Thursday, March 24, 2011

Nerf Intel: who do you listen to? Longshot CS-6

From the Australian Toy Hobby and Nursery Fair 2011: Pic courtesy of Mousedroid.com
Over the past year or so, we've heard the well publicised news that the mighty Nerf N-Strike Longshot CS-6 has been discontinued; "get them while you can" was the reaction from our US friends. At the time, they were pretty hard to come by in Australia, so when they did show up occasionally, because of this rumour, we'd snap them up straight away regardless of their cost (around 80 bucks at times!) in fear of never getting one ever again. Whenever someone would say "ooh we have Longshots in Australia!" the doubters would still scoff and suggest they were just old stock from around the world that ended up on our shores. We of course, were not complaining:)

Flash forward several months, and consistently since November last year, we've seen Longshots EVERYWHERE. Almost any toy store that carries Nerf in Australia will at sometime carry the Longshot (including a pokey little toystore I stumbled across in Moss Vale, NSW and also in Kiama.. not the biggest places in the world btw) and the price of them is lower than they've ever been. Which ALSO suggests the stores are constantly getting in new stock, not just old ones that were discovered under behind a water cooler or something.

Now.. here at the Australian Toy Hobby and Nursery Fair 2011; the event to showcase upcoming releases..  the Longshot is clearly considered to be a part of the line up. Notice there's no Alpha Troopers, Spectres or Barrel Breaks visible, in which case, if we were to listen to "official" Australian sources, those blasters don't exist:) The Longshot definitely does though. It's no longer just a "I saw one at Kmart"- it's an official trade show display for the 2011 line up from Hasbro.

When it comes to Nerf Intel, we do our best to be as accurate and factual as possible, but even we can be mislead and make mistakes. Ultimately we think our readers are a smart lot (mostly! :P..) but suggest you'll just have to decide for yourself. As Buddha said:

“Believe nothing.
No matter where you read it,
Or who said it,
Even if I have said it,
Unless it agrees with your own reason
And your own common sense.”

21 comments:

  1. After reading Buddha's quote, im not quite sure weather or not to believe him.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ^ who Pocket? or Buddha:P

    ReplyDelete
  3. ^Pocket is Buddha:) Buddha of the Nerf world:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just Buddha at first, but now that you mention it, neither i guess.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ^I guess you are just a cynical kind of dude:-)

    I bought three Longshots in Augst last year for 79 dollars each thinking they were really rare. Now I see them at Big W for 44 bucks. Big W never had much Nerf before this year, and now they are ordering a lot all over. If Longshots were discountinued, where would they be getting them from?

    I still would prefer them to bring out the red or blue ones here though:-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I dont trust UT either. they steal blasters and sell them on the illegal black market. haha jokes

    ReplyDelete
  7. As opposed to the "legal" black market. Or the illegal "white" market.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You cant find longshots anywhere here in the us anymore you guy are lucky to still have them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mr. K over at AFON has mentioned that his contact at Nerf confirms that Longshots are still in production. He rationalizes that the reason you can't find them in the states is because the Nerf aisles at most department and toy stores are not giving a high enough priority to the brand and have limited shelf space.

    At first I disagreed, but after a few recent trips to Target and Wal-Mart, I'm really beginning to wonder if that isn't true; stocks are dwindling, despite there being more Nerf blasters in production now then ever before.

    It wouldn't surprise me if they prioritize the Longstrike over the Longshot for their shelves. Since the Longstrike's introduction, the Longshot probably would appear redundant to most retailers, and they might not want to carry it. The rest of the world however is just now getting a lot of blasters that the U.S. has had for years; the Longshot just happens to be one of them.

    A proposition: has anyone ever talked with the customer service desk at a Wal-Mart or Target to see if they would have the ability to custom order a Longshot for someone? Even just to see if it exists in their database? If it would, that might give better credence to the low-shelf space hypothesis.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Actually, if you know anything about discontinuation, I was speaking to an Aussie guy who has Shenzen connections in China. He says that even if they're discontinued they're are still ALOT in stock in China. By the end of this year, you can expect that there will be no more longshots in Australia.

    Also view that the Longshots aren't in the new 'n-strike logo' box. We're just exhausting the last supplies of longshots being shipped into Australia :). So get them while they're hot. I'm waiting on the $38 sales at K-mart for those blasters, then moving onto the swarmfires :D.

    -littlebro05 (oznerf forums)

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Thanh: Shenzen contacts eh? Does he steal all of his blasters too and pedal them on the Nerf black market?:P

    I want a chinese contact too. Instead all I have is an uncle in Greece.. windex anyone?

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think they have been discontinued because.
    1. Can't find them in any store in the US.
    2. Every Nerf blaster got a new box design except the Longshot.(Even the Hornet got a new box)

    But who knows what hasbro has planned, only time will tell.

    ReplyDelete
  13. There are rumours going around that the Red ones will hit Aussie stores at some point. I do find this hard to believe...

    But back on topic, at this point, it really does seem there are TONNES of them around. I don't know how long this will last... so I'm buying them up while they're under $50. I wonder what Big W is going to do in sale time... it already sounds tempting.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mother fuckers, they lied to us about longshots AND stampedes ecs 50's

    ReplyDelete
  15. OK, is there anyone here that is Australian and willing to sell a stock, unopened, still-boxed Yellow Longshot?

    ReplyDelete
  16. So glad I grabbed all my Longshots for $15 USD each on Black Friday last year. =D

    ReplyDelete
  17. Pocket,

    Just out of curiosity, does Australia get both the Longshot and Longstrike? (Because if so, I'd think that the only people buying the Longstrike are the inexperienced who get it for its looks and the enthusiasts who want both!)

    ReplyDelete
  18. the barricade is beside the Vulcan

    ReplyDelete
  19. ^yeah no shit, he already said that a few posts before.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Pocket: you need to stop getting people's hopes up high about the Nerf Longshot. It is OFFICIAL that the blaster has been discontinued. It happened last year in the States and other countries will follow suit. The stock you Ozzies have is old stock, probably from china and once it's gone, it'll be gone just like it is here. I like your blog but i'm sick of hearing about how the Longshot is available because one day you will go to your stores and realise its gone and wish you did buy up when you could.

    ReplyDelete
  21. That's sad... The LONGSHOT CS-6 was really good. I heard someone modified it to shoot through a wall.
    0.0
    CrazyCon

    ReplyDelete