Weird Blasters: Tiny Off-Brand Element? CY052 Review

Weird Blasters 

I adore stupid blasters. I've been called the "Beret of our nerf group", and I tend to run incredibly dumb things in our small indoor wars. As a result, I have acquired quite a collection of these awful blasters, and I thought I'd start a series of reviews on them. These will not strictly be awful cheap knockoffs, but I also want to use this series to bring attention to blasters that maybe are actually usable, but don't get covered by prominent reviewers in the hobby. We are definitely starting with an awful cheap knockoff, though.

CY052

Honestly, I don't know what to call this blaster. CY052 was the only text on it, besides a tiny hidden string of numbers, so thats what I'll refer to it as. I got this blaster, I believe, a few years ago from a friend. At the time, he was working at a bowling alley, and told me that they had a dart blaster as one of their arcade prizes. I told him I wanted one, and he was able to get it for me. Upon looking into it, I believe that it comes from a company called Toys+, but I couldn't find much about it.

Contents

I got this blaster years ago, and I don't remember even how it came in the packaging, or if it was even in the packaging when I got it. I believe that it came with 4 darts and the blaster, and thats it. Now, the darts it comes with are... quite something. They're about the same size as normal foam darts, but instead of having a soft rubber tip or even a hard vinyl tip, the heads are literally just solid plastic. I can't imagine getting shot by one of these out of anything that actually shoots decently, it would sting quite a bit. 

Overview

This blaster is pretty much what you'd expect from the absolute cheapest knockoff. Aesthetically, the design is clearly stolen from the old Element EX-6. Unlike a lot of knockoffs that seem to be based on an existing shell, this one is pretty much an EXACT copy of the Element, with an added front sight post, the dart storage changed to hold 3 instead of 5, oh, and its like, literally half the size. Unfortunately I don't have an Element currently to compare it to, but next to a Hammershot you can see that its truly minuscule. 

There is a simple priming handle on the back, reminiscent of a Tek 3 or other tiny blasters, which a finger barely fits into to prime it. The trigger is also tiny, but at least its functional. I can barely get my finger into the trigger area its so tiny. The grip is also tiny, only fitting two fingers, but without taking into account the awful trigger guard, the grip is actually fairly comfortable. Up at the top, there's a rail, but considering that this is a scaled down Element, its a scaled down Nerf rail that doesn't fit anything.

Build Quality

Considering what it is, the build quality is shockingly decent. No where near even the likes of X-Shot and Dart Zone, but it doesn't feel too much worse than old Buzz Bee blasters. There's very little creak in the plastic, and while it feels cheap, it doesn't feel like it'll break as soon as I prime it. The priming handle itself is hollow on the bottom and the walls are quite thin and could easily be snapped, but I don't think it would break during normal operation. 

Build Quality Grade: C+

Aesthetics

Honestly, they're good. Its a mini Element, and the Element is a classic Nerf design. I think it scales down fairly well, and it makes a cool looking little subcompact pistol. I don't have a ton more to say here, since its literally just an Element. 

Aesthetics Grade: B

Performance

Ah, now we get to the good part for any awful knockoff. I will say, it does fire darts. Kinda. It's one of the blasters that uses an internal punching mechanism, rather than a plunger, so there's no air being pushed around at all. It literally just smacks the back of the dart with a rod, and that pushes it out of the barrel. 

With the included darts, it smacks them maybe about 10 feet with a really good shot. I tried elites, Adventure Force waffles, half darts, X-Shot darts, heck, I even tried one of the Valken Gotcha balls. Most projectiles barely even leave the barrel, averaging maybe 5-7 feet. I tried to chronograph this blaster, but couldn't, as no projectile I tried would read, and some didn't even make it across the chrony. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is probably my worst performing blaster that actually functions. 

One other feature of note here: because the "plunger" has to hit the dart when its all the way forward, you actually cannot load a dart into the barrel without priming it first, as the plunger rod is in the way. 

Performance Grade: F

Usability/Stupidity

For this type of review, I'm switching the usability section up a bit, since most of the blasters I'm going to be talking about aren't really intended to be usable, but are intended to be run for fun when a stupid blaster is the goal. Therefore, the scoring for this section will be higher the stupider the blaster is. 

That being said, this blaster is probably the least usable and one of the stupidest blasters possible. It does fire standard darts, which is a plus, and it can technically fire anything you can cram down the barrel, so you wouldn't have to worry about finding the right niche ammo or anything. Considering the range offered, you're barely better than melee and you have to reload between shots, so a sword would be far more effective in general. 

Stupidity Grade: A-

Mod Potential

There's not much. The spring inside is tiny, no other springs I have in my collection are even close to the right size, and even if you could find a better spring to go in it, I don't think you'd get much of a performance boost and there's a good chance it would just break itself. I did try adding some rubber bands to the outside, adding more force pushing the plunger forward and got it to hit maybe 15 feet flat, but I still couldn't even get the darts to register over my chronograph. Lets just say there's not really any point in modding it.

Mod Potential Grade: D

Value for Money

This section doesn't really apply super well to weird and stupid blasters, since you clearly aren't buying them because they're great deals, but for this blaster in particular, I don't even know how much it would cost or where you could even get it, but any price would probably not be super worth it unless you really like the idea of a tiny little Element. 

Value for Money Grade: D-

Final Grades

Its a truly terrible blaster that I can't ever recommend to anyone. That being said, getting a kill with this thing in a game would be immensely satisfying and horribly shaming of the target, and I'll probably run it at some point.