Neil from Dart Tag Australia: Thursday afternoon banter

Another fine post from my mate Neil from Dart Tag Australia- today's round up is Neil's take on a conversation we had this morning regarding THAT Australian Toy Hobby and Nursery Fair photo we've been posting on all day. It's also regarding the Australian market and why Dart Tag isn't being hyped up here..

Sometimes I hate being right.

So there we were Pocket and I, enjoying a cup of Earl Grey and some fiddly little pastries this morning at our Gentlemen’s Club. Naturally – and as you’d suspect – we were poring over the latest photos from the Melbourne Toy Fair of the Nerf stand.

3 things stood out: a) The ‘apparently’ discontinued LongShots on the stand, b) the Stampede box with the 50 dart bull’s scrotum magazine, and c) the absence of any of the new Dart Tag gear.

We both had a chuckle about the LongShots. As Pocket has covered here already, you can’t move here in Australia without tripping over one of the damn things. And the Stampede 50 rounder? Well have you actually seen a picture of the actual item other than on the box? Wouldn’t surprise me if it was an empty box that’s been kicking around the Hasbro Australia office since before the finalised release of the Stampede from last year and its still just a concept design.

I looked at Pocket and said: “y’know old boy, it seems fishy that those two items didn’t make an appearance at the New York Toy Fair, and Hasbro pull out all the stops for that……but then again maybe Hasbro sees us as a totally different market? After all, we did get a couple of releases here before they did in the States…”.

Pocket smiled and passed me another pastry: “You might be on to something there, chum”.

But what really got my interest was the lack of any of the new Dart Tag gear in the photo. It was well and truly featured at the New York Toy Fair and Singapore has even been given an official release date.

Intrigued, and not a little perplexed, I excused myself to make a phone call to my source at Hasbro Australia…..

Which brings me back to the fact that sometimes I hate being right. There’s a good reason there was none of the new Dart Tag gear on the Nerf stand in Melbourne. We *are* a different market, and there are currently no plans for the line to be released here. But before you throw all your toys out of the pram (and I wouldn’t blame you if you did), that may not be the end of the story. Hasbro Australia tell me ‘…things change all the time…’, so that may not be the end of the story. But nonetheless, don’t expect to be able to pick up a Swarmfire at your local toy store anytime soon.

*Neil out*

Neil also pointed out that it ACTUALLY does makes sense that Nerf isn’t releasing the new Dart Tag gear here (for now). Their whole marketing build up for the new gear has been branding Dart Tag as the latest ‘action sport’ and they’re already advertising the Nerf Dart Tag League etc. BUT.. that marketing angle doesn't work for us Down Under because the NDTL doesn’t happen here.

Anyway, food for thought.