NERF’s girl-focused Rebelle line has really come onto its own with some pretty cool blaster designs, including the Secrets & Spies Arrow Revolution Bow Blaster. This blaster fires 6 whistling arrows up to 90 feet away, with an intergrated rotating quiver which autoloads a new arrow as the previous one is shot.
www.hasbro.com/en-us/product/nerf-rebelle-secrets-and-spies-arrow-revolution-bow-blaster
Usually, I’m pretty content with just showing off cool new NERF blasters without knowing the details of their operating mechanism, but this educational video from YouTube Channel engineerguy shows how a particular pistol-style NERF blaster functions. It’s actually pretty cool to see how this particular model works.
The Doominator is the latest blaster from NERF’s Zombie Strike line. A beast of a blaster, the Doominator features 4 flipping drums which are manually switched via the two-finger lever underneath the trigger guard. Each drum holds 6 darts, for a total of 24 darts when fully loaded. It’s a pump-action blaster; it comes with a grip that can screw into the 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and 9 o’clock positions of the action to make cycling easier.
nerf.hasbro.com/en-us/product/nerf-zombie-strike-doominator-blaster
NERF Rival is the latest line of NERF blasters, with a strong competitive theme in that each blaster and accessory is available in either a ‘Team Red’ or ‘Team Blue’ configuration (I’ll let you guess what colors are associated with each team). The blasters are also named after Greek gods, and they fire ball-shaped “high impact rounds” rather than the familiar darts.
This particular gun, the Apollo XV-700, actually has a pretty cool set of features:
– Mechanical safety above the trigger guard
– Top mounted charging handle, reminiscent of the FAMAS
– Accessory rails (a bit smaller than Picatinny standard; trust me, I tried mounting an EOTech just for giggles)
– Seven-shot magazine, which seats within the pistol grip
Oh, and it kicks like a beast, at least by NERF standards, when it fires. Given the projectiles sport a 100 fps velocity, you’d figure it would have to have a pretty strong action.
I only have two complaints:
1) The charging handle obscures the sight profile of the Apollo
2) There’s not a lot of grip room to place your off-hand, since the rear of the Apollo holds the spring assembly.
The best part, though? They actually call the magazine a magazine. Now that’s what I call progress.
Last Friday, Hasbro released a few new Episode VII NERF blasters as part of the Force Friday toy release.
These were available at Toys-R-Us, but they should be available at other stores as well.
I haven’t seen these yet, but I’ll have to pick up a few for myself. They look pretty interesting.
The newest line of NERF blasters and melee weapons, Doomlands is looking really damn cool. Themed around a sort of apocalyptic Western setting takes place in the year 2169, the line is set to release starting August. The line consists of:
The Swift Justice knife
The Vagabond pump-action blaster
The Vigilance tomahawk
The Lawbringer hammer-action blaster
The NERF Rebelle line is a line of NERF blasters for girls. One of the more interesting blasters in the line is the ‘Secrets and Spies’ Secret Shot Blaster. Designed to look like a “fashionable bag”, it unfolds into a 4-shot blaster. It reminds me of a Magpul FMG-9, with a bit of a P90 influence. Change it into a briefcase or something similar, color it black with orange accents, and it would be pretty good for boys as well.
It can be bought most places where NERF guns are sold.
www.hasbro.com/en-us/product/nerf-rebelle-secrets-and-spies-secret-shot-blaster-purple
Easily one of the most impressive NERF blasters yet released, the N-Strike Elite Rhino-Fire is a double-barrel, fixed-position blaster, capable of firing darts up to 90 feet away. The Rhino-Fire is fed by two 25-dart drums, although any standard N-Strike magazines will also work. The Rhino-Fire also features multiple accessory rails, and comes with a tripod.
I’m a big fan of NERF blasters and the various affiliated products, and I’ve featured them quite frequently on the site. That’s why I’m a bit shocked that I haven’t heard of Orange Mod Works until quite recently. Orange Mod Works provides aftermarket parts kits for a variety of popular NERF blasters, increasing their performance with new triggers, springs, and more.
They’ve even produced these awesome black magazines with 25-dart double-stack capacity.
NERF has released two new melee weapons as part of their Z-Strike line of blasters and accessories, the 2×4 and the Z-Wrench Axe. Well, to be more specific, the 2×4 is part of the ‘Zombie Strike’ line, and the Z-Wrench Axe is part of the ‘Zombie Strike Z.E.D. (Zombie Epidemic Defense) Squad’ line; sub-branding, it’s a helluva thing, eh?
The 2×4 has some kind of taped handle and a sheet of spiked metal bolted around the head. Pretty standard affair. I actually double checked my post history just to make completely sure I hadn’t already done this one.
Now, the Z-Wrench Axe is something else. In fact, it is my absolute favorite weapon in the entire Z-Strike line thus far. It’s a Monkey Wrench clamping down on an axe head, with tape and/or cloth functioning as extra support for holding the head in place. Simplistic, yet extremely creative. It doesn’t share the same worn look as most of the rest of the Z-Strike line; there is some kind of unspecified addition to the handle which functions as a grip, maybe it’s supposed to be a kind of wire.
Like most Z-Strike products, these can be found where ever toys are sold.
www.hasbro.com/nerf/en_US/zombie/shop/browse.cfm?N=252+63+1195
As I’m sure you can imagine by the wealth of NERF articles we post on this site, this is pretty much a daily occurrence at TFB headquarters.
You can check out RackaRacka’s channel here: www.youtube.com/channel/UCz_cDc_2arKIb6SlJoqFT0w
The NERF Zombie Strike Hammer Combat Kit consists of a NERF Hammer melee weapon and mask.
The Hammer features the apocalyptic ‘wear-n-tear’ look as the rest of the Zombie Strike line, such as appearing to having been made from cobbled together materials (bent pipe with wrapped wire grip combined with a brick strike head) and featuring markings and Zombie Strike branding. The mask is a bit more colorful, being made from foam with dual elastic retention bands.
Here’s one of our very own Amigos showing just how menacing this ‘combat kit’ can be. The shirt matching the mask was just a happy coincidence.
The Hammer Combat Kit should be available for sale wherever Z-Strike/Zombie Strike products are sold. We got ours at Target.
www.hasbro.com/nerf/en_US/zombie/shop/browse.cfm?N=252+63+1195
A new addition to the Zombie Strike line, this chainsaw takes an obvious cue from the Lancer in Gears of War, but it’s pretty badass so we’ll forgive ’em. Made of NERF’s trademark foam, it functions as a standalone toy chainsaw, all marked up with battle damage and the like. Pressing the green button on either side will produce chainsaw noises, although the left side also functions as the speaker so unfortunately the sound gets a bit muffled when in use. The coolest feature is its compatibility with the NERF tactical rail, so it can be attached to the forend of any compatible NERF blaster.
The Zombie Strike Chainsaw should be available wherever NERF is sold.
The Z-Bat is the latest in the line of NERF Zombie themed ‘Zombie Strike’ toys and accessories. It’s a foam bat, made to look like it was modified for an apocalyptic setting: tape wrapped around the handle, broken, jagged head, and metal and barbed wire wrapped around the body.
The Z-Bat is a relatively new product, but it should be available wherever NERF Zombie Strike products are sold.
Williamsburg, Virginia – Hunter Research and Technology is pleased to announce a new Zombie Strike theme for the Nerf Mission App, developed in partnership with Hasbro. Featuring great artwork by UI designers at Manifest Digital, the Zombie Strike theme features a zombie-inspired heads up display, Zombie Strike blaster arsenal, and all new Zombie Strike missions. This update of the Nerf Mission app also include a special long range heads up display for the new Nerf Centurion MEGA blaster.
The Nerf Mission App works with the new Nerf N-Strike Elite Tactical Rail Mount Accessory and turns any rail-equipped Nerf blaster into a full battle cam with heads up display, compass, inclinometer, and rangefinder. The app lets users record photos and videos, track their arsenal, learn about hand signals used to communicate with a squad, and plan out different missions for multiplayer Nerf battles.
The Nerf Mission App is based on the Theodolite Augmented Reality Navigation app developed by Hunter Research and Technology. This game-changing app defined a new standard for augmented reality navigation when it debuted in 2009, and has been a #1 selling navigation app in iTunes stores around the world. Theodolite works as a heads up display with compass, GPS, map, zoom photo/movie camera, rangefinder, tracker, and two-axis inclinometer.
Theodolite is great for outdoor sports, hiking, boating, hunting, golf, sightseeing, photography, and navigation. The app is used in the field every day by surveyors, geologists, architects, engineers, military personnel, competitive sportsmen, and search and rescue workers. And in October, Apple featured Theodolite being used at the Great Wall of China during a special event.
The Nerf Mission App with Zombie Strike theme is available for free from the iTunes App Store, just in time to battle zombies during the holiday season. The app works with most iPhone and iPod touch devices running iOS 6.0 or later. The Nerf N-Strike Elite Tactical Rail Mount Accessory is for ages 8 and up, and sold separately. See Nerf online for more information and a list of retailers.
Theodolite is available on the iTunes App Store for a 50%-off 4-year anniversary sale price of $3.99 USD, and is the perfect holiday gift or purchase for outdoor enthusiasts, professionals, students, teachers, and high-tech gadget lovers (it’s also great for battling zombies). Theodolite runs on any camera-equipped iPhone or iPod touch. Theodolite HD runs on any camera-equipped iPad or iPad Mini. More information, including screenshots, is available on the Hunter Research and Technology website. Media professionals interested in reviewing Theodolite can request a promotional code to download the apps from iTunes at no cost.
Nerf
www.nerf.com/
Theodolite
hrtapps.com/theodolite/
NERF Mission App 1.1
itunes.apple.com/us/app/nerf-mission-app/id664942608
Theodolite 3.2 iTunes Link (iPhone and iPod touch)
itunes.apple.com/us/app/theodolite/id339393884
Theodolite HD 3.2 iTunes Link (iPad and iPad mini)
itunes.apple.com/us/app/theodolite-hd/id425456242
The NERF Rebelle line is a series that consists of rebranded blasters and accessories to better appeal to young girls. The line features products colored with light pinks, purples, and whites and darts with light colors and special designs. I have no problem whatsoever with young girls playing with NERF blasters (they can be a lot of fun), but do girls already playing with blasters even care about the branding? And does Hasbro expect to draw in girls that don’t play with blasters because these happen to look ‘pretty’? Maybe I’m wrong and they’ll be a big hit, but it just sees kinda silly to me.
We just picked up the second in the Zombie Strike line, the Hammershot blaster. It’s a single-action revolver with a five dart capacity. The top rail lets you use other N-Strike accessories, and it features Zombie Strike branding, including the obligatory taped-up post-apocalyptic grip; still too colorful for my tastes, but it is a toy for kids so that’s just me being nitpicky. It shoots pretty far and despite being single-action you’ll still go through the limited capacity fairly quickly; the trigger’s also pretty sensitive. It’s a Target exclusive, so you can pick one up there.
This is the Machete [Machete Machete*] and the Z-Strike Z-Bombs. Fitting in a bit better with the “zombie” theme, the Machete [Machete Machete] has a duller color pallet, with a ‘taped-up’ grip and Z-Strike branding; I don’t think I need to mention it’s made of foam, but I will anyway. The Z-bombs are the most interesting part of the line, so far. They’re foam throwing projectiles, but some of them are pretty wild. From left to right: a half-football stuffed with three sticks of dynamite, some kind of explosive shell/grenade, a good-ole’-fashioned taped-up brickbat, and a sawblade.
The Slegeshot is a Target stores exclusive. I’m pretty sure you can find the Machete [Machete Machete] and the Z-bombs in other shops, although the line isn’t featured on the official NERF page yet.
*The packaging the Machete, and the rest of the line, comes in is tri-lingual: English, French, and Spanish. Since machete is spelled the same in all three languages, the name repeats itself three times.
Williamsburg, Virginia – Hunter Research and Technology is pleased to announce it’s latest client app project, the Nerf Mission App, developed in partnership with Hasbro, Inc. The Nerf Mission App works with the new Nerf N-Strike Elite Tactical Rail Mount Accessory and turns an N-Strike Elite blaster into a full battle cam with heads up display, compass, inclinometer, and rangefinder. The app lets users record photos and videos, track their arsenal, learn about hand signals used to communicate with a squad, and plan out different missions for multiplayer Nerf battles.
The Nerf Mission App is based on the Theodolite Augmented Reality Navigation app developed by Hunter Research and Technology. This game-changing app defined a new standard for augmented reality navigation when it debuted in 2009, and has been a #1 selling navigation app in iTunes stores around the world. Theodolite works as a heads up display with compass, GPS, map, zoom photo/movie camera, rangefinder, tracker, and two-axis inclinometer. Uses are endless, and Theodolite is great for outdoor sports, hiking, boating, hunting, golf, sightseeing, photography, home projects, and navigation. The app has professional grade features for advanced measurement, observation, and data acquisition, and is used in the field on the job every day by military personnel, first responders, search and rescue workers, surveyors, geologists, architects, engineers, and competitive sportsmen around the world.
Theodolite lets users take geo-stamped camera images, screenshots, movies, and HUD-based screen movies directly from the app. The app includes features like a navigation calculator, map with live markers, team tracking, data logging, KML export, percent grade display, mil compass readout, optical rangefinders (including a mil-based reticle and sniper-style stadiametric graphs), and colored lens filters to improve use in dark conditions and preserve night vision. Theodolite supports over a dozen position formats, and offers an optional World Geodetic Datum Pack with over 220 geodetic datums covering regions and countries on all continents around the world.
“We’re pleased to take Theodolite’s powerful augmented reality technology in a fun and exciting new direction,” said Dr. Craig Hunter, principal and lead developer at Hunter Research and Technology. “Theodolite has a strong customer base of professionals, outdoor enthusiasts, and high-tech gadget nerds, and the Nerf Mission App brings a whole new group of more playful and younger users into the fold.”
The Nerf Mission App is available for free from the iTunes App Store, and works with most iPhone and iPod touch devices running iOS 5.0 or later (iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, and 5 are supported, as well as 4th- and 5th-generation iPod touch). The Nerf N-Strike Elite Tactical Rail Mount Accessory is for ages 8 and up, and sold separately. See www.nerf.com for more information and a list of retailers.
Theodolite and Theodolite HD are available on the iTunes App Store for a 20%-off summer sale price of $3.99 USD. Theodolite runs on any camera-equipped iPhone or iPod touch. Theodolite HD runs on any camera-equipped iPad or iPad Mini. More information, including screenshots, is available on the Hunter Research and Technology website at www.hrtapps.com/theodolite.
Links:
Nerf Mission App on iTunes
Theodolite 3.2 on iTunes (iPhone and iPod touch)
Theodolite HD 3.2 on iTunes (iPad and iPad mini)
Hunter Research and Technology is run by Dr. Craig Hunter, a practicing engineer with over 20 years of experience in engineering and software development. Dr. Hunter received the 2004 NASA Software of the Year Award and a 2004 Apple Design Award (Best Scientific Computing Solution on Mac OS X) for his work in software development. He founded Hunter Research and Technology in 2008 to create innovative apps that leverage the advanced hardware and software capabilities of iOS devices and Macs. The company has numerous apps available on the iTunes App Store, and develops apps for a range of clients worldwide. Copyright (C) 2013 Hunter Research and Technology. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iTunes, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and iPad mini are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Nerf, N-Strike Elite, and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc.
Nerf is getting into the zombie game with their upcoming line of Zombie Strike blasters. Details include the Zombie Strike logo and wooden and tape decorations, to give each blaster that ‘post-apocalyptic’ DIY repair feel. Two blasters, the above Hammershot and the Sledgefire, will be available September 1st at Target stores. The rest of the line, which includes a crossbow, more blasters, targets, and a sword, will be available through the rest of 2013 into 2014.
hat tip: io9.com – Zombie Strike Line
The inteliSCOPE is an app for Android and iOS smartphones that turns the device into a tactical optic. It features multiple self-orienting reticles, 5x digital zoom, drop compensation, recording and playback options, built-in compass, GPS positioning, shot timer, and local prevailing winds.
Additionally, the smartphone can be attached to a 1913 picatinny rail using the inteliSCOPE Tactical Adapter System. It’s made from high strength composite-reinforced polymer with a ruggedized tactile rubber finish. It detaches via a quick-release toggle, can be adjusted to portrait or landscape orientation, and allows for the user to shoot around corners with no head exposure. A Nerf rail adapter also allows the user to use the inteliSCOPE on any of the N-strike Nerf blasters.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/inteliscope-for-shooters
Thanks to J. Smith for the tip!
Looking for a more practical application for all those NERF guns you obviously bought after reading about them on this site (besides nailing every living thing within your immediate area with foam darts on a regular basis)? Then you have the option of picking up a NERF Shoot to Snooze alarm clock. One well placed shot to the target area is the only way to activate the clock’s snooze function, giving any foam dart marksman a few more minutes of rest. Other features include: LCD screen with backlight, nightlight, and 12/24 hour functionality, and date and temperature display.
NERF has upped their dart launcher game with the latest release in the N-Strike line, the Hail-Fire Blaster. Powered by 4 AA batteries, the Hail-Fire’s electronically-assisted semi-auto action can launch the new blue colored Elite darts upwards of 75 feet. Additionally, thanks to the unique rotating loading mechanism up to 144 darts can be loaded into the Hail-Fire because it’s designed to hold up to 8 18-dart “quick reload clips” (dart magazines). Of course, the obligatory top and under-barrel tactical rails allow for the use of accessories, such as sights and grips. The only issue? The Hail-Fire comes standard with only 4 mags and 24 darts, so additional purchases are most definitely necessary to take advantage of its full potential.
It’s also worth mentioning that the official release date of this blaster is September 9th, 2012, although some stores got a soft release and if one’s willing to pay a slight premium, it’s also available on Amazon.
