A long, long time ago in a factory far, far away… the Nerf Rampage was constructed. Little did we know that in the not too distant future, there would be another blaster that would take us on a Rampage, but this time… through outer space! Meet the first of two new Star Wars Nerf Blasters I’ve picked up..:

Star Wars Nerf Episode VII First Order Stormtrooper Deluxe Blaster

Ah, who doesn’t love new Star Wars Nerf blasters? But first, let’s back up a bit. This blaster is a re-shelled Elite Rampage, which itself was a re-shell of the Nerf Raider with Elite internals. With the Raider we had what is arguably the best shoulder stock that Nerf ever made. Then we go to the Rampage and we get nothing. Now, with the Stormtrooper Deluxe, we’re almost there. We’ve got an included shoulder stock, but even though it looks like it might be, it is not adjustable or extendable whatsoever. Drats. But there is a silver lining: the lack of a re-shelled Raider stock to go with my re-shelled Rampage is my one and only gripe. I absolutely love these new Star Wars Nerf blasters and so let’s get into the review!

The Stormtrooper Deluxe, Aesthetics and Ergonomics. A New Star Wars Nerf Blasters Look and Feel.:

Whether you’re a fan of Star Wars or not, upon looking at one of these new Star Wars Nerf blasters, one thing is immediately clear.– It is beautiful. The Star Wars theme has always fit well with new Nerf blasters and this is no exception. This blaster looks fantastic. The orange and gray accents align perfectly with the mostly white body of the Stormtrooper Deluxe blaster. It comes with a faux-Raider stock and a neat little Star Wars themed scope attachment. The barrel has a machine gun type barrel shroud with ventilation holes on the sides. This looks very cool. Underneath that is the pump grip. And instead of a pump handle like with the Raider and Rampage, this time we have an angle foregrip for the pump action. If you’ve ever done one of the shotgun grip mods for a Rampage or even a Retaliator or Longshot, you’ll know just how good this type of grip feels. Behind that is the access door that you use to clear jams. The holes in the door look to me to be Star Wars themed as well. They look like the blaster fire from the blasters in the films. Or maybe that’s just my imagination. Anyway, behind that is the trigger and the pistol grip handle. Everything is pretty standard here. The handle is a good size, even for an adult hand. Above the handle, inside those 3 gray slots is the priming indicator. When you cock the pump handle back, the three slots turn from black to red. This was a very nice touch. Up top, this new Star Wars Nerf blaster has only one tactical rail. It’s a fairly large rail, but the Rampage had two of them. Due to its small size, though, this was to be expected. To make up for the loss of a rail, the Stormtrooper Deluxe comes with a tactical rail attachment! Included with the blaster is a pretty cool looking Star Wars themed scope attachment. At the tail end of the blaster is our very own shoulder stock attachment. Though it’s a bit too small for my taste, I do appreciate that they included one and I’m sure it’ll fit great for younger people.

How the Stormtrooper Deluxe Blaster Works.:

Out of all of the new Star Wars Nerf blasters that were unveiled, this Stormtrooper Deluxe blaster was always my favorite. It looked really cool and it just seemed so familiar, even before I ever laid a hand on it. Why? Because I knew that deep down it was just the very same Rampage that we all know and love. So how does this blaster work? Exactly like the Rampage. The only difference being that instead of a pistol grip for the pump-action, you have a shotgun pump grip. They are both very ergonomic and highly functional, but I find myself liking the new angled grip on the Stormtrooper Deluxe a little bit better. It’s just so new and different and that makes it refreshing and fun. I love the new grip. Besides that, it’s all the same. To fire the blaster, first load the clip up with darts. In this case, our blaster takes 12 Elite darts. Next, pull the pump grip all the way back. You have to do this whenever you want to insert or remove a clip or open the jam door. Push the clip all the way into the side of the blaster, making sure the arrow on the clip is pointing forward towards the barrel. Slide the pump grip to the forward position and you are primed and ready to fire. Pull the trigger and the blaster will shoot one dart. Do this each time you want to shoot a dart. Alternatively, you can use the blasters other firing mode. In this case, I’m going to dub it “Galactic Slam-Fire.” To enable Slam-Fire on the blaster, simply hold down the firing trigger and then continuously slide the pump grip back and forth repeatedly. Each time the pump grip returns to the forward position, it will fire a dart. And depending on how fast you are, that will be very often.

First Order Stormtrooper Deluxe Star Wars Nerf Blaster Performance — The Force Awakens.:

There’s not much to say here, really. The Stormtrooper Deluxe looks, functions, and performs pretty much just like the Nerf Elite Rampage blaster. It does have a shorter barrel, though, so this might actually  increase the performance of the blaster a bit. I have been hitting similar ranges and at seemingly similar velocities as well. But it’s only been a few days. The Slam-Fire is still as good as ever and I haven’t experienced any jams yet. Not a one. The more compact size isn’t a bad thing, either. It still fits very well and I’m able to fire and Slam-Fire without restriction of movement. So that’s that. The rate of fire is still really really fast. The ranges are hitting 55-60 feet easy. It’s just a blast all around. I have no complaints with the performance of this blaster. However, I’d like to share a video of what happens when you try to pick up one of these more intermediate Nerf blasters when you are a total n00b. This is a video from fellow Nerfer and cosmetic Nerf modder extraordinaire, Nerfenstein. She posted this video showing these people from some kind of Star Wars related event showcasing the blaster and trying to work it and it is hilarious.

First off, he doesn’t slide the scope on all the way. Second, he jams the clip into the blaster without sliding the prime grip backwards. Third, he’s double pumping the grip. Fourth, he takes the clip out the same way he put it in, ripping it straight out. Fifth, when the woman goes to reload it — she clearly isn’t paying attention and I’m pretty sure she loaded half the darts backwards. How many mistakes can you find in the video? While I do find this video to be pretty hilarious, I also find it sad. Some people watching this that aren’t experienced with firing Nerf guns might think this is reflective on the blaster itself. However after spending some time with it I can tell you this is clearly not the case. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

New Star Wars Nerf Blasters Final Thoughts.

Final thoughts. What are my final thoughts on these new Star Wars Nerf blasters? Well to be frank, I love this Stormtrooper Deluxe blaster. I love it. But it is just a re-shelled Nerf Rampage. If you love the Rampage, you will most probably love this as well. It is slightly more compact, which still feels great to me and may actually feel better to younger players than the Rampage did. It comes with a new paint job and it looks absolutely amazing. You can appreciate this even if you aren’t a fan of Star Wars. But in my case, I am a pretty big fan of Star Wars, the Nerf Rampage, Nerf blasters in general, and I’m actually a fan of re-shelled blasters, too. So this is right up my alley. If you’re like me and have any combination of the above interests, I’m sure you will also love this blaster. With that said, I can wholly offer up my recommendation that you purchase one of these new Star Wars Nerf blasters. If you do buy it, though, be a smart shopper and buy it somewhere like on Amazon where they aren’t charging an arm and a leg. (I’m looking at you, Toys R Us.) If you’d like to see the blaster in motion, check out my YouTube video review here:

One Last Thing…

One last thing, guys. The Stormtrooper Deluxe was not the only of the new Star Wars Nerf blasters that came out this weekend. Oh no, there were two more. There was Chewbacca’s Bowcaster and then there was the blaster  you see down below: The First Order Stormtrooper blaster pistol.

One last thing! I also got the First Order Stormtrooper pistol blaster, too! I’ll be the first to admit that I bought it strictly for the iron sight attachment that it comes with, but it’s actually pretty fun to use. To prime it, you pull back the little priming handle/slide at the top rear of the blaster. Then you fire one dart. It’s a single shot blaster so you have to reload after every shot. Internally, it’s pretty much built exactly like the Nerf Sidestrike blaster. The only bad thing about this blaster is that the pistol grip is ridiculously tiny. (What is this, a grip for ants!?) Other than that it’s a pretty neat little blaster. It looks cool and it performs like a winner. Winner, winner, chicken dinner — I’m out!

P.S. – What did you think of these new Star Wars Nerf blasters, Nerf Nation? Are you with it or against it? Let me know, down below in the comments section. Sound off! Until next time, thanks for reading.

Star Wars Nerf Episode VII First Order Stormtrooper Deluxe Blaster