Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho! This Nerf Gun Be For Ye!

With Pirates being such a big theme with kids lately, the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie being out and the Lego version of the film series now on game consoles and all, I decided to extend to you a suggestion in aiding to your children's imaginary pirate adventuring. I wanted to recommend a fantastic tool that no pre-teen pirate should be caught plundering and pillaging without.

Swords are a necessity for swashbuckling. Everybody knows that. But any pirate worth their salt takes an advantage when they see one. The opportunity to brandish a quality sidearm would not be passed up.

Enter the Nerf N-Strike Barrel Break IX-2.

Why the name is so long, I have no clue. What I do know is that this Toys R Us exclusive Nerf blaster is the perfect pirate pistol.

On its own, the weapon may be a bit of a disappointment. It only holds two darts at a time and is much larger than other Nerf handguns. Loading the handgun is also more time consuming. You have to hit a switch, then break the side by side barrels of the gun open (hence the name) and manually insert two darts. But this is exactly where the beauty of the gun also lies.

Should we journey back to the times when pirates were sailing the high seas, chasing buried treasure and boarding other vessels, we would not have found any machine guns. Nor would we have found any sort of device that could have fired a metal ball that was any smaller than the forearm of an average adult. Rather, that would have been considered a lightweight firearm, ideal for a blood-thirsty pirate to keep by his side at all times.

The Nerf N-Stike Barrel Break IX-2 (deep breath) adds the realism of pirate weaponry to your kid's Nerf arsenal. Captain No-Beard can fire the twin barrels one at a time or simultaneously, then he/she will need to either unsheathe their sword to stand and fight or retreat (perhaps in the elbows to the hips, hands flailing manner of Jack Sparrow) to a safe distance where they might be afforded enough time to reload. It is hijinks on the high seas at its best.

Again, this is a Toys R Us exclusive product. I couldn't even find it on the Nerf website. It retails for $19.99 and includes an ammo rail that holds 8 darts that can be used with any weapon's rail system. In my household, bonus accessories are always a plus for Nerf guns.

Keep this product in mind for any scurvy scalliwags age 6+ who think the pirate life is for them.