A (Belated) 2025 Hobby Recap

Editor’s note: It's been incredibly busy, and I didn’t get this blog post out on time despite the draft being finished over a month ago. I hope you’ll forgive the tardiness. Please enjoy a belated 2025 recap from our guest contributor, OnlyFoamDarts! - J Perry Heun

 

Welcome, everyone, to 2026! And welcome back to another wrap-up, where we take a look back at all the awesome blasters and events from the previous year! I hope everyone got some cool and fun blasters this past holiday season! Shout-out to the Detroit Dart Talk Podcast and their amazing Zecret Zanta, which they do every year. There is always a great mix of classic homemade and personal gifts amongst their group. I really enjoy those episodes when it’s that time of year, and I definitely recommend giving them a listen. Anyway, I can’t cover absolutely everything, but there is a lot of recognition to go around for this past year. Hopefully, my summary will do this epic year of foam-flinging justice. 

 

Games + Events

All of the events in 2025, as in previous years, have been a great success and keep getting better. They bring in lots of new players, and it’s always good to see familiar faces at least once a year, if not more. There were plenty of events catering to casual PvP players, but the year’s calendar was substantially filled with competitions as well. And it wasn’t just in the US! Singapore Nerf also hosted an international invitational with TNT’s Foam Invaders Challenge. The number of tournaments in 2025 met demand, and 2026 already looks set to meet or exceed expectations.

A special thank you to the organizers of Maryland Mayhem, Endwar, Ragnaroktoberfest, North Shore Nerf War, APOC, and more major events for bringing the community together every year. But thank you also to the moderators of local events. Local games play a huge role in supporting local communities; the small ones matter just as much as the large ones.

 

Retail Blasters

Now for all the new toys that we got in 2025!! From the community, of course, we got a lot of new 3D-printed blaster designs that we will go over later. But the biggest release for an off-the-shelf blaster in 2025 has probably been the most hyped release since the original Nexus Pro in 2020.

It only took 15 years, but 2025 was the year!! Since 2010, with the release of the first successful magazine-fed Automatic Electronic Blaster (AEB), the Nerf Stampede, we have been waiting for a “PRO” Stampede. Competitive AEBs were only available from manufacturers in Asia, costing upwards of $350, and many of them really liked blowing themselves up, whether it was parts breaking or blowing fuses. But 2025 was finally the year when our wishes came true with Xshot’s release of the Motorized Piston Pump (MPP). The MPP was everything that everyone wanted from a “PRO” Stampede. It has a Worker Talon-compatible magwell, hits 150-165 FPS out of the box, a rechargeable battery, BCAR, and select-fire. The MPP is a solid blaster, and its problems are comparatively minor or just come down to personal preference (though I do think the exposed barrel looks weird). Many creator designers have designed 3D-printed barrel shrouds to make the MPP look even cooler and stand out.

The blaster is mod-friendly with fairly simple spring and barrel swaps. It has been great to find the MPP available to the masses (at least in the USA), and it comes in at a very reasonable $80. But if you can wait for a good sale, you can get it even cheaper. During the holidays, Target and Walmart sold them for under $40! It’s hard to beat half off! It’s only a matter of time before we start seeing these at thrift stores, too (I picked up mine for $15 on Facebook Marketplace). Out of all the retail blasters released this year, the MPP is the MVB!

 

3D-Printed Blasters

When it comes to community releases, 2025 was not a disappointment. We have a ton of very talented designers who make it possible for this community to expand the way it has. Many Nerfers who have joined this hobby were 3D-printing enthusiasts first, dragged in here with us. A lot of the blasters this year don’t just look amazing, but they perform incredibly well, are super fun, and have been made easier to get to anyone.

 

Silly shells have had a great year in 2025, with its official tube-fed shotgun, “Breacher,” by Sillybutts, released this past Summer. The “Breacher” is the spiritual successor to the Spring Thunder and features plenty of updated and quality-of-life improvements. We also got the “Stagecoach,” a double-barreled, shell-ejecting shotgun from Fremling Design, which was released in December. Both blasters are hefty and fully utilize the adaptability of the Silly Shell ecosystem.

2025 also introduced us to the SMILEY by Mighty Shrub, your low-profile bolt-action sniper blaster. Based on the Wrenfield MK-3 by MrHeathPants, the SMILEY was designed to use Nightingale geometry mags (there is also a straight-talon remix). This mighty little blaster can hit 220+ FPS! The SMILEY got a lot of attention earlier this year and is well deserved as a great DIY bolt-action blaster.

 

Moving on to two of the coolest and scariest blasters out there, the PKI Jericho by DeathTree and the M4M0TH Greg by Misplaced Moose. The PKI Jericho is the dream shoulder-mounted bazooka the community has been waiting for. It has a built-in electronic tire pump and uses custom shells to fire any ammo with an absurd amount of volume and power. Then there is the M4M0TH Greg by Misplaced Moose. This blaster is the definitive “Bunker Buster” Blaster. Firing cut down MEGA XL darts over 200 FPS, which is way more kinetic power than a 1.0g Worker dart. Like, a lot more.

There is also a personal favorite that I am definitely biased towards, GIFD’s Phanta and Phantasm. The Phanta and Phantasm use the same core parts as WonderBoy’s brushless flywheel blaster, Spirit (I’m sorry, but Spirit is a 200 FPS brushless brick). The Phanta is the competitive blaster build that takes the best parts of the Spirit and packs them into a compact form factor with a battery grip and a select-fire switch at the front. While the Phantasm is still functionally the same, it replicates the look of an MP5k with incredible detail and even has a spring-loaded charging handle that can turn on the blaster’s “safety mode”. The reason I am biased is that GIFD was on UNO Draw 5 with me, which meant that Phanta and Phantasm were UNO exclusive blasters for MFT and BPOC 2025. GIFD has an insane eye and skill for 3D modeling, and I love getting a first look before others.

Lastly, there’s the Ontos. I feel like this blaster was a sleeper pick when it first came out in August, just another pump-action springer. But the Ontos quickly gained popularity as the year went on. The Ontos is a low-hardware, springer blaster that shoots 170-250 FPS and is the “Try Hard Primary for the Filthy Casual”. Its description is literally “low-hardware, low-budget, low-effort, and low-weight - tailor made for, and by, the lazy and the poor.” If you’re looking for a DIY blaster on a budget, this is probably one of the best options available. I think there may even be a bullpup version, too. 

I say this every year, but the hobby does keep getting better as the years go on. 2025 was a very good year for the hobby. There are so many amazing events around the world. If you haven’t been able to step outside of your immediate Nerf community, 2026 is your year, and go out and play at a big invitational and meet some new people.

Someone at the Maryland Foam Pro Tournament this year had a Flywheel blaster with a built-in springer blaster, and it was legal under tournament rules! Something like that, you’re only going to be able to see at these large-scale events!

 

Conclusion

What are we looking forward to this year? What blasters are we going to be getting in 2026? What are you guys looking forward to? Leave it in the comments, we want to hear from you guys and have a great 2026! - OnlyFoamDarts