Adult Fans of Nerf A community for Adult Fans of Nerf Blasters

Clear the way for 9-1-10! A preview of the Nerf Clear Series Blasters

The N-Strike Clear Series Blasters are on their way, and thanks to our partners at Nerf we have the opportunity to give you an adultfansofnerf.com exclusive first look at four of these attractive blasters.

We greatly appreciate our partnership with the fine people at Nerf, without their cooperation and generosity much of the awesome stuff we put on AFoN wouldn't be possible. You can only imagine our surprise when an unexpected package appeared riddled with N-Srtike logos and a big sticker on top exclaiming “Clear the way for 9-1-10!” I gotta give it to our partners at Nerf, they're creative at everything they do, even packaging. Not only was the shipping box ornately decorated, but the bundle inside was held together by two bandoliers and instead of packaging peanuts the “precious cargo” was secured by Clip System darts(how cool is that)!

I'm going to get some generalities out of the way before I get to the reviews. These blasters look great; the clear plastic used for this series of blasters is very attractive, and doesn't change the overall weight and feel of the blasters. Being able to see the inner workings of the blasters is a great feature, especially for some of the more complex pieces. Some of the core components of each blaster remain their usual orange plastic, which is ok since these are meant to be functional blasters and not simply display pieces.

N-Strike Nite Finder EX-3 – The Nite Finder is a cool little blaster. It has good power and range in a compact package. The red Light Beam site on the Nite Finder functions well as a tactical light for night play and if you can calibrate it properly it can be fairly accurate a closer range. All these things are true for the Clear Series blaster as well. This doesn't surprise me at all considering the fact that the Nite Finder has the most simplistic innards of the blasters added to the Clear Series. The Nite Finder comes with three sucker darts, which is just enough to compliment the two storage slots under the Light Beam, while keeping one dart in the chamber.

N-Strike Maverick REV-6 – The Maverick is has become the most recognized Nerf blaster of the N-Strike series. Even people that wouldn't consider themselves Nerf fans own Mavericks(though they might not know what it's called other than a Nerf “gun”). This well weighted sturdy six shooter fires with good range and power for its size. This is not the first time we've seen a clear Maverick if you were lucky enough to find one of the Gamestop exclusives or from their short stint at Walmart. I will say I've had more frequent issues with misfires and power problems with the Clear Series blaster compaired to the regular Maverick, but not all special edition products can be perfect.

N-Strike Recon CS-6 – I've always found the Recon interesting. I like the idea of customizing the blaster for different conditions. I credit the Recon for the idea of removable butt stocks, but it may not have started there(I don't know for sure). The Recon's inner mechanism has been so well made that it has led to many new and awesome Clip System blasters. The Clear Series Recon is just as impressive. They made everything clear, even the rail attachments! Functionality hasn't really changed from the regular blaster to the Clear Series, range and power remain the same.

N-Strike Deploy CS-6 – The Clear Series Deploy gave a couple problems, the clip wouldn't fit into the blaster easily and the cocking mechanism doesn't always lock after loading. That being said I do like the clear Deploy. As I said in my full review, I have a weakness for things that transform and the Deploy definitely delivers. When everything works, this clear blaster works almost as well as the normal version. Power is decreased a little, and as a result so is range. I can live with this as I've always seen the Deploy as a short to mid range blaster. I did learn one thing from the Clear Series Deploy; from seeing how the spring in the butt of the gun which controls the “deploy” feature functions, I have decided that in order to keep the spring from losing it's.. springiness(?) I'm going to store my blaster in its fully deployed form. If it'll work the way I think I'm not sure, but it's a decision based on observation, and I like that.

All in all I'm satisfied with the Clear Series Blasters, they are well made, feel almost exactly like their colored counterparts, and come with all the accessories you'd expect. When they launch in August I'd recommend getting them, if for no other reason than to say to your friends “dude! Check out my clear Nerf stuff!”