NERF
| Nerf | |
|---|---|
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| Owner / user | Hasbro |
| Introductory year | 1969 |
| Products | Dart blaster , sporting goods |
| Markets | USA , China , Europe |
| Website | Website |
NERF is a brand of the US toy manufacturer Hasbro . It is divided into a large number of sub-brands that Dartblaster -series N-Strike , N-Strike Elite , Dart Tag , Zombie Strike , Nerf Rebelle , the water gun series Super Soaker , the Disc Blaster series Vortex , the melee Weapon -Series N-Force , the foam ball series Nerf Rival and the sports product series N-Sports and Nerf Nitro . The Doomlands series has so far only consisted of drum blasters . Zombie Strike also offers the so-called melee weapons .
The brand was originally introduced in the late 1960s by the US company Parker Brothers , which was later taken over by Kenner and then Hasbro. Hasbro still offers the articles worldwide, some with different product ranges. The first product was a ball in 1969 that was supposed to enable safe indoor play.
The name “NERF” is a backronym that is supposed to describe the material: “Non-Expanding Recreational Foam” (df dimensionally stable toy foam ).
Products and brands
Sporting goods
NERF became famous in Germany for the NERF Vortex , a football-shaped ball with a tail. Equipped with whistling nozzles, you could throw it back and forth. The NERF Vortex was even used in physical education and as training for competitive athletes. No other sporting goods are sold in Germany, but baseball bats and balls, football balls and more are sold in the United States. The N-Force series is also part of the sports series. This is a knight's toy made of foam, with which it is possible to duel safely. These articles were introduced in Germany in 2011, but they were not really popular.
Dart blaster
Dartblaster has been offered in Germany under the NERF brand since 2009 . They are colored plastic toys that are designed to be reminiscent of guns or pistols. These shoot small foam projectiles, so-called darts, using springs to be preloaded or electrically operated grinding wheels. The articles are divided into a total of six sub-brands:
N-Strike
N-Strike was the core brand of the line-up until it was replaced by the Elite series in August 2012. Many blasters such as the Maverick REV-6 - a 6-shot "revolver" - or the Longshot CS-6 - a "sniper rifle" - were offered under this series . The items in the N-Strike series are more like real weapon types, but can always be recognized as toys due to the overdrawing and bright colors. Since the release of the N-Strike Rayven CS-18 in mid-2012, phosphorescent darts or "glow-in-the-dark" darts have been offered again.
N-Strike Elite
In 2012 a new blaster series was released under the name “N-Strike Elite”, which achieved greater firing ranges through the use of new types of darts and a completely redesigned interior. The models that appeared before the Elite series were equipped with a "reverse plunger", i.e. an indirect piston system. With the introduction of the Elite series, this has changed, now a direct piston system is used, which in combination with lighter, yet better weighted darts leads to the new range of up to 30 meters. The "N-Strike Elite" series completely replaced the N-Strike series at the end of 2012. At the start, the core models of N-Strike appeared partly in a new color scheme, partly optically revised.
Rebel
In 2013 Nerf started a new series: Motivated by the good sales of the “Friends” series from toy manufacturer Lego , Hasbro launched a range of blasters especially for girls. In addition to the color scheme, completely new models such as a bow or crossbow are also taken up. The models appeared in autumn 2013, contain darts in fancy colors to collect and are intended to appeal to the social streak of young girls through a social iOS app .
Darts day
This classic series has been available since 2003. Darts used by corresponding blasters have Velcro elements at the tip, which make it possible to make hits easily visible during an exchange of fire with additional vests and T-shirts. In 2009 the series was reissued and since 2008 official tournaments with these blasters have been held in the USA every year.
Zombie Strike
The name Zombie Strike means something like zombie attack . It has blasters that are specially designed for humans vs. Zombies are designed. Apart from their green color, the darts are identical to the Elite darts.
Rival
This series includes all blasters that shoot foam balls with fairly high speed and precision. In the USA you can buy the blasters with an age recommendation from 14. The series is not sold in Germany because it violates the German WaffG , because the rival blasters have a projectile energy of approx. 0.8 joules , while the maximum limit for toy guns under the age of 18 is 0.5 joules.
ZED Squad
This series offers recolored models that were sold about ten years ago. These products are mostly used.
Vortex
The "Vortex" series was introduced in 2011 and is characterized by the fact that their blasters use discs instead of darts. By changing the bullets, it became possible to massively increase the range at the expense of bullet speed and accuracy. This technique called Hasbro as XLR (Xtra Long Range) discs .
Combat Creatures
This series was published in the fall of 2014. It consists of robots that fire elite darts. Since then, two models have been available on the market, the Terradrone and the Terrascout.
See also
- Nerf Arena Blast - computer game with and about the NERF brand
Web links
swell
- ↑ NERF Rebelle - Blaster especially for girls. In: http://www.hasbro.com . June 27, 2016, accessed on June 27, 2016 (German).