Nerf Has a Nightmarish New Mascot Named Murph

When you think of Nerf, you likely have fond memories of using a variety of colorful and exciting blasters to fire an endless barrage of foam darts at your friends and family. But that's all about to change once the Hasbro-owned company's first-ever mascot, Murph, is seared into your mind.

Hasbro has just introduced, and this is not a joke, their new nightmarish mascot for NERF brand products named "Murph."

Murph's terrifying catchphrase is "unleash the play in you."

Here is Murph: pic.twitter.com/THZYb02sKY

— Alex Zalben (@azalben) June 17, 2022

Murph is an anthropomorphic character made out of hundreds of Nerf darts, who the company says has no set sex or gender and uses they/them pronouns. They lack any facial features – or anything besides a general human-like shape, really – ultimately looking more like something out of a horror film.

Murph is an unusual choice to lead Nerf's new campaign, called "Unleash the Play in You", which aims to get more kids and adults outside having fun in the sun. But despite looking like they just crawled out of the depths of hell, Hasbro's SVP and GM, Adam Kleinman, calls Murph a “playful spirit and gifted athlete."

“We wanted to introduce a mascot that represents this ageless, unbridled fun that lives in all of us and creates a physical embodiment of that feeling you get when you play with Nerf,” Kleinman said.

Murph looks more likely to grind us into meat than try to get us pumped for outdoor activities, but regardless, the new mascot will begin appearing in promotional materials and on Nerf's social media channels this month to spread the word about the company's summer initiative.

Anyways, good luck sleeping tonight. Hopefully he'll fuel fewer nightmares than the dreadful Nerf Legends FPS that released last year.

Billy Givens is a freelance writer at IGN.