The Stock Drought

No, not NASAQ or S&P.  I'm talking about N-Strike removable stocks.  As of late, Nerf has been pumping out lots of new blasters that incorporate modular designs.  Removable barrels, shoulder stocks, and rail-mounted accessories used to thrive in the N-Strike lineup.  However, with the new N-Strike Elite blasters, there seems to be a severe drought of accessories.  Every Elite blaster has some kind of accessory mounting point on it and yet there are only a few accessories for the lineup to use.  Yes, you could use your older N-Strike accessories on the newer N-Strike Elite blasters, but I'm an aesthetic nitpick... so my stuff has to MATCH.

The Stockade and an Elite Pinpoint Sight.
Tough stuff to find in the lower 48.

While I could care less about faux barrels and useless aiming devices on my blasters, this lack of options for the Elite lineup is effecting my blasters that lack a shoulder stock.  Most of these blasters actually have the option FOR a removable N-Strike shoulder stock, but they didn't come with one.  In the US Market, there's only one "Elite" shoulder stock: the Retaliator stock.  By many folks' measure, it's simply too stubby of a stock to really be comfortable.  While it is a solid design, it's just not quite what most fans are looking for.  The only other "Elite" shoulder stock is on the Stockade, which isn't available in the US Market.  It's actually one of the best stocks I've seen for the N-Strike or N-Strike Elite lineup and I'm quite a fan of it.

There are only a handful of accessories, period, for the N-Strike Elite lineup.  All 3 of them are from the Retaliator, with the exception of the internationally released Stockade.  There's also a limited release of the Elite Pinpoint sight, but it's incredibly hard to find.  While there are different clip sizes across the lineup (6, 12, 18, and the 25 round drum), there isn't much in the way of other accessories.  There's an overabundance of blasters being produced with the option for a shoulder stock but without an actual stock being provided.  The Stryfe, the Rampage, Elite Alpha Trooper, as well as the Vortex Pyragon, Lumitron, and Diatron all have the option but do not have a stock included.  Many fans have been using the blue Raider adjustable stock on their Elite blasters or the white Super Soaker stock from the LightningStorm for the Pyragon and Diatron, but it's still odd to see such a limited number of accessories on blasters that have plenty of options for them.

I've managed to trick out a few blasters with some Elite-esque looking accessories.  There's a Raider stock that I made with a white tube for the center section and a Longstrike barrel I've painted to look "Elite", as well as a few other accessories that look the part.  However, I can't help but think that Nerf needs to fill out their new lineup with some more options.