"action figures" for a 3 year old boy

[Fmm]

My 3 year old son loves playing with his sister's Barbies and Happyland, zooming them around in their car for hours. I'd like to get him something similar of his own to regain sibling harmony, some kind of action figure I guess. He doesn't really watch tv so doesn't have any allegiances to particular brands. Any suggestions/ ideas for figures or playsets? I'd prefer something small that he could play with with his Playmobil (pirates and fireman)and I don't mind if it is branded or generic.

[Fmm]

ps is it too much to want something not too overtly aggressive ie. preferably not soldiers/ man with gun...

[slh2009]

My almost 4 yr old is superhero obsessed despite never watching any of them on TV! I've bought him a basic Spiderman figure for his birthday. Toys R Us had a promotion on, not sure if they still do, had all types and sizes of figures.

[Mutrik]

Fireman sam is very popular with my young boys.

[oimissus]

alongside her Disney princesses, my daughter likes to play with our Tolkien action figures (something very intricate and incomprehensible was going on with Gandalf and Thorin today), plus she's got little Tintin and Star Wars figures. You can pick them up in places like Gosh Comics and Forbidden Planet. Good stocking fillers.

[bluesuperted]

Also superhero obsessed here despite not watching the related cartoons. 4yo has Spider-Man, Batman, ninja turtles, Knights/elves/fairies, Hobbit/LOTR and playmobil. Weirdly though it is his Wow men and women that get involved in the most inventive play - it's almost like he'd rather BE a turtle but when it comes to figures the WOW toys are more open-ended? The other day he had a very in depth game going on with a load of wooden letters who had all taken different characters and were having a right disagreement about something! Strange but seems he likes to have the named figures but he likes to actually play with simple 'characters' that he can put his imaginative stamp on.

[Fmm]

Thanks all, great ideas.

[ladyruskin]

Plamobil have some good sets which are non-violence related. Not quite an action figure but my 3yo loves creating scenes for the little people and has them talking to each other etc.

[melbourne groover]

We did watch Octonauts on tv but the toys were brilliant. They are good in water and out, came on holiday to the beach, in mud, you name it an Octonaut accompanied us... Unexpectedly robust and survived intact!

Also the playmobile bits were used a lot in conjunction.

[scareyt]

We got a set of 5 Peter pan finger puppets which are fun and about the right size.