Gel Blaster, Hasbro Settle Lawsuits
July 30, 2023This post is a bit late, but it’s still relevant.
Proceedings over gel ball blasters at the United States International Trade Commission are still ongoing, but part of the investigation is over. The big two contenders, Gel Blaster (arguably the company that made this market explode) and Hasbro (the juggernaut selling Nerf, and specifically Nerf Pro Gelfire), reached a settlement. As per Bloomberg Law:
Gel Blaster announced through a spokesman on Tuesday that the companies had reached a settlement, and that it would drop its breach of contract and theft of trade secrets lawsuit against Hasbro before a federal court in Texas. Hasbro, meanwhile, would drop its claims of patent infringement against Gel Blaster at the US International Trade Commission in Washington.
The rest of the proceedings are still ongoing. However, as of May 19, there was an order terminating the investigation into the Splat-R-Ball side of things, pending a motion. The details of the settlement have not been fully released, due to confidentiality agreements and a request for only the appropriate USITC staff to have the unredacted documents. That would appear to just leave Prime Time Toys to either mount a defense or settle. We’ll see how this plays out, especially now that Xshot has put gel ball blasters on store shelves. And as far as I’m aware, Spin Master and Hasbro, if they’re serious about defending their territory, would also be suing Zuru over this.
Mall Mutation Madness: Hardcore 4 Is Coming!
July 25, 2023Just a small blurb, since it’s one of the best game experiences ever for HvZ (or rather, HvHvZ play). Mall Mutation Madness is back, taking place on the evening of October 14th at Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters, Missouri (a St. Louis suburb). We even have a fun theme! More info on the game itself, as well as buying tickets when they go live on August 6th, can be found on the various FRAG Society pages (Discord, Facebook).
Dart Zone Pro Mk4 Review
July 20, 2023Typically, I’m excited for the next big Dart Zone blaster release. After the issues with the Mk1.2, though, I was only cautiously optimistic about the Mk4. After lots of playtime in various settings, however, it really feels like Dart Zone is headed the wrong way. The blaster is too large, too unwieldy, and too expensive for what it is. And while it still may be fun to use in games, there are so many better options for 90% of competitive users.
Xshot Insanity Rage Fire Review
July 17, 2023Hobbyists like me often forget that not everything has to be about performance. It can simply be fun. But when you have both of those things in a cool package, it’s hard to beat.
That’s where the Xshot Insanity line comes in; it packs the good Xshot performance you’d expect in an inexpensive and hilariously made package. If you’ve ever seen memes or viral videos with blasters stacked on blasters, ammo carried everywhere…that is exactly what you’re getting. And it was definitely worth the $45 I paid.
Hasbro Updates: Comic-Con, Patents…Short Darts???
July 11, 2023
New Nerf Pro Gelfire Blasters Appear! Ghost, Raid, and Dual Wield!
July 5, 2023We knew there would be more Nerf gel ball blasters coming. Thanks to some early Target listings, we now have a sneak peek!
The stylings are a bit plain, but the blasters are at least unique. The Raid is a manually-primed shotgun, shooting five balls at up to 150fps. The Dual Wield comes with two small, double-action trigger blasters (usable performance? Unknown!). And the Ghost comes with an extended barrel attachment, allowing manually-primed “sniper” shots at up to 200fps. For $40, $30, and $50, respectively, they’re interesting entries into the space, at the very least. Granted, you can seasonally find better deals on full-auto blasters from other brands (like this 200fps SplatRBall entry at Sam’s Club). But for what they are, I appreciate the attempt at unique blasters reaching the market.
Dart Zone Announces the Omnia!
June 26, 2023The announcement podcast appeared overnight, with news of both a new blaster and its upcoming appearance at Foamcon/Endwar. Sadly, I can’t attend that event due to previous plans. But the podcast still gives all the fun details, so here we go!
