Season 9 is off to a STELLAR Start!

New Park, New People, same awesome game!  The Midwest Laser Tag Association has kicked off it's 9th Summer Season of weekly games with a wonderful potluck cookout followed by a great set of team games.  I think I was most happy with the turnout of new players, who proceeded to school the veterans in the "Vets vs n00bs" game we did midway through the event.  There were 30 total players, many of which we picked up at a game I helped host for a group of high school and college kids at the beginning of the month.  It was great to see that kind of retention and interest from that group.  In general, there are more new players inviting other friends to this.  I'm sure if we played the "7 Degrees of Separation" game, we'd see a much more diverse group today than we did when we started 8 years ago.

Because we had a bigger group, we weren't able to get a ton of games in.  We started with a classic Team vs Team battle in the middle of the park.  Next, we did that "Vets vs n00bs" game which, while still a lot of fun for the 8 veterans we managed to have... was more of a wash than we expected.  I managed to take out 7 players before I was finally tagged out but we just couldn't hold 'em!  After that we did another Team vs Team game followed by a "Protect the VIP", which we haven't done since... like... Season 2 or something.  I was the VIP, no weapon, wearing a Laser Challenge Team Force front and back vest with 10 hits on it.  My team was supposed to get me safely to the other side of the park.  As it turns out, my team wasn't so good at protecting me.  5 minutes into the game, I had already been shot 4 times with no real successful plan to get me safely through the park.  As the team started to fall apart, I decided to disappear into the park by myself.  I had made it pretty far, and even managed to get past several of the other players, who were more focused on shooting up my team than finding me.  Eventually, I was caught (after I was about halfway there) and then gunned down.  Still had a great time!

The other bit that made me a bit proud was the next morning.  Our youngest player (the one in the red shorts next to me in that first photo up top) is one of my neighbors.  Great kid, super enthusiastic about this, and he always has some super secret plan to fill me in on.  He even brought some Pop Ice popsicles to share with everyone at the end of the game.  His mom shared a picture of something he wrote at school and my heart kinda melted.  The message reads "Iikec mic becos he has lasr tag gamse." which, when translated, reads "I like Mike because he has laser tag games."  I'm pretty sure that's also a picture of someone shooting a laser tag gun above it.  Good to know I've got a pint-sized fan thinking about this stuff even when we're not playing the games.

So between THAT, the games, the turnout, the food, and everything else... I'm incredibly happy with how things have turned out so far!  Next week is our 8th Anniversary Game where we'll have our throwback gear and return to our old stompin' grounds.

ZS Longshot: Fact-finding

Image courtesy of Basic Nerf

With great news comes great doubt!  Lots of fans have been putting the announcement of the ZombieStrike Longshot CS-12 under the microscope trying to find things that make it "phony", but I'm actually not a skeptic this time around.  Normally, I'm right up there with the doubters and non-believers.

My buddy over at Basic Nerf has a great close-up of one of the main perpetrators of this news: the Box Art.  Apparently, Gas-Mask Asian Man has the blaster all wrong.  Put aside the fact that he's holding it all goofy-like and there's proportions off with the art.  However, the proportions are the only thing that's off with this.  The Bi-Pod-less front, the top-mounted Tactical Rail, the orange-beyond-doubt scope, it's all "technically" correct... which is the best kind of correct!  If we go by the Sidestrike box art, there shouldn't be a Nerf Logo printed on the bottom of the shell... but the blaster does have this detail.  Long story short: the box art isn't a photo of the product.  It's a cartoon drawing by some guy in a cubicle.  Not exactly an information bible if you ask me!

The next bit I've seen is the worry that "There's no range claim!" but there really haven't been with newer ZombieStrike blasters.  I think we can all expect a "75 ft range claim" as standard performance from a Nerf blaster now.  After all, the N-Strike Elite lineup has been out for nearly two years now, so leaving that bit out on a box isn't really important anymore.  The new Cam ECS goes on to brag about 85 feet, so there's obviously a little more of a push for folks to pick up this new piece of hardware over the other flywheel blasters on the market, another reason why I think we're not seeing range claims posted.  It's better to think "Wow, this thing can shoot 85 feet" and then look at the others and not see a range claim at all.  It makes that 10 extra feet seem like a lot more to the buyer if they're not in-the-loop about the 75 ft bit.  Not EVERYONE is a detail freak like the rest of us! ;)

The other bit I've noticed is that the ZombieStrike logo is a little different.  There's definitely more of an outline to it instead of the filled-in look the other releases have featured... but I don't think it's a sign of phony-ness.  Let's not forget all the changes we've seen with badges for a logo refresh halfway through the lineup.  The N-Strike logo that's still sitting on the back of the Longshot is a testament to that, as things have changed since 2006.

There's also a dispute about darts.  The decorative markings on these darts is similar to concept art we saw on a "Hammer 5" concept some time ago.  "Deco Pack" ZombieStrike dart sets have been out for awhile now anyways, so I'm not sure why it's earth-shattering to see a different style come out.  Since the logo featured on the Longshot is a little different from what's on the current Deco darts, it makes sense that they'd change that.

The rest of the signs look legit.  There's a promo image with a white background that's spot-on for Hasbro.  The box is consistent with the newer ZombieStrike stuff that we've seen with the blue Nerf logo in the corner.  Sure I love the Longshot, so I could be biased up the wazoo... but there's too many facts that point to the right side of things for me to question it's legitimacy.

The Longshot is Back! New Internals??

I really don't think anyone saw this coming... but I awoke this morning double and triple checking my sources.  I've already seen sources all over from SmythsToys to Basic Nerf to Reddit articles.  Apparently, this news has been circling around since last night.  Looks like The Nerf Longshot CS-6 has been rebranded the ZombieStrike Longshot CS-12.  Oddly enough, there's no fold-down bipod... just some holes, actually.  This should make adding a shotgun priming handle, like the Xplorer one, that much easier (no need to remove what isn't there, right?)

There's no "Longshot" logo on that bar near the front barrel either, just a blank panel.  The old original N-Strike logo still dons the adjustable stock as well.  Color wise, it's in that same blue we got the SledgeFire in and it's apparently a Target Exclusive.

I suppose I'm most interested in the internals of this.  There hasn't been a new Longshot in several years since they were discontinued in 2010 in the United States, and those were the days before the Elite blasters were around.  Nowadays, a HammerShot out-of-the-box can outshoot a stock Longshot, so I'm willing to bet there's an internals upgrade in there.  The question is: HOW powerful will this new set be?

Awhile back, I did a test with the Elite Longshot that I built and pitted it up against a stock Elite Retaliator to see if my Elite-ified blaster could hold up to the real thing.  When I did the second Elite Range Battle, with the Retaliator modified, performance was surprisingly similar.  Could these potentially new Internals serve as an even BETTER platform to work from?

Cam ECS - Dual-purpose Blaster?

When news of the Nerf N-Strike Elite "Cam ECS", a lot of folks were kind of underwhelmed by the ancient technology the video camera seemed to work off of.  As such, they were also a bit floored by the expected prices ($70?) for this new battle-cam blaster.  Me, being the crazy nut that I am, was thinking one thing: make it a Laser Tag blaster!  Well... I think this blaster might have potential to be another Dual-purpose blaster.  "What do you mean by that, Mr. Bazookafied?"  Sit down and hear me out!

An Unlikely Duo

One of my first acts as "husband" was to free the back porch of the very face of EVIL.  A wasp was building a new home on the side of my home, so I decided how to lay waste to his plans.  Flyswatter?  Nope, he'd be expecting that.  Can of Raid?  Nah... chemical warfare is SOOO 1918.  I had cooler, much more interesting plans than that!

Inspired by Ellen Ripley's cunning use of a Flamethrower attached to an M41A Pulse Rifle in the iconic Sci-Fi film Aliens, I decided to pair a Nerf Titan AS-V1 Rocket Launcher to a Super Soaker Hydro Cannon.  My thought was that the Hydro Cannon would fire first, drenching the wasp so he would be unable to fly at first.  Then the Rocket Launcher would smash him into the wall before he could dry off and make his escape.

So I gave that jerk the old "1-2" and he was down and out for the count.  It was pretty fulfilling using this unlikely duo to defend my home!  Thanks for the tip, Ripley!

I'm Back!! PLENTY to talk about!!

Hey everyone!  Hope you all had a great weekend!  Figured I'd check back in with a few updates for ya as I get back into the swing of things.  Among those things, there is now a "Mrs. Bazookafied" in my life and she's fantastic!  The wedding and reception really couldn't have gone better and it was really amazing seeing all the planning and preparations come togeher.  We've had family in town for our wedding, so we've been catching up with them and celebrating our new lives together.

Amidst the celebration, we did manage to sneak a game of Laser Tag together with some of my groomsmen and relatives, which was quite a bit of fun.  With only 8 players, the games were quick and fun... but it also allowed us to rediscover the insanity that is "Free-For-All".  For the last few games, we all set the blasters on Solo Mode, started together in the middle of the park, and used the 10-second countdown to run and hide before the game began.  With bigger groups, the Free-for-all usually turns into a "hide-a-thon" and whomever stakes out a spot the longest and survives wins!... lame.  But with only 8 players and limited time to run and hide, the game actually played out really well.  It was a lot of fun rediscovering the simple-side of laser tag and just going out in a blaze of infrared glory.

I would've had that event planning video up, but my computer decided to reformat my SD card from my camera and delete a bunch of videos I needed to finish that project, so I shall redo that footage and complete the video later.  There's also some cool projects on the way, both in-progress on my workbench and in the planning pipeline.  Stay tuned!

Wedding Wishes from SBNC

Probably one of the only times I've gotten ever-so-misty-eyed watching a Nerf video and it came from an Aussie.  One of my favorite blogs out there, Southern Brisbane Nerf Club, posted an awesome shout-out video to me for my wedding.  I've even shown it off to family members who keep saying "Who the heck is Bazookafied he keeps talking about?" as they watch him sling darts across the ceiling.  Better yet, head on over to SBNC's Facebook Page and give it a look.

Al I've gotta say is THANKS to that crazy Australian Nerfer who managed to make this big kid red in the face and incredibly grateful to have gained such great friends through these hobbies.  It means a lot, bud!  Thanks!

Post by Southern Brisbane Nerf Club.