That huge carry handle, pump-action underbarrel grenade launcher, and digital ammo counter on the side: is there a more iconic sci-fi weapon than the Aliens M41A Pulse Rifle? Now, it’s about to become an iconic Nerf blaster as well, because Hasbro has just announced a $95 version that flings foam darts — enough of them that it might actually be viable in a stock Nerf war!



You see, unlike Nerf’s $130 blaster rifle from The Mandalorian or most of its Overwatch toys, this 28-inch long blaster isn’t just a prop with a few token foam projectiles inside: it’s a fully-automatic blaster that takes Nerf Elite-sized dart magazines a la the fan-favorite RapidStrike, powered by four C batteries, plus “movie-inspired blast sounds.”

Oh, and Hasbro tells me that’s a genuine digital ammo counter on the side: it actually counts darts even if you hold the trigger down! The standard mag contains 10 darts, but it should fit less screen-accurate aftermarket ones to increase your capacity, and you can set the ammo counter as high as 99.

That underbarrel grenade launcher actually fires Nerf Mega darts (one at a time) and has a genuine spring-loaded plunger tube inside connected to a secondary trigger you can actually pull — unlike, say, the pitiful underbarrel rocket launcher on Nerf’s old Demolisher or similar blasters where you had to pull hard on a manual plunger to pop a rocket out. There doesn’t seem to be an internal magazine for additional Mega darts, though, so you might have to keep those in a pocket.