The Mastodon was announced under the Nerf Mega Series in New York toy fair 2016 and ever since had gained immense popularity and hype among Nerfers all over the globe. People were quite excited watching the first look videos at the fair of this huge gorgeous Mega blaster and many have been eagerly anticipating its release. And finally, the wait is over now. The Nerf Mega Mastodon is currently available only in a few retail stores as the official online release hasn’t happened yet at the time of writing this article. But as soon as it is, we will have a link below to follow and purchase your very own Mega Mastodon.
But why the expectations and the hype. To understand this you would have to examine the Nerf Mega Series. The line up includes a manual sniper rifle, the Centurion, small arms like the Magnus and CycloneShock, a pump action shotgun type RotoFury and a pocket-sized BigShock. But all the mentioned blasters are fully manual, mechanical guns that don’t use any motors or batteries. The Nerf Mega Mastodon is the first motorized Mega blaster and fully automatic one too. It is capable of rapidly firing an entire barrel of huge red mega darts without any intrusion at just the pull of a trigger.
Nerf Mega Mastodon – Specifications
Getting down to the specifics…the ammo drum barrel has 24 dart slots making the Mastodon currently the Mega blaster with the largest ammo capacity. The rate of fire is insane too. Close to 4 darts per second and the entire barrel can be unloaded in around 6 seconds. This rate of fire is pretty close to that of RapidFire CS-18, but considering that this blaster shoots huge Mega darts it is incredible. Also since this is the first flywheels powered Mega blaster, it requires 6 D batteries to operate, which add on to the already heavy nerf gun’s weight.
Out of the box, the ammo drum is separated into parts that have to be attached to the main body of the blaster. The same goes for small shields that cover either upper sides of the ammo barrel. Also present is a lower cage bar to protect the drum and also to comfortably set the Mastodon on a surface. 24 darts, a sling mount and the carrying handle are packaged in as well. The sling mount has metal clamps at either end to support the weight of the blaster in its entirety as plastic might simply break.
The carrying handle is to be fixed in the top slot for easier usage of this blaster. The handle has one pivot point where its slotted into the blaster and the handle in itself swivels. This allows you to easily aim the blaster and fire at targets at varying angles.
Nerf Mega Mastodon Design Aspects
Considering the design aspects, the Nerf Mega Mastodon is visually extremely appealing. The paint job is that of the classic Mega Red, with orange hues on the ammo drum, muzzle, and other smaller parts. There is a huge 3D logo of the word ‘MEGA’ across the right side of the blaster. And a ‘Mastodon’ stamp is embossed right behind the muzzle, again on the right side of the blaster. The left face of the blaster is surprisingly plain with just the red paint and lacks any patterns or branding. If you’re right handed then the blaster looks immensely cool when you sling it, and with its ginormous size, design, and branding, there would be no ambiguity as to what blaster you’re carrying. There are three tactical rails, two on top and one on the bottom of the muzzle for adding on Nerf attachments.
In spite of it being the Juggernaut of all Nerf blasters, the operation of the Nerf Mega Mastodon is pretty basic. You load the ammo drum by shoving in the darts in their slots. There is a rev trigger that’s present right below the primary trigger on the blaster handle that initiates the flywheels and let them run. When the flywheels are ready and humming all you have to do is hold down the primary trigger to automatically shoot a barrage of darts down on your enemies. The ammo drum rotates automatically with each shot and loads a fresh dart for the Mastodon to fire. There is a jam access door for you to clear of any stuck darts, but this blaster almost never jams because of the drum ammo feed instead of a clip system.
From a performance perspective, the Mastodon exceeds all expectations. It trumps all Elite and Mega blasters with unparalleled range and muzzle velocities. The darts easily reach initial velocities of 80 feet per second, a solid 10 units higher than the Elite average. Mega darts are in general more stable and that coupled with higher dart velocity results in longer ranges for the Mastodon. Also, this blaster being fully automatic with a high rate of fire, the entire performance stats are simply unparalleled by any dart shooting blaster.
Nerf Mega Mastodon – Cons
And for the Cons. Not that we’re complaining but yes there are a few things Nerf could have done better with the Nerf Mega Mastodon. The left face of the Mastodon is entirely plain red with a few grooves, meaning lefties may not be able to show off the Nerf MEGA logo while carrying the gun around. Apart from the three tactical rails, there are no customization options for this Mega Blaster.
There is no stock and one cannot be attached. Muzzle extensions are not allowed either. And due to the fact that this blaster uses an ammo drum instead of a magazine, you would need to reload the drum every time you empty an entire round, instead of swapping with a new magazine. Mentioning these cons is basically nitpicking while otherwise, this Mega blaster is one true to its series’ virtues. It currently stands to be the Big Brother to all Nerf blasters ever released.
Finally.., this beast is now available on Amazon. Get yours right here right now….!!
