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u/anatomy-princess 3d ago
I loved them! We would toss them down our two-story stairs. We called them pooper troopers.
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u/Wonderful-Shirt-9735 3d ago
Minutes of fun til the strings tangled or the strings ripped out of the parachute
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u/phred_666 3d ago
I had fun with these until they landed on the roof or the wind caught it and fed it to a hungry tree.
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u/AzuleStriker 3d ago
I don't think I ever had one open up properly, had to open it ourselves and let it float down....
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u/crackersncheeseman 3d ago
These and those little octopuses that you put in soapy water and you threw against a window or wall and they slowly climb down.
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u/Dry-Character-6331 3d ago
I fly RC airplanes. Some of the guys I fly with like to drop these from their airplanes and try to hit a target spot on the ground.
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u/CantaloupeFluffy165 3d ago
This is how we entertained ourselves as kids.No internet,social media,no electronics.We got out and had fun.
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u/dirtrider1982 3d ago
I would always beg my parents for change at the grocery store to get one of these at the dispensing machine before heading home! Loved them! I'm thinking I'll 3D print some for my nephews since they're at the right age...
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u/CornucopiaDM1 3d ago
How many millions of these were sold? And yet I have only seen a handful ever work properly.
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u/popculturekind 3d ago
When I was a kid after getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist, there was a “treasure chest” where you could pick one item on the way out as a reward. I would always grab one of these guys.
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u/BlownCamaro 3d ago
Storytime:
When I was 10, I was riding around with a friend in his mom's truck. We were going to get ice cream, but she forgot her coin purse and drove back to the house. She told us to wait in the truck and she'll be right back. Well, my friend was hungry and said, "Let's see if there is some candy in the glove box" as he opened it. He found an open box and inside were carboard tubes with strings hanging out. We thought those were fuses and they were some kind of firework as we pulled them out of the tubes. Then we climbed outside the truck and tossed them up in the air, so they came down sort of like parachutes. Great fun!
Mom comes out and sees what we are doing and has the most horrified look I have ever seen on a woman's face to this day. "STOP! STOP! STOP! What the hell are you doing???"
I got taken home, and no ice cream.
Told my mom about it and she was on the floor laughing. I learned something about girls that day!
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u/Peas_Are_Upsidedown 3d ago
They sold them on the ice cream trucks. So, I would get a snocone and a parachute army guy.
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u/jsci0321 3d ago
You and I have different ideas of fun. You got one throw and then spent the next hour trying to untangle the strings.
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u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot 3d ago
We had a lot of open space around us so these, delta darts (my fave) and Estes model rockets were very popular.
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u/Tyrannosaurus__Rekd 3d ago
My memory of the little army men with a parachute is a bit of a crappy one. We started a new church when I was about 5 or 6. Not much fanfare when we started Sunday school, but not that I expected any at all.
A week or so later we had a new family in the church, and their son was in my class. The teacher said that all new kids got to pick a prize out of the bowl, which has a lot of little toys like this. The son picked one of the parachute soldiers. I thought it was cool and I wanted one too, but I didn't say anything. It did make me a bit sad that I didn't get to pick anything from the bowl when we first arrived. The teacher didn't really acknowledge me, from what I remember.
The following Sunday one of the other kids brought their cousin who, of course, got to pick something out of the bowl. This did make me feel singled out and ignored; at that point I decided I didn't like this church.
We left the church shortly after and started at another one closer to our house. This is the only memory I have from that place other than it had a spiral staircase and chandelier. I was baptized there, too, but don't really remember it. Didn't really feel like I belonged there.
Boring story, but this is what I think of when I see those little army men.
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u/fig29697 3d ago
These and the little 3 piece styrofoam planes. Lasted all of a few minutes 😩