Were reaching the tail end of the year, with lots of items to still appear on shelves. We have, of course, big ticket items like the Perses that were introduced at Toy Fair. There are many other items that will fill the space. One of those items is the Rival Knockout XX100, which will be available in October. Hasbro was kind enough to send me a blaster as part of the public reveal and after having the blaster for a week, Im impressed with how much power can come out of a package!
The Nerf Rival Knockout XX-100 will be available Oct. 1 at most major toy retailers.
EVERYTHING IS A JOLT RESKIN
The Rival Knockout brings the Rival Jolt back to life. Its a single shot blaster, with the plunger within the grip. Balls are loaded one at a time, with storage for extra ammo sitting underneath the barrel on both sides. Although the blaster only contains two balls, it can hold up to four in the blaster’s sides. The blaster also has a breech that can hold another ball. They hold ammo securely, just like the Heracles, but the balls are easy to remove by hand for reloading.
This blaster has a breech-loaded trigger! The orange lever just above the trigger does not serve as a safety feature. It actually opens the spring-loaded blaster. This is a separate action from priming the blaster; it doesnt matter which one you do first. However, it would be a good idea to close the breech before firing the blaster. You will find the safety switch under the trigger.
The barrel has all the characteristics of a Rival spring powered blaster, including tight restrictions for loading the ball and a hop-up tab. However, theres one key difference: the safety valve that we like to call an air restrictor isnt really a safety valve, at least in the traditional sense. Although it assists in loading ammo into the barrel at a proper spacing, it does not block air flow when the ball hasn’t been loaded. Drying fire blasters is a good idea, but not this one.
Overall, the blaster feels as sturdy as other Rival entries. A rail is available on the top to hold accessories if you really want it.
The Blaster
The Knockout’s priming handle is particularly large, which makes it easier to prime the spring. However, thats also extra mass that would otherwise need to be moved by the spring. The engineers at Hasbro chose to take a different route. It turns out that the plunger is free-floating up to a degree. After priming the blaster, push the priming rod up and handle down again. Small tabs will keep it in place. The safety mechanism prevents you firing the blaster until the handle has been pushed again. Although it is annoying initially, because we are all familiar with Jolts, you soon get used to it. We have to return the priming handle on every other Rival spring-powered blaster, after all!
Even with the plunger tube within the grip, its no larger than that of, say, a Helios. It will be comfortable to hold for most older hands.
Performance
For such a small package, the Knockout has plenty of power. It advertises 90fps on the box; however, mine averages at 97fps, and hits that mark consistently.
As expected, the rate of fire for a single shot, breech loading blaster is somewhat slow (who knew???). With ammo stored on the blaster or on hand, I could probably prime the blaster, load the blaster and fire at a target about once every three seconds. Of course, thatsassuming reasonable aiming and not just firing for the sake of firing.
It should be noted that, in my sample size of one, that while the ball stays in the air for an appreciable time due to the imparted spin, it doesnt seem to float as long as other Rival blasters. Although it is still usable, I had to change my aim.
General Opinion
It took long enough for a single shot Rival blaster to finally happen. Its obviously not going to be your primary blaster (unless youre a strange person like me, where ANYTHING can be your primary blaster). The Rival Knockout can serve as a backup blaster or sidearm, and has plenty of power.
Once I have more time to tinker, I’ll share more fun things you can do with the Knockout.
On a personal note, thanks to the guys down at the Ohio University Urban Gaming League for having conveniently-timed Nerf wars! This made it much easier to evaluate the blaster, especially as I am used to using any type of blaster so no one has to ask. Which comes in handywhen no one is supposed to know you have this new blaster. Thanks, guys
