The September 11th attack
Action figure fights fires, not bad guys

Advertiser News Services

Billy Blazes, a six-inch firefighter action figure, could be this holiday season's hottest toy.

Ironically, when Fisher-Price introduced Billy Blazes and his fellow Rescue Heroes in 1998, toy business insiders predicted the Rescue Heroes would be a huge flop.

"The action figure category is based on battle and fighting, on some kind of conflict," says Jerry Perez, vice president of design and marketing at Fisher-Price. "You've got a good guy, a bad guy, and the equipment they use to battle each other. That's been the formula. Then we came in with Rescue Heroes and said there is no bad guy. There is no fighting. The conflict is with natural disasters, earthquakes, tidal waves, fires. The people in the industry looked at us like we had three eyes."

But $100 million later, Perez says, the Rescue Heroes have been a hit with kids — and Billy Blazes is unequivocally the star among his fellow Rescue Heroes, whose ranks include police officer Jake Justice, mountain rescuer Rocky Canyon and firefighter Wendy Waters.

Last December, Fisher-Price began planning a special edition of Billy Blazes wearing an FDNY uniform. The original order called for 20,000 FDNY Billy Blazes toys. After Sept. 11, Fisher-Price executives decided to increase production to 100,000 of the toys. There was one other change. "All of the proceeds of this $9.99 item — every penny — will go to the New York Fire Department's fire safety education fund," Perez says.

The toys will be sold exclusively at Toys R Us, though most will probably be sold in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The special edition will also be available at http://FDNYFireZone.com/