I realize the compiler may reject this, but does it really have to? Could it allow this type of initialization in the specific case of Class generics?
Yes, but what would the use of allowing this type of initialization? It is unable to guarantee to type check it later when objects are assigned to array members -- so you aren't going to get the type safety regardless. So... what wrong with just an array of Class, and type check it yourself during initialization? You have to do it everywhere else anyway.
Henry