Preschool toys have come leaps and bounds since my childhood. For some reason action figures were always reserved for older children, and the only ones we actually did get were blocky and rather boring. But kids these days have a ton of really fun options. They have aisles full of cutesy articulated animal characters, super heroes, and the most recent additions: the new Rescue Heroes from Fisher-Price. This line is a reboot of a pretty successful run with the same name from 1998-2004. However, these new figures incorporate the design aesthetics of the wildly popular Imaginext line with the larger and more durable construction of the original Rescue Heroes. The initial lineup of characters has been available on the Walmart website for a few weeks. There are seven different figures so far - all featured on a series of animated shorts on YouTube Kids. I'm eagerly awaiting more brightly-colored, punny-named heroes. Let's check out Sandy O'Shin (oh brother, that name) below!
There's a very good chance that these are Walmart Exclusives (That's where I got them), but I'm having trouble proving that.
These figures all have a protrusion on their back that anchor them into their "vehicles" (which appear to all be glorified backpacks). All the figures can wear each others accessories.
These figures measure 6" tall and appear like giant Imaginext. Their shoulders are only hinge cuts, but they have independently moving legs and elbow hinges. Wrist and head articulation is the same as Imaginext. Also, these figures are awkwardly heavy. I feel like there must be metal inside of them because they have some serious heft. Perhaps that's intentional to balance the giant backpacks.
Sandy O'Shin is a Water Rescue Cadet and comes with a diving apparatus, a pincher claw, and two flippers.
Here is a toy of the Aquatic character from the original Rescue Heroes (1999-2004), Maureen Biologist.
Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!
Here are the two female (New) Rescue Heroes so far: Sky Justice and Sandy O'Shin.
And here they are with the Rescue Heroes Wendy Waters Imaginext figure.
And here they are with the only "Rescue Heroes"-type figure I own, Venus Dazzle from Planet Heroes (a 2006 spinoff of the original Rescue Heroes).
Cheers!
Great write-up! I had several of the original figures (most of the guys, all of the females) and a few of the vehicles and playsets between 2000-2005. While I was miffed at the fact they were basically scaled up Imaginext, I feel in a lot of ways a vast improvement. They actually closely represent their show equivalents, and I kinda like the cartoony faces. General body proportions look better as well. Execept, they still have the huge protrusions for the "packs" as I used to call them. They were, and stil are my biggest complaint. Think For nostalgia's sake, I'm getting a few. Currently, Forrest Fuego, Reed Vitals, and Sandy are the ones I'm getting for sure. Billy (since he's one of the orignals) and Sky will likely be bought later.
ReplyDeleteWith Billy Blazes and Rocky Canyon returning, I wonder about the return of the three females. Ariel and Wendy seem likely, since they were major characters, but even though I'd love to see an updated version of her figure, probably not Maureen. Of the original figures, Ariel's was the most inaccurate to her show form. She was almsot never seen with the goggles or communicator on the figure, and she typically wore a simple purple jumpsuit, not the bulky coveralls of the toy. And with Wendy probably being the most prominent of the females, her absence is a bit striking.