The Nerf Super Soaker H2Ops Tornado Scream appears to be the largest, new air-pressure based water blaster by Hasbro Inc. for 2016. It is co-branded as being an "H2Ops" blaster, presumable standing for "Water Pressure System/Series". Its name suggests something spinning and its nozzle face has two visible holes: one fixed in the center position and one on an outer ring that can be rotated around the center point. This nozzle arrangement is different than the dual nozzles found on the Super Soaker Helix (2004) wherein its two nozzles were equidistant from and rotated around the center point. Though pressurized, the shape of the Tornado Scream's body leaves no real space for a separate pressure chamber. As such, the Tornado Scream relies on its pressurized reservoir to provide its nozzles with power. Its stubby, cylindrical-shaped pump grip looks odd at first, but more on that soon. Despite having two nozzles, there is no means to select the use of only one, thus both nozzles are activated at the pull of the trigger (of course, only when the water blaster has water and is adequately pressurized).

The Packaging

The lower quarter of the Nerf Super Soaker Tornado Scream is hidden in its packaging, but most of its key features remain visible. It is also interesting to note that the product is mounted pointing upwards, making the Tornado Scream appear a little larger than it actually is. Thanks to the Tornado Scream's colour scheme, one can readily see that the reservoir occupies the back third of the water blaster, the trigger/grip/body area makes up the middle third, and the forward third is coloured orange, making it appear like the nozzle should be large though the actual opening in the front is actually not. The Tornado Scream's pump juts out and is free to test, though the actual water blaster is somewhat difficult to grip in the packaging since it is mounted close to the backside cardboard leaving no room for fingers to wrap completed around the grip region.

On the back of the box is an unboxed view of the Tornado Scream along with some additional statistics and an illustration of how the streams are apparently supposed to appear. (Spoiler Alert: the Tornado Scream's secondary-stream does NOT create such a tightly-wound spiral when blasting.) Personally, I think the spiralling stream graphic makes it appear as if pumping directly causes the streams to shoot and spin, but this is not the case. As for other upcoming Nerf Super Soaker models, only the Nerf Super Soaker H2Ops Squall Surge is shown on the back.

Unboxed

Free from its packaging, the Nerf Super Soaker H2Ops Tornado Scream's styling comes into full view. Fun Trivia: All the 2016 Nerf Super Soaker water blaster models have their names/labels on the right side while Water Warriors water blaster models have their names/labels on the left side. The general styling of the Tornado Scream mimics some of the technical looks of Nerf dart guns though the orange reservoir cap and large orange nozzle area differentiate it from its dart-firing cousins.

The Nozzles .:
As noted above, the Tornado Scream features two nozzles: one nozzle is fixed forward in the center of the circular area at the front of the water blaster. The other nozzle is on a movable ring that can rotate about the central nozzle; this second nozzle fires at a slight outward angle from the center stream. Both nozzles fire when the Tornado Scream is loaded, pressurized, and the trigger is pulled. There is no way to select to use only one or the other nozzle. The center stream blasts directly forward while the outer stream rotates automatically around the center stream, though not as quickly as one may expect. In fact, a full revolution may take a few seconds or more. This rotating effect is likely the reason why this blaster has "Tornado" in its name, though the word, Tornado, conjures up images of a quickly rotating storm, not a leisurely-rotating stream. There does not appear to be a significant force difference between the two streams, though the stream from the rotating nozzle is likely slightly weaker than the center stream. While output from the combined nozzles is ok, the value of having the secondary nozzle angled and rotating in an uncontrolled way is quite questionable. There may be some who find this feature novel, but this feature's battle practicality is undoubtedly limited.

Capacity .:
As can be seen, the back side of the Tornado Scream is its reservoir. Being an air-pressure-based water blaster, the reservoir must be sealed completely and pressurized in order for the blaster to operate. As such, the reservoir cap must seal tightly and completely. Apparently, to make the reservoir easier to seal, the Tornado Scream's reservoir opening is smaller than comparable sized blasters. As such, filling the reservoir is more difficult. Also, the cap's tether is a little short, is not easy to move sideways, and adds to the difficulty in filling. Needing to be pressurized, the angular shape of the reservoir is not optimal and, of course, the reservoir should not be filled to the top to permit enough space for proper pressurization. Since it should only be filled between 2/3 and 3/4 full, the Tornado Scream can hold an okay amount of water for its size. Thanks to a well-placed intake tube, the Tornado Scream can make use of most of the water in its reservoir with mist shots only occurring as with other pressurized reservoir water blasters, namely when water levels are low and/or when the blaster is being shot at larger angles that reduce the likelihood of the intake tube remaining submerged.

The Pump .:
The Tornado Scream features a forward mounted air pump that has a stubby, cylindrical pump grip shape. This shape appears to have been chosen purely from an aesthetic desire since it provides no comfortable way to hold and feels awkward both when extending the pump as well as pulling it back in. As expected, the Tornado Scream takes several pumps to fully pressurized (between 20-30), but this is typical for a pressurized reservoir-based water blaster. The pump, itself, can rotate around the pump rod's access, but this does not make pumping any more comfortable.

Ergonomics .:
For a "Nerf" brand product, the Tornado Scream's ergonomics are not as good as other models. While the plastic feel high quality and is nicely textured in parts, the indented semi-central placement of the trigger-grip area does not feel quite comfortable to hold while not actually making the blaster better balanced since the entire reservoir is placed completely after the grip region. Also, because one's hand is in the middle, the back of the Tornado Scream cannot rest atop one's forearm, meaning all the weight ends up resting on one's thumb-index finger region. One's pumping hand typically should be free to kept on the pump, but the pump's cylindrical shape offers no clear spot to grip onto, making holding the pump grip for longer periods of time rather awkward.

Overall .:

The Nerf Super Soaker H2Ops Tornado Scream provides mixed signals regarding the direction of the Nerf Super Soaker brand. While it is good to see new pressure-based water blaster models being released, the use of a pressurized reservoir-system is performance limiting and the lack of a larger pressurized-model is unfortunate. The additional decision to include an "always-on" novelty feature which does not behave as its name (and back panel figure) suggests is not reassuring. On top of that, the Tornado Scream's smaller-than-normal reservoir opening and poorer ergonomics compared to previous Nerf Super Soaker models reduces this item's overall rating. Though the Tornado Scream does offer better performance than most pump-action and motorized water blasters, its output is only on par with a classic Super Soaker XP 105, but that's for its two nozzles compared to the XP 105's single nozzle. Suitable for small to mid-sized water fights, any Tornado Scream used must remain wary of opponents with any other similarly-sized or larger air pressure water blaster and/or, of course, most elastic-based water blasters.

Pros

Air pressure technology, continuous streams, decent output

Cons

Secondary rotating nozzle of limited tactical use, no way to select nozzle, back-heavy when full, semi-cramped trigger-grip area, awkwardly shaped pump grip to hold and use

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Related Content .:

 Product Listing Page | Nerf Super Soaker Product Evolution Tree

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