VIGILON
VORTEX
I know what you’re about to ask, so let me go ahead and answer it before you do. No, I’ve still not heard anything from Mads but I’m staying optimistic. That’s not what you were gonna ask? Ok, weirdo. Oh, right, that. Yeah, I have no idea what the heck a vigilon is either but it’s the name of this week’s blaster. Maybe taking a look at the blaster will inform us on the matter. Let’s find out if that’s the case.
THE BLASTER ITSELF
It’s not the case, it’s a made up word. Anyway, the Vigilon was released in 2011 as part of the Vortex series of blasters. It then disappeared with the apparent death of the Vortex line a few years later, only to be brought back in 2018 in the Target exclusive Vortex VTX line-up. Really all that changed is the colors, so I’ll be reviewing them both as the same blaster here. The Vigilon uses the same mechanism for launching the Vortex discs as most blasters in the line but with the added bonus of an integrated internal magazine that holds (officially) 5 discs. I find it odd that the Vigilon has only ever been marketed as a 5-round blaster despite the fact that I can fit 6 discs in the magazine just fine without using any trickery, plus, you can keep another disc in the chamber, effectively giving the blaster a 7-round capacity. The magazine 
itself is an interesting design in which you open the loading gate with the release levers just above the trigger and load rounds in the side of the blaster rather than the top or front like we’re used to seeing on dart blasters. Releasing the magazine cover is also rather satisfyingly snappy and makes it feel like something akin to a plasma weapon from the Halo franchise venting heat. The outer shell is all original to the Vigilon, and while the green and orange color scheme of the first wave was fine at the time, the sky blue/neon green VTX colors really do it for me. Just- MM, so good. Naturally, the new colors are also carried over to the ammo which also looks quite nice and again, an improvement over the older version. I mean, they work the same, they just look nicer while they do it. The Vigilon gets the same performance as just about every other Vortex blaster out there. The discs do travel far, but they 
slow down as they fly through the air and end up floating a bit near the end of their flight path. If you’re planning on using this as a weapon against your younger siblings, just make sure they’re not too far away, otherwise, even if your shots hit, they won’t have nearly the same impact as they would at closer range. Plus, with some practice, you can do crazy stuff like bank shots off the wall and whatnot. Then you can really make them feel like they’ll never be safe again, and isn’t that really the goal? What do you mean that sounds abusive? I’m just saying they shouldn’t feel completely at ease in their own home cuz they’ll never see the radtastic VTX discs coming. Well, yeah, when you say it like that, you can make anything sound like abuse. Anyway, the original Vigilon came packaged with just 5 Vortex discs, but the new VTX version comes with 10 and they look way cooler to boot.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I don’t normally care too much about straight recolors, but the Vortex series was different and innovative in a way not often seen in the toy blaster market. Moreover, it seemed to garner a decent fan base over traditional darts, so it’s fairly unique in that regard. In reality, though, I just think the folks over at Nerf did a great job with the new colors. I wish this had been what Vortex looked like from the get-go. It’s just so- MMM, I love it.
I had an idea for a game show the other day.
The Vagabond was released in 2015 as part of the Border- Doomlands 2169 series of blasters, a full 154 years before when the name suggests.
makes me wonder why they didn’t just shorten it down and have it load from the front like a normal revolver style blaster, not to mention all the plastic and weight they’d save by getting rid of the enormous front end.
You may have heard that Vortex is back.
Ok, while this is a Vortex blaster, it’s not part of the VTX lineup, so I’m less of a passenger on the hype train and more of that guy with the accordion who just walks from car to car demanding money in exchange for giving you tinnitus.
in the tray, and hitting the slide release lever on the side of the blaster.
Hang on a minute… Haven’t I already reviewed this blaster?
The First Order Stormtrooper Deluxe Blaster (I’ll call it the Heavy Blaster for clarity’s sake) was released in 2017 as part of the lineup of Star Wars branded blasters in conjunction with the film Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
unique blast sounds, the FOSDHB has a single “pew” but it is just randomly modulated into one of three pitches which sounds less like laying down suppressing fire on some rebel scum and more like you just suck at playing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
For the last couple rounds of Star Wars Nerf products, it seems like Hasbro has really settled on the formula of releasing a big show off blaster, a medium one with some features, and then a dinky little pistol that is really just there to have a cheaper offering.
Hi guys.
disappointing that this blaster couldn’t get its own unique sound, but if it plays into Hasbro’s game of halfway decent but still economical Star Wars products, I can get over it.
Changing gears only slightly from last week, I have another movie tie-in blaster for you. I mean, it’s mine, it’s for me. You can’t have this one. The review is for you, though, so you’re welcome. With the building hype surrounding the upcoming Solo film, of course Hasbro brought some goodies to the table. Today, I’ll be looking at the supposed primary weapon of everyone’s favorite space-faring shag carpet, at least for this movie (we don’t like to talk about the Nerf Bowcaster). As a bonus, I’ll be reviewing this blaster entirely in Chewie’s native tongue.
Rara arrarRA RARA rara rARAAA rrrrrr aa A r AR A a RR r RRRR A AAAA ra ARRAARAA aarararra raar ar ra rarar rrr aa ra raa rarra ararr aara ok, that’s enough of that. What I said was, this blaster was released in 2018 as branded merch for the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story. Despite its size, it’s actually a very simple blaster, mechanically speaking. It’s effectively a muzzle-loading shotgun that fires two darts at once. It might have been nice to have a staggered trigger on the blaster like the Roughcut, but that would have added a significant amount of additional bulk and moving pieces, and subsequently driven the price up. It does seem like Hasbro are trying to be a little more wallet friendly with this round of Star Wars products, probably after seeing how slowly the more recent Deluxe Stormtrooper blaster and its $80 price tag moved. As with all Star Wars blasters now, the Chewbacca blaster features lights and sounds and uses the Glowstrike darts to approximate the feeling of firing a laser weapon. The sound effect in this blaster is fairly satisfying and bass-y which is definitely fitting. The use of real-world firearms as the bases for the movie props once again gives this blaster pretty good ergonomics. This blaster in particular is built on the receiver and stock of an M60 machine gun. I feel confident that the Nerf version is substantially scaled down from the original but they’ve kept the grips a good size so it’s not bad. The stock of the blaster has a storage area under the butt plate, and is removable, using the 
standard Nerf stock attachment lug. There’s also a rail on the top of the blaster for the included scope if you want, or you could remove it and leave it off forever. That’s valid too, especially with a scope like this. At least you have the option to take it off without using a hacksaw. I know it’s meant to look like the movie prop, so I can’t fault Hasbro for including it, but it’s just a narrow tube in a weirdly shaped shell. The scope on the Han Solo blaster pistol has a sight front post so you can at least pretend you’re aiming it properly. It might have been nice to have something like that here, but sadly no. Something noteworthy about this wave of Star Wars blasters is that the boxes actually advertise range claims. Historically, Nerf only bothers doing this if the performance is at least halfway decent, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when that turned out to be the case here too. It’s almost even more impressive when you remember this blaster fires two darts at once using a single plunger tube (we also don’t like to talk about the DoubleDealer). Having to reload 2 darts for every trigger pull does slow down your potential for follow-ups, the decent amount of power, the lights, the sounds and the Glowstrike darts make this a great blaster for ambushing your younger siblings, especially at night. The Chewbacca Blaster comes packaged with the stock, the scope, and 6 Glowstrike Elite darts. Batteries are only required for the lights and sounds, and the Glowstrike functionality. Fortunately, they come already installed in the blaster.
The Vulcan EBF-25 was released waaaay back in 2008 as part of the original N-Strike line. No Elite here. The whole thing is just… I mean, it’s a machine gun. What more do you want? Instead of using a magazine or rotating cylinder, the Vulcan actually uses a belt to feed darts into the action which, itself, can be operated in two ways. The primary method being full auto because come on, it’s a machine gun. Provided you had installed the 6 D cell batteries in the tray, you could then load in the belt, flick the switch just above the firing grip, and hold the trigger down making the blaster fire repeatedly with a rather noisy “wheeee-CHUNK! wheeee-CHUNK! wheeee-CHUNK!” While it was technically full-auto, the rate of fire was not exactly impressive. With good coordination, you could easily out-pace it by cycling the bolt manually which had the added benefit of not requiring the aforementioned 2 cubic tons of batteries to work. You could, in theory, run the blaster entirely without batteries. Just leave them in a little pile over there… just 2 cubic tons. While it undoubtedly made the internals of the blaster a lot more complex, it is a feature I’m disappointed didn’t make it to later electronic blasters like the Stampede. The ammo belts, I feel a little differently about. There is a certain level of novelty in using a legit ammo belt in a toy blaster, but man, are 
they a pain to reload. Maybe if there had been another blaster that also used the same belts, I might like them a bit more, but the novel factor goes away after the third or fourth time you have to reload the dang things. It’s not just a matter of putting the darts back, when the belt is emptied, it falls out the right side of the blaster, or if you want to reload without firing off all 25 shots, you need to pull the remaining belt out of the action in order to reset it. Once you have a loaded belt, there’s still the process of setting it in the ammo box attached to the left side of the blaster in just the right way that the feed gear can actually pull the belt into the blaster, and THEN you have to open the top hatch on the blaster body to seat the first link onto the feed gear, close everything up again and prime the bolt. Once you’ve done all of that, now you can shoot. BUT WAIT! Now you have to decide, are you going to carry the blaster by hand and fire from the hip like some kind of sexual tyrannosaurus, or are you going to mount it on the included tripod, realize the tripod kinda sucks, and opt for the Blaine method anyway? But what does Mr. “The Lovebird” Ventura have to say about that body? Probably something rambling and largely incoherent about having to keep him away from it, but it’s worth noting that the Vulcan has all original sculpt work which includes a 
hinged top handle for use in the “Old Painless” style of carry and a detachable ammo box for holding the belt while in or out of use. The front end of the Vulcan also sports 3 Nerf accessory rails, but I can’t honestly think of what you could possibly want to put on them. There are, in fact, a set of sights along the top of the blaster that you’re welcome to use if you think it’ll help. Sadly, these days, the Vulcan doesn’t quite stand up to other blasters in terms of range or power. If you play your cards right and rely mainly on the shock value of busting into your younger siblings’ room holding this, they might not even notice that the shots aren’t hitting very hard. The Vulcan comes packaged with the tripod, the ammo box, two belts, a sling which I have since lost, and 50 whistler micro darts.
Another week, another late review. One of these days I’m going to get the hang of this. And what’s that? April 1st? Time for jokes and pranks and whatnot. Well, kinda, I don’t have quite the same elaborate gag-posts Ethan pulls off, but this week’s blaster is a joke in and of itself in a way. That’s me saying it’s bad. It’s a bad… you know what? Nevermind. On to the review.
It’s the Marvel Captain America: Civil War Iron Man Stark Strike Gauntlet Blaster… from Hasbro. At least, that’s what the friendly marketing guy in the video ad for this product told me. It’s the longest name for a Nerf blaster I can think of since the Nerf N-Strike Accu-Zombie Elite Strike Fire Mega Fury Strike Rapid Modulus Strike Fire Strike Strike… from Hasbro. The MCA:CWIMSSGB… fH was released in 2016 as a tie-in product for the Captain America: Civil War film. The blaster uses spring power to launch the dart, but instead of using it to push a plunger into a cylinder to create air pressure, the spring just impacts the dart directly. I’ve mentioned this system a couple times I the past, largely in reference to how terrible it is, and that assessment holds true here as well. The body of the blaster is pretty good, actually, the main feature being that the actual blaster part pops up from the rest of the platform before allowing you to fire. The construction feels solid and the sculpt is all new with 
some painted gold accent work here and there. The only controls on the blaster are the two buttons on the back, one causes the blaster to pop up, the other fires. Interestingly, due to the nature of the firing mechanism, even if the blaster is primed, it can’t be fired without a dart in the barrel, I assume to prevent the spring from beating the crap out of the internals of the blaster. The strap is small but I can still get it around my adult-sized wrist without too much trouble. Unfortunately, the problem with arm-mounted blasters is that aiming is pretty much out of the question. They say you can’t lick your own elbow, and it seems just about as impossible getting a sight-picture with it too, not that aiming would improve your chances of hitting anything with this blaster. As said before, calling the ranges on this blaster “disappointing” would be the understatement of the month, that is, if it fires at all. More often than not, the shock of the top part snapping up into position is enough to shake the dart forward in the barrel to where it no longer presses on the firing lock, meaning you have to re-seat the dart before the blaster will fire. If it does work, then you can watch the dart go flying up to about 10 or 15 feet. Woo… So unless you have some really emotionally fragile siblings, this blaster won’t help much when you decide to bust into their room and light them up. It’s probably best to leave it back in your room. The Marvel Captain America: Civil War Iron Man Stark Strike Gauntlet Blaster… from Hasbro comes with 2 Eilte darts in red and black but I seem to have lost mine, oh well.
If there’s one staple of Nerf blasters that always comes back, it’s revolvers, ok, revolvers and jolts, but let’s stick with the revolvers for today. All things considered, it’s a good design. There’ve been so many iterations that pretty much any issues have already been ironed out, but if you look at Nerf Revolvers over time, they have this odd trend of steadily getting smaller and smaller cylinders, and in turn, lower capacity. Today’s blaster is the first example of a 4-shot revolver I can think of, but as we’ve seen from Toy Fair last month, it won’t be the last.
Ok, first things first, I know I give Nerf a decent amount of ribbing over the naming conventions for their blasters, but when the other 3 blasters in a line have names containing “falcon”, ”hawk”, and “raptor”, there’s a pretty clear theme that they’re going for. With that in mind, what the double deuce kind of name is Quadrant? I get the name references the 4 barrels in the cylinder, but it throws off the whole bird-of-prey thing they set up. Anyway, the Quadchickadee was released in 2018 as part of the Accustrike series. As mentioned before, it is a 4-shot revolver that works more or less like any other revolver at this point. The construction is all new and pretty solid, like you’d expect from a Nerf blaster of this size, and the ergonomics are good. The proportions are kind of weird, what with the top half of the blaster being rather large and bulky. 
At the very least, it’s not terribly top heavy which is a concern I had before it was released. What I don’t quite get is why the barrels are so far apart in the cylinder. Typically, the benefit of lower capacity in a revolver is a lower profile, but the cylinder for the Quadbearded-tit is barely smaller than the one in the Hammershot, which holds 5 rounds normally. But in addition, modders have shown it can handle 7 rounds in the same space quite handily. It just feels needlessly limiting to cap the capacity at 4, especially when it doesn’t even enable some other gimmick or function in the blaster. The performance is on par with other Nerf pistols. It doesn’t have the most power or range ever, but no one expects it to. Being in the Accustrike series, there’s nothing mechanical that separates this from any other blaster, all that means is it’s orange and comes with Accustrike darts as opposed to standard Elites. The darts do actually make it a little easier to hit targets from further away, so they’re good for surprise pot-shots at your younger siblings, with or without busting into their room first. The QuadAndean Cock of the Rock (it’s a real bird, look it up) comes packaged with 4 Accustrike darts.
The Figure In Question 