Tuesday, April 7, 2015

The State of the Nerf Blogs 2015

Whenever I start to get busy and my hobbies slide off to the side for a bit, I always look around to see who else is still carrying the torch.  Admittedly, I fall behind keeping up with news happening in the toy blaster world.  When I do that, I also tend to discover that other blogs and sites have been coming and going.  I took a look back in July of 2014, so I used that as a base to check up on what was on our minds a year ago versus what things are like now.
Despite the "I'm back again" posts, it seems pretty clear that My Last Dart is out again.  In true "Boy who cried Wolf" fashion, there have been several small spurts of activity with the promise of a return to regular content, but the last we heard from that blog was the Toy Fair Press Pack in January of this year.  Before that, the latest post was back in August of 2014.  As noted before, it's likely that health and school demands have kept MLD out of relevance as a source for current news or information.
SG Nerf  is most certainly dead.  Their most recent post is... well... not recent.  It's still a great resource.  They've been replaced by folks like Xplorer and a mighty band of Rangers that continue to blast it up with awe-inspiring modded and custom blasters.  Singapore is still Stefan-Haven, so it's good to see that SG Nerf's departure isn't a sign of a decline in that area.


Basic Nerf, has taken a bit of a back-seat recently.  Updates on their Facebook page show more activity than the blog lets on, but I miss all the footage from the games they've been hosting.  Last summer had a lot of content from Basic Nerf so, as long as he can get games going again, I expect things to pick back up on that end of things.  He teased at a new video a week or so ago, so there's unreleased content sitting in limbo that should spark things back up.  Basic Nerf has been a strong staple for content before, so I wouldn't count 'em out!


Click Click BAMF probably has the most consistent and longest-running history out there.  They've been around since 2011 and always seem to have the inside-access to Nerf events.  They are still consistently posting reviews and catching invites to those press parties.  They still do a spectacular job connecting with members of the NIC over the years.  They're working up a new logo for the site, so things are looking forward for CCB.


Southern Brisbane Nerf Club, or SBNC, has been in and out before.  Happily, the breaks don't typically last for long as Rob has always made a return to Nerf.  He's done a great job covering news as well as local Aussie events that are always interesting to see.  Urban Taggers could not have asked for a better blog to step in and cover the Australian Nerf Scene.


The Dart Zone has been a fun blog to keep up with that has remained consistent with a lot of great news and modification information.  The tests that torukmakto4 puts his blasters and darts through is incredibly thorough.  Very technical information under controlled tests... this is a great active blog for the hardcore Nerf fan.  I've enjoyed catching up on what I missed before I discovered this blog.  I just need to remember to get a snack before reading up on stuff, as it's usually a good lengthy read!!


r/Nerf has been a good substitute for keeping up with individual blogs.  It's been a good news source for just about everything and I often discover new blogs, pages, websites, and channels by surfing that on a daily basis.  This subreddit isn't going anywhere, regardless of the constant tide of sources coming and going.


Bobololo, Coop, and Drac have been active and fun to watch.  All three have been on the scene for awhile although they've had their share of hiatus periods and breaks.  Which leads me to a bit of a sad theory.  Over time, the Nerf Blog scene seems to have declined overall while Nerf YouTube channels continue to thrive.  I'm not sure why this is, and that's not to say that YouTube Nerf Channels haven't dropped off here and there.  It just seems like the ones I tend to follow have been stronger and more consistent with video uploads for YouTube than new posts to Blogs and Websites.


As usual, I'd like to see more, so I'll make this an opportunity for readers to chime in with their favorites that are running on all cylinders.  It's always good to find out what awesomeness I've been missing!

8 comments:

  1. Blaster Labs is going strong... most-viewed Nerf fan site out there, access to everyone in the industry, regular reviews, lots of exclusives. Kind of a big one!

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    1. BL said they get something like 1/4 of a million page views every month. That's easily the biggest Nerf blog going. And they post more frequently than every other site out there, too. Seems like a curious oversight for a post all about Nerf blogs.

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    2. They kind of have everything. I almost wonder if the other blogs have taken a back seat because of so much they cover. Blaster Labs is sort of the Wal-Mart of Blogs in that sense.

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  2. I was kind of wondering the same thing. I took a 6 month break from keeping up with nerf, came back, and and all the blogs I used to read were nearly dead. I think the reason Youtube remains a strong platform is because it has a large built in audience, whereas blogger doesn't. It requires readers to find your blog, as opposed to having it suggested to you like on Youtube. It's a lost art, and I found that a lot of the nerfers I used to talk with on the NM&R chat are either out of the hobby, or don't read blogs anymore. I really applaud your work here, and no matter where your work ends up on the interwebs, I'll still check it out.

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  3. There are quite a few people on Nerf Haven. Perhaps they've all wandered away from

    Nothin' Foam is working on a few top-secret projects that will be pretty awesome, but school is going to be in the way until May.

    Maniacal Coyote
    Nothin' Foam
    nothingfoam.blogspot.com

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  4. Makes me long for the old days...

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  5. Most of the blogs I follow have been named already, but Foamdata Services youtube channel is an excellent source of info for flywheel mods.

    Shameless Plug: I write a humble weekly blog. It isn't a "Nerf only" blog, but I do a fair amount of modification and review posts. Check it out at remedyarms.wordpress.com

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  6. Street-tag is out permenantly at this stage too, and I'm kind of mostly out of the scene but still have my own personal nerf projects happening. One day when I have a less time consuming job and my kids can be involved, I'll be back out at wars and may even consider hosting.

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