Store Exclusive Elite?

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 As many of you know, I like blue.  It's been a big reason I love the N-Strike Elite lineup so much.  I had toyed with the idea, long before Elite came out, of a blue Spectre and eventually ended up repainting one.  Now that we've got Elite blasters flowing onto shelves like the repainted Jolt and Rayven, I wondered if the 3 Store-exclusive blasters might get into the mix too.



If you missed it, there are blasters exclusive to certain retailers.  Wal-Mart has the Spectre, Target has the Alpha Trooper, and Toys R Us has the Barrel Break.  I decided to take a bit of a closer look at the possibility of Elite-branded Store-exclusive blasters.  First, we need to consider the fact that N-Strike Elite will eventually replace normal N-Strike blasters (at least it's looking that way).  One could assume that with this replacement, we could see the Spectre, Barrel Break, and Alpha Trooper "Elite-ified", but there's a player that I think might have put a stain on this wishful thinking.

The Rough Cut 2x4.  It's essentially replaced the "shotgun" role that the Barrel Break once played.  It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have two shotgun-based blasters.  The Rough Cut will have the edge over the Barrel Break any way you cut it (pun intended).  Range, speed, ease of operation, it's got the Barrel Break beaten all the way around.

That being said, most Elite blasters are also having Slam-fire already built in.  The Alpha Trooper already has this.  It's reverse plunger system could be retooled (like the Raider and Recon) to have a direct plunger system in it to get those Elite ranges, too.  However the Spectre lacks this and already has a lower ammo capacity than the Maverick/Strongarm.  With all these observations, the future of the 3 Store-exclusive blasters looks very hazy and uncertain.  I almost think it's more realistic to think that eventually these 3 will get phased out with the rest of the N-Strike lineup.  They could get replaced by 3 entirely new store-exclusive blasters later on, but in general I get the feeling that these blasters aren't going to get that blue treatment.