Fisher-Price Rescue Heroes Firefighter Collection: Two-for-One Heroes
Written: Mar 20 '05
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Pros: cheaper than buying the figures separately
Cons: Hal E. Copter is, technically, a peg-warmer.
The Bottom Line: The Bottom Line wants to know why any child needs more than one Billy Blazes anyway.
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| pippadaisy's Full Review: Fisher-Price Rescue Heroes Firefighter Collection |
My son has to split his time between his three obsessions: all things Toy Story, Thomas the Tank Engine, and his beloved Rescue Heroes. He recently had some Valentine's Day money from his grandparents burning a hole in his three-year-old pocket, and it was a tough choice on what he wanted, but when he spotted the Rescue Heroes Firefighter Collection, the choice was automatic.
::: Re-Packaging = Selling Stale Figures :::
Even in the pre-K world of kiddie action figures, there are popular figures, and there are peg-warmers. Billy Blazes is the most popular in our household, judging by the fact that we have at least four versions of Billy at last count. Hal E. Copter, however, is apparently another fireman, and I know so little about him that I can't even remember what he looks like from my son's many Rescue Heroes videos. Hence, Fisher-Price's marketing genius to include the two figures in one pack; anyone who loves Billy as much as my son does is bound to select the Rescue Heroes Firefighter Collection, getting a Hal E. Copter figures, and gee, maybe he'll even LIKE Hal and buy more Hal figures.
The Rescue Heroes Firefighter Collection includes the following two figures:
Hal E. Copter
Hal comes with a ginormous helicopter "backpack" that looks sort of like a snowmobile with a rotor blade. The copterpack is metallic red, grey, and silver, with a clear windshield and blue and yellow accents. A black lever in the back makes the rotor blades spin, and there are black hand grips for Hal to hold onto as he "flies." A spinning grey mechanism on the front appears to be some sort of water cannon. The front and back can maneuver a bit for easy on-and off, and the front features a molded instrument panel. Hal himself is wearing a black firefighter jacket with red, blue, yellow, and silver trim. He has silver gloves, black boots, and what appears to be blue pants with yellow kneepads and silver sippers. He has huge brown bushy eyebrows, and no hair is apparent under his red swim cap. His only additional accessory is a red and silver fire helmet with clear face shield.
Billy Blazes
Billy is wearing a black firefighter's coat with neon orange and silver trim, looking very much like the Robotz Team Billy. He has royal blue pants and black boots with neon orange trim. His omnipresent helmet is neon orange with silver accents. This Billy comes with about the smallest backpack I've ever seen: slim and black with silver "tools." There is a black cord that connects to what appears to be some sort of power clamp (silver) but it doesn't actually work. Billy's lone accessory is a small silver fire axe with black and yellow handle.
::: The Marketing Worked! :::
I have to admit that whoever came up with the marketing ploy of combining the stale figures with the more popular figures was a genius, because Buster, who has never shown any interest in Hal E. Copter at all, was suddenly thrilled with this new guy with the cool metallic helicopter backpack. I honestly thought that he'd have Billy bogart the copter and toss Hal in a heap, but that wasn't the case; Hal came with the 'copter, therefore Hal stayed with the copter. Billy ended up with his own place of honor in our stable of Billys, but Hal is getting plenty of play-time too, an interesting development for a character who was all but ignored on previous Rescue Heroes buying sprees.
In terms of durability, the only Rescue Heroes figure we've ever had a problem with was the Mission Select figure, and judging by the fact that my nephew's had the same issue with Billy's glove breaking in half, I'm considering it a design flaw with that line, and not with the figures overall, since it's been limited to that particular figure. We've had many of our other Rescue Heroes for over a year now, and the only problem we've had is slight wearing of paint on the figures that see a lot of play time. So far, even Hal's helicopter backpack seems pretty sturdy, and it's been removed, tossed, and put back on more times than I can count by a not-very-gentle three-year-old.
At the price point of slightly less than I've been paying for two single figures, the Rescue Heroes Firefighter Collection was well worth the money Buster spent, and he's been perfectly happy getting an "extra" figure that he previously wouldn't have cared about in the least.
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Other Rescue Heroes reviews:
Al Pine with Arctic Tracker • Bicycle Helmet Value Pack • Dune Buggy • FDNY Billy Blazes • HydroTeam Billy Blazes • Mission Select Ariel Flyer • Mission Select Billy Blazes • Mission Select Jake Justice • Mission Select Matt Medic • Mission Select Mountain Action Command Center • Mission Select Rescue Firetruck • Mission Select Wendy Waters • Optic Force Jake Justice • Rescue Heroes Walkie-Talkies • Robotz Movie Team Billy Blazes & Firestomper
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 12.99
Type of Toy: Action Figure
Age Range of Child: Other
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Divorce seriously cuts into the amount of time for reviewing.
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