Large corporations and businesses have continued to target the global child audi﷽ence through the fast food franchise for generation🦄s. They have achieved more than successful advertising.
Yes, the Happy Meal four-piece Chicken McNugget entrée was sensational. Yes, the Hamburger King Jr. Meal was more than fulfilling. But neither, nor any kids menu item is to be credited with the i🎃conic experience of fast f📖ood dining over classic toys like the Sonic the Hedgehog Handheld Games, Polly Pockets, or half-lidded Furbies.
While restaurant meal toys were purposed for propaganda, they have evolved into valued mementos. Similar to time capsules, the cheaply made and mass marketed trinkets represent the social and media culture of the year they were released. As kids everywhere traded, collected, and often hoarded these toys, they shared a collective childhood experience. Now as adults, they share the same memories of nostalgia♋.
However, looking at this list, it’s apparent that these toys are best reminis🔯ced about rather than used. This walk down memory lane recounts the humorously malfunctioning and distorted toys.
While useless, some of these are surprisingly far from worthless! Whether in new or used condition, vintage fast food toy items ar𝔉e sellin💫g online at competitively high prices. While childhood memories are invaluable, maybe yours will have a more... financially compensating benefit.
So keeඣp a loo🐬kout while going through this list of The Worst Fast Food Toys From The Last 20 Years, And 10 That Are Worth A Fortune, for familiar figures that might be collecting dust in your childhood home.
29 ♊ Worst: The Muppet Babies (1990)
“Muppet Babies, we make our dreams come true/Muppet Babies, we'll do the same for you…” –
Yikes. These toys are practically relics, and absolutely a mistake. But before you crucify me, I would like to clarify that I love The Muppets. Kermit the Frog? A rotati🔴onal meme. Miss Piggy? An empowering female role model.
But what was the goal of reverting the fan favorite TV cast back into babies? Who would ever want to play with a tricycle riding baby na♎med Gonzo?
Further, these prehistoric toys were pre-hazard regulations. With the dwarfed Muppets detaching from their vehicles, the Muppet Babies were a source of safety concerns for their baby💖 consumers in more than one way.
28 Worst: McDonald's Water Games𒐪 (1991)
I’ll admit, I was hooked on these aquatic games... 🃏until I exhausted its single button push function. After spraining a thumbꦿ playing the impossible game, I as well as many kids resorted to shaking the screen, hopeful for success. Between the screen art of the single-toothed Hamburglar and the single button mechanic, kids today would flee to Burger King.
The Water Games were original but drowned in poor execution. In the🦩 sink o🐷r swim competition of fast food toys, at least two buttons are necessary to qualify.
27 𝓡 ꦡ Fortune: 1990 McDonald McDino Changeables Set ($25-$40)
One of the most original toy ꧃series designs, the McDonald’s McDino transformers we💧re memorable, to say the least.
While the company dabbled in many forms of transforming meal items, from burger-robots to combat-ready French fries, the prehistoric twist to the♔ classic design was a meteor-sized hit with the right crowd. The dinosaur changeables are for sale in both, used and new conditions. They can be found on eBay as individual dino purchases, or for sale as a collective herd. With the rapid sale rate, the McDinosaurs may fall extinct once more!
26 🦂 Worst: McDonalܫd's Vintage Disney Sinclair Dinosaurs (1992)
Unfortunately, these were the only dinosaurs that didn't remain extinct. While the show Dinosaurs, starring the reptilian middle-class Sinclair family, was buried deep with other American fossils, the ha❀🦋tching baby seems to be the blueprint for the later inspired Jabba the Hutt. Although the archaic show may have been a hit, McDonald's Sinclair Dinosaurs were petrified with bad character designs.
In regard to w﷽hat the toys actually do... the answer is close to nothing. Their minimally moving appendages are an awful tribute to their prehistoric ancestors.
25 Worst: Glow In T𒈔he Dark T🍷rolls (1993)
What is the true function of the troll doll? Too small to cuddle, with hair too wild and shedding to tame, it was no surprise when these three-inch figurines went missing or collecte🧜d dust on shelves. However, Burger King made sure their presence was never forgotten... by making them glow in the dark.
While it seems like every child has had a previous traumatizing memory of troll dolls, like the mythical c🅘reatures they’re based on, they never fully disappear and continually appear in popular culture. Twenty-three years after Burger King released the glow in the dark meal toys, Trolls re-emerged in theatres and kids👍 meal purchases in 2016.
24 Fortune: Spirit: Stallion Of The 🧔C🅷imarron ($40-$80)
While the movie Spirit portrays the horses’ struggle to outwit his captor♔s and remain untamed, it’s more than odd that Burger King chose to pair him with his greatest villain in th𒊎e toy set.
Maybe even the Stallion of the Cimarron can be coerced into a partnership for a good movie promotional package? Either𝓡 way, the Burger King meal toys are roundin' up big bucks online, selling for up to $80 in a complete set. For that price, Spirit will have to confront his commitment issues, and stay paired with his rider. As he claimed in the , "Sometimes a horse has got to do what a horse has got to do."
23 Worst: Walt Disney Collector Serieღs Cups (1994)
These were the worst. Burger King Collector Cups are not toys,꧙ just extra dishes to wash. Judging by the targeted age range, parents spent the most time with the ‘toys’... hand-washing them.
Burger King showed an obvious preference for the movie Pocahontas, seeing as four out of the collectiꦯon of twelve cups depicted scenes from the movie. However, I am curious as to who pitched and authorized the concept of giving th🍒e movie’s villain, John Ratcliffe, his own cup?
22 Worst: Gargoyles Stone Warrio🎶rs (1995)
Judging by the design of these Gargoyles toys, Burger King must have exceeded their budget, making extra Pocahontas cups fo♍r the Disney series. While historically, the magical nocturnal creatures were petrified to stone, Burger King managed to petrify them into the cheapest brand of plastic.
In terms of creativitꦍy, these figures did manage to reawaken the concept of originality in fast food toys. Playing into the hidden in plain site theme, the toys each held a secret function. Maybe better spending habits andꦯ increased quality would have made this series more memorable.
21 Fortune: 2017 Holiday Express Train ($♏80-$90) ౠ
Between the holiday theme and the inclusion of Minions, it’s no surprise that this recent 2017 McDonald’s collection is generating so much online attention. The Holiday express collection is an extremely accurate reflection of the past couple years. Even now, over a year later, we still love Minions, and with the previous success of the last movie, can't predict the extinction of the Jurassic Park franchise.
While limited💦 in entertainment functions, the holiday express is already foreshadowing a future as a classic toy set.
20 Worst: Loonꦦey Toons Space Jam Set 🔯(1996)
Space Jam seemed to doౠ the impossible by pairiꦅng our idolized all-star athletes with our favorite animated Looney Toons. In the humorous movie that seemed to have it all, the McDonalds toy is crudely comical in how badly it missed all of the marks.
While the concept held potential, the fina🎃l production dropped the ball. The creators completely fouled out 🔯for creating a puzzle that didn’t even have enough pieces to complete itself, and for making immobile characters who held no active entertainment functions.