McDonald's Madagascar 2

I like to move it, move it!

The song is synonymous with this hilarious movie, which according to reviews, is great family entertainment! And this time around, the same toy line is coming out as that of the Philippines'. The figures have no points of articulation, but voice out their movie lines when they are moved.

McDonald's Madagascar 2

Happy Meal in the Philippines is currently celebrating Madagascar 2 which is showing in theaters! Wow. I'd like to have some of these. I'd better contact my friends to buy me a couple.

McDonalds' Endangered Animals

McDonalds' Happy Meal in New Zealand currently features Endangered Animals with the cooperation of the Australia Zoo. The toys themselves are part of a bigger effort for kids to learn more about these animals that need our protection. The happy meal site (happymeal.co.nz) shares fascinating information about the featured animals.

I am not happy with the toy, though. We had the red-tailed black cockatoo. It was a small stuffed toy. Not much you can do with it. Jo-Lo has also set it aside after just a few minutes of holding on to it.

McDonald's Madagascar 2

These toys are coming out in celebration of Madagascar 2's release in theaters in the Philippines.

Eight toys are featured in this set:
1. Alex
2. Marty
3. Gloria
4. Melman
5. King Julien
6. Skipper
7. Mason
8. Moto-moto

McDonald's Ben10 and PowerPuff Girls

McDonald's is currently offering Ben10 action figures. There are three to choose from, each with a solid color (red, blue, or yellow). I'm not familiar with the transformations Ben makes but I can recognize the one with four arms.

The figures are made of translucent plastic and are rather sturdily built. But there are only three points of articulation: the head and the arms but I guess kids don't care much for articulation. :-). The toys look nice and detailed though, with a photo of Ben inside.

I think the toys for the girls look nicer. They're the lovable PowerPuff Girls! I just might try to buy some for collecting purposes.

McDonald's Transformers Animated

McDonald's has come up with toys from Transformers Animated featuring Optimus Prime, Megatron, Ratchet, and Bumblebee. The toys feature simple transformation features; just parts of the vehicle stretching out to form fused legs, sides branching out to form arms, and a swiveling head. But hey, they're for kids and Jo-Lo likes his Bumblebee. Solidly- built toys.


There are also Littlest Pet Shop toys for the girls.

Happy Meal New Zealand's website is at www.happymeal.co.nz

McDonald's The Clone Wars toys

This set of toys were available last month in celebration of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars showing in theatres. I celebrated by buying six Happy Meals to get all six toys at once! It cost me 601 pesos. The toys are now in safekeeping with my other collection back in Baguio...

McDonald's Fuwa Around the World

The Fuwa are actually mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. It is a Chinese term for "good-luck dolls". There are five of them: Bèibei, Jīngjing, Huānhuan, Yíngying, Nīni. As with the other mascots of the Olympics these characters symbolize different aspects of culture and aspirations for success.

McDonald's has come up with a "Fuwa around the world" Happy Meal offering. Each Fuwa stands on a pedestal and engaged in an olympic sport. Mine's the panda in weighlifting mode and represents Europe.

A bonus feature of these toys is that the bottom of the pedestal opens up to reveal a rubber stamp. No need for the ink; it's included. I think each stamp represents the continent it represents, because mine makes a rather blotted impression of Europe. :-).

The characters look solid, and I'm sure it will look nice if they are displayed side-by-side. Plus, it's an Olympic commemorative figure!

McDonald's Detective Conan Happy Meal

Well well, what do you know. The day I post this blog, it's already a day too late. The Detective Conan toy offer has already lapsed.

Anyways, the Detective Conan Toys are actually puzzles and games. There are six to choose from. The nice thing about these is that they are packaged to look like books, so you can actually make them stand next to each other or stack them up like books. Open one up and you get to solve the mystery therein. So in effect, you get to be Detective Conan (from the anime series) for a moment.



Detective Conan Happy Meal
Available at all McDonald's restaurants up to July 21, 2008

Eight (6) premiums to collect!
1. Mystery of Reflection
2. Challenges from Conan
3. Twisted Lens Mystery
4. Secret in the Mirror
5. Detective Boys' Mission
6. Shadows of the Truth

Available Happy Meals:
- 5pc McNuggets Happy Meal, P99
- 1pc Chicken McDo Happy Meal, P94
- McSpaghetti Happy Meal, P78
- Burger McDo Happy Meal, P68


We bought two Happy Meals to get puzzles 3 and 5 (below).
Mine was the Twisted Lens mystery (colored yellow). There are a couple of cards in it with a gray background. You get a see-through bit of plastic that you slide over the cards and rotate tentatively until you see figures emerge from the gray area! That was a nice bit of puzzle; we actually did not get it the first time.

Anyways... I like displaying things and the Conan collection is not exactly display material. Puzzle 5 was a nice innovation for inquiring minds, and surely the other toys are too. But it's something that gets forgotten after a while. At least, the plastic book case can still be recycled to contain other things.

More Kung Fu Panda madness!

We can't seem to get enough of Kung Fu Panda! We watched the movie for a second time last night, and here are the other Happy Meal Toys I have acquired for the past couple of weeks!

Tai Lung does a mean flip, while Master Shifu walks hurriedly along.

Master Viper can twist about, though with some difficulty, and Master Monkey twirls his baton like an expert marjorette!

It's Master Mantis with killer arm slash action!

Sadly though, I don't think I can complete the set because Master Tigress is out of stock in many stores, and I don't like Master Crane because it can't stand on its own.

McDonald's Kung Fu Panda Happy Meal

In celebration of the upcoming movie Kung Fu Panda, McDonald's is offering character toys from June 3 to July 7, 2008. There are 8 characters to collect:
1. Master Crane
2. Master Mantis
3. Master Monkey
4. Master Tigress
5. Master Shifu
6. Po
7. Tai Lung
8. Master Viper

When we heard of this news, we bought ourselves a Happy Meal for the toy. I got Po, the panda who is also the main character for the movie and voiced by Jack Black. As a display figure, Po is nice. It is textured and the painting is vivid and nicely executed. As for the gimmick, it is similar with the Finding Nemos where there is an on/off switch and a push of the button will create a sound from the movie. This figure is a nice display item.

Sadly, we cannot say the same with the one my friend bought. The Master Crane could stand on its own two feet. Or are we doing it the wrong way? Some buttons at the back simply lets its wings do karate chops. We're thinking of buying the other figures though, even if we haven't watched the movie yet because they look nice. At least, for those that can stand.

McDonald's Squiggly Toys

When I see a nicely-made set of kids meal toys, I endeavour to buy the entire set. Like this one from McDonalds. They're like those squiggly (for lack of a better term) things that you put on your car's dashboard that wiggles as the car moves. Although my set did not end up at a dashboard but nicely displayed at our living room in Baguio.

McDonald's Action Man ATOM: Alpha Teens on Machines

McDonald's current offering is for Action Man ATOM. Now frankly, though I am quite updated with the cartoon world, this particular series has escaped me. So this post is chiefly for reviewing the toy.

We were able to acquire the Thunder Quad and the Alpha Vehicle at the office. The toys look pretty solid and can withstand playtime until the next Happy Meal Toy comes in. The package comes with the car, some stickers, and a key which you insert into the rear of the car. One press of the button on this key sends the car roaring off! This novelty of putting the car into motion makes this toy especially nice, because it's a variation from the usual pull-back and cars which you simply push around.

The paint job, though, could be better. But overall, I'm sure my kid will love having this toy when I give it to him this weekend.

Aesthetics: ***
Playability: ****
Concept: ***
Tie-in: ***
Overall score: ***

Promotional poster borrowed from McDonald's Philippines