Mattel BOOMco. Rapid Madness Review (4.5)

Fast death to your foes.

So it all starts like this, I was at Target hoping to find some goodies, particularly the Slingfire on the shelves ahead of schedule. As I was expecting it wasn't there so I talked to an employee who said if he had it in the back he would get it for me but there weren't any shipments of the 2014 Nerf gear in yet so I was out of luck. That was when I came across this gem, the Rapid Madness tucked away on an endcap along with the rest of the BOOMco. lineup so I picked this up considering it was the only thing on the market close to a Magstrike or PowerClip in function and lets just say, it got it right.

Size compared to a Praxis, it's quite large.

The Rapid Madness is Mattel's flagship blaster and it instantly became my favorite of the line when BOOMco. was announced out of nowhere a couple months ago. The blaster is expensive, like $49.99 expensive but I caved in anyways. Out of the box it's very well built, right on up there with Nerf in terms of build quality. It's very comfortable, the grip is large and so is the pump handle. The pump stroke is nice and solid too but also very long. Don't believe me? Look below...

Absolutely gargantuan stroke on this pump.

Holy hell. I measured that up and that's 10" inches of draw with a tube that's roughly an inch in diameter. And here's the real kicker, its a freaking dual stroke pump. With the 20 dart capacity this thing has it's understandable why this thing has a recommended 18 pumps but try that with a conventional pump. That'll be like 36 pumps and at that rate you'd be lucky if you didn't get carpal tunnel syndrome. Seriously though, the pump is huge but it serves a good purpose.

A look at the front of the piston mechanism. No idea how it works.

I did attempt opening this blaster but the front was secured tight by the usual culprit, glue on rings and I didn't feel like getting up to boil a pot of water at 11 o clock at night just to open this thing. But what I caught a glimpse of was a rather massive bladder(Which explains the massive pump) linked to a trigger valve and then a rather unique piston system that is totally unlike any of Nerf's air powered full autos. Another cool thing to note is the presence of a purge valve which can be used to relieve the bladder of excess air. Other than that the general layout of the internals isn't much different from Nerf's but lets get onto the ammo.

The 20 round clip and a Smart Stick Dart vs an Elite Dart.

The clip is very sturdily built, in fact it seems to be practically riveted together so taking it apart will be no easy feat. The darts are another story. The Smart Stick Darts are designed to stick to the packaged target and pop up shield and they really do cement themselves to the surface, it's quite magical. The body isn't much different in length than an Elite dart but its skinnier and the material is like that of a straw. Honestly I wish Mattel went with a conventional dart body so the famous issue of an unusual, non universal ammo type didn't come into play here. I don't think converting it to Nerf darts is impossible but it won't be easy.

Despite the unusalness of the ammo, it actually fires them fairly well. The box claims are accurate and I'm getting my shots off int around the 45-50 foot range area. It's not Elite but hey, it's rate of fire kicks ass. It's probably comparable to a Rapid Fire 20 in rate of fire which is nice considering you can time your shots and don't have to worry about emptying your clip in one trigger pull which is apparent with the PowerClip. And versus the RF20, it's internals seem more reliable(And more quiet) so the blaster should last a good long time. Well done Mattel, well done.

Overall the Rapid Madness is a pretty cool gun. I love it's aesthetics and it's performs very solidly for a blaster of it's type. My only major downsides are the price and the ammo which although is cool, it's not exactly useful having another ammo type other than just regular foam darts. For these reasons I give the Rapid Madness a 4.5. If you want something different, go pick it up. I definitely recommend it.

The Verdict

Class- Air Powered Full Auto Assault Rifle

Range- Good, 45 to 50 feet.

Size- Roughly the size of a Stampede.

Reliability- No major issues, potential leaks as it is an air blaster.

Ammo- 20 Smart Stick Darts

Modding- Mostly unknown, could be converted to Nerf darts with a lot of work.

Is It Better Than?

Wildfire- Yes, the Wildfire is good blaster but versus the Rapid Madness in terms of reload speed and reliability, the Wildfire severely falls short as it takes many more pumps and is not clip fed.

Rapid Fire 20- Yes, same as the Wildfire but the RF20 has slightly improved reliability over the Wildfire and it takes less pumps. It still falls short of the Rapid Madness for the same reasons.

PowerClip- No, the PowerClip is an absolute monster of a blaster with it's unrivaled(Although somewhat problematic) high rate of fire. Despite it's lower ammo capacity and inability to swap clips, this can all be remedied with simple mods. And above all, PowerClips are fairly common and inexpensive.

Magstrike- Depends, the Magstrike is basically the PowerClip's less powerful and reliable sibling. It has the ability to swap clips stock but they are not sold in stores like the Rapid Madness's are. Magstrikes are however very common and cheap.