Elite's Direct Plunger System

I'm certainly not claiming to be the first to post this information, but rather give you some insight/thoughts I have on the latest information revealed about the Rampage's internals (that are likely identical/similar to the Retaliator's) and the direction the N-Strike Elite lineup has been taking based on facts we have so far.

If you've missed it somehow, the cat is outta the bag.  Internals of the Rampage that were shown at Modworks (SG Nerf) reveal that Hasbro's designers have crammed a Direct Plunger system into the limited real estate of the Raider shell.  Again, we'll assume that this also applies to the Retaliator's retooled Recon shell.  Alliteration aside, and while I approve off these blaster improvements, I still gotta wonder... why?  Why go through the trouble to design such an extensive overhaul of the Recon and Raider just to settle for a smaller plunger system?  While having a Direct Plunger System in there is good and all, the Longshot and NiteFinder still have larger systems that are able to deliver more power.  Yes, the Recon and the Raider were popular designs, as one of my readers (Shannon) had pointed out before.

"Toy companies love to reuse old molds for toys because it's quite an investment to make new ones from scratch, which is why recolors are so plentiful in the Nerf line."

So with that in mind, the retooled Recon and Raider make some sense... but if power was what they were after, they've already got that with the Longshot and NiteFinder when it comes to Direct Plunger Systems.  To diffuse my puzzlement about this, the Firestrike actually serves as a tasty answer to future things to come from the Elite lineup.  If you've missed THIS info, there's another N-Strike Elite blaster called the "Firestrike" that's planned for 2013 that looks an awful lot like it's got NiteFinder internals.  The shell's changes are still up in the air, as the image makes it tough to tell whether it's been retooled aesthetically or not. Perhaps the Firestrike's development, as well as signs that Nerf knows the Direct Plunger System can deliver more power hint at the possibility of some kind of retooled Longshot.  Before, the idea just seemed like a laughable fanboy dream, but with the latest information spilling out about the Elite blasters, now it doesn't seem quite so far-fetched to me.

Who knows?  Nerf has already one-upped my "Seeker" with the Firestrike.  I doubt the Firestrike will be the ONLY blaster they have for the Elite lineup for 2013, so perhaps they'll one-up my Elite Longshot I'm working on too.

Either way, whatever Hasbro ends up doing from here, I'm a fan of these blue blasters.  It's my favorite color, so having it on this new stuff pretty much guarantees my purchase of them.  The Firestrike may or may not replace my Seeker that I managed to fabricate, but there's still no denying that purchasing these Elite Blasters is a safer route to go than to modify/enhance your own blasters.  I know some folks aren't big fans of stuff like the Elite line or the Orange Mod Works kits that make good old fashioned modifications kind of obsolete.  Regardless of what comes out, you can be sure that, as a tinkerer, I'll have 'em opened up to fiddle around with.  That's something that'll never change.