Clear Special Edition N-Strike Maverick REV-6

The Maverick REV-6 is the Nerf blaster the media reaches for whenever a Nerf product needs to be on screen. The clear special edition is the collector version of it. Here is what the clear run actually changed, and what it did not. Plus how to buy any Nerf collector edition without paying for someone’s repaint.

The Clear Special Edition Maverick REV-6

The Maverick is one of the most famous blasters Nerf has made. A revolver-style sidearm, six darts, no batteries, and a shape that reads as “Nerf blaster” to people who have never owned one.

The Clear Special Edition is that blaster with the body moulded entirely in clear plastic with orange trim. The standard Maverick shipped with a yellow body and a blue cylinder. Later ones carried a black cylinder. Next to either, the see-through shell looks like a different toy.

The important part, said plainly: the clear shell is the only thing that changed. Internals and specifications match the standard blaster. It does not shoot further, it does not shoot harder, and anybody charging a premium on performance grounds is selling you a story.

What you are buying is a display piece and a piece of the line’s history. That is a perfectly good reason to buy something. It is just not the same reason as buying a better blaster.

How the Maverick works

Worth covering properly, because the mechanism is why the Maverick stuck around while flashier sidearms did not.

It is designed after a revolver, and it features slide-action cocking. The chamber holds six darts and flips out from the left side for reloading, the same way a revolver’s cylinder swings out.

Pull the trigger, fire a dart, and the chamber rotates counter-clockwise to the next one. There is no clip to seat and nothing to jam. That is a big part of why a used Maverick is a low-risk buy.

It will hold any Micro Darts, although a Maverick purchase typically includes six suction darts. Rate of fire is about one dart every two seconds. That tells you exactly what this is. A sidearm you aim, not a hose you spray.

The one modification everyone does

A simple modification lets the chamber flip out completely rather than stopping partway, which makes reloading noticeably easier. It is one of the most common first mods anybody performs on a Nerf blaster, and it is reversible.

Want the wider picture of what is worth doing, and in what order? Our Nerf gun mods guide covers it. Our paint series handles the cosmetic side.

One caution specific to this page. If you are buying a clear edition as a collector piece, modifying it undoes most of the reason it is collectible. Mod a standard Maverick and leave the transparent one alone.

Why the Maverick became the famous one

Plenty of Nerf sidearms sold well. Only one became shorthand for the whole brand, and it is worth understanding why, because it explains the collector interest too.

The shape reads instantly. A revolver outline is one of the most recognisable objects there is. Build it in bright orange blaster plastic and the joke lands with no caption needed. That is why it turns up in offices, on television, and in every photograph that needs to say “Nerf” at a glance.

It also arrived at the right moment and stayed available for years, so a very large number of people’s first blaster was a Maverick. Familiarity compounds, and the collector editions inherited all of it.

The four collector runs at a glance

The Clear Maverick is one entry in a wider group of blasters Nerf built for collectors rather than for the everyday shelf. Some were clear limited runs. Some were one retailer’s exclusive colour.

One series was a striped repaint, packed as a countdown to a brand new line. One was a film tie-in.

Every one of them is out of production. So this is a guide to what they were, why they existed, and what to check before you buy one used.

The clear line

The clear blasters are the purest collector item in this group, because the shell is the only thing that changed. Hasbro planned five transparent blasters as limited editions, and the two this site documented are the Maverick REV-6 and the Deploy CS-6.

They fire exactly like the standard version. Worth knowing before anyone pays extra expecting more range.

Clear Maverick REV-6

Covered in full at the top of this page. The short version: a revolver-style sidearm with slide-action cocking and a 6-dart chamber that flips out of the left side. The body is clear with orange trim, instead of the familiar yellow and blue.

Clear Deploy CS-6

The Deploy is the one N-Strike blaster that transforms, which is what made a transparent version of it worth having. The clear edition carries every feature of the standard N-Strike Deploy CS-6:

• Push button transformation
• Integrated flashlight
• Compatible with any clip in the N-Strike line
• Hand rail that doubles as a sight rail
• Accepts the N-Strike light scope, the flip-up sight and other Nerf sight accessories
• Two clip points for a carry strap

The standard Deploy arrived alongside the Longstrike CS-6. It landed in some countries before others. That is how the first units reached collectors outside their home market. The clear edition followed later. Check Clear Deploy CS-6 listings on Amazon.

The Red Strike series

Hasbro let Wal-Mart sell some of its most popular blasters in an exclusive colour. Red was the one that got its own series name. These are straight colour changes, not new hardware, so everything about how they fire matches the standard blaster. Three of them are documented here.

Red Recon CS-6

The Recon is the most customisable blaster in the group, with a detachable stock, a sight, a light scope, a flip-up sight and a removable barrel. It also turned up in yellow, so the red one is not the only alternate colour of this model.

Red Longshot CS-6

The Longshot is the Nerf sniper rifle of the N-Strike era. Three feet long, with a foldable bipod, a collapsible stock, a secondary blaster, a detachable front barrel and a scope. That is a lot of loose parts, which matters when you are buying one secondhand.

Red Vulcan EBF-25

The Vulcan is the fully automatic one: belt fed, battery powered, and rated at three darts per second. It was one of the last blasters to get the red treatment. It is also the model whose box carries the “Red Strike Series” line in the upper right corner.

Wondering whether a listing is really part of the series, or a repaint someone did at home? That corner of the box is where to look.

The Gear Up series

Gear Up was aimed squarely at collectors. The line came out as a countdown to the Vortex lineup. Every box in the series also held a Vortex disc to load into the new blasters.

The blasters are repaints of proven models: orange, with diagonal black stripes. The stripes carry onto the darts too. That is why a complete Gear Up box matters far more than a loose blaster.

Gear Up Maverick

The Maverick is one of the most recognisable sidearms Nerf has made, a bulky six-shot revolver-style blaster. The orange and black scheme drags it away from the usual toy look and toward something that could pass for work gear. Check Gear Up Maverick listings on Amazon.

Gear Up Barricade

The Barricade pairs a revolver-style design with a battery-powered motorised chamber, which makes it fast in tight spaces. It is one of the more collectible bodies in the line. This model had already shipped in an alternate scheme once before. So the Gear Up box is a second variant on the same blaster. Check Gear Up Barricade listings on Amazon.

Gear Up Raider

The Raider is the big one, feeding from a drum magazine and throwing darts fast enough to hold a position on its own. It is the hold-the-hallway piece of the set. Check Gear Up Raider listings on Amazon.

Gear Up Recon

Our write-up of the Gear Up Recon lists iron sights, a collapsible stock, a removable barrel and a laser sight, so it breaks down for close range work or builds up for distance.

Note that our review of the red Recon lists a light scope and a flip-up sight rather than a laser sight. Both descriptions are recorded here rather than picking one, because we have not had the two boxes side by side to settle it. Search Gear Up Recon on Amazon.

The G.I. Joe Retaliation blaster

This one is a promotional blaster rather than a limited run. It tied into both the G.I. Joe action figure set and the live action G.I. Joe: Retaliation film. The movie got pushed back after the blaster was already on shelves. So it sat there selling on its own for a while, which almost never happens with a tie-in.

It holds 10 whistler darts and fires one at a time, like a revolver. Pump action drives it, and the barrel auto-rotates on every trigger pull. You reload by pushing fresh darts through the rear of the revolver ports, so there is no clip to fight. Its advertised range was close to fifty feet.

The removable scope is what separates it from its peers, since most blasters at that size never had a dedicated one. Check G.I. Joe Retaliation Ninja Commando Blaster listings on Amazon. More tie-in blasters are collected on our licensed blasters hub.

What to expect on the secondary market

All of these are out of production, so every one of them is a secondhand purchase. We do not track values here. A rare edition is worth whatever someone will pay for it, so treat every listing on its own terms. What we can tell you is what to inspect.

• The clear editions are cosmetic. Internals and specs match the standard blaster, so a transparent shell is a display piece, not a performance upgrade. Anyone charging for extra range is selling a story.
• A Gear Up box is more than the blaster. The striped darts and the Vortex disc are part of what makes the set complete, and both are the first things to go missing from a loose listing.
• Count the accessories on the Red Strike blasters. The Recon and the Longshot both ship with stocks, barrels and sights, and the Longshot adds a bipod and a secondary blaster. Those are the parts that walk away first.
• Test anything battery powered. The Vulcan and the Barricade are motorised. A belt fed blaster that has sat in a garage for years is worth seeing run before money changes hands.
• Check the box, not just the blaster. The Red Strike Series name appears on the packaging, so a boxed example is the easy way to confirm what you are looking at.
• Repaints exist. These were all popular models in their standard colours, and a custom paint job can look convincing in a photo. If the details of a listing do not match what is described above, ask for more pictures.

How to tell a factory finish from a home repaint

The single most useful test is where the colour lives. On a factory run the plastic itself is coloured, so worn edges, screw recesses and the inside of the shell all match. On a repaint the colour sits on top, so wear reveals the original colour underneath and screw wells are often masked or clogged.

A clear blaster makes this easy, because you can see straight through the shell to whether anything has been painted at all.

What to buy now that the Maverick is gone

Every blaster on this page is out of production. So what do you buy if you want that feeling today?

The honest part first. Nerf does not make clear collector shells any more. There is no 2026 version of the transparent run. Nothing on shelves is built to sit behind glass. If you want a see-through blaster, the used market is the only market.

The mechanism is a different story. What made the Maverick fun was the 6-dart cylinder you flip out and thumb full of foam. That idea is alive and well in the Nerf Loadout line.

• The Nerf Loadout Shadowspeed Recon carries a 6-dart revolving cylinder and primes with a pump. The Maverick used a slide. Same idea, different handle. Hasbro rates it 8+.
• The Nerf Loadout FlareFusion runs the same 6-dart cylinder with a bolt action instead. It ships with 18 darts and three attachments you can swap around. Also rated 8+.

One catch, and it catches everybody. Loadout blasters fire N1 darts. Nerf’s own listings say N1 darts are compatible only with N Series blasters, so the Micro Darts and suction darts from your Maverick will not feed one. Budget for foam, not just the blaster.

None of that makes the Clear Maverick less collectible. It just means the display shelf and the backyard are two different shopping trips now.

Where to buy

As an Amazon Associate and eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. The Amazon and eBay links on this page are affiliate links. They cost you nothing extra. See our affiliate disclosure.

Secondhand is where all of these live now, so a search is more reliable than any single listing.

• Current Clear Maverick listings on Amazon.
• Standard Maverick REV-6 listings, if you want one to actually play with and mod.
• N-Strike Elite Suction 30-dart refill, the ammunition type the Maverick ships with.
• Used Clear Maverick listings on eBay, usually the better hunting ground for a collector run that left shelves years ago.

If you want to see where these fit next to everything else Nerf has made, start from our guide to every Nerf line on the site, or the N-Strike line the Maverick belongs to.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a modern version of the Maverick?

Sort of. Nothing Nerf sells today is a clear collector piece, so that half is over. But the 6-dart revolving cylinder lives on in the Nerf Loadout line. The Shadowspeed Recon primes with a pump instead of the Maverick’s slide, and the FlareFusion uses a bolt action. Both fire N1 darts, so your old Micro Darts will not work in them.

Is the Clear Maverick better than the standard Maverick?

No. The shell is the only difference. It fires exactly the same as a standard Maverick, so buy it for the look and the rarity, not for performance.

How many darts does the Maverick hold?

Six, in a chamber that flips out of the left side. It takes any Micro Dart, and a Maverick purchase typically includes six suction darts.

How fast does the Maverick fire?

About one dart every two seconds. It is a deliberate sidearm rather than a blaster you spray, which suits the revolver design it is modelled on.

How many clear Nerf blasters were there?

Five transparent blasters were planned as limited editions. Two of them are documented on this site, the Maverick REV-6 and the Deploy CS-6.

Are the Red Strike blasters rare?

They were a single retailer’s exclusive colour run, so they are less common than the standard versions and they turn up secondhand rather than in stores. The series name printed on the box is how you confirm one.

Is the Maverick still made?

The collector editions on this page are all long discontinued. Standard Mavericks turn up more readily than the special runs, so if you want one to play with rather than display, that is the cheaper route.

Are Nerf collector editions worth buying?

As display pieces and as history, yes, provided you are paying a collector price for a collector item rather than a performance price. Check the box, count the accessories, and look at where the colour lives before you bid.