Nerf Rival Kronos XVIII-500 blaster, Review

​This Product has a 14+ years recommendation for use. 

​​The second generation of the Nerf Rival has brought about a rather interesting change. Gone are the two colours for blasters and instead we have the Phantom Corps. The black and white paint scheme fells more polished and right down the Rival alley. More importantly though though is the fact that we finally have a Hasbro Created High Impact Round (HIR) sidearm in the form of the Kronos XVIII-500 and I for one could not be happier.

I love a pistol in Nerf not only as a backup but for some game types I will just field pistols as I feel they give me more mobility. Before now my choice has generally been the Hammershot with the Strongarm coming out as a backup. Though both great balsters the lack of Rival initial velocity especially at close range has become a bit of a disadvantage. Enter the Kronos, with a similar feel to the strongarm in terms of the slide priming mechanism you could be forgiven for thinking of the smallest of the Rival blasters as a bit of a reshell. 

​​Instead we have a breech Loading beast with a 5 shot internal magazine, this is very easy to load as you just the flap shown in Picture one and load away with the slide pulled back. This though can be tricky when in stock form the Kronos can get around 90fps meaning the internal spring is pretty strong. Even with the 14+ age limit of the Rival blasters some users may still find the prime an issue, so it’s best to check before you buy.

The Kronos has proven to be a very capable Nerf war blaster, I have used it at the two most recents events organised by Games of Foam. Both times it has been a very reliable sidearm and in the Battlezone event I even ran it alone and was able to have a few productive rounds. It’s ability to be holstered is a big plus on the practicality side and I honestly felt that reloading from a dump pouch on my hip was quick and easy. One drawback is that the slide has to be back to load. So if you have primed the Kronos you have to either fire the round in the chamber in order to top up or wait until your next engagement.

​The Kronos does come in another iteration the Deadpool Edition, this was provisionally slated as a Gamestop exclusive so those outside the US had to look and drool or play some ridiculous prices on eBay to buy them. (Seriously I saw them for over £200 plus posting at around £50) now though they are up for preorder on Amazon and I already have my name down for a set.

The Kronos is the blaster the Rival range was lacking together with the Artemis I feel complete. For the Flywheelers out there the Kronos would be a great companion on your leg to the Nemesis either as a back up blaster or when you need to be stealthy. Overall though this is just a great weapon to add to your loadout for hours of Nerfing fun.