Board Thread:General Nerf discussion/@comment-27306930-20170311174402/@comment-27306930-20170322003647

Well, I broke down and bought one. EDIT: Aaaaand I'm happy I did.

First let me say you get a lot of blaster for your money, pound for pound, with the Cap'n Cassian. It's a pretty substantial blaster in and of itself. Plus it comes with barrel, stock, and a set of alkalines preinstalled, adding to the overall mass. I wasn't expecting that.

Now I'll be the first to admit when I'm wrong, and I was wrong about the main body of the blaster. It's not just a reshelled Stryfe. For one thing, the battery compartment is hiding in the forward grip. It nicely balances the weight in the center of the blaster, in contrast to many aft-heavy models.

The trigger action is also substantially different than the Stryfe. There's a distinctive snap to the trigger pull that's different from my other blasters. I like it. Of course I don't have many vintage and early N-Strike blasters, so it may be reminiscent of some older classics. I dunno.

The barrel extension is quite pretty. It's compatible with other Hasbro blasters, although the shade of blue is not an exact match to the classic dark blue Elite motif. The stock is a personal fave - the classic Raider 3 position stock. Put the three together, and you've got an overall length of 34 inches, more than 5 inches longer than a Stampede.

The scope is different too. It has two rows of crosshairs. You center the back ones up with the front ones to line up your shot. Of course it's a faux 1X sight with no optics, so you get what you get. *cough* bullsheet *cough*

Okay, I wasn't expecting built in FireFly tech. Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but bonus points. Comes with a CS-12 and a dozen limited edition GITD darts which I will sell on eBay next year for $25 😉 Unlike traditional FireFly tech, the light is hooked to the rev trigger, so it's dark in the standby mode. Très Bien !

I was also pleasantly surprised by the sound effects and pulsing light effects. When you pull the trigger, you get a nice laser-gun "pew pew" sound, plus a cascading series of LED segments light up along the top of the barrel (see video for example). It's actually a nice effect.

Finally, about the performance. It's a Hasbro flywheel Nerf blaster. It's using the same 130 motors and 6 volt battery configuration as the last twenty flywheel blasters. Stock range is pathetic. Voltage upgrade is acceptable. But it's screaming for a motor and flywheel upgrade. But I'll give the Cap'n this, it's relatively quiet like the HyperFire and Mastodon.

So to summarize, a substantial blaster, great add-on accessories, built-in FireFly tech, awesome light & sound effects, free batteries, predictable performance, and outstanding aesthetics. Two thumbs up !