Buzz Bee Updates for Mayhem; Primus Appears, Xshot Interviews, and More!
June 9, 2025We’ve got a lot of updates on upcoming products. Some store appearances, a website refresh, and a long interview covering the toy business in general (tariffs, trade law, etc.) that also features upcoming products.
Links will be featured below, but a special thanks to the Foam News Collective (especially the Discord server and its residents) where people like me trade links to things we’ve spotted both for general awareness and for the biweekly video update. Consider subscribing to them or even supporting them on Ko-Fi. For one thing, they’re able to cover a lot more community designs/3D prints/event news than I’ll ever have time for!
Nerf Action Xperience Blaster Review
June 5, 2025I don’t normally review blasters I find in liquidation or overstock stores – it’s a blog focused on current products, after all. This is, however, a unique situation. The blaster at hand was only ever seen at Nerf Action Xperience locations (I handled one during a past trip to the United Kingdom). Such locations appear to be retooling or delayed. And the blasters themselves have never been on store shelves. So when boxes of them suddenly show up at Ollie’s Bargain Outlet…it’s worth noting and reviewing!
The Nerf Action Xperience blaster is a well-built revolver, meant not only to hold up to abuse, but also to be a bit of a testing ground. It’s the transition between Elite and N Series, and if anything, it’s a solid performer that’s worth being in the collection as a part of history.
It’s been a busy month between work, Maryland Mayhem, and actually mailing a few of these blasters to people…but I can finally sit down and post something!
Hasbro, Wilder Announce Target Collaboration!
April 29, 2025
Xshot Piston Pump AEB Hits Social Media
April 23, 2025After a long period of work + managing life with the wife on vacation, I’m…kinda back? At the very least I’m catching up on posting. And what a time for hobbyists, because Xshot is already putting their social media marketing strategy into high gear with various Instagram/Tiktok/Youtube personalities getting preview samples!
So far things are looking good – but there is a bit of a downside: a price increase to $90.
News Updates: Everybody Gets Tariffs!
April 7, 2025In case you’ve been living under a rock, April saw the beginning of tariffs on virtually all US trading partners. Of course, we’re focused on toys here, but sometimes world news and politics do, in fact, affect hobbies.
Naturally, the largest concern is China: 77% of all toys come from China. Additionally, they’ve retaliated with tariffs of their own, leading to the US threatening even higher rates.
Even outside of China, there are new tariffs on Vietnam and India. At this point, we don’t know if the prices discussed for items at Toy Fair will actually be accurate.
As such, we’ll update as soon as more concrete numbers appear – everything is in flux.
Xshot Shocks with Pro Motorized AEG, Dart Zone Colors Up
March 30, 2025Over the weekend, Xshot surprised the hobby world with an entry on Walmart – we have an AEG coming to store shelves! We haven’t seen one of those on a store shelf since the Nerf Stampede, and certainly nothing at the pro level.
Meanwhile, Dart Zone is getting those recolored Dart Zone Max blasters in stock on their website, with occasional flash sales as a promotion.
Let’s look at everything, shall we?
Adventure Force Cricket Pro Review
March 26, 2025It’s been out a while…but I waited until it was on the local Walmart shelf before I bought it and did a review. Such is life.
If you’ve seen the Dart Zone Max Solo, then you know the concept: turning the classic “Nerf Jolt” design into a pro blaster. Where the Solo was chunky and rugged in in design, however, the Cricket is thin and sleek, with a few tweaks in function and design that let it hit pro performance at half the price. Is it as versatile as the Solo when it comes to modding? Perhaps not. But for $7, it’s a heck of a deal.
