Review: Max Force Blowgun 35

 

 We've been watching the Jakks Pacific Max Force line quite eagerly- I know the concept of "spitwads" seems a little odd to some, but the design of these blasters do look sweet and I admit I'm actually quite intrigued with the ammo. We're still waiting on a shipment to arrive, but curiosity got the better of me and I picked up the "Blowgun 35" today from Toyworld for just under 18 bucks. If you're going to be talking spitwads, might as well compare apples with apples, so I thought I'd give it a go...

Blowgun 35 in packaging

Blowgun 35- back of the packaging.

The Max Force Blowgun 35 is a lot smaller than I thought it'd be, and comes in a carded blister pack packaging. It's not bad looking at all; they've done well with the colour schemes and branding. It's not a bad lil' kit for the price- Comes with the blowgun, a barrel extension, the "Soft Splat" ammo (60 rounds), a pair of "Mission Glasses" and a lil plastic bag for keeping your ammo wet. It feels pretty sturdy and well made- I wouldn't say it's "solid" but it connects together well and doesn't look cheap and nasty.

Inside the packaging.

Here's where we deviate considerably from the traditional pea shooter we made in primary school. The blowgun 35 uses a barrel mechanism to house 6 rounds, which I thought was kinda cool. A latch opens the shooter up so you can remove the clear barrel. Instructions tell you to only load through the side with the red dot (which of course, I didn't do the first time around cos..who reads instructions?:P)

The clear barrel

The ammo pellets or 'Soft Splat" ammo, in dry form

 The Soft Splat ammo is essentially dry paper pellets that you soak in water before firing- hence the "spitwad". The blaster does say you should only use the official Soft Splat ammo which at this stage sort of restricts me given I haven't seen any refills available for sale just yet. The Blowgun 35  it doesn't fire anything hard so if your ammo hasn't been soaked, it won't go anywhere (believe me, I tried. again, who reads manuals?!)

 You can either wet the ammo first and then load, or load the dry ammo and then wet the barrel. I preferred the secondary method, but if you were looking for quick refills, you'd probably be better off with wetting all pellets prior to battle.

 The Blowgun comes with a barrel extension- this isn't essential but I find it does help with ranges.

The Mouthpiece

Firing is pretty simple- take a deep breath, place the mouthpiece to you lips to make a seal, and just blow short and fast.

The Blowgun 35 has a detachable/foldable sight which.. is more for show than anything else.

To advance the barrel, you can see the barrel is exposed through window- a slide of your thumb will advance the barrel to the load the next round.

Sooo.. how good is it? I know many of you will be shaking your heads and are quite sceptical, but I have to be honest.. I was very surprised to find this is a LOT of fun. The ranges are definitely as the packaging says, and there's something really satisfying and amusing about shooting a paper pellet that just splats all over a window (or someone's head) At this stage the main drawbacks are the fiddliness of loading new ammo.. and the very lack of refills available at stores at this stage. 

Although the packaging says not to, with some trial and error some wet tissue paper will do the trick though it won't be as effective as a fresh soft splat ammo pellet. I'm already down to half of my pellets so obviously am having to wait till refills are available.

Splat! An easy 10 metres away onto our snake tank

The eyewear. Like an Oakley Gascan.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the actual blasters like the Maximiser, Shadow Hawk and Terrornator fare (partly because i'm all blowgun'd out and my cheeks hurt)