When you're a kid, the best part about going to a fast food restaurant is getting the toy in your kids meal. Sadly, most fast food toys are actually pretty boring. Only occasionally do really great examples surface, although cool kids meal giveaways were a bit more common in past decades, especially the 1980s and 1990s.
In this post we'll take a look at some of the greatest, Little Weirdos-approved fast food toy offerings from over the years -- and by that I mean fast food toys that are mini figures, have a monster, alien, or robot theme, or generally look awesome!
Disclaimer: there's been about a billion fast food toys released over the years, so I'm sure I missed some notable ones. Be sure to let me know your personal favorites in the comments.
Okay, here we go, in no particular order:
GLOW MONSTERS (WHITE CASTLE, 1992)
Universal Monsters have been featured as kids meal toys at least a couple times (read on for another time they made an appearance), but this set of 3 soft plastic, 4-inch tall, glow-in-the-dark baddies released at "the home of the Slider" (you might need to be an American Midwesterner to get that) were probably the first. It's an amazing set, even though Dracula is sorely missing.
More on White Castle glow monsters here.
STONE PROTECTORS (LONG JOHN SILVER'S, EARLY 1990s)
One of life's greatest mysteries is why Troll dolls keep making comebacks, but there was a brief period in the early 1990s when they were particularly hot. So hot that marketers thought it would be a good idea to try to market them to boys as well, which resulted in a cartoon and corresponding toys called "Stone Protectors," about Troll heroes and bad guys. In addition to action figures, a lesser-known mini figure set was offered through kids meals at Long John Silvers. They seem to have been inspired by MUSCLE figures, except with a few minor painted details, including a different stone color in each characters chest (a bad guy with a purple stone is missing in the photo above). I've never seen the cartoon, but I think it's safe to say these minis are probably the best thing to result from the creation of "Stone Protectors."
More info on Stone Protectors minis here.
CHANGEABLES (MCDONALD'S, 1987-1990)
Changeables (a.k.a "McRobots") are widely considered classics in the world of fast food toy collecting, and for good reason. These robots, which transform into McDonald's food items, are very well designed and just a lot of fun. They were popular enough to result in a few different series, including a third and final one that consists of transforming dinosaurs instead of standard robots.
For a closer look at all of the Changeables series, check out this very detailed post on Dinosaur Dracula.
WEIRD WRITERS (WENDY'S, 1993)
Wendy's hasn't had the greatest toys over the years, but they really did hit it out of the park with this set from 1993. Weird Writers are 5-to-6-inch tall figures of bizarre creatures that also double as markers (they come apart into 2 pieces to reveal the marker tips). These designs and sculpts are incredibly imaginative and well done. My favorite is the yellow goo-monster, which is just an all-around glorious chunk of plastic.
More info on Weird Writers here.
