Rescue heroes

With a young 'feller in the house, I'm finding the "rescue" type of GIJOEs a ton more appealing.

For the most part, I keep my GIJOE stuff to my self. Some of it is just too much to try and explain, especially when someone has very little real world experience to draw on in relation to a fictional/ playing role.

This is why I'm becoming a fan of Barbecue as of late. My first Barbecue ('85) is still all incomplete that I got from some guy in a lot of his old toys around 1995. As far as I remember, this figure hasn't seen much action in my little set ups.

I thought since the little guy in the house has shown interest in firetrucks and firefighters (as most kids most likely do), I thought the 25th Barbecue would work great with his firetrucks that are 1/18 scale (roughly). The Tonka brand Firetrucks came with some really clunky figures, but that's just my personal take on it.

Anyway, Barbecue has been seen actively climbing ladders and racing around in firetrucks. Seeing Barbecue in action on the old PSA's on youtube really got the little guy more excited about the figure, too.

Having both the 1991 and 1986 Lifelines, I later brought out the '91 "rice krispies" version. This EMT or paramedic hasn't gotten as much use as the 25 Barbecue, but he is the mix on the trucks.
Firefighters stand out, they get spotlighted in a lot of kids videos and shows, and we have had many opportunities to see our local firetrucks up close and inside...even being able to visit the fire station on occasions. The EMT/ Paramedic role doesn't stand out among all the gear dedicated to firefighting. Essential as they are, a 100-foot ladder truck is simply more exciting than the ambulance. So, with Lifeline, I was hoping to expand the man's mind in that a firefighter has a larger role than just fighting fires.

I'm hoping to add the "yellow" 25th Barbecue, and even though the flamethrower Joes are geared toward lighting stuff up, I wouldn't mind adding them in the mix to create some kind of extreme firefighting team. Blowtorch did show up in a fire safety PSA of old, so, I don't think it is too much a stretch of imagination. Finding some more scale gear and maybe making a small firehouse would be nice, but the man hasn't showed a knack for "small-item organization." (Hotwheels are great until they are spread out everywhere....)

So, where before, I've found the "rescue" hero Joes a little boring, I'm now finding them fun in their own non-direct-combat-with-Cobra kind of way. "Kelly's heroes," perhaps?

But even longer term, I suppose, Law & order, Mutt, Shockwave, could join the "junior Joes" ranks.

There are quite a number of ways a GIJOE team could be made out of everything available, where myself and maybe you would have a combat squad, someone else could piece together something of a total different flavor.