Never reviewed a Rebelle blaster before, not really sure why. I guess it was mostly due to the fact that they were all re-shells of stuff I've reviewed before so whenever I look at their stuff I just think "Another Jolt? Another Strongarm?" and so on. So that basically leaves the bows, which are honestly the only parts of Rebelle that seem to have the most innovation going on. Yeah a lot of it is just slapping bow arms onto a Jolt and calling it a day but one did draw my attention after all. This is the Arrow Revolution; it's almost like an attempt to make the Rebelle line's elastic bows more relevant in the world of dart blasting but even then, it didn't quite do it.
Size compared to a Thunderbow. It's very big.
The Arrow Revolution can be almost seen as an evolution of the Agent Bow since they use the same ammo type and fire much the same exact way. Cosmetically it's not a bad looking bow and I know it's designed for girls but the almost neon noir color scheme make's it stand out quite a lot. It's roughly the same size as the massive Thunderbow and it's relatively lightweight and comfortable to hold. The elastic draw on it is notably strong but it isn't very difficult to pull. Unlike the Thunderbow, this string does indeed serves to propel the arrows whereas the Thunderbow actually used a catch system and a massive plunger all linked to the draw by a crap ton of gears. That's why there are no internal shots for the Revolution, it's obviously got nothing to show.
Revolving quiver up close.
What really makes the Arrow Revolution stand out from other bows is it's loading mechanism. While most bows operate simply by hand loading every single shot or in case of the Thunderbow, a sequential Smart AR, the Revolution uses this nifty six round revolving quiver. The way it works is simple, you load the thing up with arrows and when you want to load an arrow into the bow, you pull the trigger and it rotates, forcing an arrow into the resting position. And when I say load, I don't really mean "load", it's more like an assisted loading device that only gets half of the process done. You still have to nock the arrow yourself and there is a very high potential that the arrow the quiver just dumped into the resting position will slide out of the bow if you have it at a bad angle. You basically have to hold it perfectly level to prevent the arrow from sliding out. Loading the damn quiver isn't an easy task either. The front and rear sections of the quiver rotate independently of each other and loading the first arrow is a bit of pain in the ass and then it just sort of sits there. It doesn't take much force to dislodge the arrows; I dropped the bow from a foot high and the arrows just exploded everywhere. It's seriously the most hilariously finicky shit I've ever used. A Vortex Firestorm is easier to load and keep loaded than this thing and that's saying something.
Close up of the resting position and the indentation where the arrow head rests when the bow is drawn.
And it just gets worse after that. Many people dogged on the the Agent Bow for being laughably inconsistent when it fired and this isn't much different. It's slightly better at keeping arrows from spazzing out as soon as it leaves the bow but the Revolution still doesn't mind sending arrows out of the bow at a 90 degree angle right into your mother's fine china every now and then. That's provided the quiver didn't dump your arrows out onto the floor. When it does fire properly, it fires hard and fast plus it's rather accurate, pushing about the 50 to 60 foot mark. Not to mention it's mostly dead silent apart from the screamer tip on the arrows and the faint mechanical noises of the quiver. It can possibly push a little more range with better practice too, but that's what really kills the usability factor of the Arrow Revolution is that it take practice. What was fun about the Thunderbow is that it's pick up and go and you can slam darts down range with that thing screaming bloody murder. Everything about the Revolution, from loading it to firing it takes finesse and if you don't treat it accordingly, it will most likely screw you over, be it dropping your ammo onto the floor or sending an arrow the wrong way into your TV. It's like the most bipolar thing Nerf has ever built.
The Arrow Revolution is definitely an oddball. It's bright and colorful exterior hides it's true, bitter self. It hates your guts. It secretly wants to garrote you with it's bow string and leave you drooling into the carpet while it sends arrows sideways into expensive dinnerware. But if you treat it right, it can reward you with satisfying range and accuracy but why go through the effort? The Thunderbow is easier to use and more powerful or better yet, why not just get a normal blaster with a trigger? Conventional bows(no trigger)in general are highly impractical in foam warfare and there just isn't much use for them. It is a fun piece of kit for screwing around but that's basically it. It's too unpredictable and that's why I can only give it a 6 out of 10 but as all experiments go, they can't all be winners. Now excuse me while I clean up some broken glass.
The Verdict
Class- Multi Shot Heavy Bow
Range- Excellent, around 50 to 60 feet with good accuracy but that's if you get lucky.
Size- Massive, around 3 feet tall, about the same as the Thunderbow.
Reliability- Nothing can really go wrong here as there's no fancy plungers or air tanks. Just centuries old weapon design at it's weirdest.
Ammo- 6 Rebelle Arrows
Modding- No potential.
Value- At $40, it's fairly steep for something so temperamental.
Is It Better Than?
Agent Bow- Depends, the Agent Bow suffers from the same erratic firing problem of the Revolution if not a bit worse. However it features conventional loading only so it can't dump ammo out of it when it's held at the wrong angle. I honestly can't think of any good things to say about either, they're both so impractical that I might as well just move on.
Thunderbow- No, the Thunderbow is a beast of a bow and it packs a bigger punch without any of the quirkiness of the Revolution. It also fire much faster and I noted of a little exploit in the bow's catch system that basically allows you to slam fire the Thunderbow. It's bit more heavy and awkward to haul around but at least it can fire forwards instead of sideways.
Thunderbow- No, the Thunderbow is a beast of a bow and it packs a bigger punch without any of the quirkiness of the Revolution. It also fire much faster and I noted of a little exploit in the bow's catch system that basically allows you to slam fire the Thunderbow. It's bit more heavy and awkward to haul around but at least it can fire forwards instead of sideways.
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