Nerf’s New Blaster Can Fire 800 Squishy Gel Balls in Just 80 Seconds

Foam darts have been Nerf’s mainstay for many years, however lately, the corporate has been increasing to different foam projectiles, just like the tiny balls its highly effective Rival blasters fireplace. But at this time, Hasbro revealed a brand new twist for Nerf: a blaster that as a substitute fires tiny pre-hydrated tremendous absorbent polymer rounds that explode and splat on affect: like a paint ball however with out the paint stain.

Back in 2015, Hasbro realized that Nerf didn’t actually have an choice in its lineup for teenage children who’d grown up with the toy however ultimately discovered the model’s dart blasters underwhelming. They would as a substitute gravitate in the direction of extra highly effective options like paintball or airsoft weapons. That led to the creation of the Nerf Rival line, which might launch one-inch foam balls at speeds of as much as 70 MPH. Later, in 2021, the corporate launched the Hyper line, which used smaller, sooner foam rounds and blasters with extra shot capability between reloads.

But there’s a sure satisfaction to tagging somebody with a paintball, which explodes on affect as a substitute of simply bouncing off onto the bottom. That’s the expertise that Nerf is hoping to recreate with its new Nerf Pro Gelfire Mythic Full Auto Blaster: an actual branding mouthful. Instead of froth darts or foam balls, the Gelfire shoots tremendous absorbent polymer rounds that customers have to hydrate with water. Since they’re a lot smaller when dehydrated, the blaster really comes with 10,000 rounds within the field, whereas its see-through feed hopper can maintain round 800 of them as soon as hydrated.

Nerf doesn’t specify the velocity with which the polymer rounds come blasting out of the barrel except for boasting that they’ve a “high velocity,” but it surely’s quick sufficient for them to blow up on affect, solely with out the brightly coloured stain a paintball leaves behind: a characteristic that’s certainly focused at mother and father as a substitute of teenagers.

Hasbro claims there’s “no pickup needed” for the polymer shrapnel after an intense battle, and that the “Gelfire rounds are water-hydrated rounds that burst upon impact—much like when a blown bubble bursts leaving a barely perceptible residue.” Hasbro additionally asserts the “rounds and their residue are not toxic to humans, dogs, or cats,” and “based on our environmental studies, the Gelfire rounds do not pose an adverse impact to the environment when used as intended.” The rounds don’t disappear fully upon affect, nevertheless, so that you’ll most likely wish to persist with utilizing this blaster outdoor.

Other options embody an extendable inventory and a detachable barrel which might be every presumably appropriate with sure different Nerf merchandise, each semi-auto and full-auto modes that may fireplace at a charge of 10 rounds each second, and a swappable rechargeable battery—though it consists of only one and you’ll have to produce your individual wall charger.

The Nerf Pro Gelfire Mythic Full Auto Blaster is designed for youths aged 14 years and up and obtainable for pre-order beginning at 1pm EST at this time for $80 from Target, Amazon, and Walmart, however received’t ship or be on cabinets till early November, later this yr.