Sunday, May 22, 2011

LC P.R.O. Blaster Upgrade

Before Jakks Pacific put a final bullet in the once-proud Laser Challenge Brand, they came out with some blasters that attempted to imiate LTTO/LTX with sensor domes built onto the blaster.  We picked up a few just to check them out when they were released but removed the sensor domes to make them standalone blasters to comply with OLCA rules.  They've held up alright, with 4 of the 6 blasters still around.

The P.R.O. Blaster was a step up from the first pistol they came out with.  It featured a removable front barrel extension with a folding bi-pod and a retractable stock on the back.  While the barrel extension was pretty neat (though technically useless), the stock was so tiny, even a 6-year-old would have a hard time making use of it.

The other day when I was going through gear, I noticed that one of our custom-painted LC P.R.O. blasters had a bad trigger/was in need of repair.  While I was getting ready to work on it, I thought instead that I could overhaul the weapon and actually make it a decent blaster.  One thing led to another and I thought up a few ways to improve this to really make it a nice solid laser tagger.
The bottom blaster is a stock LC P.R.O. Blaster with it's puny stock extended all the way.  The top one is the restoration I'm working on with an M4-style stock on the back of it.  It should be a much better alternative and might actually aide in aiming the blaster now!  It's not permanently attached right now, but as I'm working on this old fella, it is an upgrade I'm considering.

5 comments:

  1. I admit I've always been curious about these; they still are floating around stores down here occasionally and I do think they look pretty trick. Still, lack of compatibility made me move on and just stick with my LTX's.

    I've actually got a bootload of LTTO's and TMB's, some still in box; I just gave up on them as they were too complicated for casual users (ie half drunk mates coming over) to work out. Do u know if there's any interest for these anymore?

    Cheers

    Pocket | Urbantaggers.com

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  2. so what's your overall opinion on these? I can get 2 player LC PRO kits in australia, but LTXs are harder to come by, so would these make a good enough alternative?

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  3. They're not the greatest blasters to invest in. The OLCA removes the sensor domes in these for two reasons:
    1: Because every other Laser Challenge System we use has a front and back torso-mounted sensor system. In order to keep things even, we all wear the same type of equipment (just different blasters)
    2: The system can only handle one process at a time. So when you're getting hit, you can't reload or fire. Alternatively, if you're trigger happy, you're essentially invincible since the tagger won't accept hits when it's being fired.

    Here's the OLCA's complete review on the Blaster
    http://z7.invisionfree.com/OLCA/index.php?showtopic=321

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  4. i see, but they will work with other vests? if so which ones? i won a pair on ebay last night for less than 20 bucks, so i'm stoked to finally have a laser tag setup of my own to use anyway

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  5. All Laser Challenge-brand products are reverse-compatible at a basic level with other LC gear. They can all receive hits from other LC sets. What won't be compatible are some of the set-specific features like Teams, Max Blasts, Radar, and other functions that some LC sets have had.

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