The Giveaway is Back!

After some careful planning and gauging interest from my frequent readers, I've decided to bring back the Giveaway.  I am too busy these days to do the giveaway in the same state it was before (weekly basis) so I've tweaked how things work for this.

Each month I will post up a contest that folks can enter to win a prize.  The contest rules will differ for each month and there will only be one winner per month.  Contest entries will be submitted as comments on a Page that I will update each month.  The link to that page is below.

Monthly Giveaway!

LTAR: 90 Second TV Spot

Got this from TagFerret, the lead developer of the LTAR:
"Here is the full-length (90 seconds) commercial for LTAR which will begin airing immediately, online at first but I think also in broadcast as Christmas gets closer.

It was filmed in Prague, Czech Republic.

Personally I love it -- really nice work everybody who had a hand in it!"

Pretty intense commercial!  Awhile back a few friends and I filmed our own LTAR Promotional Commercial.  You be the judge!  (No, I won't be offended if you liked the real one more!)

Halloween Laser Tag: Recap

Just finished up our annual Halloween Laser Tag game and, despite the cold, we had great turnout and played for a little over 3 hours!  Thanks to a full moon, the park was well lit even at full nightfall and we made good use of this to get lots of great games in before calling it a night.

What an awesome set of games, though!  We experimented with a few different settings for team, zombie, and Alpha Zombie games that were all a lot of fun.  We also got to debut a lot of newer customized gear.  From a sight mounted on an LTAR to the Tactical Tag 200,000 Pageviews blaster to my Captain America LTAR, there were quite a few new ones running around.  Costumes ranged from Mass Effect to Dr. Who.  While we had our usual "I'm in camo" costumes that don't quite count in my books, it was still a fun time.  Actually, I was probably one of the more easily spotted players in the whole group thanks to my primary colors.  To the left are a few of my favorite shots taken during the games.  14 total players made it out and we didn't have any gear malfunctions thanks to the Mod Night held the week before to prepare the battered LTX armory.

My costume held up quite well too, and it was really easy to move around in.  The UnderArmour kept me plenty warm and I didn't get any snags at all!  The Shield kinda helped me power through some tough branches and bushes and I kinda wish I had worked on my blaster a little more (could've used a better iron sight) but in the end, Captain America did pretty well considering how easy I was to spot during the games!  I'm looking forward to getting some more use out of this costume in the days to come.

So I'd say the whole evening was a huge success.  Fun costumes, great games, no problems, and some decent photos to prove it all!  On November 1st I'll have an announcement that most of my readers should enjoy.  Until then, I've got a few busy days ahead, so I'll probably take it easy on the hobby side until then. 

Ready to Roll - Captain America

Weather for our annual Halloween Laser Tag game looks to be a bit cold.  I specifically designed my Captain America costume to be more lightweight this year which, on the surface, seems like a bad idea.  But underneath I'll be armed with my trusty UnderArmour Cold Gear that should keep me more than warm for the evening's festivities. 

On the plus side, it means that for the indoor parties I'll use this costume for in the coming days, I won't be getting cooked inside a thick leather jacket (like I was last year).  I'm really excited to do this game tomorrow not just because I look forward to seeing everyone in costume having a good time, but because I'm anxious to see if my efforts to make this year's costume more "agile" will work in my favor.  Last year, even though I was plenty warm tucked away inside the motorcycle jacket-based costume, it was tough to move around in. 

What I'm most worried about is the durability of the new lightweight "Avengers" version of this costume, as I fear that the materials might snag on the bare branches at the park we'll play at.  The leather jacket from last year not only negated any snags, but gave me a little more confidence to rush through cover that I would otherwise think twice about jetting through.  On Monday, expect a full report on the game, how the costume held up, and an announcement that Tactical Tag faithful should be psyched about.

Messing around at Mod Night

Our goal for the Mod Night was to get the 18-unit LTX Armory in tip-top shape for our upcoming Halloween Laser Tag game.  Myself and 5 other volunteers went through checking batteries and fixing reload switches in anticipation of the turnout expected for this event.  Once we were all done, we had a little fun watching some episodes of our favorite web series as well as having a bit of a Nerf war.  Nothing serious, quite the opposite!  Below is a quick clip shot when one of our guys was holed up in a storage room while 3 of us waited for him to come out.  He got some unexpected help!



Star Spangled LTAR

Worked up a nice simple paintjob on a white LTAR just in time for my Halloween costume.  The upper reciever is all blue while there's a red arc following panel lines to break up the rest of the stock paint job.  I also swapped out the orange reload bar for a white one off of the orange LTAR set to give the lower portion of the blaster a striped look that mimicks the Captain America costume it'll accompany.

 

I may have other modifications internally for this as I experiement with the LTAR, a blaster I have yet to do any modifications with as of yet.  I may attempt to put a toggle switch that would turn the Beacon IR LEDs on and off for a "Stealth" mode.  The LTAR is known for making all kinds of noise when it interacts with other LTAR blasters like lock-on and hit notifications.  Disabling the beacon would mean silencing those warnings that can sometimes get in the way during combat.

In any case, I'm pretty much ready for our Halloween Laser Tag game set for this Sunday, October 28th.  Tonight the MLTA has scheduled a "mod night" that'll allow us to get the general armory up and running in tip-top shape as well as fix a few of our member's customized blasters.  Should be a good time!

Elite News Breakdown ::UPDATED::

So a lot has happened recently with "Elite Fakes" and "Firefly Tech Hoaxes" making their way around the 'net right now.  As of October 23rd, there's all kinds of information out there that pretty much nail down some rumors that I had originally dismissed as being fan-made or fake... but I'm simoutaneously happy and disappointed that I was likely wrong about those.



Thanks to my "Big 3" blogs (SG Nerf, Urban Taggers, NM&R), we've got more than enough evidence and information that confirms a few things for us... at least in MY books.  The N-Strike Elite lineup was said to include a blaster called the "Stryfe" that we now have an image of courtesy of the box for an Elite Firefly Tech Clip set.  There's also been high-definition photos of the Elite Jolt and Elite Reflex that have been broken down and inspected by fans that I have come to trust.

Elite Firefly Tech Clip (on the left)
compared to the normal one

The reason I had originally dismissed most of this stuff as "Fake" was based on what we've seen from the Elite lineup so far.  I expected N-Strike Elite logos and renamed blasters to be the lay of the land when a blaster's legitimacy was in question.  However, with these blasters that I previously doubted now being seen alongside other legitimate information, it can only mean one thing: this stuff is happening... somehow!

This also means we're getting a repainted Rayven too.  While I'm not sure if there will be internal differences with these simply renamed blasters, it is neat that some of my favorite blasters, plus some really nice looking new ones will be coming out.  The Firestrike too, that I've mentioned in this earlier post, is one I'm especially looking forward to.

So while nothing has been exactly confirmed, it's looking like Christmas is coming early for those who love Nerf News!

UPDATE
There's been a flood of new information about all of these new Elite products.  Nerf Mods & Reviews has an excellent breakdown of everything coming out and SG Nerf has news on the Elite Pinpoint Sight that's in Singapore.