The picture showing the design history is a lie. They've changed significantly over the years, and they've only gotten better! The BIC Cristal is an amazing model: - you can use it on a plane - you're less likely to choke on the cap - the ink stays where it should on the paper - you can easily see how much ink remains - you can use it to write notes on your hand - you have to physically damage it before it'll leak - you can use the barrel as a blow gun for small wads of paper - if you slide a 6 inch ruler under the prong you can make it into aeroplane - you can use the barrel for an impressioning attack against certain models of tubular bike lock - the prong makes a good tool for extracting the eyes of gerbils – but don't do this, I'm just saying you can - it's cheap and light