Nerf Elite Alpha Trooper

Nerf Elite Alpha Trooper

The Nerf Alpha Trooper CS-18 has arisen from the yellow N-Strike flames as an Elite blue Phoenix. Ca-Caw! Meet the new Nerf Elite Alpha Trooper!

I love Nerf, I really do. But, boy do I hate exclusives. This time it’s Target with it’s red dot “target” out for this blaster. And it has to be a gun that’s actually pretty good, too. That’s right, ladies and gentleman, the Nerf N-Strike Elite Alpha Trooper CS-12 is exclusive to “Big Red.”

Phoenix Rising

The Nerf Alpha Trooper. It’s one of many blasters to be reborn and re-branded as an Elite. It manages to best its predecessor, in nearly every regard. It has all of the strengths of the original CS-18, but none of the weaknesses. It looks better, and it shoots farther. The Nerf Elite Alpha Trooper manages to reach ranges of 40 to 45 feet, and up to 75+ feet when fired at a 45 degree angle. True, they are physically identical on the outside as far as the way they’re constructed. But that Elite paint job just looks so much better than the old N-Strike yellow. So it features a much better color scheme. It fires true streamline darts, called Elite Darts. It has a smaller clip, but it still wins. Even its negatives are positives. The 18 round drum clip of the original Nerf Alpha Trooper was good, albeit prone to jamming. It held more darts, but it was less reliable than the new svelte 12-round clip. So what good is more darts if you are unable to use them? Besides those few points, it’s virtually the same as the original. It has a receiver that closely resembles that of the Nerf Retaliator. Its performance is comparable to the Retal as well, except for the Slam-Fire. The Slam-Fire places it in Rampage territory. The Slam-Fire aspect is great for close range, but it loses its touch at extended ranges. It still has that good top tact rail mount, and a sturdy stock attachment point. There is still that inconspicuous hidden dart compartment in the handle. It still has the super high rate-of-fire thanks to Slam-Fire. The Nerf Elite Alpha Trooper is still the lightweight, versatile gun that you know and love.

Sifting Through The Ashes

Since the Nerf Elite Alpha Trooper is a Target exclusive, that’s where you have to go. There’s no luck for us Amazon-only online shoppers. Amazon’s stock is from third party sellers and price-inflated. Bummer. So, outside of scouring eBay, or risking the shady Craigslist, that’s pretty much it. That’s it. That’s all she wrote. It’s a shame, too, because the N-Strike Elite Alpha Trooper is one heck of a gun. A heck of a gun!

Featured MOD.

Nerf N-Strike Exclusive Elite Alpha Trooper CS-12