Do I ever hate doing things like this. Back when I was in school, I used to do super hero comics, and I'd always give the super heroes the lamest powers imaginable, only to change them in the next issue, usually adding even lamer powers, which carried the entire series until I ended the entire thing with the world blowing up.

Since them, I've had a certain animosity towards giving up on my creations. For me, giving up on one of my ideas is like saying it's a bad idea, and I don't like to admit that I have bad ideas. While it takes a certain amount of self-coaching to tell yourself that giving up on an idea doesn't mean it was bad to begin with, it's still difficult to make this announcement: the Iron Nerd Foam Dart Gun Challenge is through.

The reasons for my decision to cease work on the INFDGC are for practicality. Testing and photographing new guns takes a moderate amount of personal time, time I no longer wish to spend on the feature. After looking over the feature while contemplating this decision, I realized that the INFDGC didn't offer much in the way of relevant information, and its nature as a consumer report spoof was a gag that was too long in the tooth.

I originally started the Iron Nerd Foam Dart Gun Challenge as a way of having some fun with dollar store dart guns. Since starting the feature, I developed a perhaps unhealthy affection for not only dollar store guns, but all sorts of projectile-hurling toys. I could routinely be heard commenting on how this country is ruining its youth by de-emphasizing these types of toys or looking at the newest Nerf models at the store and muttering about how cool they looked. I also spent a few dozen dollars dollar store guns, as well as superior guns dug up from thrift stores.

Unfortunately, I have a tendency to conform a casual hobby into something more stringent. I thought evaluating dart guns would be a fun feature for my new website, so when Pocky Box first premiered, the Iron Nerd Foam Dart Gun Challenge was born.

While I wanted to be strict with my evaluation of each gun, I never had a set standard for certain factors. Because we're talking about pieces of plastic that shoot other pieces of plastic that cost maybe a nickel to manufacture, "precise" is not a very good adjective to use when describing these guns, unless you're willing to throw the word "not" in there some place.

I used to measure exact distances and take the average, but the problem here was sometimes the guns would under-perform or over-perform, killing the relevance. I eventually switched to a broader scale system, which helped. I also explained what type of ammunition each gun could accept, including types that weren't included in the gun's package (safety warnings be damned). The problem here was there were so many different types of ammo, and so many variations from there, that it was impossible to provide this information. I eventually moved to a basic, less-informative system here, too. Judging accuracy was also a problem, since there are days I can't hit a camel in the butt with a guided missile.

Even though I streamlined the rating system, the feature still took too much time out of my hands. This would have been fine if the feature was a hit, but, like all of my non-Chick features to date, this one didn't garner any attention.

In 2007, as the holidays faded into memory and the world started back up, business as usual, I stressed out about the latest updates for Pocky Box. I started thinking about all of the stuff I wanted to do, but had no time for. Then I started thinking about the Iron Nerd Foam Dart Gun Challenge and how I hadn't updated it in a while, nor, it seems, did I want to.

So I decided to retire the feature, devoting my time and energies to other projects. I'm not willing to abandon it altogether, however, and anyone who wants to see it in its last iteration can find an archived copy here. If a demand starts building up for the INFDGC, I will certainly consider bringing it back. And I can't underestimate the presence of the dart gun on this site, that's for sure.

We may have lost a part of the site, but I believe this will make the whole stronger for it. And if you like the Iron Nerd Foam Dart Gun Challenge, send in an e-mail. We may not have seen the last of it...

-Zasada