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Nerf Rival Apollo Review and Internals

That's right! With a little luck and a lotta leg work we were able to get our hands on the Nerf Rival Apollo fresh from Target (check out our DPCI post for more info)! Big shoutout to Shawn and Blood Angel for comin' through on the legwork and getting these in hand super quick!

We know some of you prefer reading about our exploits, and we like to save a little somethin' just for the blog every now and then. So here's a quick overview of our first impressions of the blaster, as well as internals pics, and some ammo details.

**Warning: Pic Heavy Post** 

Nerf Modulus Overview

Barrel-ception

The Modulus wasn't anything I was particularly excited about to begin with. I was hoping it was nice, and seemed to have some up points. I liked the color scheme, and although the price was a bit high it was less than the Cam ECS, but still more than a Stryfe. Let's face it, that was going to be what most flywheel blasters were going to be, a re-shelled Stryfe. But aesthetics and ergonomics are important. The Stryfe is a great entry level blaster, but I like the idea of having more options than just colors. I don't mind a blaster's functionality being the same but the shell being new and different. It's like the Hammershot and Sweet Revenge. Often size, shape, look and feel play a large role in peoples' opinions of a blaster. In short: having more options is a GOOD thing. Diversity keeps this hobby fun and interesting.

Fall 2015 DPCI Roundup

Here it is taggers! Shout out to our EP Jangle McJangles for gettin' us some sweet pictures of all these DPCIs! Now get out there and start hunting!
More pictures after the jump.

Thunderblast: 087-11-0690
RotoFury: 087-11-0691
Biosquad ZR100 Eraser: 087-11-0692
Biosquad ZR800 Abolisher: 087-11-0694
Doominator: 087-11-0695
Modlulus Flip Clip Kit: 087-11-0696
Modulus Stealth Ops Kit: 087-11-0697
Modulus Strike & Defend Kit: 087-11-0698
Modulus Long Range Kit: 087-11-0699
Modulus ECS-10: 087-11-0700
Rival Refill (25) : 087-11-0701
Rival Face Mask: 087-11-0702
Rival Zeus MXV-1200: 087-11-0703
Rival Refill 2 (50): 087-11-0704
Rival Apollo XV-700: 087-11-0705
Lawbringer: 087-11-0706
30pk Dart: 087-11-0707
Vagabond : 087-11-0708

Retaliator Kits from around the World

Blood Angel is back, and this time he's looking at more than darts! Our resident Bow-wielding badass is here to talk about Retaliators, and not just any the variety of mod kits from across the globe.

Especially since the Retaliator pump action craze has hit, everyone wants to get the most out of their purchase and breathe new life into their blaster. Of course, drop in kits are an instant go to, but which one is best?

What makes these so different anyway? Is one brand really better than another? Can you justify the price of importing some of these kits from overseas?

Look no further for your answer dear reader. Read on and educate yourself in all things Retaliator.  

 

Thunderdome

Readers, if you haven't already checked out the Kickstarter for the Thunderdome Documentary please visit some of these links and consider doing what you can to help this great cause.  Even if you can't afford to donate, a like of their Facebook page, and a subscription to their YouTube channel and sharing their cause is a great way to get the word out and aid these guys. If you want some more info, we had an awesome time getting to know the man behind the project, Rob in our latest episode of Nerfcast. Give it a listen, and hopefully Rob will inspire you the way he's inspired all of us: to help build a great community that not only grows this hobby we all love, but helps people while doing so.

Why A Hammershot?

Why do so many people love these lil' guys?

Recently the Hammershot has come under fire as not being a “good” secondary. Although there are many fans, I still feel that it’s worth explaining the reasoning behind my choice of sidearms. It’s my go-to secondary for a variety of reasons. While I make no claims that the Hammershot is “the best” secondary, it is still quite effective and an excellent all around choice. So read on dear taggers, and learn why the Hammershot is the jack of all trades, master of none.

Let me start off by giving you some of the requirements I had when choosing a secondary, and why I wanted one in the first place. For me, a secondary served as a quick go to if I run out of ammo, or my blaster jams in the middle of a firefight. Note that while these are MY reasons, they are by no means the ONLY reasons to carry a secondary. As with everything you choose, I believe you should be well informed. Play to your strengths and set yourself up with the tools and equipment to accomplish your goals.

B.F.U. - Thug Life

It had to fit into a holster. That was key, probably my biggest requirement. I’m a little guy, and I needed something that I could put on my hip and run with that didn’t flop around. I’m not a fan of drop leg holsters, I wanted my secondary to be right at my hip, attached to my belt.

Next I wanted something I could fire with one hand. I generally don’t wear a sling. Why? First, have you seen the sling attachment points on a stock Alpha Trooper? I’m not a fan of the sling attaching to the priming bar. I like to change from left to right hand easily, depending on the corners, and I like to dart push. I also don’t normally run a stock. I enjoy the shotgun feel as opposed to the full rifle. I didn’t need the stock to prime with a factory spring, and the accuracy wasn’t laser sighted to where I’d have to shoulder and take careful aim.

So if my blaster was out of commission, I didn’t want to drop it. I wanted something I could fire with one hand. I could reload my primary by tucking it beneath an arm and holding the mag with my offhand. With my secondary still in my main hand, I could reload mags. It wasn’t pretty or ideal, but I could do it. So one handed operation was key for me.

What's amazing is these darts facing the same direction...

I wanted something that was front loading. Running anything larger than a 6 round mag makes a blaster pretty hard to holster, and I wanted to be able to reload my secondary on the fly. Dropping a mag, and filling it takes a lot of time and effort that I didn’t want to be necessary for a secondary. You essentially need two hands. One to hold the mag, then the other to reload. With a front loader, I could load up even while the blaster was primed and ready to go.

Finally, I wanted a blaster that used the same ammo as my primary. In our games, there’s no special rules for other ammo (aside from vortex discs in which ricochets count). There’s no melee, or shields to break, so there was no reason for me to run a secondary ammo type. In my opinion that was just another thing that I had to figure out how to carry on me, and make a spot for. If no one else was using it then whatever I brought to the field would be fired toward the other team, and if I ran out I’d have an empty blaster.

Give us this day our daily dart...

Slam-fire was something I didn’t need or want in a secondary blaster. It meant using two hands, reduced accuracy, and burned through what would undoubtedly be a limited ammo capacity of my sidearm. In fact, anything that was spam heavy wasn’t something I was interested in.  I knew that my shots would be limited, and reloading wouldn’t be as quick as a mag, so I wanted to be able to control my shots.

Now recall when the Hammershot first came out, pre-Sweet Revenge, even.  There were very few other blasters that really fit the bill. Only one I could find was the Snapfire 8, but you had to get creative with holstering, and the trigger pull was something I didn’t enjoy at all. Since then there’s been a plethora of hammer style blasters and choosing any of them makes sense to me. The phrase “Buy a Hammershot” has always rung as a catchall term for hammer prime blasters to me.  Some people prefer the Sweet Revenge, or 4X4, and that makes perfect sense.

Still, there’s plenty of other sidearms that players can choose from. Those all work well doing other things, often times better than the Hammershot. The Hammershot just brings together the bits of each of them I like. I don’t run my sidearm to fill a niche, some people do. There’s a wide variety of opinions, likes and dislikes, strategies, and play styles. There is no “right” or “wrong” sidearm.

Dual-wielding goodness

I’ve tried other sidearms, but none have felt as natural to me. The same idea goes for my EAT. I get some flak for rocking it occasionally, but it’s what I want. The mag is where it feels like it should be, the priming mechanism works the way I want a blaster to. That’s something that’s important to me. I don’t need the fastest, or furthest firing blaster on the field. That’s low on my priority list. Comfort and feel is a large part of what I strive for in my load outs, and my equipment is no exception to this. Yet others should be encouraged to take advice but make things their own, diversity is part of what makes things on the field so much fun.

Now, why do I recommend a Hammershot? Well, first it’s MY opinion that people are asking for. People don’t normally ask “what’s the best sidearm for X, Y, and Z?” They usually ask what I run, or what I’d recommend. I think the Hammershot gives the user a little bit of everything. If they want to concentrate on something specific, fill a niche, or many of the other things you can do with a sidearm, it may not be the best choice for them, certainly. Still, it’s a great place to start. ~Josh

Advertising & Promoting YOUR Events

Hint: An awesome logo doesn't hurt.

One of the most often asked questions we get this time of year seems to involve promoting or advertising an event. While few things are going to be as effective as good ol' fashioned word of mouth, many of you want to know what else you can do besides wait around for players to tell their friends.

Worry not! You've still got options. We're going to go over some basics and things to consider when decided where and how to promote, your event.  There's lot's to cover so don't shy away from this txt heavy entry. Think of this as a supplement to our most recent War Room video, which by the way is at  the end of this article if you wanna watch.

So read on friends, and hopefully we can give you some new ideas in helping you spread the word.

Welcome to War Room

This is the War Room reboot! Josh will be hosting a series of short videos that go over tips, advice, answer questions, and more. These short segments should help a variety of players, mods, admins and hopefully there'll be something for everyone. This isn't just a one man show (ok, it kinda is..), so if you have something you want more info on, clarification, something we didn't cover, or even have tips, advice, rules you use, guidelines, ideas or more, let us know! We're always happy to hear from you. This is really about getting people thinking about how they do things, maybe in new and interesting ways, so that everyone everywhere can experience the best quality foam flinging the community has to offer!

Crossbolt: The String's The Thing!

Dart - New hit CW series

This weekend we were able to get our hands on the new Crossbolt at a local Toys R Us. What followed was one of the most excitement building reviews we’ve ever done.  Read on, or watch us in the videos below to see us get more and more ecstatic with each new test.

500 Subscriber Giveway Over!

We aren't quite ready to announce any winners, but we did want to let everyone know that the contest is officially over. Thanks and good luck to all who participated! We wish we could properly thank all of you who have made this such a rewarding experience and helped us to grow. Instead please enjoy a video of B.F.U. in slow-motion.

500 Subscriber Giveaway!

Yes folks, that's right! As a big thank you to all of your YouTube subscribers we're giving away some awesome prizes! We couldn't have done this without all of you, so this is our little way of saying thanks. Want to win some cool stuff? Don't want to watch a short five minute video? Fear not, it's easy! First, you have to be a subscriber, since, this is a thank you to helping us get this far. If you aren't a subscriber already, don't' worry, you can still subscribe to our YouTube channel and enter! Next, send us an email with the subject  "500" (without the quotes) to bayareanerf@gmail.com. In the email include you're YouTube username (we have to check that you're a subscriber) and a Nerf related picture. It can be you, your friends, custom blasters, artwork, whatever! Have you're submissions in by the end of the month, and we'll pick three winners and announce them on the podcast! For more details on the prizes and a big thank you check out the video!

P.A.T. Revealed!

P.A.T.T. Mk I

Why P.A.T.?

P.A.T. stands for: Practical Accuracy Test. The intention of P.A.T. is to determine a Nerf Blasters accuracy at any distance on a human size stationary target. The P.A.T. scoring system is broken into a few sub sets. Read on for detailed breakdown:

XD Rapidstrike "Whitestripe"

XD: eXtra Distance or eXtreme Disappointment?

It's finally here! You can put down your paint and tape, the Elite XD Rapidstrike with the long awaited white stripe has landed! While the white stripe and "ELITE" look pretty sweet it's not all puppies and rainbows...

Rhino-Fire Gizmodo Review and ECS vs Iphone6 footage!

Huge shout out to Gizmodo for mentioning us in their article on the Rhino-Fire review! They brought it to our most recent B.U.R.N. game over the weekend for their combat testing portion of the review, and we've gotta say it was a ton of fun to run from!

The footage at the end not only shows the Rhino-Fire blasting in glorious 240fps slow mo, but the beginning and end of the video show the ECS in comparison. The Iphone was mounted above the camera on the tac rail to test the same shots with each.

Read the review and watch the video here:

http://gizmodo.com/nerf-rhino-fire-review-the-most-badass-foam-blaster-ev-1641337747/all

Nerfcast Episode 46: Trick Shot

B.F.U. is back and joins Josh and Shawn for a quick recap of the blaster leak with opinions and some discussion about the 2015 lineup. Plus Josh tries to figure out Dude Perfect.

Blood Angel's "Stock" Dart Analysis

Many of you may remember this little gem, and now, Blood Angel is back, with even more data on more darts! Without further ado, scroll down after the break dear reader!

Stock Darts

Zing Firetek

The latest offering from Zing is a nice little improvement over the baseline model. The Firetek is pretty sleek and futuristic looking. The light up feature is actually fun to use, and could be pretty fun at a night HvZ game. They've streamlined the look and feel of the already successful design, and incorporated something new and fun. The arrows are solid, and there's no issue with using old arrows if you have them, so it's  not as if you need to switch ammo types. They've also integrated the bands inside the bow arms, something previously done in the Legendary longbow. One thing to note is because this comes with three whistler or sonic arrows that light up, it does not have the arrow holders that some of the other models have. If you don't already own a Zing bow, and are contemplating playing at night this is a great bow. If not, I'd just go with whatever floats your boat in terms of aesthetics, the performance is pretty much the same (even though the range claims are increased on the Firetek). The base model Z-Curve starts at around $20, the Legends is around $25, and the Firetek is $30, with other models landing somewhere in between the $20-$30 range. Check out the video for a more in depth look and a nighttime firing test.

NMAGs: What & Why

Do the NMAG shake!

Let’s start out with the basics. What are NMAGS? NMAGs are a new 3D printed product created by Narrowbase LLC. They are a sleek solution to Nerf specific magazine holding capabilities that aren’t well… elastic (*cough* bandolier).  But how do they perform, what do they cost, what does this mean to you? Let’s get right down to it, review, rant, pic spam and videos after the break (TL;DR: the last paragraph).

Nerfcast Episode 40: Money In The Bank

For those of you who missed the live broadcast, Episode 40 of Nerfcast is here for your viewing pleasure! We talk about all sorts of new blasters for the 2014 line, as well as our recent war and some amazing third party accessories. Special guest Michel goes over some of his Rapidstrike modifications, and the group gives some surprising reviews and experience with the new blasters.

3D printed mag holders - NarrowBase LLC: http://www.narrowbase.com/