HOT SUCTION-TIPPED DEATH

Okay, first post: If you buy one single Nerf gun in your whole dumb life, like if you have enough of a stick up your butt to say “I’m only buying ONE and that’s IT for such a frivolous, pathetic hobby”, then it had better be this one. The Maverick REV-6. 

Let me break down for you why this is basically the best all-around Nerf gun:

1. Lightweight, not a lot of moving parts. Easy to figure out, easy to repair. 
2. Six shots, which can be fired pretty rapidly (depending on how fast the shooter’s hands are, I guess)
3. Easy and quick to reload— just stick the darts in the holes ya dingus
4. Spring-powered, not air-powered, which once we get into some air-powered Nerf arms later on this blog you’ll see why that is such a MASSIVE advantage, in power and just in plain practicality in a fight
5. MOST IMPORTANTLY, it looks LIKE A BIG, CHUNKY, IMPROBABLE REVOLVER. You, the reader, probably already know how to use it, because you’ve seen revolvers before and you have a basic idea of which end to hold onto and which part the bullets go into. The only difference is that this one is exaggerated enough to obviously not be a real weapon, while still maintaining that essential weaponiness (might make a post about that later). The Maverick is a popular substitute firearm for sci-fi costume people for THIS VERY REASON. It is a gun that sparks the imagination. 
6. It is fairly cheap for a Nerf gun. Usually they’re between $15 and $20, and for the amount of fun you can have with one, that’s some good-ass value.  

AS TO WHY THIS POST ISN’T ACCOMPANIED BY A REAL-LIFE PHOTO OF A GUN: I had one for a while that I had nicknamed the “Super Slice” (I was really into pizza when I named it, I guess), but it either got lost and mis-claimed by someone at my friend Kit’s apartment or buried beneath layers of strata in my other friend Mad’s old car. I blame nobody for this.

It wasn’t a perfect Maverick, as I had left some darts inside of it in a hot car for a little too long. The glue from the dart’s tips melted and left a cruddy residue that would jam any future darts loaded into the gun, so really getting any good shot out at all depended entirely on luck. (PROTIP: DO NOT LEAVE DARTS INSIDE OF YOUR GUN WHEN YOU AREN’T USING IT.) I still really had a lot of fun with that gun, though, so i’m commemorating it here. Maybe someday I’ll get my hands on another one— maybe even one of the completely awesome transparent models. 

hello, my name is Ian Jay. i am a cartoonist by trade, and an enthusiast of many things. one of these things is nerf guns. i’m not a violent person by any means, but nerf guns are like parodies of weapons— they strive to look as close to a 10-year-old’s idea of “badass” as possible while still remaining completely ineffectual. i like them for this reason, and also because bugging people by shooting them with tiny foam darts will never stop being amusing. 

on this blog i’ll be taking photos of the nerf collection i have (though when i say “nerf” please note i’m notexclusively referring to the brand Nerf, but rather to toy dart guns in general, much like saying “coke” or “kleenex” instead of cola and tissues). i’ll also be talking about nerf topics of interest and reviewing any new nerfs that i can find for cheap. if y’all want to submit pics and reviews of your nerf guns, that’d be completely awesome. 

in conclusion, i know liking nerf guns is a weird hobby but this is the internet, so go to hell if you can’t deal with it. the end.

above photo: christmas, 2010. GOOD CHRISTMAS.