Tag: breakdown

Buzz Bee Toys 2018 Toy Fair Roundup – Bolt-action cometh, and the return of an old pattern

Buzz Bee Toys came out swinging last year with a number of great items; the Thermal Hunter, the Zenith, and the Thermal Sensor were standouts for me. The Monorail was a good idea but it had some reliability issues when I tried it and that kept it off my favorites list. There were other blasters that had Overall though, the creation of Precision Darts, Long Distance Darts, and sucker darts was some great stuff that came out of Buzz Bee last year.

This year, Buzz Bee seems to have gone the other way. I saw a lot of bolt-action style blasters in their room, such as a new Snipe and their walkie-talkie blasters. Most telling though is that their headlining item, the Mutator – is going to be bolt-action. I can’t blame them either, the tactile feedback from sliding a bolt handle into firing is pretty cool, and plays heavily into the roleplay aspect of the blaster. 
The Buzz Bee Mutator

Buzz Bee Covert Squad – walkie talkies and single shot blasters
There are some exceptions, such as the new Demolisher for The Walking Dead line of blasters, and the PowerMech 20, but otherwise the majority of the blasters I saw on display were either out or bolt-action. Interesting how that works out given Nerf continuing to use flywheels, pump-action, or the traditional pullback slide. 
The Mutator gets its name from the quick change it can pull off in the middle of a blaster fight. There are two magazines because you can load each one with a different type of ammo. One magazine is loaded with the precision darts, and the other loaded with the long distance ammo for farther targets. Pull the barrel forward on The Mutator to shift between either ammo type, bolt-action, and fire. The prototype was still very early, so I didn’t fire it but I did carry it a bit and manipulate the barrel. Interested to see the final product, for sure. 
What I like about the Mutator is it’s a big show-me blaster and the reloading without needing to pop a magazine out and slap a new one in is a time-saving and efficient idea. I believe I heard a few more tweaks are needed and the blaster may not be out til 2019 to make sure it’s firing on all cylinders. I hope that’s not the case and we’ll see it sooner, to figure out more tricks to do with a blaster that reloads as the Mutator does.
The Covert Squad blasters were single-shot bolt action blasters, but the walkie-talkie action is a nice little twist. The blasters are compact enough to not be a bulky unit to hold up, and it’s just a neat gimmick feature for a simple blaster. If you remember the old Nerf Commlink, this is similar but a much greater range (300′), much more streamlined form, earbud connection, and more streamlined unit. For $24.99 (in a two-pack) I’ll go ahead and put this on my Gift Ideas list for the holidays.
The Demolisher was a flywheel unit, and then the PowerMech 20, but the real gem of the room was the Velocity X chronograph.

Velocity X
The big notes on the Velocity X are that it’s a chronograph, AND accommodates Nerf Rival and Mega ammo as well. The unit could be held in hand against the muzzle, or set up to stand on its own via tripod, but this will have a home with maybe arena owners and general users. One concern so far is if the device will be able to read higher (modded) velocities, but I don’t think anyone’s tried yet. All the same, a really good idea.

I got a few readings off it, and it was easy enough to use, but it’s a prototype as far as I’m concerned so when I see the production model I’ll chip in my 2 cents for a full, honest review. What was really cool was the range estimates; it would give distance estimates at an angle vs parallel to the ground. While the Nerf chronobarrel attaches to the barrel of the blaster and functions as an ammo counter, the distance reading, ammo diversity, and price ($14.99 MSRP!) get the edge here for Buzz Bee. At this stage in the game it’s too early in my opinion to really give my own review about anything, the Monorail was hyped last year but changed quite a bit before production. The Demolisher was a bit wonky from what I heard, so I didn’t really give that a try either, as prototypes tend to be. Prototypes from Toy Fair (if they work at all) may get altered en route to release. And that’s what could happen here. What we see at release may even be better, but you never can be sure. Is it great to know these things are coming out, however? You bet!
Buzz Bee had their thermal sensor packaged separately now and their own version of a red dot sight. That means more accessories for your tactical rails, and with the Buzz Bee adapter these will work on your Nerf blasters too, if you need to change things up on your loadout. New light-up swords that attach at the handle (think Darth Maul’s double-sided lightsaber) are coming out as well, but I didn’t notice anything like Michonne’s sword. Still, if you run games with melee weapons the Buzz Bee swords are not only some of the most budget friendly items out there but also pretty durable for the cost. There were some other items that I think were not released for full info yet (though I think they made it out of Nuremburg, if you search the right videos you may see them) so there will still be a few different releases past the press release. I think I can say though, just keep an eye out for these items in Walmart’s “Adventure Force” line.
Overall though, the Buzz Bee showroom showed that Buzz Bee continues to work their own place in the community with continued power increases and innovations from the brand. The Walking Dead license (for the comic, not the show!) and some different gimmicks and tech are on the way, which is a huge step for them to build on last year’s showing. Interestingly enough, they haven’t gone the Rival compatible route, opting to stick with the foam dart category and focusing on making some sweet blasters for dart users. The Demolisher’s aesthetic isn’t a Prometheus but I got a kick out of getting a feel for a gatling-styled blaster (Captain Xavier’s mod notwithstanding!) Definitely looking forward to more, and can’t wait to see the full form of the Mutator at release. Big thanks to Buzz Bee for having me, and see you on the shelves later this year.

New York Toy Fair – Nerf, Zing, Katniss, oh my! Possible trending for 2013

New York Toy Fair ended and that leaves a hole in my schedule and a LOT of material to run through.  But as always, I’ll do my best.

Nerf-wise, the biggest news to come out of the showroom this year wasn’t some super secret video with a mysterious silhouette.  This year Nerf was upfront about where they’re going by revealing their new line with girls in mind, the Nerf Rebelle.

For years, I’ve been running the “Foamme Fatale” gallery on my blog to show that in fact, girls are interested in and play with Nerf toys too.  This isn’t, nor should it be a new or surprising development.  From Amazons to Samus Aran, females are into the action toys as well.  It’s good to see that for a couple of years, Nerf did the research and is now getting this initiative in gear.  1200 girls surveyed to see what it is they wanted out of Nerf blasters, and the Nerf Rebelle line is evidence of that.

Now, I don’t remember, but did anyone see girls in the running for the last user-submitted NDTL?  Just putting that out there.

First off, I’m a big fan of the line.  I love the functionality, the streamlined feel of the blasters, and the call back to older weaponry (Nerf Crossbow, Bow N Arrow) with some of them.  The “Rebelle” (and I think even that’s a bit smart, I believe playing off “reveille”) line will get the same performance as the Elite blasters, and the only difference then is the outside aesthetics, kinda like how boys and girls are different on the outside, but on the inside we’re all able to reach 75′. (Or something like that).

Nerf Rebelle Heartbreaker Bow
Nerf N-Strike Blazin’ Bow

The performance is there for the Rebelles, for sure.  And handling the blasters I can tell you the function matches the form.  They are sleek, streamlined, feel pretty mobile, and are very eye-catching.  All good ingredients for success.  Now, at first I was wondering about the pink trim, and “why does the girls stuff have to be pink?” but… it’s what my niece has been looking for.  And this is why I say it will sort of challenge gender stereotypes.  Sure, pink is a stereotypically feminine color, but remember the original Bow And Arrow(s?)  And as cool as some of these blasters are (I refer to the Nerf Alpha Girl) the boys are going to HAVE to get used to a pink blaster.

So, failed argument bemoaning the coloring.  Nerf researched high and low for 2 years figuring out what girls wanted, and they wanted pink blasters, accessories, social interaction, the works.

One more note on the pink… the packaging and everything is going to stand out on the shelves.  Think about it.  You walk down the toy blaster aisle, as a young girl you see aisles and aisles of shooting toys in a sea of blues, greens, yellows, oranges, and all with serious-faced boys firing blasters…. and there it is:

Something different.  A pink box, a couple of girls looking like they’re ready to have some fun with blasters.  And not just blasters where it’s “oh, these are for boys, but hey girls can play too” it’s FOR you, a female, speaking TO you in the advertising.  Images mean everything, and this might be what it will take to get most (remember, research of over 1200 girls for 2 years) girls to give the blaster aisle a 2nd look for something directed at them.

Marketing theories aside, the Nerf Rebelle line is only one hint of a trend to bridge a gap between boys and girls in the active toy department.  Not just Nerf, but Zing Toys made a pink bow called the Huntress:

As well as included some female characters into their marketing collateral.

What does this mean?  Attempts to appeal to the association to characters such as “Katniss Everdeen” from The Hunger Games and “Merida” from Disney’s Brave.  No joke, a number of the pitches I heard during Toy Fair drew correlations to creating strong female empowerment imagery to associate to one’s toys.  Or it was applying technology for existing “Boys'” toys to “Girls'” toys.

What does this mean for our blasters?  Nothing alarming, don’t get me wrong.  What this means is that girls have been recognized as a missed opportunity in the action toy department, and Nerf’s Rebelle and Zing’s Huntress are the start.  We might see more of this female-oriented development from other companies in the future should these particular initiatives succeed.

The OTHER point, is with the social climate being what it is right now in regards to firearms, bows and arrows and weaponry of that category are the 2nd trend I’m wondering about.  That’s why you see a Blazin’ Bow after a series of triggered blasters from Nerf, the Rebelle line is bows and crossbows (for the most part), and why Zing is what I believe is the dark horse of the category with their bow-centric toys.  Sure Rebelle has the revolver, but unlike the Nerf Elite series, between the aesthetics and the color scheme, Rebelle seems like it is trying really hard to shake the image of a modern firearm, with all the smooth aesthetics and bow-type functions in spite of the triggered system (that’s why the Heartbreaker is the big item from the Nerf Rebelle line; it’s a non-triggered toy I think and thus less of a firearm.  And Katniss.)

POINT #2:

My Last Dart has already spread the news that Nerf is going to make discs that serve different functions, one of which is to get the discs to fly faster and farther.  Knowing that they are already pushing the envelope with the blasters themselves, this makes sense that they decided a back door way to try and get higher performance with the ammo.  The Elite darts were only the start (essentially modified stock streamlines). Now you have what could be a precedent for different dart types as well.

Other companies do this now.  Zing has two versions of arrows; the long-range version and a suction cup version.  Each gives a player a choice on how they want to play, so I would not be surprised to see more of this, with different types of ammo that might fall within safety regs but are different from foam darts.  See: the TekRecon, Vapor blasters, and Xploderz ammo.  Heck, Marshmallowville is out there with Marshmallow shooters too.  Rubber bands, water pellets, marshmallows… smaller ammo than darts, flying farther, and higher ammo capacity than Nerf. (TekRecon’s Havok is going to boast 90 shots per reload, and similar with Vapor and Xploderz.)

 

Head spinning yet?  Girls are a new market, look for new innovations in ammo types more than the blasters, Max Force and the first round of water pellet blasters was the start.  Possibly blasters are going to start looking crazier and crazier, so they look less like real firearms.  Ultimately though, Nerf still has one more (or 3) trick up its sleeve…. the as-yet unrevealed blasters that are under NDA right now, but being hinted at.  Nerf’s still THE brand to contend with, and we’ll just have to see what happens next.  Lock and load.

Now:
Nerf
Zing
Vapor 
Marshmallow Shooters
Xploderz
TekRecon
PrimteTime Toys (more foam dart shooters, but they’re revealing more later this year)
Splatmaster (though that’s paintball)
Whew!