Shown at Toy Fair 2018 back in February, the Swarm Seeker (and included bug launcher) aims to put a new spin on target practice. They showed up recently at Endwar (Mission 5, aka “The Commercial”), and just hit shelves this past month. Sporting the same wood and “bug splat” motif as previous blasters, the Swarm Seeker features great performance in a small package. And the bug launcher works as intended. All things considered, it’s a nice package.

Clip-Fed Fun

The Swarm Seeker pistol is primed with a slide, and fed using the same clips as the Xshot Regenerator. It may still be a proprietary loading method, but at least Xshot made it compatible with more than one blaster. The shell feels solid, with plenty of detail molded into the plastic. The handle is also large and very accommodating for bigger hands. Finally, the front end of the blaster can serve as a grip if you need to steady your aim. As far as blaster pistols are concerned, it’s very well designed and comfortable to wield.

The inside of the blaster is similar to the Regenerator. A wide plunger tube with a relatively strong spring feeds air into each barrel of the clip, and a long plastic rod connects the priming mechanism to the clip well for advancing the barrels. When primed, the clip is unable to move out of place, keeping everything aligned. When unprimed, the clip can be moved in and out by hand.

The plunger diameter is 29.5mm, and the draw is ~49mm.

Bug Helicopters

The included bug launcher is a battery-powered platform, designed to be triggered by foot. Four AA batteries go in a tray under the platform. Pressing the button feeds power to the motor, spinning the propeller. When you lift off your foot, the motor stops; the bug and propeller then slip off (while still spinning) and rise into the air.

Four AA batteries does require the user to give the platform a few seconds to fully spin up. When it does, however, it’s not uncommon to have bugs rise ten feet into the air, ready for someone with a blaster to take aim and fire.

The inside of the bug launcher is incredibly simple, with a simple switch feeding power to a large motor – a similarly size motor to Rival motors, actually, although it’s clearly not the same level of power. In case anyone is interested, the motor has the following stamped onto the side, in three lines:

JMRF-370SH-054B,  18  5  24  01,    D/V6.0

I personally don’t plan on doing anything to the launcher, but I’m sure someone out there will want to try.

Blaster Performance

As stated before, the Swarm Seeker uses the same clips as the Regenerator, allowing for a steady two shots per second. Using the included Xshot darts, I was hitting average velocities of 85fps, which is more than enough to clear the 90′ range claims. With Nerf Elites, I averaged 76fps, which is still a very respectable number.

Final Thoughts

The Xshot Flying Bug Attack Swarm Seeker is a powerful, reliable, and comfortable blaster to use. $20 gets you the blaster, clip, and bug launching platform (with two bugs). It’s not a bad price for the entire set, and the blaster will see great use outside of just target practice. However, if the bug launching platform just isn’t that important to you, then $20 is a bit much for just buying the pistol. Luckily, Xshot has plenty of affordable options for pistols for $10 or less, if that’s your chosen brand.