Rescue Heroes are a line of
action figures
An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These fig ...
targeted towards preschool-age children, released by
Fisher-Price
Fisher-Price, Inc. is an American company that produces educational toys for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, headquartered in East Aurora, New York, East Aurora, New York (state), New York. It was founded in 1930 during the Great Depression ...
. The line was first introduced in 1997, depicting various
rescue
Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, removal from danger, liberation from restraint, or the urgent treatment of injury, injuries after an incident. It may be facilitated by a range of tools and equipm ...
personnel, such as firefighters, police officers, and construction workers, which included interchangeable tool packs that attached to the back of figures and featured various electronic or mechanical gimmicks. In 1999 an
animated television series of the same name debuted. A film titled ''
Rescue Heroes: The Movie'' was released in 2003.
Television series
On October 2, 1999, an animated television series based on the toy line debuted. The TV series, titled ''Rescue Heroes'', ran for three seasons, concluding on December 18, 2002.
The TV series, which is about a group of rescue personnel that travel the world while saving lives from both natural and man-made disasters, strives to teach proper safety techniques and how to deal with various issues. At the end of most episodes the Rescue Heroes would give safety tips and discuss how to handle the conflict presented in the episode. The episode would then usually conclude with the motto "Think like a Rescue Hero, think safe."
Episodes of the television show were often included on
VHS
VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s.
Ma ...
as a free bonus with the purchase of the toys.
Hiatus and return
In 2007,
Fisher-Price
Fisher-Price, Inc. is an American company that produces educational toys for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, headquartered in East Aurora, New York, East Aurora, New York (state), New York. It was founded in 1930 during the Great Depression ...
stopped producing Rescue Heroes products and updating the Rescue Heroes website. However, from 2010-2013, Fisher-Price produced a new collection of figurines under the title "Hero World", a line shared with other licensed characters. Among the collection were preexisting characters such as Billy Blazes and Jake Justice.
In 2019, Fisher-Price relaunched the Rescue Heroes brand, now exclusive to
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
stores in the United States. This included figurines and various vehicles, such as a fire tracker and hover pack. Fisher-Price also released
a reboot of the original TV series to
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.
Interactive games
Rescue Heroes has spawned numerous interactive formats of entertainment, including
PC,
Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
,
Game Boy Color
The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...
,
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
,
Pixter
Pixter was among the first portable handheld touch screen drawing toys for children invented by Rehco, LLC and marketed by Fisher Price from 2000 through 2007. Pixter was pre-programmed with fun content and repeatable play. Pixter also could accep ...
,
Radica Play TV, and Smart Cycle.
PC
* ''Rescue Heroes: Hurricane Havoc'' (1999)
* ''Rescue Heroes: Meteor Madness'' (2001)
* ''Rescue Heroes: Tremor Trouble'' (2002)
* ''Rescue Heroes: Lava Landslide'' (2003)
* ''Rescue Heroes: Mission Select'' (2003)
Sony PlayStation
* ''Rescue Heroes: Molten Menace'' (2000)
Game Boy Color
* ''Rescue Heroes: Fire Frenzy'' (2000)
Game Boy Advance
* ''Rescue Heroes: Billy Blazes'' (2003)
Pixter
* ''Rescue Heroes Mission Masters'' (black and white) (2002)
* ''Rescue Heroes Mission Masters'' (color) (2003)
Radica Play TV
* ''Rescue Heroes''
Smart Cycle
* ''Rescue Heroes''
References
{{Fisher-Price Brands
Fisher-Price
Mattel
Products introduced in 1997