WE WANT BETTER BLASTERS!

[nerfman300]

i think if enough people contact hasbro telling them that we want cps-based blasters, the message might get through to the tech team! i just contacted hasbro asking them if theyre planning on bringing cps blasters back to the supersoaker line anytime soon, and the person i spoke to said "regrettably, there are no plans to bring it back to the line at this time. i will share your thoughts with the tech team though!" sure, it might of just been a lie to get my hopes up, but she also might actually tell the tech team! i think if hasbro sees that enough people want cps blasters back in the line of supersoakers, they might at least give us somthing better than the crap theyre dishing out now. my point is, everyone that reads this should contact hasbro and tell them to bring back cps weaponry! sure, it might not work, but even if it doesent, its no loss to us. i mean really, it only takes a few seconds to send them an email or talk to a live chat person and tell them to bring back cps blasters! of course, im not expecting them to bring back blasters like the 2700 or the monster, but if enough people do this, we might at least get blasters like the flash flood or the older arctic shock. please, help me in my cause, help bring back CPS.

i recommend using the their live chat just to make sure you are actually heard rather than sending an email which may or may not actually be read.http://hasbro.custhelp.com/app/chat/chat_launch

[isoaker]

Unless you can convince at least 10000 people to do something similar, there's likely going to be little to no response to such an action. This sort of thing has been attempted before (not to mention trying to persuade people deeper in the organization to reconsider things).

As for trying to get everyone who reads this to try bugging Hasbro, I'm open to the idea, but am not too optimistic on changes occurring from our small community's efforts.

[nerfman300]

Unless you can convince at least 10000 people to do something similar, there's likely going to be little to no response to such an action. This sort of thing has been attempted before (not to mention trying to persuade people deeper in the organization to reconsider things).

As for trying to get everyone who reads this to try bugging Hasbro, I'm open to the idea, but am not too optimistic on changes occurring from our small community's efforts.

although this is true, it certanly wouldent hurt to at least try to get hasbro to start remaking cps blasters. besides, it might work.

[SEAL]

"There are no plans to bring it back to the line at this time." Well, I guess we know now that we needn't bother hoping for better blasters next year (though I wasn't really anyway). Of course, she only said that about CPS tech, so I suppose one could still hope for air pressure guns.

I might use that chat thing when I get the chance. Even if it doesn't do anything, it would still be satisfying to tell someone who works there that their current products suck and they should do better (in a respectful way, of course).

[Nemesis]

Hey, nerfman, i've seen some of your youtube videos! I wrote aletter to hasbro that outlined my history with water guns and also reminded them that their guns are outclassed by household spray bottles i let them know that i am supporting BBT. I ended with "You have brought shame to the super soaker name" I said it in a respectful way of course, it was a school project, and my teacher proofread it and whatnot. I mentioned that i was part of waterwar.net. Their response was that they appreciated my comments, and they would inform "those who work closest with that aspect of our operation." Sooo, i'm not expecting anything to happen, but it was satisfying.

[HBWW]

Perhaps we're better off ignoring them. Respond to Nerf SS no differently than we respond to dollar store squirters, because value-wise, that's what they are.

In fact, as I've mentioned several times on the forums, I operate under the assumption that fully combat effective blasters will never reappear again, nor will we get any blasters of use that are durable for the long term.

Do I post an informative review on Nerf SS products now and then? Yes. Do I ever bother with any of their crappy products? Never have.

Now, here's why I'm on board with the idea of homemades being the future: We have no control over WW or SS and they are not on track to produce higher level blasters for as far as we can tell. Therefore, the best assumption is that the water blaster market will never reach the same level that it used to, and is the assumption that I operate on. Some CPS's will carry on, of course, but some will break irreparably. Maybe their bladders will keep working, but other parts are deteriorating even beyond repair. The time it takes to maintain some blasters could go to homemades design. (An opportunity I've lost due to constantly repairing blasters with my time in the workshop, instead of building/designing homemades.) Yes, homemades have even less place in battle than XP-level WW blasters, but they're the only way to change; they're the only thing we have control over. Even BBT's current blasters may not last; it is possible for market conditions to get worse and cause a decline in performance and capacity.

Honestly though, wait for iSoaker to post the "What do you want to see in 2015?" thread, then 2016, then 2017. Community wishes for blasters will never change much, and we will never really get anything on the top of our list anyway. (Save for the improvements BBT makes such as the insanely improved ergonomics and balance on their blasters this year.)

Summed, up, I take a cautiously pessimistic approach to stock blasters, and a cautiously optimistic approach to the potential of homemades. What I do want to see is who's going to be first to deliver practical, combat-effective blasters on a large scale: Hasbro (not going to happen), BBT (can happen if market conditions improve or what not), or us (completely up to us to develop them, as well as emerging technologies such as 3D fabrication).

[isoaker]

When it comes to stock water blasters, the community won't be as content until CPS-based blasters return. With Hasbro owning, but just sitting on the CPS patent, it seems like the community will either have to wait for the patent to expire (my estimates are 2017, but I'm no expert in patent law and that particular patent was filed during a complicated time) or somehow convince Hasbro to exercise their patent properly before it expires. That said, we (the community) have been trying to get Hasbro to listen for over 10 years now with no notable effect. However, that does not mean that we should give up. We just may need to try things a little differently.

To that end, this is one of the reasons I've opted to do reports on iSoaker.com on the "best" water gun / water blaster of the year as well as pushing up buying guides. While I prefer the actual review pages to tell more of the story, many people prefer summaries and it allows others to get a better sense of why a particular water blaster is being rated lower than others for those less familiar with water blaster technology and expected performance.

Beyond giving feedback to Hasbro customer service, I'd also strongly suggest those who run websites to push up more formal articles detailing why you feel the "Super Soaker" brand has fallen from grace or why you are now preferring the Water Warriors brand. For those who don't run a website, consider pushing up threads here on different aspects of the current water blaster performance spectrum.

In the end, though, as hard as it may be, while companies prefer consumers to have brand loyalty, as a community, we should always seek out the best regardless of the brand.

[HBWW]

Telling Hasbro straight-up that their products are no good doesn't sound like it would get anywhere. If they sell, they have no incentive to care what some people online think, because the average person will not care, but will just buy it up because of the Super Soaker name.

That said, I'm not discounting the idea of spreading the word, but I'm just saying it's unlikely to be of significant influence to get us out of this mess. It may make a tiny dent in MotoSquirter sales, but that's just a scratch on the surface.

As far as the patent goes, I'm fairly sure that the law does not care at all whether a patent is being used, which is how patent trolls exist in the first place. (Of which Hasbro borderlines on being one with the CPS patent.) The court did not care if Hasbro was really making money off the CPS patent, they just put the injunction and fines on BBT regardless.

I got to be honest though, even when the CPS patent expires, I can't see BBT putting it to any use better than what's already been done, i.e. Vindicator, Vanquisher. Of course, I could see them producing much more ergonomic versions of those blasters seeing how ergonomics have improved significantly over the last few years, but I don't see the performance envelop getting pushed.

While we, as a community, have established "light blasters only" games or "BBT only OHS", the top end of the warrior's armory is still being filled by old CPS's. I'm starting to feel that high end blasting (such as with said CPS's) are more and more of a niche of our community, like WBL's and SuperCannons.

[the oncoming storm]

There are plenty on here who frequently uses High end Water Warriors guns, I love my Gorgon, and until I got the 300 there was no gun I would rather have used in battle. I am even selling my 1200 to a friend just because it hasn't been used since I got my Gorgon.

If I recall M4 got rid of his 1000 and 1200 but kept his Gorgon, and Blazer. Scott's favorite gun is the Vindicator, DX's old team used a moddified orca quite a lot. I would say that they are popular here

[isoaker]

As far as the patent goes, I'm fairly sure that the law does not care at all whether a patent is being used, which is how patent trolls exist in the first place. (Of which Hasbro borderlines on being one with the CPS patent.) The court did not care if Hasbro was really making money off the CPS patent, they just put the injunction and fines on BBT regardless.

It is true that patents don't need to be exercised to be valid. However, for the Hasbro versus BBT lawsuit, BBT did not lose so much as they accepted a voluntary injunction as opposed to going in for a longer lawsuit. BBT paid no fine since Hasbro was not putting the properly updated patent numbers on their newer products. They could have challenged the patent, but the cost in lawyer fees, effort, and time does not make sense in light of the general water blaster marketplace. For BBT, waiting for the patent to expire makes more financial sense.

As for pushing the envelop in performance, it could be done, but it requires the market again to support it. Even with 100% of our community behind it, general sales just don't support more expensive water blasters. While I don't have specific numbers, I would be really surprised if the more pricy Nerf Super Soakers are selling much versus the more reasonably-priced Water Warriors blasters. Cheaper, lesser-known and poorer performing blasters sell well despite not being worth it from a performance point-of-view. Perhaps this summer I might pick up a couple of other interesting non-Nerf Super Soaker and non-Water Warriors brand water blaster just for comparison sake.

[HBWW]

Virtually all of those non-branded blasters have been nothing but random piston pumpers/squirters and other irrelevant items. The only blasters I've seen picked up in stores are squirters, so I'm not sure how well performance/pressurized blasters are doing. Stream Machines seem to be selling well, but they're only of use in naval wars.

Anyway, I suppose it's time to update the blaster buying guide on HBWW.

Edit:
Thanks for clarifying on the lawsuit. I read from somewhere that BBT was fined, but apparently that isn't the case.

After some additional thought, I take back some of what I said earlier regarding how our community interacts with Hasbro and what not. While we can only scratch a dent in the surface of the problem, it's not a bad idea to do all that we can with the little influence we have. Repetitively posting what's common knowledge to us around the web may help exposing what the SS brand has turned into.

[marauder]

I kept my Blazer rather than a 1200 or 1000 simply because it was more versatile, not because it was "better." The 1200 or 1000 would have been just as versatile if they were k modded and I had done a multi nozzle mod, but I didn't have the time for that. Despite my Blazer only shooting 36-37 feet I was able to do fairly well with it vs other Water Warriors guns, probably because of superior stock output. I expect to have a lot of Blazer vs Gorgon battles through the next 2 years. Also got 2 Storm 500s for battling around the house, and an XP 70 with a nozzle mod for filling balloons. I'll probably mod 1 nozzle on each of my Water Warriors guns to do the same.

[HBWW]

I'm still a huge fan of the 1200/1000 for their output at that form factor. It's not just output, they also have the push needed to be combat effective at their nozzle sizes. Would definitely take those above any BBT blaster for main games where CPS 2000's and other blasters rule the day. (Assuming other factors such as overall team skill and objectives are balanced.) The Colossus is as long as the 1000 and takes almost as much work to keep pressurized (minus the superior shot time), yet doesn't pack the same punch which is why I'd only use one for specialized games. (BBT only, air pressure only, "light blasters" only, or against really n00bish opponents.)

The nozzle mod is a good one to do; I need to start looking into it especially for smaller/pocket blasters. Those water balloon PR devices are great, but having blasters do the same job is nice too. (I wish the Stream Machines were built for that, but I also wish they were built to better quality anyway.)