Playing Hero: New Trend in Toys

Feb. 16 -- Firefighters James McNally and Kevin McKenna of New York's Ladder 21 paused to inspect the latest dual fire extinguisher backpack. The unit was a tad small for real deployment though. In fact, it was a kid-sized prop that signals a growing trend — rescue-oriented toys.

"Its great," said McNally, standing only paces from miniature versions of FDNY firefighters like himself at the recent American International Toy Fair in New York. "We saw first-hand how the city came together for us and seeing kids with them is kind of cute."

The action figures helped bring in buckets full of money, too. The special edition FDNY Billy Blazes raised $1 million to benefit the FDNY Fire Safety Education Fund. And this year, the new Wendy Waters model will be joining the ranks of the firefighting rescue heroes to draw little girls into the action. Firefighters showed their appreciation, recently bestowing a humanitarian award on the toys.

But in the wake of Sept. 11, firefighters are not the only ones happy about the trend toward more civic-minded action figures. Toy executives at industry giant Mattel, for instance, are pleased to see that action figures like its Rescue Heroes — which focus on helping others, such as victims of a "flood" or cats stuck in a tree — are rocketing to the top of the $1.6 billion action figure toy category.

After September, the four-year-old Rescue Heroes line jumped to No. 1 among sales for the fourth quarter, and to No. 2 overall for the year. And they helped catapult the action figure category to a 36.2 percent increase for 2001, according to the Toy Industry Association.

Empowering Best Sellers

That makes the "chunky action figures" real winners, even as they deviate from the action figure norm. "Action figures allow kids to feel empowered and feel that they can be a … superhero who saves the day," said Mark Sullivan, senior vice president of boys and entertainment at Mattel.

But rather than represent the traditional struggle of good versus evil, these action figures "represent rescue and teamwork-positive influences," notes Chuck Scothon, senior vice president of marketing for Fisher Price, which is owned by Mattel. "It's a positive toy for mom to be excited about."