Taffy X Buzz Bee‽ How a hobby designer licensed their blaster with a big brand

As avid hobbyists may be aware, Buzz Bee announced the release of the Air Warriors Twist Fury last month: A licensed adaptation of the Charamile Designs Skewer firing full-length darts. This was quite a surprise for many of us but a long time coming for everyone involved in making it happen. Over the last couple of weeks, I had Taffy write down a bit of the backstory to share with you. I hope you enjoy it!

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Hey! I’m John Biederman, otherwise known as Taffy, from Charamile Designs. I’m a bit late to give a statement on all of this; college has been kicking my butt. I finally got some time to sit down and share the story. For those who haven’t heard, Buzz Bee has made a Skewer! I still haven’t processed this yet and probably won’t until I am holding one in my hands. For a first-party company to reach out to a hobbyist and actually work with them like this is absolutely unprecedented. 

And that begs the question…how did we get here?

Back in February 2023, I got a message from Captain Slug informing me that Brownie Johnson, the Vice President of product development at Buzz Bee Toys, wanted to talk to me about Skewer stuff and said he would reach out to me. Buzz Bee hired Slug as a product designer shortly after he moved to South Korea (I was actually born there!)

We initially had some problems trying to get in touch; my online presence is pretty scattered, and they actually had to go through SilverFoxIndustries’ customer service email so Ryan could let me know those to whom I needed to send my contact info. After that, I had to wait patiently for the phone call. My nerves were really starting to get to me, and I had no idea what to expect.

What followed was easily the coolest hour-long phone call I have ever had. We reminisced about the hobby’s past, and I learned some cool things about their process.

I had to sign some paperwork (NDA, tax forms, etc) and was asked to submit a couple of engineering samples which I happily did, and they even offered to pay me by the hour to let me design the shell! I had to turn down that offer, though, as the deadline was very tight, and I had never designed something for injection molding before. I was reimbursed for my time and put the money towards a 3-year-old engineering workstation laptop from eBay, and that same laptop has been churning out blasters nonstop ever since. But after that, I heard nothing back for the next year. Most of the product development cycle is internal. As I continued with college, I forgot about it.

August 2024 rolls around. I'm working my awful, dead end retail job, trying to develop the ability to explode customers with my mind. I checked my phone out of boredom, and THE BUZZ BEE SKEWER IS REAL AND HAPPENING. Somebody found a listing for it on some retail site in Europe that I forgot the name of. My day went from "I want to walk onto the freeway" to “I AM GOING TO BUY TAKEOUT TONIGHT” in an instant, and I was probably the happiest worker on the sales floor for the next 3 hours as I continued to not do my job.

Buzz Bee was founded by Ex-Larami engineers after Hasbro dissolved the company in 2002 (they bought them out in 1995), so they've been watching the hobby grow and change since the very start. From picking up Slug to Slug getting me in touch, we've come full circle. An old dog can still learn new tricks, and this is only the beginning!

Oh, and I still have full ownership over the Skewer. Buzz Bee did not buy the design rights from me; I am licensing it to Buzz Bee. I retain full ownership and will be getting paid royalties. This is unprecedented, and I’m excited to see what comes next!

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And that was John, AKA Taffy: owner of the Skewer's now patented design! We look forward to what the future brings as Buzz Bee sets this example for other major brands at the core of the hobby. The Air Warriors Twist Fury is currently available at select Dollar General stores across the United States.

Out of Darts also sells licensed kits for the original Charamile Designs Skewer, with more of his designs coming soon to the shop! - JPH