Classic Toy of the Day!

Yes, it's more GI Joe from the 1969 Sears Wish Book! This would've been a handy set for me to have for my Joes when I was a kid, but alas, it was not to be. So when I got a yearning to have my GI Joes go skydiving, I had to make my own homemade parachute (something I'd imagine lots of kids had to do).

I don't recall if I did this before or after I had the parachuting Batman toy that my mom bought me at Kmart, but it would make sense if it was after. And yes, I'm digressing a bit here.

Back in the 1970s, you could find an amazing amount of superhero toys at your local Kmart, Kresge, or Woolworth's stores, from the Megos (naturally) to the cheaper toys, which were completely non-poseable, solid plastic (or rubber) toys that basically did one thing. I had a Batman motorcycle toy with a rubber Bats on a friction-powered motorcycle, and the aforementioned skydiving Batman. The skydiving Batman was a solid plastic figure, with hooks or something molded onto the top of his shoulders, to which was tied the strings for the plastic parachute, which was similar to the kind of plastic you'd find in a plastic garbage bag.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that, inspired by this Batman toy, I got a large plastic garbage bag from my mom's kitchen, cut a big circle out of it, tied an appropriate amount of strings to it (probably kite string), and made my own, homemade parachute for GI Joe! I recall trying a handkerchief before, but it didn't work (not for Joe, and not for the Megos, either).

I don't recall how well it worked. Like with the Batman figure, I more or less carefully folded up the parachute, then wrapped the strings around the Joe it was attached to, then threw it up in the air as hard as I could, whereupon gravity and centrifugal force would cause the figure to be unwrapped, and the parachute to open.

Of course, if the parachute didn't manage to unroll and open, the Joe would've plummeted back to Earth (which I'd imagine was the final fate of more than a couple of Joes).

Jon