2020 Walmart Adventure Force Water Strike Soakers

Discussions of all varieties of stock water guns and water blasters.
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Buffdaddy
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2020 Walmart Adventure Force Water Strike Soakers

Post by Buffdaddy » Thu Jan 09, 2020 7:39 pm

I realize there isn't much activity here on the forum, but it's also shaping up to be a huge year for soakers, if anyone is paying attention. This is only the "off-brand" stuff, though. Hasbro has yet to do their official announcements.

To that end, let's start with some of the things appearing at Walmart right now: Blasterhub Article

Be warned: LOTS OF PICS.


Buzz Bee has two blasters based on the Steady Stream - the smaller Triton ($10), and the rather large Poseidon (holds 90oz)($20). There's also a Drench Force derivative for $15, that fires a slug of water (I guess that's the best description?).
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Xshot has their Pressure Jet appearing as the Cylcone Burst for $15. I have no idea if the newer members of the Fast Fill line will appear there.
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Meanwhile, there's some Power Pump stuff from Prime Time Toys, and I put the press release info here. But have some pics of the sheets.
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SSCBen
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Re: 2020 Walmart Adventure Force Water Strike Soakers

Post by SSCBen » Thu Jan 09, 2020 9:39 pm

Interesting. What's the history of Adventure Force from Buzz Bee? Just a Walmart-only line produced by Buzz Bee?

Because Water Warriors isn't on the Buzz Bee website any longer, there were concerns that Water Warriors doesn't exist any longer: viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7228

I'm looking forward to 2020 mostly because of Spyra. While I'm not personally sold on an electrically-powered water blaster, I think their product has potential to be a hit and revitalize the hobby. I personally prefer hand-pumped blasters, though I can see why many don't.

Buffdaddy
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Re: 2020 Walmart Adventure Force Water Strike Soakers

Post by Buffdaddy » Fri Jan 10, 2020 6:21 pm

Adventure Force is one of Walmart's in-house brands, that they slap on various toy companies' products for putting on the shelf. I don't know what the criteria is, but assume that you're not a huge name in toys (Hasbro, Mattel, etc) or that you're not offering a huge product (Xshot's Fast Fill soaker and Bunch O Balloons, for example, are too big to try to force under a different brand).

Walmart looks for certain products they want, that they can get in their packaging with a certain range of overhead, and the lesser toy companies have to go through that route to get on the shelf. Granted, Walmart stores are a huge distribution deal, but it's their terms. The Nerf aisle has seen this for the past few years, as, aside from scattered products here and there, it's largely been Nerf and Adventure Force on the shelf. Some years, Buzz Bee has more products on shelves, some years, it's Prime Time Toys or Zuru Xshot blasters being rebranded and put on the shelf (sometimes just with stickers over the original logo in the mold).

Prime Time Toys has made somewhat of a killing, as their ball blasters have been the chief competitor to Nerf's Rival line, and they have several dart blasters on shelf as well as large packs of "wafflehead" darts for cheap (200 darts for $10, and sometimes 500 for $20). It's one of the driving forces behind Nerf branching out and trying different things like the cheap Alpha Strike line, or a new dart type in Ultra, to try and combat how successful this partnership has been.

Buzz Bee has had various smaller blasters on the shelf under the line, as well as different dart types like their suction darts. In terms of water blasters...the last few years have been more Prime Time Toys models than anything else. So seeing Buzz Bee get the nod this year is nice.

jSpazz
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Re: 2020 Walmart Adventure Force Water Strike Soakers

Post by jSpazz » Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:23 am

I have always liked the idea of a single large water blast from something deceptively small like a pistol, but that just looks like another large pump action to me...
I've been tuned out of the water blaster world for a while, but from what I'm seeing its all just more pump action. The Cyclone Burst was the only pressurized blaster.

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SEAL
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Re: 2020 Walmart Adventure Force Water Strike Soakers

Post by SEAL » Sat Jan 25, 2020 1:34 pm

BBT really likes their Steady Stream technology, don't they?

The Drench Force and its derivatives do still interest me. Piston guns suck, but you can't really argue with 50 feet. I wonder how one would fare in combat against CPS.
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marauder
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Re: 2020 Walmart Adventure Force Water Strike Soakers

Post by marauder » Tue Feb 11, 2020 12:27 pm

This is great news. I have no idea what to expect for performance, but the Triton has an awesome design.
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SEAL wrote:If you ain't bloody and muddy by the end of the day, you went to a Nerf war.

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