Although toymakers are using the latest, greatest technology and marketing to come up with the latest, greatest toy that has never-before-been-seen, you can still find the old stuff if you look for it. Stuff like sea monkeys (dude, the sea monkeys have their very own website nowadays) and…well, other stuff. Simpler stuff, or at least stuff that has been around for a long time.

Like the Cosmic Rocket.

There is really nothing to this toy. It's a hollow plastic shell shaped like one of the old sci-fi rocket movies, cool in its simplicity and representing an era when everyone was excited by the possibilities that technology brought. We were going to the moon. Rockets would save the world. There would be a cure for cancer, hatred, and greed.

Anyway, rockets are cool. Playing with rockets is cool. Making a chemical reaction from baking soda and vinegar is cool. Don't let the guys from Myth Busters have all the fun.

What your rocket will do: Your rocket will propel itself up to 50 feet in the air. That's pretty much it. You can fire your rocket over and over again if you like, or you can do what I would have done - and may yet do. Shoot a movie.

Make one of those crazy little B movies for fun and no profit whatsoever. Blast off your rocket, and then go exploring. If you can find a site where the trees have just been leveled in Georgia, you have a ready-made Martian set, complete with craters and all. Rock quarries also make great alien worlds.

What your rocket won't do: It won't take out the trash, promote world peace, or get you a date for the prom. Unless, of course, you are exceptionally good at spin.

Cosmic Rocket

Posted by Rhonda.