Fast Food Toys

Superman Stuff #33: Blake’s Superman Shelves-Fast Food Friends

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Once again, we’re returning to the Superman Shelves for a peek at just a few of the many, many items filling my collection. One of my favorite subcategories of collectibles is fast food toys. There have been so many different fast food collections over the years, and some of them are far more random than you get in a typical action figure line. You don’t just see action figures, but other sorts of oddities as well. It makes for really weird, different things. (The same thing goes for cereal box toys, it should be noted, but I don’t currently have any Superman-related cereal toys. I’m not even sure if there have been any. If you know of any, let me know.)

I should point out here that none of the Fast Food Friends I’m about to share with you are things that I got firsthand, pulling them out of a Happy Meal Box, although the last one is an eBay replacement for one that I pulled as a child. Most of these came through eBay, from a secondary seller like at a convention, or as a gift. But the fact that they got their start in a cardboard box nestled between a cheeseburger and a sleeve of french fries makes them a little special to me. I’m going to go in reverse order of the most recent toy to be released to the oldest.

“What does God…need…with a starship?” –William Shatner, upon seeing these toys

We’re starting with these two, Superman and Supergirl from Wendy’s “DC Rides” line from earlier this year. (You’ve seen the Supergirl before when I shared “Supergirl Stuff” right before the movie came out, but this is the proper category, so let’s look at her again.) The DC Rides were a cool little line, with figures for five heroes and a “mirror” villain, each with some sort of vehicle or power suit. The line included Green Lantern/Sinestro, Batman/Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, Flash and Reverse Flash, and Superman and Supergirl with their respective Bizarro counterparts. At some point I’d like to add the Bizarros to my collection as well, but one thing at a time.

This next set also came from Wendy’s, this time last year. They’ve twice done these lines of DC Comics miniature figures, which come in packs of three. The three-packs include related characters (usually two heroes and a villain) and mini trading cards as well, and the different figures are also available in multiple colors, which means that collecting the entire set gets particularly difficult if you’re trying to get all the variants. I was satisfied with just the “red” set of Superman, Supergirl, and Lex Luthor. I really like this series, though – the size of the figures and the solid color blocks remind me of the M.U.S.C.L.E. Things toys of my youth, which was a series I had seemingly hundreds of.

The last of the “recent” toys in my collection are this Superman and Supergirl from a Burger King series of DC Heroes that came out two or three years ago. I didn’t know that these even existed until my family stopped at Burger King on a vacation and my son pulled out a Superman figure from his kids’ meal bag. (My son, I should note, is a godsend when it comes to learning about these things. He’s got a very diverse palette – he will eat the chicken nuggets and french fries from virtually any restaurant you can name.) I want to note that I did NOT abscond with Eddie’s Superman figure and put it on my shelf. I am not the kind of father who would ever do such a thing. No, I got these two figures the same way I got the Wendy’s figures I’ve already showed you: eBay. 

Moving WAY back in time, we’re going all the way to my college years and this hanger based (I THINK) on Superman from the Justice League cartoon. I know it originally came from Subway, because a friend of mine who had a much smaller appetite than I did and always got the kids’ meals with the small, round sandwiches pulled this toy and gave it to me, aware of my appreciation of Superman. The original hanger dangled from the rearview mirror in my car for many, many years until the colors were completely warped and the S-shield sticker was bleached to the point of almost being blank. Years later at a convention, I happened to come across a seller with a whole bin full of the things that he was selling for just a few dollars, so I bought a pristine replacement. This guy now stays inside, out of the sun.

From Superman: The Animated Series, this Daily Planet figure is probably the Fast Food item that’s been in my collection the longest. It’s two pieces: the building, and the flying Superman figure, which balances on the top of the building via a precarious pin-shape in his chin. You can spin him around and when it wiggles, it creates a sort of “hovering” illusion. I like this one.

Finally, many years ago McDonald’s did a series of Looney Tunes figures with snap-on superhero costumes. The set included Daffy Duck as Batman, the Tasmanian Devil as the Flash, Petunia Pig as Wonder Woman (I assume because she was the most prominent female Looney Tunes character at the time except perhaps for Granny, and nobody wants to see her in a Wonder Woman bathing suit – were this series to be remade today Petunia would absolutely be replaced by Lola Bunny), and of course, Bugs Bunny as Superman. I had some of these toys as a kid, and a couple of years ago in a fit of nostalgia I got a set of the four of them pretty cheap on…say it with me now…eBay.

Of all the categories of my Superman collections, this is the one I most frequently feel the need to expand upon. Supergirl had a series of KFC figures that coincided with the movie, and I haven’t gotten my hands on any of those yet. And that Daily Planet figure was part of an entire line of Superman: TAS toys, of which I don’t have any of the others. I feel periodically that I should try to amend that, and see what else is out there. There are more, I am 100 percent certain of that, that I could hunt down if the urge took me. Fortunately, we live in a time period where doing such things are easier than they used to be…even if the expense sometimes shuts us out of getting all of the things we’d want. 

Blake M. Petit is a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure series Other People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon. Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in the Year of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!

Three Wishes: The Toys That Made Us

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A few days ago, a long national nightmare ended when Nacelle announced two new seasons of their hit documentary series, The Toys That Made Us. I became a huge fan of this series right away, and it’s been a long five years since we got any new episodes, so I’m absolutely ecstatic. To commemorate the news, I thought I would re-present to you a piece I wrote between seasons two and three for a sadly-defunct pop culture forum, a “Three Wishes” column where I suggested potential topics for future episodes. I’m happy to say that one of my three suggestions was included in season three, and the other two are going to be in the new episodes that were just announced, albeit in slightly different forms than what I suggested. It’s incredible that my ability to predict the future is incredibly accurate, provided that I only use it in ways that have absolutely no potential for monetary advancement on my part. Anyway, here’s what I wrote way back in 2018.

The best reason to subscribe to Netflix these days isn’t Orange is the New Black or Arrested Development. Heck, it’s not even Bright. The shining jewel in the streaming service’s crown is The Toys That Made Us, a documentary series that looks into the history and impact of some of the most popular toy lines of all time. With a lighthearted tone, the series dives into things that the viewer grew up with, chock full of interviews with the people who conceived the toys, creators who made the TV and comic book tie-ins, and supercollectors. Plus, you get all the classic toy commercials you grew up with.

The eight episodes, to date, have explored the worlds of Star Wars, Barbie, He-Man, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, TransFormers, LEGO, and Hello Kitty. That’s a ton of toyetic goodness. But if you’re like any other human being, you probably read that list and immediately asked, “Hey, what about…” and then filled in whatever your own favorite toy line is. That’s natural, there are hundreds of toy lines that have achieved enough success to have their fans, and while not all of them may have an incredible story to go with them, there are bound to be enough to fuel several more seasons of this show. Considering how popular and relatively cheap the show is to produce, Netflix would be bonkers not to ask for more. In Three Wishes, we take a look at something in pop culture and express three hopes for the future, whether those wishes are almost inevitable or pie-in-the-sky dreams. Today, we’re going to talk about three toy lines the producers should consider for their next round of episodes.

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The first choice here is pretty much a no-brainer. When you look at the independent comic book bubble of the 80s, it would be virtually impossible to argue that there was a bigger success than Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. From their humble beginnings as a parody of Frank Miller’s Daredevil, the Turtles exploded into a global phenomenon. Their comics, through countless relaunches and spin-offs, have been featured at no less than five publishers They’ve starred in five television series and six theatrical films, and most significantly, they have dominated toy shelves for years. 

Playmates Toys has held the Turtles license since 1988, producing thousands of action figures and playsets. In addition to the countless iterations of the Turtles themselves, there have been figures of their allies and foes, movie- and TV-specific versions, the turtles in costumes such as (not officially) the Universal Monsters and (officially) the cast of Star Trek, and pretty much any other piece of merchandising you can name. With a documentary, the challenge is to find what’s compelling in real life and push it to the forefront. Although I don’t know anything about the Playmates company or how they have worked with Eastman and Laird or the Turtles’ current owner, Nickelodeon, the sheer volume and popularity of this franchise seems like it would be a ripe property to focus on for 45 minutes. 

2. Toy Biz/Marvel Toys: On the other hand, here’s a property where there is undoubtedly enough drama to make for a compelling TV episode. It may be hard to believe today, but there was a time in the 90s where the future of Marvel Comics was in serious doubt. Bad business decisions and bad acquisitions sent the biggest comic book publisher in the industry spiraling into bankruptcy, and things looked bleak at the house that Spider-Man built.

One of the things that helped pull Marvel Comics through was an unexpected merger of sorts with Toy Biz, a Canadian-based company that had the license to make Marvel toys at the time. The story of the twisting, winding relationship between the companies has been written about extensively, but that doesn’t mean there’s not more gold to mine. I’d love to hear the story told by the players in the game, as we learn the truth about how, without this little toy company, Marvel Entertainment may not have lasted long enough to make your kids cry all the way home from Infinity War.

3: McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys: In my house, we have a term for people who didn’t love McDonald’s Happy Meal toys: filthy liars. Because no matter what kind of Keto-adherent, La Croix-chugging diet you may be on today, when you were a kid there was nothing better than a cheeseburger, fries, and a new toy. Since 1979, McDonald’s has released thousands of toys, from licensed Disney characters to Chicken McNuggets in Halloween costumes to the legendary McDonald’s Changeables (toys that transformed from McDonald’s food into robots. That I never completed this series is my one regret in life.)

Not only can’t the Happy Meal toy be beaten in sheer variety, but it’s also ubiquitous as anything you can imagine, touching virtually every child in North America for the last four decades. What’s more, some of them are insanely collectible. Give me a tour of some guy’s crazy attic Happy Meal museum and, I promise, I’m watching to the end. Let’s see if anybody feels that strongly about the Burger King Kids’ Club. (Answer: no.)

Blake M. Petit, whose college roommate once said he could never date a woman who didn’t “get” Grimlock, has been pontificating about pop culture online for over a decade. You can follow him at BlakeMPetit.com and, if you’re feeling generous, check out his books on Amazon.