Playing Hero: New Trend in Toys

Feb. 16, 2002 -- 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."

Some Rescue Heroes, for instance, feature tiny video screens that act as "mission starters," explains Scothon. The videos set up emergency scenarios such as fires or floods that children must then use their imagination to solve. Some of the figures include a Willy Stop Police Officer, wheelchair-bound Aiden Assist and Rocky Canyon Mountain Hero.

Another line, Blue-Box Toys, take the rescue hero phenomena to an older age group, 14 years and up, with a recently expanded Elite Force featuring accurately clad firefighters, police and a Freedom Force that includes soldiers from all military branches, as well as a female F-14 Tomcat pilot.

Sales of the Elite Force action figures have doubled since the terrorist attacks, according to Benson Lim, vice president of sales. "They are top selling at game stores, electronic boutiques and Internet Web sites."

Toys for ‘Transformative Play’

During times of war and economic hardship, parents increasingly debate the values that action figures may represent, say experts. "It is possible that parents, children and manufacturers all looked at toys differently since September," explains Judith Meyer-Walls, professor of child development and family studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, In. "The violent play that seemed OK before may seem more serious now."

Since parents are likely to be the primary purchaser of toys, Meyer-Walls suggests it is adults that are responsible for the shift. "Parents may have shown more interest in rescue toys than they did in the past because of their own feelings of vulnerability and need to help their children feel in control."

Of children's response to the toys, Meyer-Walls adds: "It can be very helpful to work through their feelings with toys that are not only violent but can be transformed into peaceful, helpful toys. That kind of transformative play is more helpful when trying to cope with feelings of fear and vulnerability."

"The shift toward rescue-oriented figures is a positive trend," says Dr. Steven Pliszka, professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. "It allows young children to act out the fantasy of being powerful and competent without being violent."

Adds Yale psychology professor Alan Kazden, it is a "marvelous influence and one that ought to be fostered. … These toys are swimming upstream because they may lack the action and lamentably violence on which we have been reared."

The only surprise with the phenomena, quips Dr. Bennett Leventhal, University of Chicago's professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, is that "the president is doing the marketing, along with the Congress, the news media and even the producers of the Super Bowl. … They are all making soldiers, firemen, policemen, FBI agents, CIA agents and others fighting the Evil Axis of Terror into superheroes. It could not have been a better comic book."