out. Such is the life when making a road trip. I did get to take a selfie in front of the sign and will be back to check it out!

The Dart Warz/Dart Zone warriors tell me that the Nerf Ninja was out in full force this weekend. I'm in the process of editing some commercial work for dartwarz.com and some war footage for the blog too! If you never got the chance, you should see the video episode about the Dart Warz folks here:

Yesterday, I got the chance to swing by The Tag Zone in the Seattle area. Tag Zone is another indoor NERF battle business, but built with a slightly more militaristic approach. We'll have to tide you over with these images while I catch up on all sorts of other work and life.

I fly back to Colorado Springs tonight and get right back to work at the day job. Keep your eyes open, though. Rumor has it that I'll be heading to the other coast soon! ~Chris

Brand New - AirForce BlowGuns

Warriors, have you heard of AirForce Blowguns? I started watching these guys develop a few months back after an article that popped up in a search. The article was out of the Daily Herald in Utah and was titled Family works together to create fun foam gun for all ages.

The writer gives a lot of the background of the family and the start of their endeavors. But, of course, you're going to want to get a lot more on the operation of the gun and how it works. Well, we'll get that covered!

Check out the unboxing and be assured that a review is in the works:

Soakage

Warriors! Want to check out an experiment with me? We decided to pull out some food coloring with some of the new blasters that NERF hooked us up with. Food coloring, white t-shirt . . . You can see where this is going.

More videos will come. This season is a busy time in my day-job life, but we should be finding time to get tests on all these great blasters in the near future! ~Chris

Super Soaker Reviews Begin

Well -after a brief hiatus, we begin the Super Soaker review process! First up is the un-boxing of the Super Soaker Tri-Strike Crossbow. NERF and the community both seem to have fallen in love with crossbows as of late.

The MSRP is $24.99. It might be a little steep for what this is, but we'll get into that in the review shortly. ~Chris