Tag: toy

Vapor Deltas and Atlases? At San Diego Comiccon? SDCC?!?! (Also, where to buy it if you’re not at the show….)

So the Vapor Delta and Vapor Atlas are a couple of new offerings from Vapor that are pretty cool.  Disposable ammo, streamlined looks, and pretty decent performance out of the box.  Looks like there’s something cooking on their end at San Diego Comic-Con.   The Vapor facebook page might have more details on what they’re preparing, but it looks like a lot of blasters and ammo.  Lots of ammo.  If you’re at SDCC, I’m super jealous.  Enjoy your time there, and hope you find Vapor while you’re there!  If you’re not (like me) then you can still find a Vapor blaster (Delta or Atlas) online, and for a discounted weekend-only price!

(MOAR after the cut)

Been wanting a Vapor Delta?   It’s on sale NOW!  http://shop.razor.com/Vapor-Delta-500/

25% off for this weekend only!  (Call it an SDCC perk)  Do me a favor and tell’em Foam From Above sent ya, eh?

Key note here, SDCC’ers – “Cruisin’ the streets of Comic-Con with a stockpile of free blasters to share with some lucky friends. Catch the vapor mother-wave tomorrow around 3pm… if you can find us.”

Check out @vaporblaster on twitter, and the Facebook page noted above!

A sign, if I ever saw one.  And Wilfred cosplayers?  Of course, SDCC. (picture taken from Vapor’s Facebook page)

Another shot off the Vapor Facebook page; look at all those blasters!  Keep your eyes open!   The Vapor Delta is a favorite, for sure.

And seriously, Walking Dead Escape?  Yes please!

Nerf N-Strike Elite – info lowdown:

Heads up!  Finally feeling like a human again, I’m able to put together a more coherent post of everything that happened.  Well, not EVERYTHING as some of what I heard was supa top-secret in specifics, but let’s get some business out of the way:

  • N-Strike Elite is going to become the standard of the N-Strike line.  That means the new streamlines, the Elite branding, all of it is here to stay.  The original streamlines and N-Strike brand as we know it are going to be replaced by N-Strike Elite.
    • N-Strike Elite is going to revisit previous N-Strike blasters and release Elite versions of them.  CALM DOWN.  Without going into specifics, not all blasters are going to get Elite ranges.  More recent releases than what came out when N-Strike first appeared are more likely to become Elite.
      • I CAN’T TELL YOU WHICH BLASTERS ARE GETTING THE ELITE TREATMENT.  The key phrase here is, “In the realm of possibility.”  But a Longshot is NOT (I repeat, NOT) one of them.
  • The Nerf Firevision might have something for blaster fans 🙂  That’s about all I can say until Toy Fair 2013.
  • Elite is Elite, Dart Tag is Dart Tag, Vortex is Vortex.  They like to keep the brands separated so I wouldn’t hold my breath for Dart Tag Elite and so on.
  • They aren’t done with Dart Tag yet!  Just the NDTL had been around long enough, and it was time to move on for them.  Dart Tag blasters are still going to be rolled out, but it’s up to the fans to run their own.  From what I’ve heard, Australia’s doing a bang-up job of that:)
  • N-Force isn’t over with, they’re still going to support that.  Just nothing new yet (understandable, with the N-Strike Elite and new Vortex blasters)
  • Clearly, the Nerf Vortex line is going to be supported still.
  • One Direction was NOT at the party.  :*(
  • No oversized Vortex disc shooter anytime soon 😦
  • Nerf N-Strike Elite Darts will be the standard in the future.  Micros and Sonic darts are going to be phased out, in order to make things easier for people.  Elite darts will fit better in most blasters currently released.  Dart Tag darts and Nerf Vortex discs will obviously still be available, as the lines are still supported.
  • SOME international markets (Australia, mainland China, Philippines, etc.) will have a range-reduced version due to the toy safety regulations of their governing bodies.  This means the blasters will achieve somewhere around advertised 50-55′, down from the 75′ that everyone else gets.  
  • Speaking of ranges, around a 35 degree angle is what the advertised ranges we see for darts, while Vortex is fired at 10-15 degrees to determine their range.

Questions?  Comments?  Lemme know!

Nerf N-Strike Elite: Centralized

Collected a number of the videos posted about the Nerf N-Strike Elite press kits and put them all in one playlist.  We all see things a little differently, so maybe there’s something here for everyone!

So far: Rogue1283, BasicNerf, and ClickClickBAMF all have videos up that I’ve found:

Curious about other parts of the Nerf N-Strike Elite line like the new bandolier, Tactical Vest, and even the Nerf Vortex Pyragon will price out:  Shining Foam went and got the whole listing straight off Nerf’s website.  Go have a look! 

At first glance, the Hailfire and Pyragon are going for $39.99, the Rampage is at $29.99 (different from the $34.99 listed in the press kit), and Nerf N-Strike Retaliator at $24.99.  Good lookin’ out!

Nerf N-Strike Elite Retaliator and Rampage Range/Demo follow up videos

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

Thanks for stopping by!  I had some more time, so I took the Nerf N-Strike Retaliator and Rampage out for some additional testing.  I wanted to look at performance depending on using original streamlines vs. Elite, original Nerf N-strike blasters vs. Elite, and so on.  I decided to just make one gigantic video, but have no fear!  The link to each pertinent section follows.  And yeah, I kept the Retaliator barrel on for its firing.  I’ll do another vid without it soon, but in the meantime:

Handy dandy timing break down for the video-

  • Rampage w/Elite darts and 12 round magazine – 1:33
  • Rampage w/original streamlines and 12 round mag – 2:09 
  • Nerf Raider w/12 round mag and original streamlines – 2:51 
  • Nerf Rampage w/12 round mag and Firefly Tech darts – 3:02 
  • Nerf Dart Tag Quick 16 w/Dart tag darts – 3:23 
  • Nerf Clear Recon (stock) w/Elite darts and 6 round magazine: 3:46
  • Nerf Elite Retaliator w/6 round mag, Elite darts – 4:21 
  • Retaliator w/18 round magazine (Nerf Stampede’s), Elite darts – 4:36
  • Nerf Elite Retaliator w/35 round drum mag and Elite darts – 4:51

There’s still more to do, such as checking the ranges and accuracy without the barrel (personally, I like the looks so I kept it on) and a general opinion on the Elite line.  But, that’s another blog post.  As for today, enjoy seeing what the blasters shoot like 🙂

Now that the video is done, I’ll be updating this post in a few minutes with pictures as well.  Stay tuned!

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.

TOY FAIR 2012 – (it never ends!) Construction stuff? (Lego, Mega Bloks,

So, today’s update of more awesome stuff from Toy Fair 2012 – 

LEGO –  (Some highlights)

From “Monster Fighters”

DC Universe!  (Notice Superman needs the rescuing?  Go Wonder Woman!)

Star Wars, a redux of the TIE Fighter
Helm’s Deep!

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

MEGA BLOKS –

Thanks for this to the Mega Bloks FB page – https://www.facebook.com/megabloks

NANODOTS! –

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