Nerf Doomlands 2169 The Judge Review (6/10)

I am the law.

Nerf has been cranking out some pretty bonkers blasters lately, a lot which are on the same kind of insanity we haven't seen since the vintage days. You'll get oddballs like the Voidcaster which seem impractical but actually perform rather well, or you get things like the Brainsaw which are just flat out garbage on all accounts. This right here though, I feel sort of ushers in a whole new definition of insanity. Say you want the biggest piece on the field, practicality isn't an issue but you don't want a sniper rifle, a machine gun, or even a rocket launcher. Nothing really fits that bill right? Not anymore. Meet The Judge, the most ridiculous blaster I've ever laid hands on.

Size compared to a Titan. Uh... holy shit.

I'm not even sure where to start with this. The Judge is a pump action blaster but it's overall mass is pushing close to that of some heavy blasters like the Mastodon. No really, this thing is fucking ginormous and it's basically just for the hell of it. While the grip is perfectly fine by any sort of comfort standards, The Judge is top to front heavy on levels I've never even seen before on a blaster without a stock. It weighs in at close to five pounds, compared to a Vulcan which clocks in at around seven and a half with a full load of D-cell batteries. Thankfully, for those that have arms with the strength of linguine, The Judge does have ample mounting points for a strap.

Ten clusters of three darts make for one massive cylinder.

So what's the reason for all this weight? Much of it is concentrated in the giant 30-round revolving cylinder in the front which basically consists of three separate blocks of plastic that you have to attach to the baster before use. I feel as if this cylinder is unnecessarily large as there's pretty sizable gaps of plastic between the barrel clusters but I think going light and practical is far from the point of The Judge. I will say, reloading this thing is a pain in the ass. Really anything above ten rounds without a magazine starts to verge on obnoxious but The Judge, coupled with the size and weight, and the fact you have to manually rotate the nearly fully enclosed cylinder to access two clusters obstructed by the massive front brace, is one of the worst.

Like the other Doomlands blasters, you get to take a peak inside.

This is especially bad considering this thing burns through it's ammo capacity like nobody's business. The Judge is a shotgun type blaster since it fires three rounds at a time. Take that into account with it's 30 dart capacity and in reality you only get ten shots before needing to reload this monstrosity. So I guess the lack of slam fire isn't a terrible thing either. This is all coupled with the fact the blaster only get's ranges of around 30 to 40 feet in a fairly consistent spread. It's not exactly stellar by today's standards but considering the amount of foam you can send one's way in short notice, it makes for a pretty nasty close quarters blaster.

Internal shots stolen from WalcomS7, mainly because I'm too chickenshit to consider opening this one.

I wasn't too keen to find out what the inner workings of The Judge would hold in store, one because you can see a bit of the internals through the transparent top, and two because the construction of this thing made me afraid I was going to ruin it. That being said, the internals aren't all that impressive. There's an average sized plunger that fires into three barrels at the same time while the pump grip is linked to this long gear lever that honestly leads me to believe chucking bigger springs into this thing won't be the best idea. This is probably one to keep stock, and the difficulty of opening it alone should be enough to deter most people into finding something less ridiculous to modify.

The Judge is really simply put, a completely goofy blaster. It's far too large for it's own role, loading it is pitifully slow, and the performance is average at best. I'll be honest though, it's hard to knock this thing. It's just a ton of fun to play around with and that's probably the point, is to throw the notion of practicality off the top floor and just build something completely insane just for the reason of putting a smile on your face. There's much better blasters that fill the close quarters role than The Judge but I doubt any of them will have as much character as this one. For that, it deserves a 6 out of 10, nothing more, nothing less. Case dismissed.

The Verdict

Class- Heavy Shotgun

Range- Decent, 30 to 40 feet.

Reliability- No issues to report.

Ammo- 30 Elite Darts

Modding- ARs can be removed but potential is fairly limited.
Value- At $60, it's awfully expensive for it's limited use.

Is It Better Than?

Sledgefire- No, this blaster has basically cemented itself as the king of all shotgun blasters just off it's sheer versatility. Sledgefires can be easily modified and it's use of shells eliminates the need to mod them specifically for certain roles. While The Judge definitely packs more firepower, a skilled Sledgefire user can fire off rounds relatively quickly in a much smaller and lighter package. These are unfortunately discontinued now so if you can find one, it's definitely worth getting.

Burstwave- Yes, the Burstwave is unfortunately a pretty mediocre blaster in stock form. It's air pressure system significantly increases the time between shots and it's non-standard ammo type makes it slightly more impractical to use. Also, the performance is seriously sub-par and inconsistent. However, the Burstwave does have an ace up it's sleeve. With a simple overpressure valve plug, this blaster can be more powerful than either The Judge or the Sledgefire while still maintaining it's regular functionality. If you can mod, it's worth a look.