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by **BenD** on Fri Apr 21, 2006 4:59 pm

I feel the need to post this to express my dissatisfaction with the apparent downturn in the quality of Super Soakers over the last few years.

I remember back in the day when each year's new crop of super soakers brought some powerful, cool-looking soakers. God knows I loved such fun super soakers as the CPS1000 and the XP310.

So what happened? The super soakers they've released for the past few years have just plain sucked. I have to admit I haven't tried them first-hand, but from the reviews I've read online, it sounds like the average power on them has dropped a lot. And beyond that... the things just look crappy. Obviously Super Soakers were never exactly the epitome of "hardcore" in terms of looks... but they looked cool, nonetheless. The crop for the past couple years have just looked like cartoony pieces of crap. And what's up with the strange two-tank design anyways?

I was planning to buy a couple super soakers this summer and have a few nostalgia-inducing waterfights, but all the soakers out there seem to suck. I guess it's eBay time if I want to pick up any of the old favourites.

by DX on Fri Apr 21, 2006 5:54 pm

I feel your pain, but this is the millionth time this subject has been brought up. There are three good options:

1. Buy old soakers from Ebay/other

2. Build homemade water guns from PVC

3. Do nothing

Notice that "complain" is not on the list. People have been complaining forever. Some of us have gotten sick of hearing the complaints, and would like to have members channel that negative energy into something useful. Why sit there and complain when you could be making homemades and moving the tech frontier forward? Or at least boycotting Hasbro and buying online. Any action is better than no action.

by **Crashdummy** on Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:48 pm

What are you guys talking about? The new soakers totally pwn the old dinosaurs. You guys must be crazy. :;):

For real though, ranting gets annoying after a while. I've heard enough rants about how the soakers aren't what they used to be, but all I can say now is doesn't that suck. They are just now starting to get better (thanks Big Bee) and in a year or two, might be back to guns with 5x nozzles. Until then though, we will just have to keep ourselves occupied. Like Duxburian said, buy older soakers, build homemades, or sit back and do nothing. Soakers are headed in the right direction so far, so we just have to wait it out. :cool:

by **Hannibal** on Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:53 pm

I've got to say that I pretty much agree with you. It's fun to complain, but it really doesn't accomplish much. As Dux and Crashdummy said, it gets annoying. You could try out Water Warriors guns. The WW Blazer (you can get it on Amazon) is pretty close to a CPS 1000/1200/2100. Or, you can go eBay and drive up the prices even further. :p One wonders if Hasbro doesn't notice how popular the old soakers are on eBay... but enough of that. If you're willing to wait until winter, you can get some good 'ol CPS guns on Ebay for real cheap. Or you can pay exorbiant prices and buy one right now.

by **Wild Boys** on Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:25 am

There are some good new Super Soakers out, but not many, I actually like the Aquapack Devastator from last year, and while the Flash Flood isn't the best, it is rather fun shedding a load of water on somebody (despite my rants about it, I guess its just because its not as flexible or as good as guns like the Blazer and before). The reason why these were ok, was because they used CPS power.

All the rest of the good guns are from way back, like the CPS 1500, 2500 and 3000, which were way more powerful than todays. Although eBay is the only place to go and get them now, unless there is a store near you that has some leftover stock in the back room.

Loads of people have posted rants about how crap the new Super Soakers are (well, most of them). Although I don't get brainwashed into tech, I just get older guns online from eBay usually, and still try to make the most of everything.

by **cooldood31** on Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:06 pm

A new company called Buzz Bee Toys has been making good stuff (Such as the Blazer [about equal to a cps1000] and the Pirahna [about equal to a xp310]). You should look into them.

by **FinalFantasizer** on Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:29 pm

If you don't like buying stuff on ebay (personally, I do not) then try finding some local sellers. Just ask youur neighbors or friends if they have any old water guns that they "used as a kid" and try to buy from them. Usually, they will offer MUCH lower prices than online stores, because they consider their old Super Soaker a piece of trash......shameful for them, good for you. I have aquired four vintage soakers in this way: a cps 2100 (broken, but useful for spare parts), fully operational cps 2700, fully operational cps Splashzooka (quite rare), and a fully operational xp 270.

by **1337 5k337** on Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:36 pm

i agree that the old guns were much better, i remember coming home on my 9th birthday with the behemoth 2500(i could barely even lift it) and just marvelling at its power
even my 310, which was one of the larger xp guns made, completely outclasses the primary nozzles of most of the new guns

Edited By 1337 5k337 on 1146078657

by **Hannibal** on Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:41 pm

1337 5k337 wrote:i agree that the old guns were much better, i remember coming home on my 9th birthday with the behemoth 2500(i could barely even lift it) and just marvelling at its power
even my 310, which was the largest xp gun made, completely outclasses the primary nozzles of most of the new guns

There were plenty of XP's made that were bigger than the 310. The XP 250 and the XP 300, just to name a few.

by **ZOCCOZ** on Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:47 pm

1337 5k337 wrote:I agree that the old guns were much better, i remember coming home on my 9th birthday with the behemoth 2500(i could barely even lift it) and just marvelling at its power
even my 310, which was the largest xp gun made, completely outclasses the primary nozzles of most of the new guns

I think the largest XPs are the XXP275,XP250 and Pool Pumper. Or the XP300 if one would count it as a different soaker from the SS300.

As for the old topic of why new soakers suck, well we can blame cooperate greed and incompitent kids for cheaper quality and stricter child safety laws.

by **isoaker** on Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:52 am

well we can blame cooperate greed and incompitent kids for cheaper quality and stricter child safety laws.

Not corporate greed, more like more expensive manufacturing costs with no margin for increased soaker prices. It simply costs more these days to build the same soaker as it did back in the late 90's. However, consumers are really not generally wanting to pay more for water guns since they are deemed non-essential items.

The child-safety laws have some effect, but not as much as the cost/price problem. After some discussions with Big Bee, I now have a much better understanding of the problems the manufacturers face.

:cool:

by **ZOCCOZ** on Tue Apr 25, 2006 5:35 pm

isoaker_com wrote:
well we can blame cooperate greed and incompitent kids for cheaper quality and stricter child safety laws.

Not corporate greed, more like more expensive manufacturing costs with no margin for increased soaker prices. It simply costs more these days to build the same soaker as it did back in the late 90's. However, consumers are really not generally wanting to pay more for water guns since they are deemed non-essential items.

The child-safety laws have some effect, but not as much as the cost/price problem. After some discussions with Big Bee, I now have a much better understanding of the problems the manufacturers face.

On the other hand nowdays companies outsorce more factories to third world countries than in the 90s making them save on production costs. But I am wondering would the obsticles for a smaller & youger company such as Buzz Bee Toys be more difficult than for a very large company such as Hasbro?

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