Review: Dart Zone Venom Pro

I saw an Aussie importer with Venom Pros in stock and on discount, and I couldn't resist the temptation. A flywheeler pistol that has competitive performance out-of-box and is fed by magazines through the handle? I was intrigued.

I'm something like a year late to this, but given it doesn't normally retail in Australia anyway, I didn't think I'd ever get one in the first place.

Review: X-Shot Longshot (Aus version)

Longtime readers of this blog will know that I'm an absolute sucker for bullpups, so even in my absence from the hobby, the release of the X-Shot Longshot was very interesting for me. It got to the point where I was contemplating importing one, but thankfully Kmart came through and saved me that trouble.

All is not sunshine and rainbows though. Australia is subject to some extremely strict toy laws, which has resulted in us receiving weakened blasters, and in many cases, not being able to access entire blaster lines at all (e.g. Rival). The X-Shot Longshot has not escaped this scrutiny...

Note: For convenience but also to avoid confusion with other Longshots, I will be referring to this blaster as the XLongshot.

Review: Nerf Rival Pilot XXIII-100

The Nerf Rival line isn't available in Australia, presumably because it exceeds the kinetic energy limits on toys here. I recently had an overseas holiday to a country which had Rival stuff available (among many others - check my FB page), so decided to grab one of the single-shot blasters. I opted for the Pilot, and while I have no intention of investing any more into Rival, it is a lot of fun and definitely worth the purchase.

Review: Nerf Elite 2.0 Motoblitz CS-10

The Nerf Elite 2.0 Motoblitz fulfils a long-standing desire of mine (and I'm sure many others), that being a mag-fed blaster with an underslung shotgun blaster. While I initially passed on the Motoblitz at its retail price (partly due to lack of interest in Nerf overall), Aussie Targets recently marked them down to 20AUD for clearance, which was a deal far too good to pass up.

Review: Adventure Force Aeon Pro

The Adventure Force Aeon Pro is part of Dart Zone's line aimed more towards hobbyists, packing much higher power and half-length dart usage/compatibility. Naturally, it still seems to be only available in North America, however Blastertech imports and sells them locally. I bought one from them during their Australia Day (Jan 26) sale.

Funnily enough, this is actually my first real foray into half-length darts.

Review: Nerf Elite Shellstrike DS-6 (grey trigger)

It's been several years since I've bought a new blaster, as the majority of them have simply not appealed to me. I've always had a soft spot for shell-fed shotgun blasters though, so I was quite excited for the Shellstrike to finally arrive. When I finally found it in-store, it turned out to be cheaper than I'd expected, so I picked it up immediately.

Those of you excited to see another post from me, don't get your hopes up. I'm still pretty out of the Nerf scene and will probably continue to do so until my life settles down a little.

Life/Blog Update

With the December HvZ likely being my last proper post, I thought it was a good time to give some updates on what's going on in my life, and the likely future (or lack thereof) for my blog.

Particularly throughout the past year, my interest in buying new Nerf things has been waning significantly. In the past, I was excited to acquire new products so I could try them out, even if I didn't really feel that I would end up keeping them. I've moved from buying the new shiny to only buying things I'll actually used - and I'm at the point where there is little more to buy. My Bulllpup RS MkII is a near perfect primary for me, and barring maintenance and any significant technological changes, will likely remain largely the same for the forseeable future. Likewise, my equipment is pretty much at the point where it feels second nature to me, and I have little desire to change anything else about it. As such, blog content has gone from trying out whatever I can get my hands on, to pretty much just covering the most recent event.

Another contributor is that I was completing my Final Year Project this year, and I'm sure a number of you will understand how much time that eats up. However, with all of that finally over, once all the paperwork and such is done, I will have finished my University course, and will be graduating at the end of this year. Assuming all goes well, I will then be moving interstate early next year for a graduate position. With a full time job and limited interest remaining in the hobby, I do not have the desire or passion to continue regularly posting on the blog, nor do I expect to have the time to maintain it. I will be keeping an eye out for local communities, and if I have the time, will make the effort to attend, but that will likely be my limit of participation in the hobby.

As of writing, Outback Nerf has received approximately 1,455,000 total views, and is approximately 7 years, 11 months old.

I will be (attempting to remain) active on my Warframe blog, as that is something I currently have more interest in, and is also much more convenient (and cheaper!) for me to maintain and create content for. I'll still be easily reachable by social media, since any notifications for the Outback Nerf page will appear on my personal account as well.

Thank you all very much for reading and watching my content. I've had a lot of fun producing it and being a part of this hobby and community. With any luck, I'll be seeing some of you (again) in the future.

May the force be with you!

MHvZ Game Report: 1/12/18

Final event of the year, and likely my final event for a while. We had a pretty solid turn out this event.
All rules can be found here.

MHvZ Game Report: 3/11/18

We had a reasonable turnout and great weather today, and we were able to do several good games.

All rules can be found here.

MHvZ Game Report: 6/10/18

A great day for HvZ, and despite low attendance we were able to host some decent games.

All rules can be found here.

MHvZ Game Report: 4/8/18

First event in some time, finally got a chance to combat test my Bullpup RS MkII.

All rules can be found here.

Bullpup RS MkII Tweaks

Couple of quick tweaks to my Bullpup RS MkII, all up front.
Left side rail has been moved forward, and the old hole patched up with spare plastic.

Right side rail, which was displaced by the motor cover, has also been reattached forward.

I rather like how the barrel shroud profile looks from above, and they also help to cover up the "teeth" design around the faux barrel, which I didn't like.

Review: Nerf Modulus Mediator (Aus grey trigger)

The Mediator is one of the more practical 2018 blasters, combining the compact form factor of the Recon/Retaliator with the pump action and side magwell of the Raider/Rampage. I was intending to grab one, but then held off when I saw the retail price. I managed to snag this one for a reasonable price second hand.

Mod: Bullpup Rapidstrike MkII

I wanted to put together a new Bullpup RS to replace my old, worn one, and to try out a different shape. A few months later and here we are.

Quick Mod: OFP 42.5mm Morpheus Cage

The OFP Morpheus dart guide is something I've always wanted to try out, as I've liked the benefits of a well done brass guide, but hated the amount of time and effort required to cut one properly. With my Bullpup RS MkII project wanting the internals from my old Bullpup RS MkI, I took the opportunity to re-spec the MkI for MLF-level PvP.

Melbourne League of Foam: High Velocity Metagame

Melbourne's Nerf scene has evolved to be quite supportive of the development of high velocity Nerfing, and today's Melbourne League of Foam event was specifically arranged to highlight this, and its place in the hobby. The photos and further writeup have been provided by James/Temstar, as I did not attend the event myself. The same post by Temstar can also be found on Reddit.

Quick Mod: Modulus Storage Stock

I rather like the Modulus Storage Stock, it's a decent looking, reasonably comfortable, extendable stock. In stock form however, it is very prone to collapsing if significant force is applied to it. I spent a couple of minutes fixing that.

MHvZ Game Report: 2/6/18

We tried out a couple of new things at today's event, namely small shields, a reworked Mega Zombie, and some altered PvP rules.

All rules can be found here.

Quick Review: Lightake/NFstrike AccuMegas

At this month's HvZ, we had a pool of new Lightake/NFstrike Accufake Megas to try out. I borrowed some for a quick review.

Quick Mod: Thermal Hunter Lever Mag Release

Quick post on an improvement to my Thermal Hunter's mag release.