Educate me on the history of the Shocker

[the_matrix_guy]

Hey, I have a few questions in regards to the Shocker. Admittedly, I was never a big SP guy. In fact, I've never owned an Impulse or 4x4 Shocker. Back in the day, I was mostly a Cocker, Angel, Timmy, & Matrix guy with a few AKA's sprinkled ontop. My question is the following: the original Shocker was a poppet based marker, am i right? And then when they brought it back in 2002-2003 with the SFT and NXT -- they brought them back as a spool based marker. This is the only marker to have undergone a complete overhaul, then, right? I had a friend over for BBQ and after all of these years, it just dawned on us that the Shocker went from poppet to spoolie. A quick search on the internet confirmed that the 4x4 was indeed poppet. Pretty cool.

Kind regards,

TMG

[the_matrix_guy]

Go to zdspb.com - its probably the best resource out there.

4x4s are poppets like Minis are poppets... they're not really, not like Egos and Timmys are poppets.

VERY cool. Thanks for the link. Lots of cool tidbits in there that I'd forgotten. So the original Shocker did run all the way to 2002, so there was no discontinuation of the line, only the original Shoebox design. It was a unique design, then, correct? A hybrid between a poppet and a spool. And then it went full spool based with the advent of the NXT & SFT.

"Smart Parts currenty produces a marker known as the Shocker SFT however its design is completely different and doesn't share anything with the original Shocker markers (the Shocker SFT is only named Shocker for marketing purposes)." Source: www.zdspb.com

[Chuck E Ducky]

I’m really disappointed after seeing the title of this post.

[the_matrix_guy]

LOL why, WTH were you expectin

[the_matrix_guy]

Yeah, unique... they were the original electro, designed by PVI under contract for SP. It's unfortunate what SP did with it.

Yeah, absolutely. The Gardner bros. steamrolling smaller companies like AKA & ICD, etc. was very unfortunate, needless to say. One of the only stains during the "golden era" of PB. But unto a different topic, and I guess this is almost a different discussion altogether, but I can't help but wonder what if WDP/APS would've adapted too and made a line of spool based markers. I mean, obviously, the Angel is beloved due to its unique design and unique poppet shot signature, etc. And SP were assholes, there's no question about it, but at the same time I think that SP showed great resolve, business sense, and engineering capability by being able to overhaul a marker almost completely and make it one of the best selling and most widely used markers in the pro circuit in 2003. That is admirable, IMO. What if Angel had done the same? They would be in business today. And maybe still make poppets as a second line, like PE, even though they're not widely used at the top of the game, anymore.

[the_matrix_guy]

To be 100% accurate, the Shocker 4x4 and the SFT/NXT share only a name and in the case of the SFT, barrel threads. They're entirely different otherwise, including how they function.

I don't see WDP changing to a spool at all, TBH - they were content with their boutique design until it was too late, and they were nearly bankrupted fighting SP's patent claims, there likely wasn't enough money to attempt a redesign or new design even if they had wanted to.

Right. SP is the only company to completely overhaul an already successful platform and make it even more successful. Which is the part that I find interesting. And no one saw that coming. No one. It's just something that doesn't happen. And WDP didn't come up with a new design, not because they were complacent, but simply because not every company is able to R&D a new IP from the ground-up. It's not easy to come up with something new, let alone something new and successful. But agree on the money part. It takes money to R&D or to buyout an existing IP like how SP bought the rights to the PVI Shocker, or like DYE bought the Matrix. And SP certainly had a much bigger war chest to litigate/patent-troll and bully smaller cos. out of existence.

BTW, I don't know if you know this, but the original Matrix was designed by Airtech, a Canadian company, and distributed by Diablo, before Generation E Sports bought the patents and improved on their design, and before DYE bought them from Gen-E. The Matrix, grandaddy of all spoolies, is, in fact, Canadian. Fun fact.

[the_matrix_guy]

SP bankrupted PVI in order to buy the patent, just to be 100% clear on that.

Perhaps I'm nitpicking but the SFT wasn't an overhaul, it was a nameplate reassigned to another marker... much like Dodge calling their 4dr sedan a Charger despite it sharing nothing in common with its predecessor.

I have a problem thinking of SP as being innovative given their past.

And yes, I knew the Matrix was originally Canadian before it's progression of owners brought it to Dye.

Ironically, all spool valve designs are highly similar to the original Matrix, including the SFT. They basically invented the spool based design, but there are a vast number of variations on the design, i.e. the way the air chambers are designed and how air is supplied to them, and the bolt and bolt parts design itself which allowed all of these companies to make their own versions. But ultimately, they're not all that different from one another. They all work the same, essentially.