Tis the season to start spoiling yourself, and after a year of hardship, toil, and dealing with everything else that 2021 had to offer, what better retail therapy is there than a new addition to your Nerf arsenal?
The Nerf–deep breath now–Elite 2.0 Flipshots Flip-16 is a fascinating new model to see in action. In essence, it’s a Nerf blaster that can rapidly unload eight of its foam darts using a bolt-action mechanism to load up some air for the discharge action. The catch here is that once you’ve exhausted your initial supply of darts, you can cock the barrel so that it flips over a fresh supply of darts, locked and loaded for action.
It’s a gimmick, make no mistake, but it’s a fun one that adds some terrific flair to an already handsome toy blaster.
Out of the box, the Flip-16 is a surprisingly chunky toy, armed with a vibrant mix of teal and orange that gives it pure 90’s graphic design energy. From there, you can unload the stock to a position where you have more support while snapping in the two foam dart carriers is simple enough. In terms of the actual mechanics, the flip mechanism does work provided that you have the blaster pointed in a level direction. The actual weight of those foam clips means that if you have it pointed upwards, the flip to a fresh set of darts isn’t as seamless as it should be, resulting in at least one of the magazines not rotating fully.
With that in mind though, once you’ve got the knack of how to best use this blaster, the flip-switch is a fun twist on the usual Nerf formula and is bolstered by the dual-trigger system that turns this toy into a semi-automatic dart-slinger. As for the speed, the Flip-16 hits a comfortable Goldilocks zone of being neither too quick nor too slow. What that means is that you probably won’t lose an eye if a battle goes awry–always wear goggles!–but you can expect to have some fun competition with it.
As an alternative, the Nerf Flip-8 is also worth looking at. It’s smaller, but it has a chunkier and overall more satisfying feel in the hand as a lightweight blaster. The flip mechanism works better here, the lightweight design keeps your shots on target, and testing by the Nerf community has shown that it fires darts off more quickly.
The Nerf Flip-16 is a fun oddity, one with good looks and some definite potential as a base for some cosplay accessory ideas, but as a serious tool in a Nerf battle? The heavy build, temperamental gimmick, and limited ammo hold it back from dominating the competition in a heated Nerf battle. Still, it’s a Nerf blaster that kids will ultimately love, and that’s who the Flip-16 is squarely aimed at.