It’s been a pretty big year for blasters, I think. In recent weeks, layoffs at Hasbro, MGA hiring blaster designers, the increasing number of products on Amazon, Etsy, and beyond, and increasingly compelling products from direct competitors shows a vastly shifting blasterscape than existed a few years ago. It’s a wild time to be into toy blasters right now, Nerf or otherwise.
The Favorites
This isn’t a comprehensive list of all the blasters that came out in 2023. I’m going over some of my favorite blasters from 2023 that I actually tried or got info from. If you don’t see it listed, I either didn’t purchase anything from that company, or they didn’t send me samples. I only have so much I can buy, unless I start crowdsourcing or get views for ad revenue.
Gel Blasting Forward
The past year saw a lot of expansion in different segments. Gel ball firing blasters definitely are a much bigger presence now than they were 10 years ago. Gel Blaster, Faction Battle System, Nerf Gelfire, GelZone, XShot, and so many other Amazon products comprise the number of selections you have. And a couple of products really stood out to me. The Faction Battle System Sentinel and the Nerf Gelfire Raid are two of my favorites this year. The Raid offers a proper scattershot of gel ammo, and the Sentinel is a REMOTE OPERATED turret styled blaster. The Setinel you can place on the ground, leave alone, and control with a remote to aim and fire, as long as you’re within range. I’ve seen so many gravity hopper gel blasters over the years, but I have not seen anything like the Raid and the Sentinel yet. I have seen milsim style gel blasters, ones with a magazine, even select fire and adjustable FPS. But the scattershot (shotgun) function and the remote operated features are what really caught my attention.
Nerf and Other Foam Darts for 2023
Even with gel blasters blastin’, foam blasters are still one of the more accessible mediums. You can play indoors with arguably the least risk to your home, and aside from finding darts in a couch you don’t have to worry about water residue, high FPS related injuries, and so on. That being the case, there were some amazing foam dart blasters this year.
Dart Zone Blasters and Dart Zone Pro
Dart Zone really pushed some amazing boundaries this year. They not only continued product for their high FPS pro line but also delivered the Thunderbolt. The blaster is an amazing piece of kit for under or about $20, fires straight, and has good power out of the box without being a pro labeled blasters. Accessible for all ages.
Dart Zone’s Pro main event was the Omnia Pro. It had a slight hiccup at initial release, but the blaster is only around $60+ and offers high powered firing, rechargeable battery, a choice from single, burst, or fully automatic firing, and is pretty compact. Between the price, the functionality, and the overall less cost of ammo from Dart Zone, the Omnia definitely stands tall in 2023.
Nerf
Nerf had a rough year. The reported sales were down, hence many layoffs in 2023, but the House of Potato still cooked. The Nerf Double Punch was a lot more fun to use than I expected, even with the gimmicky barrel action and dual mag setup. It had decent range stock, and the trigger action was pretty speedy. Yes, it was a free sample but of Nerf’s fulll length dart releases this year it was my favorite.
That’s right, full length. Nerf also finally entered the short dart segment with the Nerf Stryfe X. Upwards of 150+ FPS, USB-C charged battery, and a familiar but revamped Stryfe profile. It’s a good blaster, but the approximately $120 price tag is pretty hefty for what you get. All in all, it’s progress, and the blaster is pretty fun to use. One of the major highlights for Nerf from 2023 for sure.
Buzz Bee Toys
Buzz Bee Toys continues to chug along, and I am HERE FOR IT. Last year the Alpha Auto 72 was definitely one of my favorite overall blasters, and this year the EZ-Fire is another great product. Between including TWO magazines, a ton of (new style) darts, and being a solidly built blaster, the EZ-Fire is incredibly priced to be easy on your budget. Smooth lever action and slamfire, I had no complaints about the blaster at all and it is definitely one worth checking out if you haven’t tried it yet.
Blasting Ahead to 2024
Licensing is going to continue to be HUGE for blasters in 2024. Nerf is still churning out Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox blasters, their in-house brands like Star Wars, Transformers, Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Marvel, and GI Joe are always a possibilty as well. If Nerf LMTD continues to 2024, that opens the field even wider (seeing as how we’ve gotten an Aliens, Star Trek, and League of Legends blaster, just to name a few.)
Not to be outdone, Dart Zone and Buzz Bee Toys each released Stranger Things blasters this year. Before, Dart Zone released a Jurassic World pro blaster. Nerf may have plenty of licenses to choose from right now, but the other brands are definitely attracting attention now. Speaking of Nerf, they used to have the Halo license and before that, it was Mattel. The most recent licensee for Halo now will be Gel Blaster.
And while I mention them last, they are definitely not least, Zing, makers of StikBots and a variety of bows, are producing Cyberpunk 2077 gel blasters. And to say I’m EXCITED for those is a SEVERE UNDERSTATEMENT.
Most recently, Zing made Avatar themed bows, so licensed properties are not new to them. And from what I’ve seen, Cyberpunk is in great hands with them.
One other item that’s incredibly interesting but in a fledgling state, MGA is hiring blaster designers. Hasbro’s recent layoffs means a lot of talented people are on the hunt for a new job, and MGA, the makers of minibrands, LOL Surprise, Little Tikes, and many other brands, posted about hiring some of the recently available talent, including blaster designers. It’s still very early to see what this might mean, but ideally a new contender with MGA’s resources would be a very large ripple in the blaster space.
2024 Wish List for Toy Blasters
So with all this new stuff on the way, I can only speculate about the future. A few things I can see coming, but clearly only the toy industry people make more informed guesses. So in 2024 I am kinda hoping for….
Clearly, more licensed products are in the future, but this might also mean more repaints of older blasters just under new IPs. What licenses would I like to see? C’mon Hasbro, give us an actual GI Joe blaster that looks like something from the cartoon, or Optimus Prime’s Cannon.
Functionality wise, I’d like to see a return to multishot features, from any brand.. The Raid is a brilliant step in the right direction. More Mega XL, please! I believe in it!
Foam blasters continue to expand “pro” levels, maybe we finally get a shotgun multishot style in short dart pro level stylings?
A return to more animal shaped blasters. Seeing dinosaurs was great, I wouldn’t mind something like the Manta Ray (I say this practically every year).
Blasters start to adopt a retro style, like Flash Gordon
And that’s all for now, congrats on making it another year with me, let’s goooooooo!
Foam From Above 