Fisher-Price Adventure People: Set #350 Rescue Team (1976-1978)
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| Fisher-Price Adventure People "Rescue Team" #350 (1976-1978) |
When the Fisher-Price Adventure People first went on sale in 1975, there were four sets: #303 Rescue Truck, #304 Safari, #305 Rescue Copter and #306 Sport Plane. The Rescue Truck was a relatively simple set that only came with a few pieces in addition to the truck itself (a white truck with a red lift basket). It had a green stretcher, a green oxygen tank, and two figures; a Fireman wearing blue pants and a blue shirt and a blonde woman wearing blue pants and a blue shirt. Considering the number of these trucks I've seen over the years, I assume it was a popular set! In fact, since the Adventure People line ran well into the 80s, I suspect that all of those first four sets were popular!
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| The 1975 Adventure People "Rescue Truck" Set #303. |
To expand on the Adventure People line, in 1976 Fisher-Price started selling smaller sets that included a couple of figures (Ted and Nancy) and some small accessories, but didn't include expensive vehicles. This allowed for them to get more products onto the shelves at a lower price point to introduce kids to the Adventure People line. One of the first sets released in 1976 was the Rescue Team set, which seems to have been a scaled down version of the Rescue Truck. The Rescue Team set #350 included the same Fireman in blue and a Nurse which was simply a repaint of the blonde woman from the Rescue Truck set. She was now dressed in white with a small cross on the left side of her chest in either red or green.
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| Ted had always gotten along well with Nancy, but now "Mike" was about to get along VERY well with Susan. |
The set also included a red Rolling Stretcher, a red Medical Pack which could be worn like a backpack and had a top that you could open, and a Blanket Bag similar to the sleeping bags that were included with the Safari set from the previous year.
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| Susan helps Mike with the Medical Pack |
As a kid, I never realized that Adventure People had been given names. I don't remember ever seeing the packages that my Adventure People would have originally come in. It's most likely that I received them as a Christmas Gift and they were removed from the package and posed into a scene for me to see when I woke up on Christmas morning, but I have no memory of the specifically. Anyway, the Fireman and Nurse from the Rescue Team set were named "Mike" and "Susan."
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| Mike packs up after a hard day of work! |
There were a few, small variations in these sets. None of the variations were very significant, but I do find it interesting that Fisher Price decided to make these changes at all. First, the 'Blanket Bag' came in at least three varients: One was solid yellow, one was yellow with a red cross logo, and a third was white with a red cross logo. There were also two different version of the Medical Pack. One had a red cross that matched the one on the Blanket Bag while the other had the words "First Aid" printed on the front with no cross. The final variation, as mentioned above, the Nurse sometimes had a red cross printed on her chest and sometimes had a green cross. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone with a carded example showing the green cross, but you can see the other variations of the sets below. The green cross set is exactly like the one on the far left with the exception of the color of the cross on Susan's shirt.
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| From left to right, these images were contributed by: Jason Kohner, Gary Palmer, & Matt Kaufenberg - Thanks, guys! |
The Adventure People were some of the earliest 3.75" action figures on the market. In fact, the Adventure People were used as the base figure for many of the prototypes for Kenner's Star Wars action figure line (I believe that Susan from the Rescue Team set was used as the base figure for the Princess Leia prototype!) The Adventure People toy line ran from 1975 all the way through 1985, a very impressive run for a line of toys that wasn't supported by a movie, TV show, or comic book! They were extremely well constructed compared to other 3.75" action figures. They were much less likely to lose their heads or have an arm or leg snap off compared to many of the other action figures out at the time. As a result, there are a lot of adventure people still around today. The two figures from this set are easy to find for a low price even today. However, the prices on carded figures and sets seems to have been going up over the last few years.
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| Loading up the stretcher after a job well done! |
Do you collect Fisher-Price Adventure People? Which sets and figures are your favorites? Have you ever owned the Fireman or Nurse figures? Tell me in the comments!
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