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While it's certainly not a major focus of mine, I have invested enough time in using the Nerf-line of Super Soakers to feel like I could at least provide some insight and advice about these blasters as a resource to you, my curious readers, about what blaster might fit you best. I'll admit, that not even I have determined the "best" blaster for me, but hopefully through the info I provide here, you can figure out what works best for you. I'll only be providing a review of blasters that I've actually had experience with, so this is NOT a full lineup (though it's quite close!)
Shot Blast |
| Pictured with a Lightningstorm Shield |
Arguably one of the better rifles out there, the Shot Blast is easy to use, comfortable, and has some nice basic options that make it a solid well-rounded water blaster. It's got a front and back tactical rail that can fit accessories easily. I find that the front rail is best used for a sheild (if you're into using those). Of the rifles/pistols in this Super Soaker lineup, the Shot Blast certainly provides the most powerful stream of all of them. The diameter of water is much thicker than the puny streams most of the other blasters manage to dish out and it also gets excellent range. It's collapsible stock (much like the Nerf Raider) is comfortable and can work on any N-Strike or Super Soaker blaster that use removable stocks. It has a good internal water capacity that can last you quite awhile, but when you're spent, it can take a little time to fill it back up. Also, this blaster lacks a trigger, which can take some getting used to. It fires by pulling back on the pump handle. Great all-around blaster! This blaster was released in Red and Blue in 2010 and as a Target Exclusive in 2011.
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| Pictured with a Lightningstorm Shield |
Scatter BlastThis is a wonderful blaster with excellent range, capacity, and economy. While it is one of the cheaper blasters in the lineup, it's stats give a hint of how great this guy really is. It has the highest internal water capacity of any Super Soaker in this lineup (except the Hydro Cannon) and also has one of the highest listed ranges. The spread from the Scatter blast makes it easy to cover lots of ground and it's high capacity ensures you won't run out anytime soon. There's a tactical rail on top to mount accessories if you wish. There's no trigger on this guy, so simply pump-to-fire it. I was really surprised at how great of a blaster this was. I only wish it had a stock!
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| Pictured stock |
Hydro CannonThe most powerful blaster in the new Super Soaker lineup, the Hydro Cannon's name is definitely earned. Although it takes roughly 12-15 pumps to get it fully primed, each shot from this blaster has a nice hefty kick to it for both the user and the target. It also has the best range of any of these blasters and can soak whatever target you find for it with ease. It has an odd looking angled shield that attaches to one of it's two tactical rails. While it does have a great capacity for water, it's really only good for about 6-7 full power shots. If you consider the amount of time it takes in between shots as well as the rate that it eats through it's water supply, this is not a good choice for a fast-paced water war. In the hands of a strategist or stowed away somewhere as a last-ditch effort, this blaster can be very useful but I wouldn't recommend betting it all on this blaster.
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| Pictured with a Lightningstorm Shield, Stock, and Drum |
ThunderstormOne of two designs in the current Super Soaker lineup that is designed to use the water clip system, the Thunderstorm was also the first Super Soaker in the lineup to be electronically powered. 4 AA batteries power a motor that feeds water from the clip through the blaster and out the nozzle. It isn't a very strong stream of water though, which can be underwhelming as a primary. However, using this as a sidearm or dual wielding Thunderstorms can be effective. It has one tactical rail on top that can easily mount accessories, as well as the option to add an N-Strike compatible stock. If the 10 ounce water clip isn't enough to last you for games, you can buy more water clips separately or you can pop in the 37 ounce water drum from the Lightningstorm for over 3 minutes of continuous firing. This is a decent blaster, but it's lack of power may leave you wanting more.
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| Pictured with a 10 ounce Clip, Shot Blast Sight and Stock |
LightningstormWhile the blaster itself is just a recolored Thunderstorm, the Lightningstorm's value is in it's accessories. The Stock, Shield, and Drum can be valuable accessories to your collection if you're in the market for them. The Shield fits on any Super Soaker (except for the Hydro Cannon) and has a neat design to it. The stock is arguably one of the most sturdy and comfortable that Nerf has made to date. The Drum carries a whopping 37 ounces of water that can be used in the Thunderstorm or Tornado Strike. However, as a blaster, the Lightningstorm is identical/no better than it's brother: the Thunderstorm. This blaster is really only worth it if you A: like the Thunderstorm and B: have a need for the accessories.
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Pictured with a Shot Blast sight, Lightningstorm Drum and Stock
and two spare 10 ounce clips |
Tornado StrikeEasily one of the coolest designs in the entire lineup. The Tornado Strike is a neat hybrid blaster that combines the feel of a rifle with the spread and firepower of a close-range weapon while being versatile enough to use with the clip system, tactical rail, and removable stock to be whatever you need it to be. It gets great range with equally impressive spread thanks to it's twin spinning streams of water. These streams, on their own, aren't very powerful, but the spread they have more than make up for their lack of volume. Using the 10 ounce water clip, you can easily burn through ammo in about 10 shots, so either have extra clips on hand or use the drum from the Lightningstorm to be effective in long-duration games. The stock on this is the same as the Shot Blast and it's fired by pulling back on the priming handle.
I don't have any personal experience with the Microburst, Electrostorm, Bottle Blitz, or Point Break, but they're mainly smaller blasters with weak streams of water. The weakest blasters I have are the Thunderstorm and Lightningstorm and those are usually the last blasters to be picked when I loan them out for backyard battles. The Lightningstorm's accessories certainly get their use though and the others are all great fun to use. I'd say the Tornado Strike, Scatter Blast, Hydro Cannon, and Shot Blast are my favorites. I just hope the insight I've given here can be helpful for those of you interested in staying cool when it's warm outside. I likely won't do much else with these blasters but use them casually around the pool, so don't expect too much more focus on them from this blog. That's all I've got!
If you haven't given the new Super Soaker lineup a shot, they are a lot of fun to use. If you forget about the legendary power of the 90's era Super Soakers and just ignore all the trolls online who hate on this new spin on these water blasters, you'll enjoy them even more. I'll probably never get into Super Soakers as much as I have Nerf and Laser Tag, but it is fun to be shooting stuff around to keep cool during the summer just for some shameless fun.
The Lazer Tag Santa Monica (LTSM) group is based out of California and usually has games held in the Santa Monica or San Fernando Valley areas. This active group uses Lazer Tag brand gear for their games and post Events through their newly re-opened website. While not an "official" club, they simply promote the game through their events at parks to play together at a local level. Much like the MLTA that I run here in the heartland, new folks are more than welcome to join.
The dates and times for the upcoming games are usually posted about a week or so in advance. LTSM members are very friendly so if you have never played Lazer tag before, they are more than willing to help you out and teach you how to play. So, if you're in the area, be sure to look them up! Their website is in the link below.
I may be no fan of the new direction Hasbro has been taking the GI Joe line in, but there are some neat products coming out to promote the movie that are worth a look. N-Force fans will enjoy the new foam swords coming from the increasingly ninja-themed "Retaliation" movie. There's two currently that I've been able to find. 
This one has a faux wooden handle look to it with a black/electric blue accents blade. The other comes in a Snake Eyes bundle, with some kinda throwing stars thing, a mask, and a silver bladed sword.
While I couldn't seem to find the recolored Dart Tag blaster that's part of this promotional line, I did find my "Battle Kata Blaster" that I had been looking forward to. Not so much in the way that I'm a huge fan of plastic missile launchers (that hardly get 10 feet), but because it's a neat design and I wanna either drop a decent Dart launcher system in there or recase it for laser tag. Nevertheless, I did manage to toss together a review of it before I gut it and have some fun on my workbench with it.
If there's one thing that's nearly guarenteed to make a shot "cooler", it's catching it in mid-air. Almost every mid-air shot I've seen for Nerf is pretty epic just because of that fact. I've staged plenty of pictures before to get this effect but I've never tried it with a water blaster. Well, today I messed around with some of my favorites from the new Super Soaker lineup and boy was it easy! Just thought I'd share a few of them here to inspire the inner photographer in you. Who knows, maybe you could get a Shot of the Week from Nerf Nation?
A quick pull of the trigger just before the timer goes off on my digital camera worked the first time for each blaster. I use a Canon ELPH 300HS mounted on a tripod, pre-focus it where I want, set the timer for 10 seconds, and let 'er rip just before the shutter closes. I use this technique for most of my "action shots" that I take, but it usually takes several tries to get it right with a dart blaster. With these water blasters, it was MUCH easier!
I was kinda hoping for a little more of that "Spinning Cyclone of Soakage" from the Tornado Strike, but I think that was just the effect of the box artwork showcasing it's tightly knit spin for the two streams it puts out. However, after 3 shots with my Tornado Strike, I'm convinced the spinning has NEVER been that tight. No big loss, as it still turned out to be a neat shot.
Even while I'm on vacation, I've managed to get the Shot of the Week for the second time. A few things have changed with Nerf since my first SotW, but I've learned to forgive and forget about all that Urban Tagger-ness mess they made. I still enjoy their products and the people that enjoy them along with me, so it's not all bad. Hasbro is a corporation and sometimes business folks forget that these are toys with a few fans here and there. We all just need to settle down a bit and just enjoy them for the toys that they are.
My first SotW was definitely staged. Pretty sure I got it because that N-Strike patch had just came out along with the rare Red Strike series Recon featured in the shot. In general, there was a LOT of non-standard hardware on there but I still managed to keep it all "Stock" so it'd be kosher for the SotW. I took this shot with the intent of entering it for that contest and it achieved what I wanted it to.
This recent winner was just me having fun in the backyard with some friends and family. You can see the spray bouncing off my blaster which was a poorly aimed Hydro Cannon shot I was taking. It was too good of a shot to pass up so I posted it up after "re-liking" Nerf Nation for their previous crimes against Pocket at UT. Turned out to be a really fun shot AND I finally got to see that spinning effect the Tornado Strike has that I mentioned in an earlier post.
So keep having fun out there, guys! I've been laughing at some of the comments this SotW shot has gotten, so if you wanna see folks trying to be bullies with their cracks at my virginity, go ahead and read through 'em. I do appreciate the support though (I've seen a few folks identify me as Bazookafied or just "Tactical Tag") so thanks for that. In the meantime, hang loose! I'll be back from Hawaii on the 22nd!
Those lucky ducks at SG Nerf have nabbed TWO of the new Snapfire 8 blasters. This is a Dart Tag blaster that we got a sneak peek at during ToyFair 2012 but haven't really seen much of anything on it since. The review reveals the Snapfire to have excellent performance (especially for it's size), a compact design, and self-contained internals. SG Nerf had this to say about it's plunger size and possible future modifications.
There hasn't been any official word from Nerf about a release date on this, but I would expect the Snapfire to start hitting shelves before the N-Strike Elite stuff is released in August (late June, early July). Certainly looks like a blaster worth getting!