Fast Food kiddie meal toys

Pikapower · November 19, 2015, 05:27:57 PM

Discuss about those little kiddie meal toys that are from McDonald's, Burger King, ETC.

TheFugitive · November 20, 2015, 11:06:25 AM

McDonalds was not really doing this when I was at the appropriate age circa 1970.
And there was not really a McDonalds location very convenient to where we lived at
the time. If we stopped for fast food our local choices were Roy Rogers and Burger Chef.

We did however accumulate quite a large number of these toys from when my children
were that age. They loved going to McDonalds, particularly because of the Play Land with
the slides and the ball pit.

Sadly these are disappearing, victims of lawsuits and pressure from activists who have scared
McDonalds off of marketing to children. When the one in my neighborhood was remodeled
recently the Play Land went away.

My wife also has a large collection of Happy Meal toys that she....uh.....acquired as a teenager
when she worked a McDonalds drive thru.

Pikapower · February 07, 2016, 06:44:09 PM

McDonald's is currently offering books for a limited time in Happy Meal. Frankly I think that McDonald's should just give out books in Happy Meals forever instead of toys. A book would last longer than those fast food kiddie meal toys and a book has no small parts, so it's a safe prize for kids of all ages.

TheFugitive · February 08, 2016, 12:14:57 PM

Happy meal toys are popular as a collectable among adults. Some of them sell online
for outrageous prices. I doubt McDonalds will go all-books for that reason.

Though my older daughter was a voracious reader, even at an early age. She likely
would have preferred getting a book.

Her sister grew up to be an English teacher, so perhaps she would have as well.

Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill) · February 08, 2016, 05:26:37 PM

Quote from: TheFugitive on February 08, 2016, 12:14:57 PM
Happy meal toys are popular as a collectable among adults. Some of them sell online
for outrageous prices. I doubt McDonalds will go all-books for that reason.

Though my older daughter was a voracious reader, even at an early age. She likely
would have preferred getting a book.

Her sister grew up to be an English teacher, so perhaps she would have as well.

Yes, I collect Happy Meal toys as well.

Pikapower · November 09, 2017, 04:47:20 PM

One of my favorite fast food kiddie meal toy series is the Disney videos one where they have a figure inside a miniature Disney video box.

Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill) · November 10, 2017, 03:19:15 AM

I was at a thrift store one day. I found a few unopened McDonald's Happy Meal toys still mint in the package from the 1990s. One of them included a Quailman toy from 1999 "Doug's 1st Movie" Happy Meal and a Furby toy from the 1998 Furby happy meal.

JJBers · November 10, 2017, 10:53:20 AM

I lived through the change-over era of Happy Meals, with Playplaces disappearing throughout the state. I really didn't keep any of the toys for more than a couple of months...so I have basically none.

Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill) · November 10, 2017, 01:12:09 PM

The Happy Meals are served up in a red box with a golden yellow smile on the front side and some promotional material for the themed Happy Meal toys on the other three sides.

Whenever they run out of boxes, they switch to Happy Meal bags until they order more Happy Meal boxes.

The Happy Meal toys are available while supplies last.

Sometimes I get a toy I already have, so I exchange it for a different toy.

The first McDonald's Happy Meal movie tie-in was for "Star Trek: The Motion picture" in 1979.

Many Happy Meal tie-ins have been made for movies, TV shows (including cartoons), video games, toys (including Barbie and Hot Wheels) and story books.

Pikapower · November 10, 2017, 02:43:40 PM

I have almost all of the McDino Changeables Happy Meal toys. the only ones i'm missing are the fries, the Happy Meal box, and the Chicken McNuggets.

I had the McNuggets dinosaur when I was little, unfortunately I got rid of it. :-[

Pikapower · June 26, 2019, 05:44:25 PM

McDonald's did a Happy Meal Justice toy promotion in 2011.

M.R.CALDOR · June 26, 2019, 07:55:52 PM

The best ones were when McDonald's offered toys from the 1999 Inspector Gadget movie starring Matthew Broderick. Each toy was a part of what turned out to be, if you collected them all, a complete Inspector Gadget figure that was over seven inches tall. Each toy had a specific function and when put together, created in my opinion, the world's greatest action figure. IIRC the propeller hat made a siren noise when spun and one of them caused electric sparks (something you couldnt do now) Ive been trying to track one down for years.

Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill) · June 26, 2019, 09:34:28 PM

Quote from: M.R.CALDOR on June 26, 2019, 07:55:52 PM
The best ones were when McDonald's offered toys from the 1999 Inspector Gadget movie starring Matthew Broderick. Each toy was a part of what turned out to be, if you collected them all, a complete Inspector Gadget figure that was over seven inches tall. Each toy had a specific function and when put together, created in my opinion, the world's greatest action figure. IIRC the propeller hat made a siren noise when spun and one of them caused electric sparks (something you couldnt do now) Ive been trying to track one down for years.

They also did that with a Happy Meal for Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, where each Happy Meal toy when put together forms a spaceship.

The most recent Happy Meal for Toy Story 4 has individual toys with separate functions which join together to form the RV from the movie.

TheFugitive · June 27, 2019, 09:41:38 AM

Quote from: M.R.CALDOR on June 26, 2019, 07:55:52 PM
The best ones were when McDonald's offered toys from the 1999 Inspector Gadget movie starring Matthew Broderick. Each toy was a part of what turned out to be, if you collected them all, a complete Inspector Gadget figure that was over seven inches tall. Each toy had a specific function and when put together, created in my opinion, the world's greatest action figure. IIRC the propeller hat made a siren noise when spun and one of them caused electric sparks (something you couldnt do now) Ive been trying to track one down for years.

That movie was shot here in Pittsburgh. The Scolex headquarters building is actually PPG Place. I remember that at times portions of downtown around PPG were closed-off to pedestrians so that they could do helicopter stunt flying. Inspector Gadget's battle with the Evil Inspector Gadget took place on the Sixth Street Bridge (now the Roberto Clemente Bridge, as PNC Park now exists at its north end).

Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill) · June 28, 2019, 02:54:01 AM

Quote from: TheFugitive on June 27, 2019, 09:41:38 AM
Quote from: M.R.CALDOR on June 26, 2019, 07:55:52 PM
The best ones were when McDonald's offered toys from the 1999 Inspector Gadget movie starring Matthew Broderick. Each toy was a part of what turned out to be, if you collected them all, a complete Inspector Gadget figure that was over seven inches tall. Each toy had a specific function and when put together, created in my opinion, the world's greatest action figure. IIRC the propeller hat made a siren noise when spun and one of them caused electric sparks (something you couldnt do now) Ive been trying to track one down for years.

That movie was shot here in Pittsburgh. The Scolex headquarters building is actually PPG Place. I remember that at times portions of downtown around PPG were closed-off to pedestrians so that they could do helicopter stunt flying. Inspector Gadget's battle with the Evil Inspector Gadget took place on the Sixth Street Bridge (now the Roberto Clemente Bridge, as PNC Park now exists at its north end).

The first Inspector Gadget movie was filmed mostly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with additional filming in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Los Angeles, California.

The sequel, on the other hand, was filmed in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.