FIRST OFF . . .

A prominent Boston-area public-interest group is attacking plans to introduce new toys that respond to signals from action cartoon shows. The Federal Communications Commission has given staff approval to two companies to start the two-way TV games in the fall, and President Peggy Charren of Action for Children’s Television said Sunday the group will protest the “warped idea” to federal authorities. The space-age toys, set to debut Monday at a toy fair in New York, use electronic technology to react to inaudible signals in the sound track of one show and light cues from another. The shows are “Captain Power and Soldiers of the Future” and “Tech-Force and the Moto-Monsters.” Videocassettes of the programs, by Hawthorne-based Mattel Inc. and Axlon Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., also will be available.