GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY STAR-LORD LORD QUAD BLASTER:
Price: $19.99 (Target.com – ordered) Range: 20′-30′ Includes: Nerf Elite darts x 4 Quad Blaster x 1
(The pics are reposts – But the video is new!)
There it is! The Star Lord Quad Blaster in all its glory. Last seen at New York Toy Fair, I managed to order one off Target.com.
The blaster has 2 triggers -> one opens the blaster up exposing the extra barrels, and the other fires darts. There are 2 slides behind each barrel that pull back and return to position, priming the blaster. Depending on which barrels have darts in them, those darts will fire. If all 4 barrels are loaded, the inner barrels fire first, then the outer. If you load darts any other way whichever barrels are loaded will fire (smart ARs).
Pretty basic, front-loading and a pullback slide with a sweet gimmick. It’s almost the perfect formula for a licensed product. And as far as licensed products go, I’m more used to them going 10′-15′, not 25′-30′. And that’s what you’re going to get out of this blaster. So while not on par with many Elite/other brands, it doesn’t have to. The push here isn’t someone looking for performance (mostly) but a comic fan who is looking to tag their nearest Ronan The Accuser-looking friend for fun. Costumers may get a kick out of this and folks who check out the movie that will become new fans of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Is it worth the $20? I enjoy the gimmick of the blaster, regardless of the ranges. I like my Nerf games stock and up close anyway, so 20′-30′, 50′, whatever that’s not what I got it for. I got it cause it looks cool and people will understand why I yell “OOGA CHAKA OOGA CHAKA” as my new battlecry 🙂 I will admit, I thought the ranges were a little longer at Toy Fair, but I don’t really care. It’s easier to holster when it’s closed up, but I’d probably use it by itself and not as a sidearm because that’s just how I do things.
Excelsior!
Pssst…. this was on the back. Looks like there is another blaster coming out! Star Lord doesn’t get to have all the fun 🙂
(Recorded this late last night while I was putting together the review – I picked the blaster up late at Target, it was a surprise to see it, will update with a better video once I am rested and have better light. In the meantime, here are some pictures:
Hey everyone! So I picked up the BoomCo Rapid Madness last night. Enjoy the gallery –
The BoomCo shield is removable, and the pump is double action!
Price: $49.99 (!?) Includes: Rapid Madness x 1 Darts x 30 Throwable “Round” x 1 Shield x 1 Target board x 1; Instructions x 1
Impressions! BoomCo is Mattel’s foray into toy blasters. They don’t use foam darts, and the big gimmick is this “sticky technology” on the dart tipsthat are specially formulated to react and stick to specifically developed targets. It’s a huge line, and coming from one of the top toy makers in the world, is it enough to challenge Nerf, a brand that has become eponymous with toys that shoot darts and other projectiles?
In the past, many other brands have come and go – Light Strike, Max Force, gel shooters, and so on. The difference here is Mattel is much bigger than the other companies trying to broach the blaster market in the past. They have deep pockets for R&D and Marketing which really help getting your brand and toy noticed.
“Sticky” technology, you say? According to Mattel’s techs, they formulated the rubber/polymer/whatever on the darts to only react/stick to the specially designed targets. And they do! It’s amazing! It could theoretically make hit-tracking and scorekeeping much easier depending on what rules/gametype you, the player, devise. And it’s a strong grip, too. Any other surface/material and the darts just bounce.HOWEVER – CAVEAT – the stickiness will fade if not maintained; you have to rinse the darts regularly or use tape to remove debris. Have no fear, the instructions have…. instructions on how to do this. The Round included is entirely composed of the sticky material, which…. gives me some scenario-style ideas. But more on that as the line develops.
The darts themselves are constructed of a thick straw-like plastic, topped with the sticky material. I don’t have a scale to tell you a difference in the weight of these darts vs. foam. If I had to attest to durability, I’d rather take the darts out to a game rather than hypothesize, and see the attrition that way. The foam darts are definitely thicker, and you can find a pretty good overview at UKNERF..
The dart was fine!
Let’s look at the BoomCo Rapid Madness. At $49.99 + tax, I was a little leery about buying it. There are/were numerous blasters of similar function in the past (Magstrike, Powerclip for starters) but they were also pre-Elite and at most were hitting 20-30′, probably. The Rapid Madness outdoes that with 50′ in range (see the video above!). It also comes with a shield, a target, and a throwable projectile (see previous paragraph).
The Rapid Madness! (Shield is attached and closed up)
The “Round” – both halves stick together when they are pressed, they separate for easy cleaning.
Functionally speaking, we’ve been there, done that. Pump the blaster (at most) 18 times (a double-action pump no less), pull the trigger, and point where you want to unleash your straw/rubber-sticky doom. The only difference in this instance is the 50′ in range vs. maybe 30′ in earlier blasters. It’s this similarity though that makes me question the price, even with the extras included.
The blaster is fully automatic, so it is definitely a spray and pray kind of experience. I found myself wanting to use a grip with my offhand besides the pump, but there really isn’t another place on the barrel that seemed like a good fit. Aiming from the shoulder also seemed improper because of the nature of the blaster, so I actually found shooting from the waist better, again with the spray and pray idea. The double action nature of the blaster’s pump might make it feel slower to refill with air, and depending on your play style this may or may not be your cup of tea. Once your first salvo is out…. MOVE. However, as you can see in the (newly added) video, doing bursts of darts isn’t too hard with the Rapid Madness.
The shield mounts on the barrel and deploys at the press of a button. Even though there is a sort of iron sight on it I felt like the shield made aiming a bit more difficult, which made shooting from the hip even more preferable. In fact, like the Nerf Stampede shield I felt better just having it off. I also don’t think the blaster is for lefties, since the clip loads from the left of the barrel and has to be inserted that way due to the arrow guides. There was a bit of the blaster near the grip that would dig into my hand as well, whether that is because of the design for kids or a flaw in construction I am not sure.
The blaster itself had a separation in the shell already as well –
The shell seemed a bit opened here.
But it worked and as the video shows, the volley needed some dialing in but otherwise it worked pretty well. When I have some time (and daylight) to update the video outside to check max range, I will. The pump felt durable and sturdy, as did the rest of the blaster (something you can expect when a company like Mattel is doing the building.) My nephew (he’s 11) thought it looked pretty cool, and got a kick out of shooting it.
When it boils down to it, what are we looking at? The Rapid Madness is expensive for a mechanic we’ve already seen elsewhere. It requires stocking up on Yet Another Ammo Type, and even then the BoomCo ammo gimmick may fade out over time and leave you with darts that do little else but bounce like any other darts but at a premium price (for the blasters that launch them, if not the darts themselves.) However the range is on par with the current market of available blasters (at least, until certain 90-100′ blasters hit shelves later this year) and honestly they do look pretty slick and futuristic. The sticky tech sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun to play around with and I’m willing to give the line a chance and see where they go. If you want to try something new maybe give this a look. But with its price maybe check out some of the lower priced blasters before you go with the Rapid Madness. Honestly, of all the blasters in the line, I wish I had found the Twisted Spinner first, based on the uniqueness of the blaster alone.
Thoughts? Questions? Let me know in the comments! NOTE: I moderate comments, so if they don’t show up right away, don’t worry about resubmitting! I will get there and read them. 🙂
I saw this at New York Toy Fair, but it looks like the Nerf Rebelle SpyLight (not supposed to be out until Fall) hit the wild… somewhere. Eyes open, chummers. Fall will be here before we know it.
Requires 6 x AA batteries for tank, 1 x 9v for remote (batteries not included).
Ages 8+
MSRP: $39.99
Available now at major retailers.
Range: 50 max. at lowest angle, 20′-30′ at highest
Fired Nerf brand streamlines (elite, suction cup, zombiestrike) as well as included darts. Did NOT launch Buzz Bee or “extreme air zone” darts.
Includes: Remote, darts, Cannon Commando, and tailpiece for stability. (GoPro Mount is my own)
The turret raises/lowers manually.
Dart comparison between VMD darts (far left) and other brands.
Tail piece to prevent the VMD from tipping backward (optional).
Tank treads made driving through gravel and some grass ok, directions note DO NOT drive through heavily loose ground, as this may interfere with motorized internals.
Thanks to Skyrocket Toys for the sample! (All opinions are my own.) So I’ve seen the Cannon Commando before, but this is the first time I’ve actually been able to check it out for myself. Click Click BAMF did a review of their own, so feel free to check that out. As for my my own thoughts, they follow below.
FIRST: The VMD is obviously remote controlled. There are 3 frequencies (A, B, and C) that it uses to sync a VMD Tank unit with the control. There is a switch on the control, and a similar switch on the underside of the tank. This is to help 3 people each with a Cannon Commando each use theirs to shoot independently. I am not sure if more than 3 at one time is possible, though. And you set the frequency when you turn on the Cannon Commando, so it is not possible to hijack another player’s tank mid-game by flipping the switch on your controller.
You fire the VMD by flipping the “armed” switch cover to reveal the “arm” switch underneath, and flip that to light up the red skull on the control. Press down the top right bumper switch on the control, and you can fire away. Firing AND moving isn’t built in the functions though, one function or the other at a time.
The VMD also has to be aimed manually. You set the angle you want to fire, and then drive around. the lowest angle would hit around 50′ (the video above is set in a high wind, fair warning) while the highest elevation reduced range to about 20′-30′. Also, this is a flywheel blaster (see the above breakdown at the beginning of the article for what darts did/did not work) so launching a variety of darts is a bit easier than with a blaster that uses a magazine. They market this as one of the hardest firing launchers out there, and it’s true (stock). There is definitely some pop in the flywheel launcher, more than I initially expected when I first saw this. Definitely a lot of surprise in such a little package.
Reloading the VMD is a bit tricky, from what I could tell the dart cylinder doesn’t pop out, so you have to manually (and somewhat gently) rotate the chambers if you choose to reload darts that way. Besides the rotation mechanism though, the rest of the tank feels pretty solid in construction. It’s hefty, and the treads are a decent rubber. As you can see it rolled along on pavement pretty quickly, and low grass wasn’t a problem. I really wish it could aim with the remote, but chances are that would have taken it above the attractive $40 price tag.
While this isn’t the normal type of dart shooter and maybe not one I’d use for a normal running around type of dart blaster game, I still found it a lot of fun to play with and there are some interesting ideas I have to use this for in the coming weeks. For a motorized dart launcher with a lot of replay value, I think this is worth the $40. In the office, at home, or just because, definitely worth a look!
Thanks to HogWild Toys for these fun samples of the ZipStix! Let’s mix things up with these tabletop construction/destruction toys, and take a closer look. You can build your own trick setups using the ramp, quarter pipe, cones, and launchers available in the separate kits, from starter packs to the Mega Pack. Each pack has everything you need to start launching, including ZipStix, Launchers, and cones. The ramp and quarter pipe are sold in the larger kits, but they add another level of complexity and air time to your launches. The sets have an MSRP of $3.99 to $19.99, and after you start launching, I’ll admit it’s a lot of fun setting up a target and then knocking it back down.
The ZipStix themselves are essentially stronger slap bracelets- they flex and click straight, then pressing the ZipStix will make it curl up and spring about. The Launcher hooks the ZipStix, giving it a direction to go. Simple, and straightforward, and actually a bit of fun. If you think about it, you’re not limited to those options either. I have to put the video together, but if you throw a straightened ZipStix in a particular manner, it will bounce up.Even though you already will have plenty to do setting up and launching, there are plenty more ways to play long after the inital purchase. Keeping everything together is pretty easy too, I like to stack my cones all together, and then snap the ZipStix around the top cone, making a cone tree of sorts with a ZipStix topper 🙂
This isn’t a blaster/game review, but it’s nice to mix things up now and again and I did have some fun playing/setting these up. My nephew (seen below) is 10 and had a good time aiming these around as well. The cones are light, so crashing the ZipStix through them is a pretty satisfying experience, even if you spend a good amount of time picking up/setting up the cones. However, for those of us used to picking up darts/loading large quantities of magazines, this shouldn’t be too different. 🙂
The price range of the kits is decent, but I will admit the $21.95 did make me double take a bit. However, if you are a completionist and want to explore all avenues of building different courses/shots/targets/tricks, it’ll probably be worth the money just to see the height the ZipStix get when you shoot them. As time permits, maybe I’ll do some future trick shots with these to show you what I come up with. Definitely a fun time to play with though.
Thanks to HogWild Toys for the sample, it was nice to try something different! I’ll be back next time with the more traditional programming (VMD, Super Soakers, Next Generation Toys, etc.) are on-deck, and I’ll have more then.
’til next time!
The Setup! Stack your cones and then bring them crashing down when you launch the ZipStix though them (or try to launch them over, whichever tickles your fancy). In use, the kicker ramp from the Stunt Pack. Flip it for another angle to use!
Box art for the Stunt Pack – $10.95
Different designs for a good number of ZipStix, you can make a whole collection of them.
Cones for targets, ramps for added hilarity.
The best part is, make up your own rules as well! Maybe you don’t want to to use the cones?
Step 1: lock a ZipStix into the launcher.
Aim!
Press on the end of the ZipStix to make it curl up just a bit, getting it ready to launch, then let go to see it fly!
As has been heavily covered already (seriously, I’m basically the last one to post about this), Mattel’s jumping into the blaster market (again!) with a product calledBOOMco. I heard rumblings about this at New York Toy Fair, amidst other companies and apparently the group at dartblaster.de heard about it during the International Toy Fair Nürnberg. Not having anything solid to go by, I haven’t been able to say much at all about it. Mattel was also booked solid by the time I found out, so I wasn’t able to bug them.
Clipstrike – Cause it has a carabiner! A belt clip! Geddit? It also looks like it folds up, no?
The Farshot (shield deployed)
No cross-branding here! Dart refills (w/Smart-Stic Tech) look longer than Nerf darts, most likely not compatible.
Dual Defender pack
Rapid Madness!
Additional targets & other accessories (see below) will be for sale
Twisted Spinner blaster – NOT to be confused with a dilophosaur.
First things first. No relation –
All joking aside, I’m a bit surprised and really interested at Mattel even getting near blasters again. I want to expect a knock-down, drag-out slugfest of innovation in blasters now that 2 of the top toy makers out there are on a collision course. They rule the roost with Barbie and Monster High, have some great games with Uno and Apples to Apples, but blasters and playing with blasters has been synonymous with Nerf. The other brands (not necessarily blasters) on the market are carving a great niche (Zing, Marshmallow Shooters, Power Poppers, Tek Recon come to mind) but admittedly, a blaster brand/company with the resources and deep pockets like Mattel has been long missing. Nerf, long synonymous with blasters for many years might have that challenger.
One thing I can tell, not all the blasters are triggered. The Twisted Spinner blaster isn’t, and has a… different kind of rotation mech. The Rapid Madness does have a trigger though, but it also uses a clip reminiscent of a Powerclip/Magstrike (additional clips are sold separately).
Some quick specs:
– Blasters should hit around 70′ (not sure if this is for all of them, but it’s claims are close to N-Strike Elite) – Darts use “Smart Stick” Tech to show hits, supposed to be used with the shields/targets that also stick to surfaces. As shown in the videos, the targets can be worn on clothes to optimize stickability. – Eye protection, 2 in 1 bandolier, extra darts, targets, and clips will be sold separately. – The shields are used to protect and collect, catch your opponent’s darts so you can fire them back. I guess that helps cut down on dart sweeps…. maybe? The shields are fixed to the blasters via tactical rail. – Interesting bit, if you watch the videos from the pros in their interviews, one of them mentions how you don’t really know where the darts are going, adding to the satisfaction when you DO get a hit. Testament to the accuracy? Who knows. Honestly, that won’t be a confirmed thing until these come out Summer 2014. – Mattel looks to be going big – Nerfnation meet the BOOMco League (and win a “Boom Box” while you’re there.)
Mattel has a reputation for putting out strong, quality products. Can’t attest that the reputation upholds though until these are out. The videos however make a good number of promises, and I will admit with Mattel’s name involved, I am just a touch less skeptical than I would normally be. Given the past incarnations of sticky ammo from other brands though, I wonder how those new darts will work on cloth and skin. But wondering is about all I can do, along with the rest of you, until these come out and hopefully I can get my hands on them. BUT, with the possible competitiveness between these two powerhouse toy companies… I truly hope it’s us the consumers who win out. With each trying to outdo the other we might see some of the best blasters to date in performance, quality, and features.
Not the Nerf Attacknid coming out this Fall 2014 (for $79.99) but a much larger version! If there’s one thing to take away from this video, eye protection is always important. (Although, when the darts are the size of pool noodles, maybe a full mask might be good.)
This version is the current original version out there, and the Nerf version will have a few differences. Click Click BAMF did some initial investigative work, so have a look there as well!
So, there are some constants to New York Toy Fair, and Marshmallow Shooters is another one of those brands who keeps chugging along. Every year there’s something new, and this year they revealed a few things. Now, in my opinion they most famously have many repaints of existing models, but given the circumstances, I don’t mind in this case. They landed the Ghostbusters license, so the next round of Marshmallow Shooters are going to look fresh out of 1984 (Happy 30th Anniversary to “The Ghostbusters” and it’s a sad thing that Harold Ramis had to pass away this year. As a fan of his work, I couldn’t believe it when I first heard it. But that is a whole different blog post. If you missed out on the original Ghostbusters pop guns back in the day, maybe these will take the edge off. But at the very least, it’ll be for a new generation.
Ghostbusters paintjobs for Marshmallow Shooters
A concept image of an upcoming Marshmallow shooter. Think… scattergun. Scattermallows. Something like that.
A Beaver Blaster. Not only will it shoot Marshmallows, but it is supposed to also have a foam ball.
Foam From Above 
