History of the Nerf Super Soaker
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Prologue
In 2009, the only "new Super Soaker released was a redesign of the original Super Soaker SS 50 called the Super Soaker SS 50: 20th Anniversary Edition. This was done apparently as a tribute to the water blaster model that changed the water warfare landscape. What we did not know then was that this woud be the last decently-sized water blaster that made use of the air pressure technology that made the original Super Soaker SS 50 so revolutionary in the first place. For reasons only the executives and engineers at Hasbro Inc. know, the Super Soaker brand was to be retired as a stand-alone brand.
Dawn of the Nerf Super Soaker
Nerf Super Soaker Evolutionary Tree
Note: for all the water blaster model lists, novelty and additionally-branded items are not included (e.g. Iron Man, Marvel Superheroes, etc.)
2010
In 2010, Hasbro Inc. opted to push the Super Soaker brand under the umbrella of the Nerf brand. As noted above, it is unclear why Hasbro felt the desire to merge the Super Soaker brand with the Nerf brand. Perhaps it was a marketing decision to unify there brands for the toy mock-weaponry or perhaps they felt that the Super Soaker sales needed assistance from the recent popularity of the Nerf line. Regardless of the reason, 2009 was the last year of the Super Soaker.
For 2010, Hasbro Inc. introduced the SoakerWars line of Nerf Super Soakers. With designs apparently borrowing heavily from existing Nerf guns, the Super Soaker SoakerWars line sport distinctive styling, tactical rails for mounting add-ons, and come in either Red or Blue colour schemes. Four models were introduced in 2010: Hydro Fury, Bottle Blitz, Rattler, and Shot Blast. The Hydro Fury makes use of pressurized reservoir technology, the Bottle Blitz and Rattler are piston-based, while the Shot Blast uses the same pump-to-pressurize-and-shoot akin to the 2008 Super Soaker Quick Blast. While the performance of these new models were reduced versus water blasters from previous years, some attributed the change due in part to engineers used to designing Nerf blasters now being thrown into the world of designing water blasters. Fans of the earlier Super Soaker models held out hope to see performance return soon.
Water blasters released in 2010: Nerf Super Soaker Bottle Blitz (Soaker Wars Series), Nerf Super Soaker Hydro Fury (2-Pack) (Soaker Wars Series), Nerf Super Soaker Rattler (Soaker Wars Series), Nerf Super Soaker Shot Blast (Soaker Wars Series)
2011
In 2011, the Nerf Super Soaker line continued to expand with designs continuing to resemble Nerf-type guns. While there are many compliments on the designs of these new water blasters, because of the space limitations within these more slender builds, performance and capacity are notably reduced. One feature that two of the new models use is swappable magazines known as Clip System Canisters. Altogether, five models were introduced for 2011: Point Break, Scatter Blast, Thunderstorm, Tornado Strike, and Hydro Cannon. The Point Break is the only new model to make use of air pressure while both the Scatter Blast and Tornado Strike are pump-based blasters. The Tornado Strike features nozzles that rotate with each pump akin to the Helix (2006). The Thunderstorm is the first water blaster with the Super Soaker name to feature a motorized pump; actual output, unfortunately, falls short being outperformed even by the smaller Point Break. The Hydro Cannon is the largest of the 2011 models and features CPS-type technology, but is limited to its burst / "Flood" type large nozzle and limited reservoir capacity. While the large nozzle definitely increases the area drenched by the blast, the Hydro Cannon's range is limited since it cannot produce streams. Many fans saw the release of the Hydro Cannon as a sign signaling the eventual return of CPS-class water blasters. However, this was not the case.
Water blasters released in 2011: Nerf Super Soaker Hydro Cannon, Nerf Super Soaker Point Break, Nerf Super Soaker Scatter Blast, Nerf Super Soaker Thunderstorm, Nerf Super Soaker Tornado Strike
2012
In 2012, the Nerf Super Soaker line continued looking more Nerf-gun-like. The new models included the Micro Burst, Lightningstorm, and Electrostorm. Oddly, none of the new models employed any form of stored pressurization system, instead relying on either pump-action (for the Micro Burst) or motorized pumps (for the Lightningstorm, and Electrostorm). Ironically enough, the motors used in the 2012 Nerf Super Soaker line seemed akin to the motors used in the water guns made back in the 1980s that the original Super Soaker simply outclassed without the need for batteries. The Nerf Super Soaker brand seems to have come full circle.
Additionally, a number of accessory products under the Nerf Super Soaker brand were released in 2012, but were produced by Perpetual Play Inc. and appeared on store shelves later in the year. These include the Rocket Dart, Pool Splash Mat, Battle Shield, and Assault Bunker. The actual usefulness of these accessories for training purposes or in an actual water war remains somewhat questionable, though the concept of specialized water warfare equipment shows promise.
Water blasters released in 2012: Nerf Super Soaker Electrostorm, Nerf Super Soaker Lightningstorm, Nerf Super Soaker Micro Burst
2013
In 2013, the Nerf Super Soaker line added three more piston-based blasters to the line: the Arctic Shock, Shotwave, and Switch Shot. These three models still made use of the swappable magazines known as Clip System Canisters. In order to improve how much water the user could potentially carry, they also introduced a swappable backpack with the same magazine interface called the X-Treme Hydro Pack. However, none of the blasters used air pressure for stream generation. The only non-pump-action Nerf Super Soaker released was the Flash Blast that uses a spring-loaded mechanism to push out its shot. Unfortunately, the spring used was not particularly strong, making the Flash Blast's shot rather poor both in range as well as in amount of water pushed.
Water blasters released in 2013: Nerf Super Soaker Arctic Shock, Nerf Super Soaker Flash Blast, Nerf Super Soaker Shotwave, Nerf Super Soaker Switch Shot
2014
In 2014, the Nerf Super Soaker line apparently ditches all of its tactical accessory components as well as the magazine Clip System Canisters. Of the eleven (11) new models released, two (2) are trigger-based, four (7) are pump-action, one (1) is motorized, and one (1) is a syringe-type blaster. The two trigger-based water blasters are the Zip Fire and Alpha Fire. The pump-action blasters include the Barrage, Double Drench, Freezefire, and Tri-Strke Crossbow. The motorized blaster is known as the Hydrostorm. Three Nerf Rebelle line pump-action water blasters were also released: the Mini Mission, Blue Crush, and Dolphina Bow Blaster. The syringe-type water blaster is the Tidal Tube. With no new pressurized water blasters released and considering none of these water blasters feature any increase of pump volume, the general performance expectation for the line is mediocre at best.
Water blasters released in 2014: Nerf Super Soaker Alpha Fire, Nerf Super Soaker Barrage, Nerf Super Soaker Double Drench, Nerf Super Soaker Freezefire, Nerf Super Soaker Hydrostorm, Nerf Super Soaker Rebelle Blue Crush Soaker, Nerf Super Soaker Rebelle Dolphina Bow Blaster, Nerf Super Soaker Rebelle Mini Mission Soaker, Nerf Super Soaker Tidal Tube, Nerf Super Soaker Tri Strike Crossbow, Nerf Super Soaker Zip Fire
2015
In 2015, the Nerf Super Soaker line continues to avoid making any water blaster that uses any form of pressurized technology, sticking strictly to piston-driven mostly pump-action blasters. There were three (3) models released under the Rebelle line: the Wave Warrior, Tri Threat, and Cascade. Three blasters were released under the Zombie Strike brand, all of which feature battery-powered light-up reservoirs, namely: the Splatterblast, Extinguisher Blaster, and Dreadshot. The Dreadshot and Splatterblast feature 2- or 4- multiple nozzles, all of which fire at the same time with every pump. As for the non-extra-branded Nerf Super Soaker models, there was one re-release and four (4) new items, each of which featured some sort of novelty aspect to them. The Zip Fire was originally released in 2014, but returned in 2015 in various colours as a Zip Fire three-pack. Next larger water blaster is the Micro Burst II, a new body design compared to the 2012 Micro Burst. Next largest is the Tidal Torpedo 2-in-1 which is a syring-type water cannon that can launch foam missiles as well and can be used with or without water or the foam missiles. The second largest 2015 Nerf Super Soaker is the Flash Flood, not to be confused with the 2005 Super SoakerFlash Flood that actually used CPS-technology. The Nerf Super Soaker Flash Flood, is a pump-action-based water blaster with what looks like a syringe-type water blaster mounted on top, but the syringe-like portion also draws water from the reservoir, not through its nozzle. Interesting design, but not as practical to use in battle as one would hope. The largest of the 2015 Nerf Super Soaker is the Flood Fire, but even this blaster is pump-action. Its additional feature is that it may be attached to a hose, but as its nozzle is not particularly large, it serves more to constrict a hose's performance as opposed to improving it. Moreover, Hasbro included a trigger such that, when attached to the hose, one can control whether or not the blaster is shooting water, but they put the valve by the nozzle, meaning that one also needs to pull the trigger when pumping, otherwise the Flood Fire cannot shoot! All-in-all, 2015 was a rather disappointing year for the Nerf Super Soaker brand.
Water blasters released in 2015: Nerf Super Soaker Rebelle Wave Warrior, Nerf Super Soaker Rebelle Tri Threat, Nerf Super Soaker Rebelle Cascade, Nerf Super Soaker Zombie Strike Splatterblast, Nerf Super Soaker Zombie Strike Extinguisher Blaster, Nerf Super Soaker Zombie Strike Dreadshot, Nerf Super Soaker Zip Fire three-pack, Nerf Super Soaker Micro Burst II, Nerf Super Soaker Tidal Torpedo 2-in-1, Nerf Super Soaker Flash Flood, Nerf Super Soaker Flood Fire
2016
In 2016, the Nerf Super Soaker released two pressurized water blaster models, the first new air-pressurized models under the Nerf Super Soaker brand since 2011! However, the performance of both models feels reduced due to poor design. The larger pressurized model, the Nerf Super Soaker H2Ops Tornado Scream, has an oddly indented trigger-grip region and features two nozzle: the main being a standard, fixed forward nozzle while the other nozzle is mounted on a ring that would rotate due to the pressure of the water coming out and produced a stream at an ever-changing angle to the primary stream. The result is a dual-stream blaster with one useful stream and other other stream haphazardly spraying around, mostly wasting water and pressure (the secondary stream cannot be deactivated without modification). The smaller model, the Nerf Super Soaker H2Ops Squall Surge, thankfully lacked unnecessary gimmicks, but its small size and rear-positioned reservoir makes this water blaster feel rather imbalanced in one's hands. The remainder of the Nerf Super Soaker line were all pump-action water blasters, most of which we opted not to test performance-wise at iSoaker.com, namely the Nerf Super Soaker Tidal Torpedo Bow, Nerf Super Soaker Scatter Strike, Nerf Super Soaker Breach Blast, Nerf Super Soaker Bottle Blitz (2016), Nerf Super Soaker Star Wars - The Force Awakers - Han Solo Blaster, Nerf Super Soaker Star Wars - The Force Awakers - First Order Stormtrooper Blaster, and Nerf Super Soaker Star Wars - The Force Awakers - Chewbacca Bowcaster. Seeing a couple of new air-pressure Nerf Super Soakers provided some hope, yet it seems that Hasbro has forgotten how to make water blasters perform the way the original Super Soakers did.
Water blasters released in 2016: Nerf Super Soaker H2Ops Tornado Scream, Nerf Super Soaker H2Ops Squall Surge, Nerf Super Soaker Tidal Torpedo Bow, Nerf Super Soaker Scatter Strike, Nerf Super Soaker Breach Blast, Nerf Super Soaker Bottle Blitz (2016), Nerf Super Soaker Star Wars - The Force Awakers - Han Solo Blaster, Nerf Super Soaker Star Wars - The Force Awakers - First Order Stormtrooper Blaster, Nerf Super Soaker Star Wars - The Force Awakers - Chewbacca Bowcaster
