Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Bat Chute!

[RSS]

What you see before is the first, to my knowledge, officially licensed Superhero parachute figure. This bold pioneer paved the way for the madness that was the 1970s parachuting figure craze.

What I find insane is they created store displays to sell these, complete with a fan! I don't own this but I admire the heck out of it.

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[Earth 2 Chris]

Thank you, Consolidated Development Group!!!

I have this Batman figure. It's also one of the earliest figural interpretations of Batman as well. That store display is nuts!

The package image was lifted from the one-shot 3-D Batman comic from 1953, with the addition of the 60s "New Look" circle/oval around the Bat-symbol.



Chris

[Hedji]

Love this. I should get one. They're not super rare... they seem to actually go for less than the AHI ones. Imagine being a kid and seeing that store display. Who could refuse that?

[palitoy]

I think there was a big find of these in the 80s because I had more than one back then, gem mint on the card too.

[Wee67]

I realize the copyright date on the card may not match the release date for this item. Were these released during the TV show craze? I'm wondering how much of a gap there was between these and AHI.
Also, does anyone have a sense when parachute toys in general started being made?

I'm curious because I loved these as a kid. It was such simple play but so, so satisfying. I remember throwing Poopatropers out George Rafferty's third floor apartment window and then running downstairs to try and retrieve them. We were not always successful.

[palitoy]

I'm not sure when the first parachuting figure first appeared but i would reckon the 1950s when plastic became more and more common with children's toys. The earliest licensed version I can find is from the early 1960s series "Ripcord" and as you can see it's just an army man. I would say this is 1962.

[Hedji]

I remember throwing Poopatropers

Ahh, Poopatroopers... the toy with the name that would elicit a giggle out of any child in the 70s.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^I believe this is actually from 1966, during the Batmania craze.

I remember the Ben Franklin store where I bought most of my toys had a round, clear plastic bin of Poopatroopers on the counter in the downstairs toy dept. Impulse buys!!!

Chris