This week’s Flashback Friday from the AIM 180 bunker takes a trip back through Red Dragon’s back catalogue, as part of the brand’s 2025 50th anniversary celebrations, with DartsWorld and AJ dusting off the ever popular Shockwave.
- Product: Darts (Steel Tip)
- Brand: Red Dragon
- Material: Tungsten (90%)
- Weight: 26g
- Price: c£40
First launched in the 2000s, the Shockwave was never a dart built to blend in, and revisiting it now, that hasn’t changed. The oil-slick Rainbow Spectron coating remains as striking as ever, paired with a bulbous, scalloped barrel profile that’s genuinely tricky to categorise. But then again, this could never have been a design to play by the rules.
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It’s smooth to the touch yet textured at the same time, a combination that is something of a head-scratcher to describe, but unmistakably a Red Dragon design through and through.
That scalloped texture is Red Dragon’s Wave Grip Technology at work, and it’s very much a Marmite kind of grip. It won’t necessarily click with every player straight away, but once you’ve found your grip point on the barrel, the Shockwave becomes a genuinely friendly, dependable throw – reward for a bit of early adjustment rather than an obstacle in itself.
My first visit to Red Dragon coincided with a special project discreetly happening in workshops. They were colouring some darts in a very unusual style for Peter Wright. This technique worked and when combined with a kind of bump or bubble barrel produced a very popular bit of kit.
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The reissue of these was met with genuine delight by many who regretted not getting to try them or moving onto something else. Collectors also seemed delighted.
Fifty years on from Red Dragon’s beginnings, the Shockwave remains a strong example of the brand leaning into personality rather than playing it safe, and it’s easy to see why its earned a place in the 50 Year Collection.
Full marks for nostalgia, and for a dart that still has plenty to offer today’s player once you’ve settled into that grip.
Available as part of Red Dragon’s 50 Year Collection from Red Dragon Darts or where stocks last at select specialist retailers with almost 33% off.
Images: Red Dragon
You Tube Review: AJ Urmston-Toft
