New soakers for better or for worse?

General water gun discussion.
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Shadowshot
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New soakers for better or for worse?

Post by Shadowshot » Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:22 pm

I have been wondering about this for a while and I would like to hear other people's opinions on it. For the past few years pretty much since the end of the CPS series the current soakers quality has begun to decline and lean towards a younger group of children where gimmicks matter more. I'm speaking of guns like the arctic shock's extra cold shot or the oozinator's ooze. These gimmicks are a nice additon but I prefer the old CPS series where what mattered wasn't who had the most gimmicky super soaker but who had the most power and could use it to its full extent. On another note, will super soakers ever have the power of the old days? Or are we doomed to suffer from weak streamed blasters that can hardly reach someone, rather than drenching them to the core? I would like to hear your opinions and speculation on the past present and future of super soakers.


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DX
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Post by DX » Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:38 pm

The ability to produce powerful soakers has not changed-It's the market which has. Smaller guns which take up less shelf space sell better. Stores want to stock as many products as possible, so they aren't responding to large guns at the moment. Retailers really decide what kind of guns the companies can or cannot make. Power will not return until the market changes.
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Silence
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Post by Silence » Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:47 pm

Hasn't this been discussed innumerable times now? I'll try to find some older threads if you're interested...

If the new soakers aren't good enough for you, build homemades. That's pretty much my opinion.

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Shadowshot
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Post by Shadowshot » Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:57 pm

yeah I'd like to see the old links. I'm new here so I haven't gotten around to them all so that would be great. Of course soakers might have changed a bit since then but I would still like to see them.

I may try to build a homemade soaker but I might screw it up somehow. So for now my trusty CPS 1200 is good for me. I'm just curious to see what other peole think about this situation.
Prepare for battle, ready your mind
Then shoot all the enemies you can find!

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ZOCCOZ
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Post by ZOCCOZ » Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:02 am

Old CPS Blaster ain't coming back. While the company is still the same name, its no longer the same creative team behind it.

Read this article from my powermaster site to se the changes:
http://www.geocities.com/powermasterswa ... power.html

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Silence
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Post by Silence » Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:16 pm

Ah, yes...I forgot how knowledgeable and thoughtful ZOCCOZ was on these matters. The site he linked to provides pretty much a ton of content on the matter and things that I agree with, and there was also a thread here discussing his icon of today's soakers. I like the Powermasters article, though.

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C-A_99
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Post by C-A_99 » Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:21 pm

By any chance, buzz bee toys might step up a bit, at least 1 of their guns are already better than the entire modern super soaker line, the blazer. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems to be better than the flash flood like everyone says it is, and flash flood is pretty much the best of the super soaker line they have these days. (well the aquapack devastator is probably better than the FF, but still not as good as the blazer)

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SSCBen
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Post by SSCBen » Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:47 am

A big FAQ item is needed to prevent future threads like this.

Not that I don't appreciate that others do notice, but I really am getting annoyed at the "Hey, did you notice that the new Super Soakers aren't as good as years ago" emails and forum threads. Someone really should compile a list of these threads. In fact, I'll compile a list myself.

The basic reason behind the decline in power is simply that bigger, better water guns don't make a profit for stores. From what I know, Larami and Hasbro were making a lot of money. But the stores were not. Super Soakers took up a lot of shelf space and the bigger ones cost a lot of money. According to Big Bee, the CEO of Buzz Bee Toys, right now there is essentially a $20 price limit on water guns. People aren't going to buy something larger and stores don't want to carry it.

Larami could have kept going further in technology, but they didn't. Right now I believe that the decline of the Super Soaker started in 1993 after the release of the Super Soaker 300, a great water gun. Nothing matched that in power until the CPS 2000 in 1996. The SS 300 can shoot 50 feet, is fairly small in size actually and has a bigger PC than the Monster XL. They purposely held back the better technology. The first patent for a CPS water gun from Larami I believe was filed in 1994.

I remember a link discussing "product life extension" as it was called - one year they would offer X feature, but the next they would offer another, making the previous year's line obsolete. The second feature was technically ready the previous year, but they held it back to make more money. That's marketing for you.

Innovation was planned and staggered. Eventually they reached the limit most consumers wanted and scaled back.

No one can really blame them however. Hasbro's only looking to make a profit. Even Buzz Bee Toys has admitted that they literally can't sell what we are looking for to make a profit.

Big Bee however discussed a few years ago (2004) a water gun that could be sold in sports/outdoor shops where the demographic could allow for more power and size. That would be a good idea and I'm putting it out again to hopefully remind Big Bee.

Until then, there aren't too many options:

- Second hand markets can provide older water guns, but for a hefty price now that collectors are demanding them.

- You can build your own water guns and have no limits, but not everyone does. Those who do have no complaints however.

- You can give suggestions to Big Bee because he takes any and all suggestions to heart. A suggestion however is no gaurantee that it will occur.

- You can complain and do nothing.

Most people choose the final option sadly.

I think I'll write my own article in a similar light to ZOCCOZ's. There is a real reason behind this and I think everyone should know.

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