It all started with that original yellow N-Strike Alpha Trooper CS-18. But, it certainly didn’t end there, no…

Nerf Alpha Trooper CS-6 (Elite XD)

You just can’t keep a good blaster down! After the original Nerf Alpha Trooper brought its silky smooth Slam-Fire and it’s new 18-Dart Drum Magazine bursting onto the scene, things would never be the same again. Then came the dawn of the Elite age and the Nerf Alpha Trooper would not be left behind or forgotten. Thus, the Elite Alpha Trooper (EAT) was born into existence. A best-selling blaster from the beginning, and an HvZ favorite, the EAT quickly fell victim to its one weakness: retailer exclusivity. As the supply at Target dwindled, the Elite Alpha Trooper became increasingly hard to find, until the only place to find them was on eBay at widely overinflated prices. But finally, the Nerf Alpha Trooper has been put back into production again! This time, we are getting a Nerf Elite XD Alpha Trooper (EXDAT) to toy with. Let’s get right into the review and see if anything’s changed besides the colors.

Nerf Alpha Trooper: Aesthetics!

A photo posted by Nerf Gun Attachments (@nerfgunattachments) on Feb 6, 2016 at 5:37pm PST

Well, well, well… Look at all those Nerf Alpha Trooper blasters! If you can’t tell from my picture up above, the Nerf Alpha Trooper has the same blaster body across all of its iterations. From yellow, to blue, to orange, the shell is functionally the same. Luckily for us, it’s a great shell to work with. The Nerf Alpha Trooper is a great looking, great feeling blaster. It is slim and ergonomic and has a great aggressive look to it as well. The receiver is frequently compared to a Nerf Retaliator, and while they are comparable, the Alpha Trooper is less bulky and overall better looking in my opinion. The blaster features one tactical rail up top, near the rear. This is the perfect spot to attach some kind of optical attachment. At the back is a standard N-Strike stock attachment point for attaching shoulder stocks. Besides a sling mount on the bottom of the pistol grip handle, that’s about it for connectivity. There is no barrel attachment nozzle for attaching extended barrels.

Nerf Alpha Trooper: XD Performance?

The new Elite XD version of the Nerf Alpha Trooper comes in a box with enhanced “Xtra Distance” range claims of up to 85 feet. (It also comes with 2 pathetic 6-dart mags and a crappy folding stock, but we’ll get to that later…) But in reality, this is the same exact Elite version of the Nerf Alpha Trooper. The only thing that has changed is the paint job. Now is this a bad thing? No, not at all. The power of the Elite Alpha Trooper was and still is comparable to new Elite blasters released today. So this “new” Alpha Trooper still holds its own as far as range and power are concerned. I was able to hit ranges of about 30-40 feet with Slam-Fire and 45-60 feet with the normal single-fire mode. Angled shots would obviously land a little further than this, but I didn’t try it in my range test. Operation of the blaster is the same as well. To load a magazine into the blaster, pull back the Slam-Fire handle and then insert your magazine into the magwell. Push the Slam-Fire handle back to the forward position and then pull the trigger to shoot. Very simple and highly effective in battle.

Nerf Alpha Trooper Final Thoughts.:

The Nerf Alpha Trooper CS-6(Elite XD version) is a winner on so many fronts. It’s super comfortable to hold and to fire. It’s got a slimmer profile than a supermodel. It has standard Elite power. It’s reliable. It looks fantastic. The list goes on and on and on. This is the blaster of your dreams, and as we all know, dreams are bulletproof. You just can’t keep the Alpha Trooper down, it’s true. Its performance is comparable to the Elite Retaliator, save for one thing: the rapid Slam-Fire blasting. This is pretty much the illegitimate love child of the Retaliator and the Rampage. Although it’s similar to the Retal, the pump-action grip and the insane Slam-Fire take it to new levels of awesome. Whenever, wherever, you and the EXDAT should be together. Forever. This recommendation still has not changed and most likely never will. Buy this blaster! This Nerf Alpha Trooper is one of the best, one of the great ones indeed.

Nerf Alpha Trooper Recommended Attachments.:

The Nerf Modulus Red Dot Sight. This is a no brainer. The Modulus RDS looks very cool and goes with the Alpha Trooper perfectly. I would throw one of these on most blasters. I find that they’re not terribly inaccurate either. You’ve got to have at least one of these in your collection. Since the original Pinpoint Sight is pretty rare these days, this is basically your only option. Luckily, though, it’s a great one.

 
This is a 15 dart banana mag from China. It is made by the venerable F10555 over on Taobao. This is the coolest magazine you can use with a Nerf blaster these days. Hands down. Available in a bunch of different colors, and now even available in 12 round capacity, this Nerf PMAG is a must have. Usually, these are a pain to order from China, but I found them available on eBay or Amazon.

 
This is the Gear Up Raider stock. A special limited edition variant of the usual blue Raider stock. These are great shoulder stocks. They are both sturdy and long and even adjustable to shorter lengths if you’re a smaller Nerfer. I ranked these stocks as the hands down best stock attachment in existence. Although the Gear Up Stock is harder to find, it matches perfectly with the blaster. However, if you can’t find one, a regular Raider stock will do. You can also use a Worker stock or the Zungenbrecher.

That’s about it for attachments, guys. K.I.S.S., remember? If you want more tacticoolness for your Nerf blaster, look into this front nozzle adapter for the Alpha Trooper. With it installed, you can now attach any standard N-Strike barrel attachments to the Alpha Trooper. Spectre barrel anyone? If you want to take your tacticool to the max, look to the featured mod down below…

Featured MOD.:

This is the featured mod, a full 3D printed Nerf Alpha Trooper mod kit. This thing is too cool, and it changes the appearance and functionality of the Alpha Trooper drastically. Adds infinite tacticool points to a blaster that originally was lacking that overt tacticool nature. Easy to assemble, and built to last, this kit is just about the wildest thing you can do the Nerf Alpha Trooper. This kit is being sold by blastermodshop on eBay. To fully complete the look, you’ll want to buy some MBus PTS sights, a buffer tube and shoulder stock, and maybe a few extra tactical rails. That takes care of all of the external, cosmetic mods perfectly. Next, let’s go inside the blaster and pump up the power a little bit. For performance mods, there are many different kits available for the Alpha Trooper, but I usually just resort back to picking up an Orange Mod Works kit. They are pretty well priced, they are local (Texas, USA) and so I don’t have to pay a bunch for shipping or wait a month for it to arrive. Also, and most importantly, they make great, well performing, reliable kits as well. For the Alpha Trooper, they have a Stage 1 Kit, which you can find on Amazon. For the Stage 2 kit, you have to go to their website, OrangeModWorks.com. For ultimate performance, you’re going to want to install both kits.

Nerf N-Strike Elite Alpha Trooper CS-6 Mission Kit