Buzz Bee Brings the Blasters for 2017, Fall 2017* Vas The Stampede *- in stores by July possible according to the press release. Availability subject to location.
Buzz Bee definitely brought a lot of promise to Toy Fair 2017. They introduced three dart types (precision, long distance, and suction), increased the power of their blasters (openly claiming 100′ ranges on some blasters) and BROUGHT SOME NEW FEATURES.
Exhibit A: The Rail Blaster – the only video currently (as of March 30, 2017) of it firing
Price: $16
Available: Fall 2017*
Rear-loading
6 shots
No slam fire
Rail Blaster on the left, Tactical Storm on the right.
Exhibit B: The Thermal Hunter –
And the sensor – (From RandomShadow09)
At Toy Fair, an adapter for the Thermal Sensor to fit onto Nerf blasters was in development as well, to be packed in the Thermal Hunter.
I was not able to get a price at this time, but I am following up and will update this post once I get some more information.
Additionally, some new tweaks on old patterns:
The Blizzard – 40 shots and slam-fire only, like the Buzz Bee Sidewinder –
No price on this one yet either, I may have missed it.
And the Tactical Storm (pictured above with the Rail Blaster):
Price: $17
Available: Fall 2017*
Interchangeable stock (supposedly with the Thermal Hunter stock).
Removable barrel for modular play
In closing, Buzz Bee continues to keep their low prices for the most part while upping their features. Some folks seem particularly excited about the Rail Blaster, others want to get their hands on the Thermal Hunter, and some just want a less pricey alternative to Nerf blasters. Given the products from last year, and the licensing for The Walking Dead, Buzz Bee continues to impress me with what they’re putting out in build quality and themes. As a good number of the blasters were prototypes I can’t say much about the build or the performance of these blasters, I’ll reserve that for the final retail models I will hopefully get later on. BUT…. some of the ideas that Buzz Bee had at Toy Fair were impressive indeed. Keep an eye on this blog and YouTube… as soon as I know, you’ll know 🙂
And some additional photos! Full Gallery of the Buzz Bee booth is here:
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Building a KForce K-10V blaster (How long did it Take?) Vas The Stampede
Spoiler:
24 minutes
In a new installment, you see how long it took me to build one of the new K’Nex KForce Kitsfrom K’Nex (that means, product provided, but my opinions are my own).
The “Build and Blast” KForce line has a lot of really good ideas in it, from the actual building and construction of the blasters (which any modder out there can appreciate) to the near-limitless possibilities what someone can build with a kit and a whole lot more K’nex pieces (something I would like to test for myself in the future).
I might be tempted to do a slower video in the future, mainly because while time-lapse is cool you don’t get a feel for some of the mishaps I had during building (I think the manuals could be a bit clearer on instructions, but that’s a discussion for another post, such as when I do a firing video). I wonder if someone who is familiar with K’Nex can do these builds faster, or if even someone who more regularly builds construction kits might have a leg up on me and shave time off what I did.
In any event, the line is still being supported and innovated on, and that’s all one can really ask in a super competitive arena like blasters. Companies are going for range, capacity, aesthetics, and K’Nex continues to fuel imaginative building while trying to produce a blaster that fires on par with most others, even if rate of fire may suffer slightly.
So let’s try this; if you have the same kit, or any kit that I post here, video yourself building it too and tag me in it! Whatever time I have, see if you can beat it or challenge me to build a KForce blaster faster than you (and get away with it)!
I still have a few more upcoming projects to do, so make sure to come back and keep checking for updates! Blaster reviews, photos, and the NvZ video are all on the way. Thanks again!
Foam From Above 