2009 Stock Soaker Predictions

[isoaker]

What do you foresee coming out in 2009 in terms of stock water blasters? Do you think that there will be a new Super Soaker Monster XXL in the future or will Water Warriors release the new, quad-chamber Blue Whale "Hydro Power" blaster or do you fear it'll be nothing more than a whole "Bottle Shot" series of blasters? Perhaps X-Stream will surprise us with something new or that the Mizumi line will become more readily available and affordable. Or do you think that only a couple of new gimmicks will be released with everything else be re-releases?

Post your 2009 stock soaker predictions below! When news becomes available, we'll see whose guesses are closest to what reality offers!

Note: This thread is for guessing what is likely, not for our ultimate dream stock water blasters.

[Sun]

For some reason, I feel like SS is going to rerealease, but WW, hopefully, will have a Blue Whale type thing.

[Rover]

I realistically see more junk coming from Super Soaker. I'm still holding out hope that they go crazy for their 20th Anniversary and re-release some of the classic soakers (or do something special). As for Buzz Bee... I have much more hope. I've got a feeling they might just suprise everyone with something great (more than just a recolored Orca : P).

[HBWW]

After 2 years, I no longer have that "omg lolz" feeling of anticipation for next year's water guns, and don't expect 2009 to be anything special. I don't know which is more likely; BBT/SS releasing something good, or me getting all those homemades and repairs done in a timely manner.

[mr. dude]

The way I see it, both companies may have had an "off" year just to build up anticipation, so that the next good soaker they release instantly sells out. For those who follow soccer/footbal/footy/the beautiful game, Inter did this with the signing of Ricardo Quaresma. All the team's fans were anticipating his arrival since before the summer started, but a long story was made out of it, and he didn't arrive until the last day for legal transfers, at the start of September.
My guess is that they'll release their best work since the Larami days in 2010, and in '09 we'll probably get the average mid-sized guns improved upon, plus, of course, a lot of rereleases.
Ideally Super Soaker would have celebrated the '98 line's 10 year anneversary this year, but maybe they can celebrate the release of the SS50 in '09, as unlikely as it is.

[Adrian]

Super Soaker:Three piston soakers. Small and medium air-pressure soakers. And one that will either be a small CPS, or look like it.

Water Warriors:Rerelease of their entire line. Newer soakers will be essentially older soakers in new shells.

The entire sport will continue to be marketed to children under the age of 12, and no forward motion will even be considered in marketing it to older kids/young adults.

Adrian

[isoaker]

Time to add in my 2 cents into this thread.

For the Super Soaker line, I'd like to think that this year was just a lull year and that next year they'll release some new blasters along similar lines to the AquaShock line. I'd expect to see a new design for the FlashFlood/ArcticBlast design; perhaps a larger version? I'd also imagine they might play around with the Quick Blast system a bit, though it's hard to say whether they could build a larger version for a reasonable price. There'd obviously be a number of re-releases, but how many new CPS-based blasters will be introduced remains unknown.

For the Water Warriors line, as the AquaMaster Pre-Charger line is supposedly being discontinued, I'd hope for a new line to take its place. I'd like to see them release something a little more powerful than the Blazer/Orca, but its tough to say. Of course, I'd also expect a number re-released blasters with new colours. All that said, suffice it to say, I have high hopes for this line.

If Mizumi is still around next year, I'd expect them to try advertising their products a little more, perhaps introducing a few recolours and maybe a new blaster, but since few are familiar with this one, they'll probably focus on getting better known as opposed to developing newer blasters.

X-Stream will likely continue as they always have done releasing a mix of old designs and pushing out a couple of new blaster designs into the mix. Sadly, their lesser known status makes knowing the full extent of each year's line tricky.

In the end, 2008 feels to me more like a transition year. I think some exciting things are in store for 2009, but then again, what do I know? I'm forever the optimist.

[Rover]

I'm the only one who thinks Super Soaker's going to do something to celebrate its 20th anniversary? I mean in 1999 they released the silver SS50, so maybe in '09 we'll get a gold-colored one. Atleast it'll be a better soaker than half the piston pumpers they've put out recently
Edit: I'm keeping my hopes pretty low for larger, more powerful blasters now, or in the future, and this is why. Times have changed quite a bit in the 10 years since 1998. Back then, everyone wanted the biggest, baddest, most totally radical water gun in the neighborhood. Soakers were far more popular since paintball and airsoft were still fairly underground, as opposed to today, where I've seen kids as young as 13 playing airsoft and paintball. Anyone who is too young to play an outdoor shooting sport will instead choose to play a shoot-em-up videogame. These two groups: the milsim, outdoorsy kids and the video game playing kids, will rarely buy super soakers. Without that popularity, the demand for Super Soakers dwindled. People (namely those 12 and under) really don't care if their soakers are more powerful or larger anymore. In their innocence, they're quite unaware that their puny Bottle Shot isn't the most powerful water cannon ever made, as they believe it to be. And unfortunately, Hasbro is more than happy to cater to this new demand with a steady flow of water guns made for the very young. Shelf space is at quite a premium nowadays, meaning anything bigger than a Flash Flood will not even be put on the shelves (this is why the HydroBlitz never appeared on store shelves in my area). Sad, but this is the way things might stay (unless those folks in Germany manage to get a few blasters out).
Tl;Dr - We're following a dying brand, if not a dying pastime (water battles)

[Sun]

True, I remember two years ago I could find monsters, now, I can't even find an AB, much less a HydroBlitz,

[SSCBen]

Call me a pessimist, but I doubt Hasbro or Buzz Bee will change much if anything in their lines. There might be new named blasters, but it'll be more of the same.

Buzz Bee has had the same basic line since their inception. While they have had a few neat blasters on the side, the core line hasn't changed too much. The changes seem more like refinements than full changes.

Trying to read Hasbro or Buzz Bee Toys as waiting a year to make some big changes is nothing more than wishful thinking. Given the current state of the US/global economy, people are more interested in necessities than extras. If the average person thought $20 was too much for a water gun a few years ago, despite inflation, I bet that price has decreased over the past year.

After looking into it though, I can tell you a few things: the HydroBlitz and Arctic Blast are gone. Amazon.com says the HydroBlitz been discontinued and the same for the Arctic Blast. This obviously doesn't say anything about which direction, if any, the future will take but it's interesting.

[isoaker]

I'm the only one who thinks Super Soaker's going to do something to celebrate its 20th anniversary? I mean in 1999 they released the silver SS50, so maybe in '09 we'll get a gold-colored one. Atleast it'll be a better soaker than half the piston pumpers they've put out recently

Would definitely be nice should Hasbro opt to do something special for the 20th anniversary of the Super Soaker. Perhaps a metallic gold SS50? I would hope that this year was strictly an adjustment year (i.e. manufacturers needing time to adjust to the new costs of making water blasters) and that next year we'll see more new things though, of course, I wouldn't expect a Monster XL re-release.

[XP270]

Has anyone else noticed that they are remaking the SS50???

http://i.gizmodo.com/5153949/the-origin ... 0-its-back

[isoaker]

Has anyone else noticed that they are remaking the SS50???
http://i.gizmodo.com/5153949/the-origin ... 0-its-back

Already well discussed in this other thread

[Rising Flood]

Realistically, we will probably see more of the same. From Super Soaker: either re-releases, or new water guns, probably with low performance. These new water guns would probably have gimmicks, perhaps useful, perhaps not. The gimmicks would become the basis of the entire marketing campaign for the soakers. Of course, the less-knowledgeable kids whom these water guns will be marketed to, will not think of 20-foot ranges and 30-ounce capacities as bad. Bottom line: smallish, weak water guns (a majority of them likely piston-powered); basically what we've seen from SS these last few years. Of course, it's a possibility that they could improve, but given the recent trends, unlikely.

From BBT/Water Warriors: Any day now they will overtake SS as the leading brand of water guns. They are slowly, but steadily, producing better water guns. I'm not sure if they can reach the level of CPS's and older Super Soakers, but they are getting better. I can envision an all-around line of smaller air-powered blasters and larger Hydro Power ones.

[HBWW]

^ Gimmicks have long been the bases of the marketing campaign for soakers. BBT has already surpassed the Super Soaker if you only count the new releases. As for everything available so far, Super Soaker still has the highest powered guns (Arctic Blast and Flash Flood), unless the Vindicator has improved over past Hydro Power designs. Power aside, the Vindicator and many other BBT blasters are a lot larger and hold more water.

I didn't mention the HydroBlitz (which is otherwise larger than BBT's blasters) since its no longer available. (and very gimmick based)