Welcome to my Fisher-Price Adventure People (FPAP) page! When my children started to outgrow their Play Family / Little People sets we started collecting Adventure People. Adventure people are 3 & 3/4″ action figures with vehicles and accessories. They are some of the first action figures to be in this scale and fun fact: were modded to make the first prototypes for the original Star Wars action figures!
Anyway, I had many great memories of playing with these sets with my cousins growing up. I was very excited to get to play with them again with my own children and we still enjoy them very much! I am following the same pattern as the Little People post- I am featuring the sets in the order we collected them. This works well because usually the first ones are my favorites anyway! Here we go!
This is my favorite set, the #310 Sea Explorer. We actually have three of these! One for the pool/bathtub, one for dry play, and one for show. This little set is so much fun. The boat really floats, the front has a lid to store skis and the tow rope. The scuba tanks fit on the figures and can make them float or dive. The skid with the clear part can be towed behind the boat. Splash the dolphin can squirt water and the boat has a big wheel underneath to scoot on land. Our favorite thing to play with this is Flipper (like the TV show).
At the same time we got the boat I bought the Collie dog from the #307 set. This little figure is the sweetest, funnest figure and it was my favorite from when I was a kid. “Scout” goes on adventures with all our people!
Next is the #304 Safari, in my opinion the best set! This set is so fabulous for many reasons. Fisher-Price had some very imaginative toy designers back then. The animal figures alone are fabulous- grown-up versions of the Little People Zoo animals, modeled so gracefully and beautifully, they are quite inspiring in their own right. Then the designers made cages that opened different ways on each end, and fit all the animals. The jeep pulls a trailer that can hold both cages or a lovely pop-up tent that has built-in beds for the safari family. The tent can go flat and flip over to store on the trailer as well.
After the fun we had with the Sea Explorer I added the #323 Aero-Marine Search Team. This was a huge hit in the pool and the bathtub with its submarine and helicopter. The kids’ favorites were the treasure chest and the rubbery octopus. Also pictured is the #358 Deep Sea Diver.
I will tell you, often we did not get complete sets. This is pretty normal unless you are willing to pay a premium price. I would piece sets together and buy “lots” from E-Bay. Sometimes we would get a set accidentally through extra pieces! This is what happened with the #353 Scuba Divers. A few lovely details about the divers are the dolphin logo on their backs, the man has a watch and they both have tool belts. Also all figures’ hands can hold accessories from the sets. The divers from the Sea Explorer set are the same, but with yellow scuba outfits.
My son was asked for this set for his birthday and it’s still one of his favorites. We have added to it both purposefully and accidentally over the years (hence the extra firemen). I put them in the picture because I believe this figure was also used in a movie.
Imagine my delight when I was watching Wes Anderson’s “The Life Aquatic” and I saw Adventure People! I literally screamed. Good thing I wasn’t in the theater. I am pretty sure that the firefighters were used and the scuba people. They were obviously modded for the movie but wow, just wow. Just another reason I love Wes Anderson. I feel people my age can really connect with him because he puts our shared childhood experiences on the big screen.
Next my daughter got a van for her little family. We got this family from a “lot” and she just loved them. Turns out they were made for the first Fisher-Price dollhouse. The van is from the #318 Daredevil Sports van. As you will see we slowly got more items from this set.
Here we have the #356 Cycle Racing Bike. Our sidecar is in the broken/to-fix box! Also is the motorcycle from the van, the #354 Daredevil Skydiver, and the parachute from the van. The parachutes provided many hours of play for our kids!
Even though we had the Collie from this set for years we finally got the rest of the #307 Wilderness Patrol. The plane can attach to the boat for a seaplane, or “fly” by itself. The set comes with little cloth sleeping bags (squee!) and a tow rope for the plane.
Another birthday present for my daughter, the #351 Mountain Climbers was requested so she could add to her “Adventure Family.”
I thought it was odd that the next year my daughter requested the #309 TV Action Team for her birthday, but when we started playing with it I realized how cool it was. You can really see a picture in the camera and there are some one-of-a-kind figures with this set.
My son was bigger now, so he started to get the sets he wanted, the first being the #326 Alpha Star. He was obsessed with this set. It is one of the few that is battery powered and it moves backward or forward and pulls the little trailer with the alien in it. As it moves the radar goes around and around. So fun.
Of course we had to get more space guys. From left: Brainoid, Clawtron, X-Ray Man in spacesuit, Space Commander, and X-Ray Man and Woman. We use the red space commander a lot as our villain character “Dr. Evil Octopus” (modeled after Dr. Evil, and goofy Bond villains, of course).
My son’s next request was this fun #334 Sea Shark. When they were older they loved to play “Jaws” with this set!
More space fun with the #325 Alpha Probe. It has fun sound buttons and a little “Alpha Recon” ship that can come out of the cargo bay.
The #333 Wheelie Dragsters were a bit of a let-down. Their pull-back friction motors were completely worn out from major play hours over the years and we had a lot of trouble with them. We managed to fix one, but the other no. The last thing we got was the #368 Alpha Interceptor, a fun take on Star Wars space vehicles. It’s interesting that the Adventure People started as prototypes for Star Wars and ended up trying to play catch-up to the Star-Wars / Kenner market.
Oh, and speaking of Star Wars, the original Star Wars actions figures are so fun to play with with the Adventure People! They are the same scale and can interact well with them. We love to play with both and they are so great together. (You can get Star Wars figures pretty cheap on E-Bay if you aren’t picky about their condition!)
Well, there you have it. The Adventure People ended up becoming some of our favorite Fisher-Price toys over the years. They had more years of play than our Little People, just because of the age ranges, but we do still play with the Little People. Kudos to the Fisher-Price company for making such amazing toys over the years. Their motto is “Our work is child’s play.” I would have to agree.
As a toy collector one thing you worry about is wear and tear on your collection. I will say that these toys hold up. I have never had an issue with them. Yes, we get worn-out toys on E-Bay, but we also fix toys. You can use plumber’s tape to tighten joints on the Adventure People, which is the only problem with the wear on the figures.
A special bonus as a toy collector, when you have your own children you have a great reason to play with your collection and spending time with your kids is such an important part of their lives. I know we have many hours of great memories made together with the help of great toys like these!
Life on Kansas Street 