We had a 3 storey house and after a few failed attempts my brother and I eventually succeeded in getting the parachute to open. Action Man drifted over our front garden, landing in the gutter of the main road outside our house. As soon as he landed a large HGV drove over him crushing and pulverising his body. The one piece, orange parachute jump suit he was wearing kept his corpse intact but you could feel the broken body through the suit. It was a significant event in our childhood and even 50 years later is etched in my memory.
AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY!!! I completed the US Army Airborne School in 1994 at Ft. Benning GA. Went on to serve in 3rd Ranger Battalion & Special Operations Command Europe. Love your channel, Tony my brother! Don't EVER stop doing what you do
This is the content I dream of, thanks for this brother! Having grew up decades after the golden age of Palitoy’s Action Man, and as an American never knowing it existed. I am just thankful I discovered your channel years ago!
Great video Tony. Mum and Dad got me the skydiver. Launched him from my second floor bedroom window and he dropped like a stone and broke off both feet. Nevertheless it was great to have a figure with a real parachute
No. You could buy cheap plastic soldiers with parachutes in novelty shops at the seaside and they’d float down gracefully. Action Man meanwhile would plummet like a stone.
We had those in the states too. The soldier had a recess in the back to tuck the chute in and tossing it high the chances were the chute would deploy successfully, which it sometimes did.
It would have worked, if I had the muscles of a gorilla at the age of 7. The reality was, I could only throw the b@stard heavy Action Man Red Devil figure two metres in the air. The parachute did not deploy. I threw it over paving stones. It belonged to my older brother……. Guess what happened next?
Now I cant wait for the Valaverse Paratroopers and just upgrade kits of parachutes to have displayed as hanging from my ceiling like I always wanted to do as a kid with 12'' Gijoes definitely gonna need more Desert Rats in alt uniforms now too
I had the Red Devil outfit as a boy (orange parachute). I soon decided to use my oldest action man (out of 2), in case of any malfunctions. However, have to say my dad and I did manage to get it working fairly successfully. Happy memories of childhood long, long ago 😊😢. Allan
Hey I didn't know I could get so excited over an action figure parachuting. I literally shouting awww yeah! Awesome! at the end. Thanks Tony, happy new year ❤
I had the orange canopy version - the only way for it to properly work was to throw it from the willow tree in the garden (we had a rope ladder). The silk parachute was way more satisfying than the plastic ones that subsequently came out with the smaller scale Action Force figures (even though those didn’t need a tree to deploy). Thanks for that bucket of nostalgia Tony.
Awesome video man! I love seeing action man since I was born in America and I did not get to appreciate these toys! Thank you for showing us these amazing pieces!
I was in the Red Devils and actually have jumped with mine several times, dropping him the last couple of hundred feet, so as not to lose him! Great video, well done!👹
Superb video mate. I never had any "parachute" Action Man, although I had the British Para figures, but remember mates destroying theirs by throwing them from windows etc. The finale of DR taking the jump is a masterpiece... love that. 😁
The office building where I worked has a 8 story parking structure (car park) next to it, where we would park our work cars. I always wanted to have G.I. Joe make a jump from the top floor. About 15 years ago I actually did it twice; once with a Classic Collection WWII Paratrooper and for the second time about 4 years later with a Classic Collection 173rd Airborne Trooper. The jumps were both just about 80 feet, and the parachute for the 173rd Airborne Trooper worked the best. The canopy fully opened and Joe had a nice slow descent. The WWII Paratrooper had a faster drop and almost crashed into a wall of the parking structure. Your video reminded of that. Thanks, and I’m glad AF Desert Rat got his jump wings!
Outstanding. I had an adventure people skydiver when I was a kid. You could roll the parachute up on his back and throw him up in the air and it would work perfectly. When I got into gi joe I would put it on them. It wasn't perfect for them where they where a little lighter but it still worked. Thanks for a great video
I have the S .A.S. Sparrow Hawk. It's a beautiful toy, but you are correct. The chute does not open worth a darn. I have it proudly displayed with the rest of my S.A.S. figures. Seeing Desert Rat miss his D.Z. reminds me of the line from The Kings Men "You didn't land in the K, you're not in the K. Pack up and go home." If you ever make it over here to the states, I would love to shoot a review you, mate.
Loved watching your vid. Brought back a whole load of happy days from the 70s. I could never ever get the parachute to open from a bedroom window, only way was the 'hang-drop' that you used. So I just got really good at vertical under-arm launches, worked pretty well. That original red white and blue 'chute always looked too small to me. The orange one was miles better. Just never understood why they made it in orange. Keep up the great work.
The best way to use it was from the top of the stairs or an upstairs window and hold the chute open before release..also I used an old cast off action man from a friends older brother, because if the chute collapsed Action Man was very prone to sustaining injuries! The way I used it most was as a cargo drop off, without the action man attached. This worked much better because Action Man was rather heavy for the size of the chute. It was the unrealistic instructions that led to early disappointment, because it told you to fold the chute up before releasing it by throwing it into the air. So you couldn’t get enough height for the chute to open and unfurl before it hit the deck and smashed the hard plastic figure! I was in hospital after an appendix operation, recovering coming round from the anaesthetic and couldn’t get the chute folded back into the pack! My mum remembers trying to help a confused and frustrated child, along with my Dutch grandmother who didn’t speak any English and I spoke no Dutch! 😂😅
Ha ha! So fun! A few summers back I did a similar experiment. Action Figures and drones would have been a childhood dream. I used the 1/18 Modern chute versions. They worked great! Got to watch out for wicked wind gusts! 😂
That was awesome. I only had GI Joe parachutes. Man pulling those out 20+ years later was a pain to untangle. My father was a para trooper in the british military in the late 50s to early 60s. Modern Action Force has done most environments. The sea and the air are the few remaining.
I had one of these. I loved it. Lord I regret that we didn't keep these. Another fantastic video Tony! Palitoy just did so much right. I've said it before but us kids from that era had no idea how lucky we were.
Hey Tony that was a lot of fun. I never had a GI Joe with a chute then but we did have smaller action figures and they almost worked. Oh and Merry Christmas.
When the G.I. Joe action figures arrived in my town back in the day, a classmate of mine bought a figure then made a parachute for it made of a thick cellophane attached with strings. He folded the parachute in a way that the strings will not entangled while airborne. Once he's done, he threw the figure up the air...and it worked! But the cellophane got damaged after so many uses and replacing it is a hardwork.
most of the Para gear i had for my action man was bought from toy fairs for pocket money prices, but it was also seleted as seperate bits rather than complete sets, its weird seeing how many different sets mine were made up from, i have the pilot helmet, the Israeli harness, the orange canopy..... or at least i should stillhave them in abox in the cellar!
I had the adventure people parachute guy very rarely got it to work but when it did it usually would land on the roof and would have to wait for my dad to come home from work to get it back😂 Great video brought back lots of memories of playing with that toy.
I come for the informative Vintage Toy videos, but I stay to watch a grown man play with action figures in the Outback. And since you've proven that its possible to make a functioning 1:12 Parachute, Bobby definitely needs to be convinced to make a functioning parachute for the Valaverse Action Force figures. Now do we stick to the classic style parachute or do we ask for like a modern style wing parachute?
Hi Tony, Like wise I’m always interested in vintage action man and I think this is because my uncle had a few of these growing up along with the adventure team. Anyway, I too had an interest in parachutes too as a child and I know it’s a little bit different but my thing was ARAH GIJoe. Anyway, thanks for the insightful video it’s making me want to collect action man I ready got few in my collection
This video was definitely good, you leveled up on the content man great job and I love 12 inch joes/action man and I couldn't have clicked faster on a vid 😀
I never had one, but I loved doing the "Death side" [Tie string to bathroom door and Front door handles bottom of stairs] length of string and AM holding a Matchstick
Happy New Year Tony-now that was a fun and fantastically innovative video! Well done. I had the 1983 Action Force paratrooper and loved him. He used to fly from my grandmother's 17th floor to either the neighbour 5 floors down or crash to the ground down below. I would definitely purchase a Valaverse version of this in any and all paint schemes. Thanks for the content😊
Like most stuff. You had to be high enough already. 5 yr old me pulling out the ladder and climbing on the roof, just to chuck him off. People would have a heart attack these days
This is so cool. Love the demo and the history of the toy line. If you ever have the chance you could recreated the para jump scene from a bridge too far.
I was 15 years old when my parents Took me for Holiday in north Germany. I Had my Action Man Parachuter with me an i Had an Idea to throw him from a huge Navy Tower in the City Laboe. But i decided in the end Not to do this, because i Had fear where my Action Man would Hit the ground. Greetings Dieter
I envy you having real silk for your parachutes. I only remember my toys in the 80's having a very thin plastic for their parachutes. And while it did work, it just didn't last very long at all.
The non-working parachute resulted in a broken leg for one of my brave guys - I substituted the original parachute with the fabric of a gents brolly - bigger, lighter weight as made of nylon and so much better. Am I remembering right or is it a fake memory - did Action Man release a kite based parachute launch where the soldier could zip up the kite string before being released from much higher than a child could throw the toy?
Hay Tony I have a question, when Palitoy was making action force and they had different sub-team what would an action force martial arts team have been?
How about building a kite in shape of an hand glidier and attached figure? I'm going to pop in the vintage toy shop tomorrow see if I can get another action man figure or vehicle
The UK's James May did a programme a few years back where he chucked a Red Devil Action Man out of a helicopter. It actually worked. Check it out on TH-cam. I'd love to do similar. So far I have a rebuilt Action Man and all the gear gathered up and repaired. The tricky part is now getting somewhere a couple of hundred feet up where I can chuck the little guy from - AND get him back in one piece. Anyone got a spare ferris wheel?? 😊 The video mentioned is on TH-cam 👍🏻
i remember in a previous video you made on Action Force, you reviewed a working glider for the 3.75 inch figures, do you think a glider would work for a 12 inch Action Man / GI Joe?
We had a 3 storey house and after a few failed attempts my brother and I eventually succeeded in getting the parachute to open. Action Man drifted over our front garden, landing in the gutter of the main road outside our house. As soon as he landed a large HGV drove over him crushing and pulverising his body. The one piece, orange parachute jump suit he was wearing kept his corpse intact but you could feel the broken body through the suit. It was a significant event in our childhood and even 50 years later is etched in my memory.
AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY!!!
I completed the US Army Airborne School in 1994 at Ft. Benning GA.
Went on to serve in 3rd Ranger Battalion & Special Operations Command Europe.
Love your channel, Tony my brother!
Don't EVER stop doing what you do
“I’ve got spares” bwahaha. Excellent video, thanks Tony.
Reminds me of those parachute dudes packed in those fireworks. Kool video.
“I’ve got spares!” 😂
Good chute!! Awesome video, Tony 🤙🏼
I had a solid green plastic army man paratrooper when I was kid, I remember it worked. This takes me back to that time, I loved the video. Thx
When this channel goes quiet for a few weeks you know Tony is working on something great 👍
This is the content I dream of, thanks for this brother! Having grew up decades after the golden age of Palitoy’s Action Man, and as an American never knowing it existed. I am just thankful I discovered your channel years ago!
I was surprised that GIJoe wasn't used on the channel instead.
Amazing video, Tony! It looks like you had a lot of fun getting Desert Rat "Parachute Qualified". 😆
Great video Tony. Mum and Dad got me the skydiver. Launched him from my second floor bedroom window and he dropped like a stone and broke off both feet. Nevertheless it was great to have a figure with a real parachute
The second floor window was every kids C-17 for these guys back then.
Has anyone ever gotten one of those parachute figures to work? I can remember that was one of my biggest disappointments as kid.
No. You could buy cheap plastic soldiers with parachutes in novelty shops at the seaside and they’d float down gracefully. Action Man meanwhile would plummet like a stone.
We had those in the states too. The soldier had a recess in the back to tuck the chute in and tossing it high the chances were the chute would deploy successfully, which it sometimes did.
I had the SAS one and it did work
Used to throw it out my bedroom window and it worked
It would have worked, if I had the muscles of a gorilla at the age of 7. The reality was, I could only throw the b@stard heavy Action Man Red Devil figure two metres in the air. The parachute did not deploy. I threw it over paving stones. It belonged to my older brother…….
Guess what happened next?
Now I cant wait for the Valaverse Paratroopers and just upgrade kits of parachutes to have displayed as hanging from my ceiling like I always wanted to do as a kid with 12'' Gijoes definitely gonna need more Desert Rats in alt uniforms now too
I had the Red Devil outfit as a boy (orange parachute). I soon decided to use my oldest action man (out of 2), in case of any malfunctions. However, have to say my dad and I did manage to get it working fairly successfully. Happy memories of childhood long, long ago 😊😢. Allan
That. Was. AWESOME!
Hey I didn't know I could get so excited over an action figure parachuting. I literally shouting awww yeah! Awesome! at the end. Thanks Tony, happy new year ❤
I had the orange canopy version - the only way for it to properly work was to throw it from the willow tree in the garden (we had a rope ladder).
The silk parachute was way more satisfying than the plastic ones that subsequently came out with the smaller scale Action Force figures (even though those didn’t need a tree to deploy).
Thanks for that bucket of nostalgia Tony.
As a kid I remember throwing g i joes up in the air with sky striker chutes, so much fun, great video Tony.
Loved this one, as a kid, I had the red suited guy, I regularly got one of these stuck up a tree, loved throwing it out of my bedroom window.
Awesome video man! I love seeing action man since I was born in America and I did not get to appreciate these toys! Thank you for showing us these amazing pieces!
Always eagerly await your action man content. Another fantastic one. Thanks.
And best wishes for 2024.
I was in the Red Devils and actually have jumped with mine several times, dropping him the last couple of hundred feet, so as not to lose him!
Great video, well done!👹
Where there's a drone, there's a way. Great video!
Superb video mate. I never had any "parachute" Action Man, although I had the British Para figures, but remember mates destroying theirs by throwing them from windows etc. The finale of DR taking the jump is a masterpiece... love that. 😁
The office building where I worked has a 8 story parking structure (car park) next to it, where we would park our work cars. I always wanted to have G.I. Joe make a jump from the top floor. About 15 years ago I actually did it twice; once with a Classic Collection WWII Paratrooper and for the second time about 4 years later with a Classic Collection 173rd Airborne Trooper. The jumps were both just about 80 feet, and the parachute for the 173rd Airborne Trooper worked the best. The canopy fully opened and Joe had a nice slow descent. The WWII Paratrooper had a faster drop and almost crashed into a wall of the parking structure. Your video reminded of that. Thanks, and I’m glad AF Desert Rat got his jump wings!
Outstanding. I had an adventure people skydiver when I was a kid. You could roll the parachute up on his back and throw him up in the air and it would work perfectly. When I got into gi joe I would put it on them. It wasn't perfect for them where they where a little lighter but it still worked. Thanks for a great video
I have the S .A.S. Sparrow Hawk. It's a beautiful toy, but you are correct. The chute does not open worth a darn. I have it proudly displayed with the rest of my S.A.S. figures.
Seeing Desert Rat miss his D.Z. reminds me of the line from The Kings Men "You didn't land in the K, you're not in the K. Pack up and go home."
If you ever make it over here to the states, I would love to shoot a review you, mate.
Great video Tony thanks again mate 👍🏻👍
Loved watching your vid. Brought back a whole load of happy days from the 70s. I could never ever get the parachute to open from a bedroom window, only way was the 'hang-drop' that you used. So I just got really good at vertical under-arm launches, worked pretty well. That original red white and blue 'chute always looked too small to me. The orange one was miles better. Just never understood why they made it in orange. Keep up the great work.
Good c u again tony 🍻🇺🇸💪🇬🇧🇦🇺
Threw one off some high rise flats once…awesome…no ‘Roman candles’ came in a bit fast like.
The best way to use it was from the top of the stairs or an upstairs window and hold the chute open before release..also I used an old cast off action man from a friends older brother, because if the chute collapsed Action Man was very prone to sustaining injuries! The way I used it most was as a cargo drop off, without the action man attached. This worked much better because Action Man was rather heavy for the size of the chute.
It was the unrealistic instructions that led to early disappointment, because it told you to fold the chute up before releasing it by throwing it into the air. So you couldn’t get enough height for the chute to open and unfurl before it hit the deck and smashed the hard plastic figure!
I was in hospital after an appendix operation, recovering coming round from the anaesthetic and couldn’t get the chute folded back into the pack! My mum remembers trying to help a confused and frustrated child, along with my Dutch grandmother who didn’t speak any English and I spoke no Dutch! 😂😅
The best ever working parachute toy has to be the Adventure People's Daredevil Skydiver.
Wow happy memories as child .that looked alot fun
Ha ha! So fun! A few summers back I did a similar experiment. Action Figures and drones would have been a childhood dream. I used the 1/18 Modern chute versions. They worked great! Got to watch out for wicked wind gusts! 😂
What an awesome video! AF PARACHUTE please!
So happy to see you do more action man video
Back in true form! 😎
father was in 3 para for suez, cant wait to show him this !! long live pegasus..
Realy cool video Tony, cheers!!
Great video, thanks for sharing - from a fellow ex-military parachutist, Red Devil and fan of the channel 😁
Awesome! Thank you!
Great information 👍 Great job 👏
That was awesome. I only had GI Joe parachutes. Man pulling those out 20+ years later was a pain to untangle.
My father was a para trooper in the british military in the late 50s to early 60s.
Modern Action Force has done most environments. The sea and the air are the few remaining.
That was a great video, I still have my action force sas parachute in the display cabinet
I had one of these. I loved it. Lord I regret that we didn't keep these.
Another fantastic video Tony! Palitoy just did so much right. I've said it before but us kids from that era had no idea how lucky we were.
Hey Tony hope you had a great Christmas this video was very informative thank you wishing you the best !
Hey Tony that was a lot of fun. I never had a GI Joe with a chute then but we did have smaller action figures and they almost worked. Oh and Merry Christmas.
Excellent video, Tony.
Now, what else can we do with your spare Desert Rat's?! :)
Love the Band of Brothers bit
Bravo😄!
This was awesome! I like the pacing of the intercut editing. Thanks for your allied service, from a yank!
Two more of those and Desert Rat gets his wings! Great idea Tony!
Get ready for Roberts Action, Man! 😮
You are really an Actio Man!
When the G.I. Joe action figures arrived in my town back in the day, a classmate of mine bought a figure then made a parachute for it made of a thick cellophane attached with strings. He folded the parachute in a way that the strings will not entangled while airborne. Once he's done, he threw the figure up the air...and it worked! But the cellophane got damaged after so many uses and replacing it is a hardwork.
I had an Action man as a kid, I use to use a broken umbrella and use the cloth as the parachutealso my sister use to tie her cindy doll on to one too
Bloody lovely. Thank you.
I’ve been waiting for Action Force to do Paratroopers, but I didn’t realize till now that I wanted working parachutes 😂
Merry christmas Tony to you and your Family 🎄
most of the Para gear i had for my action man was bought from toy fairs for pocket money prices, but it was also seleted as seperate bits rather than complete sets, its weird seeing how many different sets mine were made up from, i have the pilot helmet, the Israeli harness, the orange canopy..... or at least i should stillhave them in abox in the cellar!
I had the adventure people parachute guy very rarely got it to work but when it did it usually would land on the roof and would have to wait for my dad to come home from work to get it back😂 Great video brought back lots of memories of playing with that toy.
I come for the informative Vintage Toy videos, but I stay to watch a grown man play with action figures in the Outback. And since you've proven that its possible to make a functioning 1:12 Parachute, Bobby definitely needs to be convinced to make a functioning parachute for the Valaverse Action Force figures. Now do we stick to the classic style parachute or do we ask for like a modern style wing parachute?
Hi Tony,
Like wise I’m always interested in vintage action man and I think this is because my uncle had a few of these growing up along with the adventure team. Anyway, I too had an interest in parachutes too as a child and I know it’s a little bit different but my thing was ARAH GIJoe. Anyway, thanks for the insightful video it’s making me want to collect action man I ready got few in my collection
Excellent ending man! I have this feeling that you have something brewing for a whole new type of paratrooper?! 😏
Yes finally the chute opened correctly 😮😂
Thank you for the video. Listen to Robert Elms on the BBC under Grants Action Man Nightmare.
This video was definitely good, you leveled up on the content man great job and I love 12 inch joes/action man and I couldn't have clicked faster on a vid 😀
At 7:05 this paratrooper looks a heckuva lot like a TIE fighter pilot. BTW this video is awesome!
I never had one, but I loved doing the "Death side" [Tie string to bathroom door and Front door handles bottom of stairs] length of string and AM holding a Matchstick
Happy New Year Tony-now that was a fun and fantastically innovative video! Well done. I had the 1983 Action Force paratrooper and loved him. He used to fly from my grandmother's 17th floor to either the neighbour 5 floors down or crash to the ground down below. I would definitely purchase a Valaverse version of this in any and all paint schemes. Thanks for the content😊
What an awesome idea!! Truly inspired sir!
This was awesome Tony, cheers and Happy New Year mate🍻
Like most stuff. You had to be high enough already. 5 yr old me pulling out the ladder and climbing on the roof, just to chuck him off. People would have a heart attack these days
This is so cool. Love the demo and the history of the toy line. If you ever have the chance you could recreated the para jump scene from a bridge too far.
Awesome video. I grew up with GI Joe but this action man is so cool 👍🏻
That was very cool. Seems they don’t do chutes since I was little. Weird eh.
If this had been available in the US i so would have had a set
I was 15 years old when my parents Took me for Holiday in north Germany. I Had my Action Man Parachuter with me an i Had an Idea to throw him from a huge Navy Tower in the City Laboe. But i decided in the end Not to do this, because i Had fear where my Action Man would Hit the ground. Greetings Dieter
I envy you having real silk for your parachutes. I only remember my toys in the 80's having a very thin plastic for their parachutes. And while it did work, it just didn't last very long at all.
😂😂 I remember throwing one of mine out of a tree 😂😂 it worked just but he suffered a broken arm if I remember correctly 🙈🙈
I got a radio controlled helicopter to drop action man from it but I never got to learn to fly it 😂😂
He survived I’m surprised
The non-working parachute resulted in a broken leg for one of my brave guys - I substituted the original parachute with the fabric of a gents brolly - bigger, lighter weight as made of nylon and so much better.
Am I remembering right or is it a fake memory - did Action Man release a kite based parachute launch where the soldier could zip up the kite string before being released from much higher than a child could throw the toy?
Hay Tony I have a question, when Palitoy was making action force and they had different sub-team what would an action force martial arts team have been?
How about building a kite in shape of an hand glidier and attached figure? I'm going to pop in the vintage toy shop tomorrow see if I can get another action man figure or vehicle
Love these figures. I recently crashed one.
The parachute needed to be bigger and made with a softer material.
The UK's James May did a programme a few years back where he chucked a Red Devil Action Man out of a helicopter. It actually worked. Check it out on TH-cam. I'd love to do similar. So far I have a rebuilt Action Man and all the gear gathered up and repaired. The tricky part is now getting somewhere a couple of hundred feet up where I can chuck the little guy from - AND get him back in one piece. Anyone got a spare ferris wheel?? 😊
The video mentioned is on TH-cam 👍🏻
i remember in a previous video you made on Action Force, you reviewed a working glider for the 3.75 inch figures, do you think a glider would work for a 12 inch Action Man / GI Joe?
Anyone remember that blue one figure sub marine ?
RIPPER vid mate🎉 im awaiting my 2 paras from eBay to arrive in Singapore. Luv ya ACTION man!🎉 Cheers
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