Watch The Nutcracker Balloon Take Out A Marcher During Thanksgiving Day Parade

Ronald McDonald's leg was not the only casualty of the high winds at yesterday's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. During the parade, one of the marchers, charged with keeping the Nutcracker balloon under control, was set upon by a sword-wielding, bearded maniac who...well, this joke ran out of steam fast. No, folks, the joke is that the bearded maniac is the Nutcracker parade balloon, and while it's extremely common for them to have, we aren't even positive that the balloon has an inflatable sword attached. Still, the video is pretty funny (given that nobody got seriously hurt).

It is also a pretty good indicator as to why it was that the parade's specifics took so long to nail down this year. The City of New York had waited to make a last-minute decision on whether to allow the balloons, because powerful winds can make them difficult to control. They can also cause serious damage to the expensive balloons, as Twitter reminds us every year with a look back at the "death" of the Barney balloon in 1997.

You can see the video, shared by KION News, below.

WATCH: A marcher in the Thanksgiving Parade was knocked down while trying to wrangle the "Nutcracker" balloon. City and parade officials had considered grounding the giant iconic balloons, but were cleared for flight shortly before the start of the parade. pic.twitter.com/2tiTFjXrNh

— KION News 5 46 (@KION546) November 29, 2019

New York's weather creates a lot of pretty fall imagery, but can sometimes be unpredictable. Besides the wind (which is probably made more powerful by the "wind tunnel" effect of a parade that is moving through a valley in Manhattan's skyscrapers), it is not unheard of for snow to make travel around the city (and especially into and out of it) more difficult in November. Much of the Northeast was socked by snow this week, creating travel problems for people driving to see their families for the holiday.

It wasn't just a one-off, either; other people on Twitter said that the Nutcracker looked particularly difficult to control (perhaps because of the long, narrow shape and flat head), but that it was difficult to get a handle on basically any of the balloons thanks to the wind blowing in off the river during yesterday's parade. The video above clearly illustrates how, given the size and scope of both the balloons and the city, it can sometimes look like they aren't moving that fast when in fact that's a trick of the eye and the balloons' movements were pretty dangerous.