May 18, 2014

Koosh Galactagon Review

Among the offerings Hasbro presented to budding Nerfers was the Koosh Galaxy line of ball blasters. For the most part, these were triggerless blasters, launching their balls by simply hitting them. While these blasters lack in apparent modding capabilities, they do come with lots of potential for fun!

Although the kid on the box looks way too happy in my opinion, haha.

Today we examine the top of the line blaster, the Galactagon. It has a five-shot turret as well as a pullback "slamfire" mechanism; you have to pull the priming rod all the way to the rear for the catch to disengage, and returning the priming rod also rotates the turret to the next position. It performs and looks nice, as it turns out!

PERFORM, MY PRETTY!!!


If the Nerf Arrowstorm and Ballzooka had a baby, this might be the result.

Doctor says the baby's fine!

The turret loosely holds your ball ammo in place - enough force that it won't pop out from running around, but not so much as to impair the launching process. The open setup also makes reloading on the fly a cinch.

FEED ME BALLS.
From the side, you can see both the safety lever on top and the hitting lever on the left. If a ball is in position, the safety will let the priming rod pull the internal mechanism. If not, you will simply be forced to return the priming rod and rotate the turret until a ball is there.

Now for the range testing! I measured out ten foot increments and fired ten shots as level as possible (considering the shape of the blaster, I used the priming rod as the reference for being level with the ground). After emptying the turret, I took a picture of the results. On average, the Koosh balls went 25'-30'. Not bad for a kiddie blaster, is it?



INTERNALS:

The innards can best be described as a battering ram in a box. The priming rod pulls a sled with a steel weight inside, and it also unrolls a constant force spring. At the end of the priming motion, the catch is pushed out of the way and the sled is released.

It's a lot less complicated than it looks.
This means that you'll be firing with the same amount of power every time, regardless of how fast you pull the priming rod. It also means that, should you like, you can hold the priming rod most of the way back with minimal force required and aim the blaster like you would a bow. Simply finish the pull to fire.

Basically, you're unrolling an extra-stiff tape measure.

The sled hits the orange lever behind the ball being launched, which transfers the energy to your projectile.

Ball tap.
At the bottom of the shell is the turret mechanism! Once you pull the priming rod past a certain point, regardless of whether a ball is present, you catch the indexing piece and rotate the turret to the next position.


CONCLUSION:

The Koosh Galaxy Galactagon is one of the best options for ball launching among blasters today. While the Koosh Galaxy line itself appears to be dying off, various blasters can still be found in big box stores, as well as various discount stores (Big Lots, Ollie's, etc.). In my case, my local Tuesday Morning had many in stock, priced at just $15. In addition, the balls themselves are still readily available at many stores.


The Galactagon does its job well, firing balls 25'-30' with ease. Although originally a bit pricey, its current discounted rates make it worth the money. Assuming, of course, you like balls :P

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations on finding this! I was told by the head of marketing for Nerf that this blaster wouldn't see shelves, so this is probably one of the few that squeaked by before the Koosh Galaxy line was axed.

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    Replies
    1. That's sad news! The Koosh Galaxy line never got a proper chance, in my opinion - while most NIC members would only grab these for shits and giggles, they were great for kids.

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    2. (This is Slendoo-Man)

      Is there anywhere where you can reference to the Head of Marketing saying the Galactagon(and possibly the Komet Hunter) were not supposed to be released?

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