I just love how the words "explosive dart" are juxtaposed with those reading "safe and harmless." Trust me when I say that the designers of this great little gun intended no irony whatsoever when they put this package together.

This neat little number would never make it to the toy shelves today. The spring mechanism fires the dart with way too much force. And forget about shooting someone's eye out, the cap-loaded "atomic head dart" could easily blow someone's head off. "Safe and harmless" my ass. But then again, it looks neat as hell, with two-toned construction (the back of the toy is black with white detailing) and great space imagery. And the card is top-notch, with somewhat primitive images of adventures on another planet. And let's not leave out that atomic dart -- what a perfect symbol of the Fifties' love-hate relationship with the atomic bomb. It's a great marketing angle, perfectly hinting at the glory of future technologies. But at the same time, it's the deadliest weapon created up until that moment, one that caused a whole generation to contemplate living underground. Yep, this is one great space toy!