This is the best summary I could come up with:

Some have moved on to more powerful gear that fires more accurate half-length darts, thanks to both 3D printing enthusiasts and rival retail brands catering to the foam arms race.

Externally, the new blaster has the same exact lines — it simply adds an extended grip, short dart magwell, trigger lock, and hobby-grade rails, while removing the barrel extension lug.

We’re talking oversize 180 motors for speed, concave flywheels that are injection molded out of glass-infused nylon for consistency, a higher-crush cage for a tighter grip on darts, full-size microswitches for faster trigger response, no more magazine safety cutout (keep the blaster spun up while you reload!)

Eric Listenberger, Nerf’s VP of product development, says the bundled 20 x 47mm magazine is designed specifically for the Stryfe, and I am indeed finding it oh so slightly easier to slap in and out of the blaster than my Worker mags.

I don’t even mind that the Stryfe X’s new rails and lack of barrel adapter break compatibility with a decade of body kits — many of them styled it more like real-world guns, which is a dangerous look for this hobby.

Bottom line: I can’t wait to run this blaster in a game with a throwback yellow Recon stock, and that’s more than I’ve been able to say about an official Nerf product in a while.

I’m a bot and I’m open source!