Here Comes The JUDGE

 NERF DOOMLANDS 2169 THE JUDGE REVIEW 

In a post-apocalyptic future, the Earth is left a baron, lawless wasteland. Out of the ashes, a lone hero emerges to bring justice to a doomed land.... so begins the official description of this this super-sized, 30-dart revolving drum blaster, that fires a triple-blast of darts with each shot. I finally picked one up, and at a great price...

The JUDGE  was officially announced on January 31, 2017. It was  officially  released in August of 2017 under the Doomlands 2169 series. The original msrp was and has been 60 dollars, but I got one in a plain brown box for 27 bucks from Kids Warehouse.   

                                                                                                The JUDGE is a large, comically oversized blaster. Tipping the scales at 6 lbs., it comes with the blaster, 30 Doomlands darts, and instructions. The darts are nothing more than recolored Elite darts.

This one might actually be a little bit difficult for smaller NERFerS to operate. It also requires some assembly which might require an adult. 

The blaster comes partially disassembled in the package. There are 3 drum sections that need to be snapped together and into place, as well as 2 outer shell pieces which also need to be snapped into position before the blaster is ready to use. 

Other features of the JUDGE include a short tactical rail on the top front of the blaster, not very useful, and a couple of sling/strap attachment points, one at the back end of the tactical rail, and another at the top back of the blaster.

Like some other Doomlands blasters, this one has a clear plastic window showing off some of the internals workings.

Operating the JUDGE is pretty straight forward... the slide handle primes the blaster and advances the drum when pulled back and pushed forward again. Pulling the trigger fires 3 darts at about 65 fps. Not quite Elite standards,  but still pretty respectable. If a single dart is loaded into a chamber, it will fire at a greater velocity than if all three darts are loaded, but I don't know why anyone would really want to do that?

 Unfortunately the JUDGE does not feature Slam-fire.  Even so, the action is smooth and reliable,  making it easy to fire a shot every second or so. 

As per NERF's production quality... same as usual, with only one side (the side that shows in the packaging while it sits on the shelf) being painted, and the other not, in an effort to save a fraction of a penny per unit... too bad.  However the blaster is put together solid, and it operates great.

I thought this blaster was a lot of fun to use, and a good one to put a lot of darts down range pretty quick. But make no mistake about it, the JUDGE is large, bulky, and considerably front- heavy, if not just plain... heavy.  It's one of only  five modern multi-dart firing (more than 2 darts) NERF blasters,  and with 10 repeating shots, the JUDGE far out guns the others.

 If you're looking for a shotgun for special rules game-play, or if FUN-ctionality is as important to you as practicality, the JUDGE  might be the blaster for you. If you're interested, check online for deals, and...

                                                NERF on NERFerS!!!