First Impressions
The Nebula is long and sharp as Motiv says but there’s more to it than meets the eye and that’s where it gets more interesting.

Tyler Church (Righty)
Style: Power Player
RPM: 425 rpm
PAP: 5 1/2 & 1/2 up
Average Speed: 19 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: med
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 5 x 45

Tamer Elbaga (Lefty)
Style: Tweener
RPM: 365 rpm
PAP: 5 1/8 & 3/8 up
Average Speed: 18.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: low
Axis rotation: medium/high
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 4 x 20

Bryan Hoffman (Righty)
Style: Stroker
RPM: 280 rpm
PAP: 4 1/2 & 1 1/2 up
Average Speed: 18.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: high
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 5 x 45

“Keep in mind that coverstock accounts for 70% of ball reaction, but the core creates the dynamic shape of the reaction. Your driller will alter the shape to suit your game.”

Pattern
THS: 44ft, 25.8ml, 12:1 ratio
Sport: TBD

Specs
The Motiv Nebula uses the Hadron symmetric core inside the new Dark Matter Propulsion Reactive coverstock.

15 pound = RG of 2.50, diff of .045
14 pound = RG of 2.51, diff of .049
Coverstock finish: 5500 grit LSP

Power Player’s Perspective
Let’s jump in and talk about the ball and what Tyler saw. Firstly, the Nebula feels like a quintessential Mid Late ball in the arsenal. That’s the clean flippy look that makes sense when the lanes breakdown or there’s medium to lower volume. One of the challenges I can see for Motiv fan is they technically have maybe 8 current balls that fit there. Those include the Primal Rage Revolution, Hyper Venom, Supra Clutch, Max Thrills and even the Ascend could be considered there. What makes them different is nuanced. The Nebula I’d say is legitimately different from the others. It’s very clean, too clean out of box so we scuffed it a bit and threw it a bit and it came to life. I think you can clearly see the sharp motion from Tyler. This is what a typical mid to higher rev bowler with higher axis rotation will see. It’s a bit of a thin shape. What I mean is that the transition is late and very quick. So you don’t get much of a midlane read. It looked pretty punchy for Tyler and very good carry. Just to give you context compared to another Mid Late ball, the 900 Global Ember, you can see that it is definitely earlier and a bit smoother. While they have a similar use case, you can see that Tyler didn’t leave a single 10 pin but quickly found one with the Ember. That’s not a dig on the Ember but it points out the shape difference in this particular situation.

Tweener’s Take
Now what I want to add for me is more around the variation of ball motion. I started out in the test using a slight speed dominant motion. Part of that is to take advantage of the motion that is possible out of a ball motion like this. Because of the thin motion or very quick transition if you use speed dominance you get a much calmer backend motion. This to me is what makes this type of motion from the Nebula a lot more versatile than some other Mid Late balls. As I bowl mostly sport shots not for the last 10 years, this is the type of ball motion that you may be shocked can come into play on flatter lower volume medium length patterns. That’s because the ball has easy length and again the quick core transition doesn’t mean a big sharp move but rather one that gives you controlled left to right meaning it controls the pattern front to back which is what you need on tough patterns. I just want to add as I intentionally balance revs and speed, you start to see the balls angular capabilities. I wanted to quickly compare the Nebula to the Crimson Jackal which is one of my personal favorites and fits as a step or 2 above in the Mid Defined part of the bag. The obvious delta is the length of time of the transition as the core begins it’s roll sooner and transitions a little slower while still making a big climbing move. You can clearly see that the Nebula is cleaner and less ball overall.

Stroker’s Stance
Last but not least is Bryan giving the Nebula a go on this medium house shot. Generally speaking, Mid Late balls don’t get a ton of use in Bryan’s bag. They tend to be a little too weak. Too clean but also not a lot of motor to give him better drive, especially on medium or higher volume patterns. So he may use them on shorter sport patterns like Cheetah or Boardwalk for example. Nevertheless, he had a decent look on this medium house shot. Not ideal and a little sensitive for high scoring consistency. But similar to me, he can get more shape variation with speed. His normal speed will yield a calmer motion. Slowing it down and it will shape more, as you would expect, but not uncontrollably so. He also had a quick comparison to the Ember and while the overall board coverage is not vastly different, the way it covers them is. You can see that earlier and longer phase in the middle of the lane for the Ember as compared to the later and snappier Nebula.

Bottom Line
While Motiv touts this as the quickest responding most angular ball they’ve ever produced, I honestly don’t find that as the biggest selling point. Rather, it’s versatility in the Mid Late slot is the selling point. Can’t argue with solid black bowling balls!

Thanks for watching.