Time for another foam dart blaster review! The Lock Blaster from X-Shot was announced about 2 and a half months ago, and with it being lever-action I was naturally very excited to get my hands on it. That being said, I actually bought this (for 15 USD) 2 days ago and didn’t unpackage it until today. I’ve been sorta busy and sorta just not feeling like writing a super detailed description of a plastic gun blaster. Now, though, I am ready…
So let’s get into it! The Lock Blaster has an 8-dart revolving cylinder, a lever-action priming system, an extremely detailed coat of paint (being part of X-Shot’s “Skins” series, like the Pro Longshot), and a rather absurd gimmick I’ll explain soon. It comes with 16 full-length darts (the blaster is full-length only but can easily be modified to fire half-lengths) and typically hits a muzzle velocity of around 80 feet per second (while a typical Nerf dart blaster hits closer to 70).
Anyways, about that gimmick… see that combination lock on the underside of the blaster? It’s not a decal. There’s a QR code on the blaster that gives you the combination needed to operate the blaster’s safety switch. If the safety is on and my blaster’s combination isn’t set to 726, I’m unable to turn the safety off and prime the blaster. The trigger still works, though, so getting the blaster stuck with the spring compressed isn’t a risk. Also, when the safety is off, the numbers on the lock are stuck in place, so you won’t accidentally move them around and lock up your blaster while you’re actually using it. As unnecessary as this gimmick seems, it’s pretty cleverly designed to not mess up the operation of the blaster itself. I guess the idea (according to one ad I’ve seen for it on Zuru’s YouTube channel) is that other people can’t “get into” your blaster. I don’t know why that’s a concern, but uh, whatever! Neat gimmick, doesn’t get in the way.
I’m a sucker for lever-action, and weird priming mechanisms in general, so it’s easy to see why I’d like a blaster as bizarre as this one. The decoration on it is… well, I have mixed feelings about it, which I think are positive overall. The back portion of the blaster (the grip and whatnot) seems to follow the aesthetic design of the Pro Longshot, which is to say it looks amazing. The part with the big chains painted on it, though… I don’t know, I’m not a huge fan of physical objects just being flat decals like that. Is it supposed to look like the blaster actually has chains around it? I mean, I also think that wouldn’t look great, even if they were 3D objects, but still, it’s just kinda odd to me.
The extremely detailed X-Shot Skins deco looks best when it’s used to provide color to actual details in the shape of the blaster’s shell, which the Lock Blaster also has plenty of. And I think the little “warning signs” all over this blaster and the Pro Longshot are kind of adorably edgy and dorky and I kinda love them. Just putting a whole-ass picture on the side of a blaster, though… doesn’t appeal to me as much. Oh well, it looks kinda cool, and I enjoy the look of the Lock Blaster overall. For only 15$ it’s pretty nuts how good it looks, honestly. It’s gimmicky and weird and that’s all I wanted it to be. :)
It’d be freaking amazing if the looks of X-Shot blasters could be combined with the build quality of what Dart Zone makes, though… and, uh, Nerf is neat too, I guess. Buy a Villainator.
