Nerf Elite Alpha Trooper?

Could it really be?

One of the Nerf community's favourite blasters getting the Elite treatment?




Our eagle eyed brethren over at Urban Taggers have done it again. Spotting this great image on Baidu.

Clues on the outside point to this being a simple repaint. The original N-Strike logo for instance. However, the label reads "Alpha Trooper CS-12" and not the CS-18 of the original but the name itself uneases me. When Hasbro redesigned the Recon and the Raider, they felt the innovation was so extensive that the blasters warranted new names. Hence the Retaliator and Rampage. Why then would they not do the same for the Alpha Trooper? Could be fake, but check this next picture out.

 

You can clearly see that this AT is packing a direct plunger system. Could this be the Elite Alpha Trooper of our dreams? Well, the Baidu poster who presumably took these pictures states it is a "pre-production" prototype so it may likely be cobbled together from spare/custom parts. This could go a way to explain the abnormalities.

I'm not going to get too excited just yet. An Elite Alpha Trooper could be a game changer but for now, I remain sceptical about these pictures.

The buzz in the community says that this year is going to be a big one for Hasbro and Nerf. Fingers crossed for some exciting new releases this year.