New 2014 Nerf Blasters

It's been a while since I've posted anything Nerf related because... well, there hasn't really been anything to post about. I've gotten a little sidetracked on some reviews and I should get to them eventually before they become old news. So for the moment I decided to compile a list of Nerf blasters being released for the 2014 Nerf year. From what I've seen, we have a mix of new ideas like the Slingfire, a few not so inventive and somewhat outlandish blasters like the Cam ECS-12, and of course the repaints, we absolutely "LOVE" repaints. Let's dive into what Nerf has in store for us.

Combat Creatures Attacknid

Drone warfare, this could be game changing.

Say hello to the Attacknid, well it actually might be familiar to some of you. This is a retooling of the Combat Creatures Attacknid robot that was produced by Wow! Stuff. I guess Nerf just saw potential in a dart blasting robot and integrated this bugger into the brand. The Attacknid has a 12 round rapid fire flywheel turret(That shoots about 45 feet) mounted on a six legged chassis and it's remote controlled. I do think the bot would actually be more practical if they added a mounter camera that streams to a screen on the controller so you don't have to physically see the robot to control it but I'd be curious to see what the modders might do with this. The price for the Attacknid is $79.99.

Cam ECS-12

I can film my nerf wars now! And it looks just like... the 90s... 

This blaster has probably received a fair amount of public slandering and it's understandable. The Cam ECS-12 is a 12 round assault rifle with a camera on top, pretty simple concept. However, the camera is an absolute mind blowing 0.3 megapixels and it captures video at a whopping 20 frames per second, wow. And the blaster itself advertises 90 foot ranges and nobody has clue whether it's semi auto or full auto but I'm leaning towards the latter. To me this thing is a glorified Stryfe you could save more money by duct taping a giant 1990s era camcorder to a Rapidstrike and it would still be more worthwhile. Oh yeah... the price. How does $79.99 fly for you? It sure as hell doesn't for me.

Demolisher 2 in 1

Not sure if I should call the underbarrel a pro pipe or a noob tube.

The Demolisher is like the Cam ECS-12's more practical cousin. It's a 10 round assault rifle with a grenade launcher and a banana clip. I was hoping for an actual AIR powered launcher underneath but of course Nerf likes to disappoint us with air powered systems nowadays and we get stuck with push pull crap like we usually get. The rifle itself advertises 90 foot ranges(Same as the Cam so they are probably identical internally) and the launcher is 50 depending on how hard you pull of course. The blaster is cool looking but the launcher non removable(Get your Dremels ready) and the bend in the clip is just dead space. And like the Cam, it's vague as to whether it's full auto or semi, but for $39.99 I can't really complain... I'd just buy a Rapidstrike instead for the same price and forget about it.

Slingfire

Hasta la vista, baby.

Now this is what were talking about! Lever action power! Seriously though, I couldn't be more excited for the Slingfire. It's a 6 round lever action repeater, the first of it's kind not counting Buzz Bee's Rapid Fire Rifle. The Slingfire boasts the usual Elite ranges and I wasn't surprised when I saw a plunger similar to a Retaliator in it. And the best part is you can one hand this bad boy like Terminator 2. Unfortunately for modders this means that the smooth one hand prime also comes at a very obvious cost, gears. Chucking a bigger spring in this could really mess things up inside of it. So unless there is some sort of magical way to upgrade this thing's power without breaking it, it's mostly going to remain a close range weapon but this is almost one of those blasters that's fine stock in my eyes. Oh and for $24.99, I might just buy two and go dual wielding.

Doublestrike

A pistol you can hide in your pants.

The Doublestrike is Nerf's derringer, a double barreled hammer action pistol. There doesn't seem to be anything too special about this little bastard. It seems to utilize a Smart AR system like on the Triad and Roughcut 2x4 and being hammer action, it might perform similarly to the Hammershot. I would have to say for $9.99 you can get a pretty nice, fast pistol to go and blast someone in the face with as a last resort. Not to mention you can dual wield them, how fun.

Longshot CS-12

He rises again.

If there is anything to be totally excited about, it's this. Now I have no idea if Nerf actually did anything different to the inside of this new Longshot(I honestly hope they didn't) but all I can tell is that it is clearly missing it's front gun and bipod but it's sports a new paintjob and a 12 round clip as well. Prices for the new LS are unknown at the moment but for whatever they sell it for, you'll get a solid battle rifle that can be modified into one beast of a weapon.

Clear Shot

Hold on, where did this come from?

Quite obviously a repainted Dart Tag Stormfire with a Shot Blast scope, the Clear Shot actually operates no different from the Stormfire. Hitting ranges of around 25 to 30 feet is pretty less than stellar especially with most blasters today hitting ranges a little over double that. Prices are unknown but it is still a cool looking pistol without a doubt.

Thunderbow

Hunger Games? Who the hell needs 'em!

This is definitely one of the oddballs of the group but I have to admit I actually like the Thunderbow. Something about's it's Blazin' Bow crossed Roughcut look just appeals to me in some way I don't understand. And the cool thing is, it works somewhat like a real bow. The arms are assumingly linked to a gear system that pulls back on a big ass plunger. From there you have the 5 round sequential Smart AR system and it supposedly hits 100 feet but I can imagine that's usually exaggerated especially coming from Nerf. This thing will retail for $39.99 and I'm curious to see what potential it has.

Agent Bow

As close as it will ever get without killing someone.

Jesus, anything bow related seems to be all the rage nowadays and this is probably the most authentic of them. This is actually the first Rebelle blaster not to fire darts and it fires these rather flimsy looking arrows much like a real bow would up to a kind of surprising 85 feet. It also has an integrated red dot sight but as far mod potential goes? It's pretty obvious that there anything worth salt in this blaster for mods but of course, the kids will buy it anyways. This retails for $29.99.

Diamondista

I like my crossbows with a side of glitter.

The quite apparent horrid name aside, the Diamondista seems like the Agent Bow's watered down little sister. It's an actual functioning crossbow designed to hurl Elite darts 75 feet using only the power of elastic. There really isn't anything special about it and there's not a bit mod potential as far as the eye can see with it. For $9.99, we'll just have to see what happens.

Messenger

It's like a Firestrike with three barrels... did I see that already?

This is pretty much the Triadstrike mod in full production. The Messenger is pretty much what you can expect it to be, a Smart AR pistol. This thing is actually a fairly practical sidearm considering it has three shots without having to reload and the usual elite ranges to boot. For $15.99 there isn't really much to complain about with this pistol.

Rapid Red

Like there isn't a surplus of flywheel blasters already...

I don't even have to guess twice to know that the Rapid Red is just a reshelled Stryfe. I mean just look at it! As far as I can can tell the only major difference is that the battery tray seems to be front mounted and the clip holds 12 rounds as opposed to the Stryfe's 6 but it still looks like a much less versatile blaster than the Stryfe in terms of customization options despite the very high probability of the two being identical internally. Not to mention it's $29.99, ten bucks more than the Stryfe. Ouch.

Spylight

You gotta love reshells.

Another no brainer, it's quite clearly a retooled Strongarm. I'm expecting this to perform identically to the Strongarm and if it has slam fire and Nerf just didn't say it did, I'm going to laugh my ass off. Even then the Strongarm is a great pistol, I'm just not sure for $19.99, ten bucks more than the Strongarm, the Rebelle counterpart with a flashlight and extra ammo storage is worth it.