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(Slate) Silly How Nerf went from a purveyor of fun foam toys to the "leading kiddie arms dealer"   (slate.com) divider line 313
More: Silly, arms industries  
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17571 clicks; posted to Main » on 19 Dec 2011 at 1:14 PM   |  Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook   more»   |    Get this fabulous T-Shirt and impress the methane out of your friends! shirt it!



313 Comments   (+0 »)
   

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2011-12-19 01:03:09 PM
Little boys want cool toy guns. So parents buy guns for them, if they didn't the boys would use a stick or some other substitute.
 
2011-12-19 01:07:15 PM
Kiddie arms dealer? I never wanted Nerf guns as a kid nearly as much as I want them now.
 
2011-12-19 01:17:03 PM
Quasar: Kiddie arms dealer? I never wanted Nerf guns as a kid nearly as much as I want them now.

When I was a kid, Nerf didn't make guns. All they made were soft footballs, and indoor basketball hoops.
 
2011-12-19 01:17:27 PM
Quasar: Kiddie arms dealer? I never wanted Nerf guns as a kid nearly as much as I want them now.

That.
 
2011-12-19 01:17:50 PM
Subby gives the impression this is a bad thing, somehow.
 
2011-12-19 01:18:04 PM
All I know is I really want the longstrike "sniper" rifle since I'm on the second floor of my building and could lay down some serious pain from a nest at the top of the stairs.
 
2011-12-19 01:19:00 PM
Quasar: Kiddie arms dealer? I never wanted Nerf guns as a kid nearly as much as I want them now.

www.gadgetsarefun.com

WANT!
 
2011-12-19 01:19:38 PM
NRA- Nerf Rifle Association
 
2011-12-19 01:19:53 PM
Grapple: All I know is I really want the longstrike "sniper" rifle since I'm on the second floor of my building and could lay down some serious pain from a nest at the top of the stairs.

I walk past the Nerf aisle with longing every time I'm at Target. Seriously the only reason I haven't bought $500 worth of Nerf guns is that I can't justify where I'd get to use them.
 
2011-12-19 01:20:06 PM
www.gosale.com

WMD
 
2011-12-19 01:20:11 PM
dittybopper: Quasar: Kiddie arms dealer? I never wanted Nerf guns as a kid nearly as much as I want them now.

When I was a kid, Nerf didn't make guns. All they made were soft footballs, and indoor basketball hoops.


Nerf! Football! Rah Rah Rah!
 
2011-12-19 01:20:43 PM
EvilEgg: Little boys want cool toy guns. So parents buy guns for them, if they didn't the boys would use a stick or some other substitute.

What about a Nerf N-Force Battlemaster Mace?

www.hasbro.com

Hell yes I want two.
 
2011-12-19 01:20:58 PM
The Barricade is a piece of shiat with a constantly running flywheel mechanism that is both loud and inaccurate. The Maverick is still the best pistol you can get, and the Stampede is the most magnificent piece of foam action you can get that's still legal. Add a 35-round Raider drum magazine and you have a Nerf tommy gun.

The Vulcan still holds a soft spot in my heart for being a tripod-mounted, belt-fed Nerf machine gun.
 
2011-12-19 01:22:06 PM
Mega Steve: Quasar: Kiddie arms dealer? I never wanted Nerf guns as a kid nearly as much as I want them now.

[www.gadgetsarefun.com image 400x308]

WANT!


I was just at a kid's birthday party where he got one of those. It does throw a lot of foam.

I had one of these, but it was disappointing.

2.bp.blogspot.com
 
2011-12-19 01:22:34 PM
...and you wonder why America has so many problems with school shootings and what not...
 
2011-12-19 01:22:55 PM
As the father of two boys, I've become an armorer of necessity. Some of these are pretty tempermental. Sure are fun to shoot, though.
 
2011-12-19 01:23:16 PM
Yup, can't wait to have the excuse to buy these...to play with the little'n.

/Only 10 months
//And a girl, but so what
 
2011-12-19 01:24:05 PM
I wanna know why, no matter what, if a person isn't expecting to be shot with a Nerf gun, 99% of the time they will be hit in the eye. Whether they're turning around, looking up, or just not paying attention, those little foam darts just home into eyes.

If you're having a war, no worries cause no one gets hit. But as soon as you fire on an innocent, eyes are injured and people get pissed.
 
2011-12-19 01:24:30 PM
EvilEgg: Little boys want cool toy guns. So parents buy guns for them, if they didn't the boys would use a stick or some other substitute.

Good thing we learned to defend ourselves from pointed sticks.


/ and bananas
 
2011-12-19 01:24:31 PM
did anybody else to have the extremely realistic, battery-operated Uzi and Tech-9 water guns?
 
2011-12-19 01:24:34 PM
Pussy article is written by a pussy. Seriously:

Over the past few weeks I've been playing with some of the new Nerf guns, and I've tied myself in knots thinking about whether ultrarealistic weapons are just harmless fun or whether they reveal something terribly wrong with modern American boyhood.

1. They aren't realistic at all.
2. Boys have been playing with such things since the beginning of time
3. When they can't get toy guns because parents forbid it, they make them out of sticks, their fingers, etc.
4. Even very young children can distinguish the difference between a toy and a real weapon with appropriate adult guidance
5. The article presupposes that there is something essentially wrong with guns.
 
2011-12-19 01:25:20 PM
In 1992, it began releasing the first toys that resembled real guns. One of them was the Nerf Sharpshooter, shaped like a handgun.

nerfguns.org

Maybe a handgun Darkwing farking Duck would use.

GameSprocket: Mega Steve: Quasar: Kiddie arms dealer? I never wanted Nerf guns as a kid nearly as much as I want them now.

[www.gadgetsarefun.com image 400x308]

WANT!

I was just at a kid's birthday party where he got one of those. It does throw a lot of foam.

I had one of these, but it was disappointing.

[2.bp.blogspot.com image 400x300]


If you don't modify them, the Longshot is crap with the barrel extension (just like the Longstrike). However, if you want to go hardcore, modding a Longstrike with a Orange Mod Works Massacre kit will make it a real Nerf weapon. They make polycarbonate plungers and trigger releases and sell springs with three times the tension, so you can basically replace your gun's internals to make it awesome.
 
2011-12-19 01:25:28 PM
nerfguns.org
 
2011-12-19 01:26:25 PM
The most dangerous Nerf weapon is still a Nerf football held underwater until it has absorbed several pounds of water and then chucked in to the face of your little brother. Bam!
 
2011-12-19 01:26:53 PM
I get the feeling that the author wants these weapons.... nerfed.
 
2011-12-19 01:27:13 PM
Hmm...I could totally see someone making up rules for LARPing w/NERF products.

It would actually be pretty nifty!!!!
 
2011-12-19 01:27:38 PM
BumpInTheNight: ...and you wonder why America has so many problems with school shootings and what not...

What, we have tens of millions of school children, and one shooting by schoolchildren every few years? This exteremely rare event absolutely has to be Hasbro's fault. Those evil, evil people. I'm curious, however, about the findings of your research. What percentage of the shooters had a stockpile of Nerf weaponry? And what did your research show on "whatnot"?
 
2011-12-19 01:27:49 PM
Im 25 and I want to start buying Nerf guns again! They are so cool looking and safe to play with. And great for large outdoors battles.. and cops cant say crap about it too.
 
2011-12-19 01:28:08 PM
ultraholland: did anybody else to have the extremely realistic, battery-operated Uzi and Tech-9 water guns?

Yup, I loved those so much.
 
2011-12-19 01:28:11 PM
Wait... kids play with nerf guns? I thought it was just me and my other early-to-mid-20s friends.
 
2011-12-19 01:28:34 PM
I just bought my son 600 more darts for his current Nerf arsenal, and several of the new Vortex guns for Christmas. I have as much fun playing with them as he does.
 
2011-12-19 01:28:35 PM
Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Etch-A-Sketch? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Carmen Sandiego, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. Sandiego's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the bankie of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went out for recess, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up an official Nerf N-Strike Barricade RV-10, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what kind of milk and cookies you think you are entitled to.
 
2011-12-19 01:28:39 PM
I had two mavericks that I modified by taking the air restricters out and tightened up the tolerances in the cylinder with Great Stuff foam insulation in a can.
Sumbiatches could put a lot of foam right where I wanted it.
A buddy of mine makes homemade darts out of foam insulation, hot glue, and bb's.
I could leave a bruise with those modified Mavericks.
I gave them away when I moved this past spring. I can't wait till my kids are old enough to have Nerf battles.
 
2011-12-19 01:28:43 PM
 
2011-12-19 01:29:16 PM
This article was apparently written by the same guy over in the "rainbow party v2.0" thread who is sad about his threesome.
 
2011-12-19 01:29:51 PM
dittybopper: Pussy article is written by a pussy.

With a muslin-sounding name like "Farhad Manjoo," I expect the author is much more comfortable with fake explosives for children.
 
2011-12-19 01:30:09 PM
Bloody William: The Maverick is still the best pistol you can get,

Actually, I've found that the BuzzBee Tek 6 is superior to the Maverick. It looks goofier, to be sure, but I've found they shoot farther and more accurately.

Woe betide anyone who comes into range when I'm wielding one.
 
2011-12-19 01:30:58 PM
BumpInTheNight: ...and you wonder why America has so many problems with school shootings and what not...

Troll much???
 
2011-12-19 01:31:42 PM
Boy, I can't wait to have kids and buy an arsenal of these for them - and me.

Ah, the pitter patter of tiny feet in combat boots....
 
2011-12-19 01:32:23 PM
nerfguns.org
 
2011-12-19 01:32:26 PM
www.forthemommas.com

My folks gave my three older brothers these nerf whistling footballs as stocking stuffers one year. Our house sounded like a mortar test fire range for the next two months. They would tape the tips in tons of duct tape to add weight and whip them at each other. Good times.
 
2011-12-19 01:32:27 PM
Seacop: [nerfguns.org image 400x300]

YES!

spent many hours shooting those nerf arrows at my brother's face.

thing was surprisingly accurate to about 35 feet.
 
2011-12-19 01:32:38 PM
Seacop: [nerfguns.org image 400x300]

What kind of an idiot would buy their kid that, instead of something like this:

i40.tinypic.com
 
2011-12-19 01:33:19 PM
The author is a complete airhead.
 
2011-12-19 01:33:31 PM
TheShavingofOccam123: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Etch-A-Sketch? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Carmen Sandiego, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. Sandiego's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the bankie of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went out for recess, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up an official Nerf N-Strike Barricade RV-10, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what kind of milk and cookies you think you are entitled to.

That was beautiful.
 
2011-12-19 01:33:49 PM
Nerf has swords too. They're great for the epic battles I have with my kids to get them to clean up. Looser does the dishes. :D

EPIC NERF BATTLE FOR THE DISHES!!!!
 
2011-12-19 01:33:54 PM
My husband and I are Nerf gun nuts and have about 15 guns in our possession right now, about 10 extra duty clips, 500+ dart, and some shoulder straps to hold extra clips and darts for longer battles. By far my favorite is the Barricade. It is surprisingly accurate and is great for rapid assault. Reloading is tricky, but I have it down to where I can reload in about five seconds. It sucks for sneak attacks though (the fan is too damn loud). I like the Nightstrike for sneak attacks at my husband in the house. We really only pull out the larger guns for scheduled full out battles or if we are battling friends in the park or something.

We do have plenty of spontaneous battles though. I have my Barricade and Nightstrike strategically placed in two places in the house so if my husband tries anything I have a gun within a few second. I also have random caches of darts hidden away, but the cats are great at finding those and chewing the darts to pieces. Stupid cats.
 
2011-12-19 01:34:42 PM
Rapmaster2000: The most dangerous Nerf weapon is still a Nerf football held underwater until it has absorbed several pounds of water and then chucked in to the face of your little brother. Bam!

been on the giving and receiving end of a 5 lb wet nerf football...

oof....that can do damage....if you can throw it hard enough.
 
2011-12-19 01:34:42 PM
dittybopper: Bloody William: The Maverick is still the best pistol you can get,

Actually, I've found that the BuzzBee Tek 6 is superior to the Maverick. It looks goofier, to be sure, but I've found they shoot farther and more accurately.

Woe betide anyone who comes into range when I'm wielding one.


YOUR TASTE OFFENDS ME, SIR! PISTOLS AT DAWN!
 
2011-12-19 01:34:47 PM
Nerf: it's not just for kiddies anymore.

img20.imageshack.us

/yes, believe it or not this is an actual subset that has broken out in the steampunk world; steampunks wearing day-glo outfits and carrying unmodded nerf guns.
 
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