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The best toy was those plastic rockets that you would fill with water, then attach a pump and pump them with air to absurdly high pressures before launching. The idea was to launch them vertically and they would land nearby, but if you launched them at a 45 degree angle they'd go over 100 yards. Absolutely insane.

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One time, I did not heed the advice to not over-pump one of these. I was kneeling in the grass, pumping it up. I remember seeing it, then in the next moment, the rocket disappeared in an instant and everything went quiet. I realized it exploded, probably with a very loud noise, and it took me a few hours for sound to come back and the ringing to subside. Luckily I didn't lose an eye (though I did wear glasses, which probably helped).

Hah, for some reason I stood over one of these once and got a rocket in the eye. Fortunately I only got a few scratches... on my eyeball. I'm guessing it went off prematurely and wasn't near full pressure.

Still availible on amazon. I bought one last xmass. They also make adult-class versions with metal fittings to connect air compressors.

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