Nerf Blazin' Bow Review (5/10)

Bow knows.

If you were a 90's kids and somehow into Nerf at the time, the Bow n' Arrow was the coolest thing out there until the Arrowstorm showed up a few years down the line. Well guess what folks, if your a fan of the classic Nerf blaster or a fan of that ludicrously overrated novel I clearly forgot the name of, check out the Blazin' Bow, a review after the jump.

Air release holes in the barrel, I filled them in with hot glue.

So there has been some debate over what this exactly replaces. For one it definitely succeeds the BnA but some say the Big Bad Bow too. I doubt the B'B will replace the BBB since one is triggered, the other is not. I found this for $20 bucks at Target next to the Revonix360(Which I will pick up later on)and the Centurion(Which I will melt with a blowtorch and make fondue out of it) Out of the box it is comfortable but It does look better on camera for whatever reason, the orange appears more vibrant but its kind of a dark shade in real life. It has a faux sight and the same arrow holders as a BBB, so no wonder wasn't I surprised the internals were strikingly similar to the BBB.

Look familiar, even slightly? The tape is over a Centimeter wide air release hole.

Yep, very similar. There is two air release holes on the barrel and one HUGE one on the plunger tube. The Ones in the barrel are easy to fill with hot glue but I just taped over the big one. Stock this got at least 40 feet which is accurate with the box. With the AR removed and the holes plugged, it gets much more power.

Nearly the exact same gasket head from the BBB was used.

What really shocked me was the sight of almost the same gasket head from the BBB! I expected the tube to be exactly the same as the BBB but why redesign the whole plunger rod, and not even change the gasket from the previous blaster? I mean, that's old tech sitting in this thing and gaskets are notorious for generally poor seals compared to standard plungers, come on Nerf.

AR dumps right out. 

The air restrictor is also the exact same as the BBB but with a redesigned back plate for better air flow which won't matter since you got those TWO damn air release holes anyways. It like they designed the internals with the worst of logic. "Lets widen this out for better air flow and then drill holes in the PT!" or "Lets redesign the Plunger Rod and keep using the old gaskets!" Unbelievable.

So in conclusion there is really nothing new with the Blazin' Bow. It looks cool and it performs similarly to all it's predecessors so there really wasn't much development going into this at all since a good amount of parts were reused from the BBB, henceforth I give this bow a 5 out of 10 because it's cool and does perform decently for what it is stock but not much innovation went into it and just a lot of poor decisions.

The Verdict

Class- Pull Release Compound Bow

Range- Ordinary for what it is, about 40 Feet.

Size- More compact than a BBB.

Reliability- It can't jam or screw up any other way.

RoF- One arrow every second and a half depending on how fast you are.

Ammo- 3 9" Inch Arrows

Modding- The same stuff a BBB can with some obstacles that don't need to be there.
Value- At $20, it's not very pricey but it lacks in too may areas for it to be worth it.

Is It Better Than?

Big Bad Bow- No, for one thing the Blazin' Bow is less expensive but with that in mind, you don't get a trigger and a bunch of power restricting crap with it. The BBB has been a dominant force for many years and I don't think any bow class blaster other than the Crossbow has dethroned it yet.

Heartbreaker- Depends, the HB looks like the Blazin' Bow's flimsier and singled out of the box cousin. Unless you are totally in love with the shell and don't wan't to take the time to do the simple mods to single a BBB or a B'B, there is really no reason to buy this thing over the Blazin' Bow, just your taste I guess.

Bow n' Arrow- Yes, the Blazin' Bow succeeded this classic for being smaller and packing similar power to the Bow n' Arrow. The BnA had issues with accuracy due to the much longer 11" Inch Arrows but you would only buy this one now if you are an avid collector.

Crossbow- No, the Crossbow honestly was not that good of a blaster but it had devastating mod potential. Honestly I hate of how people turn these things into rifle style blasters and ruin the "Crossbow" look of it but that's really the only reason you would buy this thing for how ever overpriced they go for now.