Tag: blasters

OP/ED: Hey, marketing/PR/design toy people, just a thought –

After another Toy Fair, it got me thinking.  I’ve listened/read to many a pitch about this or that product, and it always boils down to a few target markets in the toy business, parents and kids.  Either the advertising/initiatives/campaigns are geared to the fantasy roleplay of a child’s imagination that gets them to bug their parents for a toy, or the parent thinks their child might be interested in said toy.

Well, what about us?  For years I’ve heard that the NIC and other communities just do not make up enough of a population to necessitate any marketing.

 I wonder just how true that is.  Worldwide, I’d like to say that interest in blaster-based games has increased exponentially.  Sure, there are mainstays like airsoft and paintball (where applicable) but the fact that Nerf/related product blogs has grown exponentially in years says a lot.  There’s interest, there’s people paying attention, and I think it’s time some of the quoted talking heads I’ve seen doing news pieces or whatever on toy blasters need to be on notice.

Like some cartoons, not all toys are “Just For Kids.” 

I saw this piece a months ago (thanks to the Aussie Canberra crew for linking this on their FB) – http://www.timetoplaymag.com/toys/2814/the-maya-group/xploderz-xranger-2000/ – and while I respect the Time to Play team (seen them, never had a chance to actually speak with them) for their work, this little quote regarding Xploderz made my eyebrow raise a little,

Xground Pounder

“Who It’s For
The Xploderz XRanger 2000 is for ages 8 and up. We think that this will have a special appeal to older boys, even college-age kids.”

I’m sorry, what?  College age?  I tried the Xranger (and the Xploderz stuff in general), and… well, if I got this in school chances are it would have been donated to some needy family or theater kid for costuming.  In fact, the blasters look like space ships more than anything designed with ergonomics in mind so it could probably fill in for a student sci-fi film.  Between the 4 hour wait-time (Sea Monkeys, anyone) for extra ammo and the overall unreliability of the blaster (it shoots when it wants to, even moreso with the Xground Pounder) and the lack of accuracy (due to the pull-release mechanism) to simple issues like BLOCKING YOUR SIGHTS WITH A HIGH-CAPACITY MAGAZINE (again, Xground Pounder)… I wasn’t a fan.  My mother taught me, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” but in a case like this, it’s buyer misinformation. 

And I don’t think this was in bad form.  For almost $40 the Xranger and Xground Pounder are not worth the experience, and on a college kid’s non-budget there’s a lot better stuff out there.  The Time to Play team (or many other bloggers out there) play with blasters like I do, such as with the Tacticool Tag and Gaming Society of Chicagoland (http://ttagschicago.blogspot.com).

I exchanged some emails with a company about samples they sent, and told them that the blaster they sent me was not functioning well, and the company wanted to go over what was happening.  One thing they mentioned was feedback like mine was good because they get an idea of how users actually deal with their blasters outside of shooting targets in their room

So… what do they imagine kids are even doing once they take these out?  Sure, shooting targets is fun but we all know the first thing we did when we got the new toy home was aim it at a sibling or our buddy (NOT RECOMMENDED winkwinknudgenudge).

Which brings me to the point.  Between all these communities like Mall Wars, HvZ, and the already existent aftermarket community, it’s not worth a company’s time to market to us a little bit?  Nerf’s done a pretty decent job of outreach to bloggers, Zing Toys, and Vapor, but they’re the only ones.  At places like Toy Fair, people ask about my readership.  When I mention all the places that show up on my analytics (and that one hit from Uzbekistan) their eyes grow huge.  We’re out there.  We want to spend money.  LET US BUY YOUR BLASTERS.  TELL US ABOUT THEM.  MAKE THEM AWESOME.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past few months is that the Internet becomes a fantastic bargaining chip.  Think of all the recent internet events where with one keystroke, items go viral, facebook and twitter blow up, and then a company either admits fault or disappears.  Oh, hey Ocean Marketing and Papa John’s.  Rush Limbaugh, how’s that apology for the Fluke going?  Miss your sponsors, right?

Our words have power.  Our web presence has power.  We want to have toys for all ages, that play awesomely, and keep us coming back for more.  We’re not just a niche market anymore.  We are a viable share of the market.

And I’m currently working on a way to prove it quantitatively.  Stay tuned.

Nerf/foam blaster/etc retrospective – so. much. 2011

Hmmm.. holy crap.  2011 was not just a huge year for Nerf, but for toy blasters in general.  Why all the popularity?  I really couldn’t tell you.  Maybe Hasbro’s N-Strike line proved that kids still like to play soldier, and the creation of pseudo-military looking toy blasters like the Maverick and Longshot showed there was some money to be made.  The Maverick is one of the best selling Nerf blasters ever, and with the revolver look and feel Hasbro did good, and they looked to do good again (proven in the amount of cosplay photos I’ve seen).  Success breeds competition though, and boy oh boy, were there a lot of newcomers this year.  This blog entry is by no means all-inclusive, and I know I’m going to miss a lot, but dangit I’m going to try!

One could say a large bit of news came from the New York Toy Fair , where both old guard and new competitors rose to visibility.  Prime Time Toys stepped out from the Air Zone shadow, showing off past creations like the Powerstrike 48.  Toy Fair showed their new version of the Gatling Punisher and a new take on the revolver, a Quickfire 12.  This was just the start!  Since then they’ve released a Quickfire rifle and a new belt-fed rifle.  Their ammo is a different take on streamline ammo as well, unlike Buzz Bee darts that still fit most Nerf blasters.  I would expect more from this company in 2012, as it looks like they’re not done yet by a long shot.  Keep your eyes peeled here for more info coming soon.:)

Buzz Bee released a lot of new items as well, notably the Rad 12.  Honestly, they released so much I’m not sure I can list everything.  The Double Shot got a new look, and a four-shot turreted blaster called the Rogue came out as well.  It looked like the Ultimate System they put out didn’t do so well, as I don’t really see many more Sniper Blasts and Ultimate Missile Blasts on shelves.

The Air Zone line out of Toys R Us, combined with the Humans Vs. Zombies game to produce blasters emblazoned with their logo, an eight-shot pistol and a new version of the triple shot.  The triple shot also saw a red repaint, sans HvZ flair.  Far as I can tell, this is a coup that a gametype involving foam blasters actually gained notice from a mass retailer.  So, congrats to the HvZ team for their success, and here’s to more zombie-fighting gear in 2012.  I’ve always said “throw your wars how you want to throw them, and let the attendees sort ’em out.”  People spoke loud and clear in this case:)

I didn’t see too much of the “XC” blasters, which I first saw at Toy Fair; but then not much in retailers:

The dark horse of the whole foam weapon business?  Zing Toys, with their Zcurve bow and arrow and other rubber band-powered weapons!  The Zcurve bow was by far my fave toy of their line, and I hope to see more out of them in 2012:

Some other companies attempted to pull people away from foam shooters.  Jakks Pacific came out with a line of spitwad shooters called “Max Force” urging people to “graduate from foam” with their paperwad shooters.  The blasters didn’t have a trigger, but they did have a bit of power in them, getting upwards of 80′.  Sadly, the accuracy left something to be desired and reloading clips was a pain in the rear end.  Aesthetically, they looked really cool, but the functionality was a real task to get used to.

Speaking of functionality if I had to give a goose egg this year to blaster design I would give it to Xploderz, one of the new lines that fires evaporating “gel pellets.”  Nevermind that their commercials are misleading in how the blasters function, they’re just poor blasters.  Unreliable loading mechansim, poor accuracy, bad placement of hand grips and components, limited allowance of motion, and delayed gratification with a toy right out of the box.  And these things are pricey, upwards of $50 for the longer range models.  Seriously, buyer beware.

Razor, of all companies, jumped into the blaster game this year just as 2011 comes to a close.  Their Vapor line fires gel pellets as well, but I think they do it better.  For instance, their first blaster, the Atlas 250 (first seen at this here blog) has a 50 round capacity per reload for a PISTOL, but also goes with a more traditional (and comfy!) trigger design.  Definitely worth watching, make sure to check Amazon.com and Zappos for products!  Of the newcomers in new projectiles, I think Razor might have the better of the products.

Wowwee, of Paper Jamz fame, released a new version of laser tag, called “Light Strike”.  A little pricey to start, but once you get going it’s a lot of fun.  With different modular accessories and other battle field items like the Intelligent Targeting System and target vests, there are a lot of ways to play, you just have to figure out how for yourself 🙂  Full link (including pricing) to the proper review: http://foamfromabove.blogspot.com/2011/10/light-strike-heres-go.html

Ultimately, though I like to think we all started with and still use Nerf.  They had a big year, from the continued success of the Dart Tag line, http://foamfromabove.blogspot.com/2011/11/holiday-buying-guide-dart-tag-pt-1-to.html, to the release of the Vortex series and numerous repainted blaster schemes (Whiteout, Gear Up, new additions to the Sonic series)
.
http://foamfromabove.blogspot.com/2011/11/holiday-buying-guide-dart-tag-pt-1-to.html
http://foamfromabove.blogspot.com/2011/12/nerf-holiday-buying-guide-part-2-nerf.html

to expanding the Super Soaker and N-Force lines:

N-FORCE VENDETTA DOUBLE SWORD
NERF N-FORCE VANTAGE Short Sword
NERF N-FORCE KLAW HATCHET

HYDRO CANNON .
NERF SUPER SOAKER TORNADO STRIKE
NERF SUPER SOAKER SCATTER BLAST .
NERF SUPER SOAKER POINT BREAK
NERF SUPER SOAKER CLIP SYSTEM Refills


Even having something for collectors, two different versions of the Barricade Rev-10, one with an Optimus Prime paintjob, and another with Bumblebee.  So, lots going on with the worker elves at Hasbro this year!  Nothing new on the lazer tag front yet, but 2012 is well on its way now.  Not to mention licensed material, like this Transformers:  Dark of the Moon blaster, as well as some of the toys from this year’s big Marvel movie blockbusters like Thor and Captain America.

WHEW!  So. Much.  What does this mean for 2012?  The market for toy blasters and other foam weaponry just might get a bit more competitive!  What I hope to see?  Blasters that have a VARIETY of functions, not just the same ol’ one dart, one pull kinda deal.  Much as I loved the Nerf line, they all fire a dart 25-30 feet, or a disc up to 60.  But functionally they tend to feel the same.  Pump-action, priming slide, it’s all too familiar territory.  Semi-auto, single-action, or full-auto.  The pistols fire within the same range as the “higher powered” blasters.  I understand that there are regulations, but give us something to work with.  I will say there’s at least one contender out to try this out, but I can’t say much more than that.  I hope to see a revisit to blasters more Blastfire and Lightning Blitz, and less like the Hornet.  Nerf’s still top of the game, but I hope there will be less repaints and reshells for 2012.  Wow me again, Hasbro.  Before one of the other companies beats you to the punch!

I’ll be back for 2012, and even more importantly, I’ll be back at Toy Fair this year in February.  I’ve got some more news to put out, but that will wait after the Mayan Spaceship invasion 🙂  Take care everyone, be safe, and weather allowing, get out and play!

HUMANS VS ZOMBIES – NERF BLASTERS, FOAM, OTHER BLASTERS OH MY!

Just a quick shot from the Humans Vs. Zombies game at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, thanks to Random Fun Events , where folks from the Chicagoland Dart Society and Wisconsin Parkour also made grand appearances as fantastic mods and kickin’ Original Zombies, respectively.  It was the first time I’ve played HvZ proper, and it was definitely a good time meeting everyone, flinging some foam, and seeing some wicked stunts.  I’ll have a more proper writeup soon, once I’m done going through the grand ol’ POV footage 🙂

Vapor Day – the gallery!

This was a heck of an event – Razor, makers of the new Vapor line of blasters, provided a bunch of blasters and ammo my way to hold an event with the CLDTS, a local group of folks of all ages who like to get together and play dart tag with other toy blasters.  The gel ammo and blasters were a really different way to play from the usual diet of foam darts, so they decided to give it a try.  Disposable ammo and ammo capacity rivaling anything we’ve seen before?  Worth a try!

Thus the take-away event happened!  We were able to keep the blasters and ammo, and had some targets to try out before going after each other.  We tried the game types like capture the flag, elimination, and just some plain old shoot ’til we’re tired.  We took a swing at HvZ, but without boundaries it usually ended up with a team running out of the park. 

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

Click the slideshow to go to the full gallery, and count on videos and more to follow!  Keep an eye out for the commercial soon, and for more info on when to buy these blasters keep an eye out on the Vapor facebook page!

EBAY AUCTION!

So, the activity group EpicNerf (of which I am a part) is looking to raise some dollars in order to provide darts, obstacles, and loaners as well as travel to other Nerf events! Snake51886 is taking care of a bulk of this initiative and looking to sell some stuff:

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Guns for Sale!
Hey guys,

I just put up some old and awesome Nerf Blasters in near mint condition on ebay. By purshasing and bidding, you support our entire nerfing group. The money we make from these sales help to provide, blasters, darts, cover, and refreshment at our events!

Nerf Powerclip Buy it Now

Nerf Powerclip Auction

Nerf Arrowstorm Buy it Now/Auction

All three blasters and completely stock and not modded. They all come from a smoke free and pet free home! Thanks guys!

Snake51886
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Thanks you all!

-VasTheStampede