Like Coke and Pepsi, McDonald's and Burger King are locked in a seemingly-eternal battle over their slice of the food galaxy. Of course, that extends past their bland, factory-made burgers to their toy offerings, too. McDonald's struck first with its Happy Meal and its accompanying goodies (you can check out our favorites here), but Burger King was quick to respond with its own brightly colored cardboard box full of greasy kids' grub and equally greasy, cheap plastic toys once they realized kids will happily psychologically torture their parents for them.
Of course, even though they were cheap, that doesn't mean that some of their Kids Meal toys still weren't pretty darned cool. Indeed, the King gave his subjects a lot of great figures and figurines over the years, especially when it came to the DC animated universe. Hit the jump to check out some of our picks!
10) Superman: The Animated Series
Superman: TAS is often lost in the titanic shadow cast by the animated work done for his more brooding Justice League teammate. That said, the S-Man's show would've made Ma and Pa Kent proud (if they'd watched it), and the BK tie-ins were qually worthy, featuring numerous Supermen and Lois in her sports car, because... I don't know, but at least it wasn't a toy of her hanging off a ledge or something. Our personal favorite is the transforming phone booth, because let's face it, no hero disrobes in public quite like Supes.
9) The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Leave it to fast food to mesh consuming fattening patties with the adventures of pale dudes and bland ladies in search of love. Obviously, girl nerds got the lion's share of fulfillment out of these, but that didn't stop Burger King from trying (hilariously) to make them appeal to guys as well. We think a UV reveal wristband could be a cool idea, but c'mon, few self-respecting dudes would sport it, the Eclipse morphin' wallet or the Taylor Lautner backpack clip. That said, nerdettes had plenty to enjoy here, including the Edward Cullen crest hologram ring, and the set's charm bracelet.
8) Batman Beyond
This group included three sweet figures of future Batman, and a host of other solid options to reenact Terry McGinnis's futuristic crusade against crime, but that's not to say there wasn't room for a few unfulfilled entries from our wishlist. For one, we're still lamenting the absence of Old Man Grumpy-Pants Wayne (with growl sound effect). Also, where the heck's Ace the Bat-Hound?! Sigh, ya can't win 'em all, eh?
7) SpongeBob SquarePants: Lost in Time
Following SpongeBob through time is a pretty epic idea. We have to give the King a high five for committing so wholeheartedly to the concept -- there were 20 different SpongeBob figures to collect, including cowboy, viking, and knight versions of the cheery sea sponge. With all that variety, it's pretty much a time-hoppin' dream come true. And the fact that there's a Don Quixote SpongeBob figure totally blows our minds.
6) ThunderCats
This classic ThunderCats treasure trove looks pretty weird when compared to most of this list's other groupings, but that's okay. It's here mostly because of the ridiculously sweet lenticular Lion-O ring. Or was that the Snarf straw holder? The lightswitch plate? Actually, this whole thing's pretty much a must-have for any T-Cats fan, right down to the collector cup. Burger King, hoooooo!
Holy crap... after reading about Spongebob, Twilight, and Superman... ThunderCats was completely out of left field! But I remember having the Snarf pencil holder (who became Snarfer among the action figures) and the lightswitch cover. But what was that other thing, the insignia?
With that, I'm surprised the He-Man cups weren't on here...
I did get most of the good parts of the Batman Beyond set, though, including the Batmobile. Wish I'd gotten the Javelin-7 from the Justice League set, though.
I remember eating at Burger King about 20 times trying to get all the Pokemon I wanted. I still have them. And I still remember getting my very last COLD, TERRIBLE BURGER, opening the bag to find a slightly larger than normal ball, and opening that to obtain the illusive Mew. I happily stopped buying them after that, but, by God, I bought a lot of those damned things...
Hey, yeah... Speaking of that kind of thing, the BK kids meals were the only place to get a Nala action figure for the Lion King. It was the only way to get an Ed, too. Ed, I can see, but Nala? She was like the other main character... Shame on you, Mattel! >:( Girls deserve their own action figures, too.
But it should stay in for the sheer absurdity of it. I really don't recall EVER seeing them here in my home town and, admittedly, our Burger Kings have been dropping like flies over the past few years, but I would have paid money to see this set/commercial on television if only to get my laughs in for the day. Swear to God, that commercial was the funniest, most unexpected thing I've seen today and I spent them morning reading a Terry Pratchett novel...
I woulda put the Masters of the Universe kids meal above Twilight...and that was just a set of sweetass plastic cups and not toys.
I never managed to get all the LOTR figures. The second I saw this headline, I thought of the few I got, still languishing in my "personal treasures" box. I would KILL to get the rest of the set and set them all up and just look at them.
I'm currently working on bringing an electrical superteam of Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Electro, and some guy I know down the street together to get to the bottom of this. I'll report their findings to you sometime in the future. God speed, superteam... or should I say, LIGHT SPEED!
Twilight? Nerdy? I am disappoint.
I owned the Justice League Superman and Mountie Spongebob. I think I might still have them somewhere, too.
Awesome, I actually remember some of these. I had/still have some of them.
Left Out:
McDonalds Animaniacs/Tiny Toons
McD's Batman the Animated Series
BK- Star Trek 2009
BK Star Wars Bobbleheads/Vehicles w/ sounds!
Idk. the best thing I ever saw at burger king were the pokemon toys after the first movie. OMG. My five year old self couldn't handle it. It was all the pokemon of the time and you got cards with it that had little scenes from the movie or a pokemon and trivia...My mom hated the word pokemon after that, me and my bro begged to go to bk every night to collect them all and my dad always sided with us. So after night six of going to Bk she paid the cashier $20 bucks to get all the stupid toys. She hated those toys though and gladly through them away when we were going through that faze of just wanting grown up things. I really wish she hadnt now though. They would gladlysit on my self on nerdom if I had them stilll...
My favorite nerdy set was the Looney Toons DC superheroes that came with mini-comics. Sadly, I think that was McDonalds. Hardees had a cool set of X-Men toys (and mini-comics) too. But like I said, they weren't BK.
Oh god, I still have nearly all of those Spongebob Lost in Time figures. They were the highlight of my Burger King meal. Good times.
lol, I have read: Wonder Woman: Rapes in villains with her magic lasso.
Yup. And by expose, you mean, you can see the wires in the background, all nice and neatly capped and/or electrically taped off.
I mean, sweet thrall, people, take some responsibility here. What have we become that this is even an issue? Has anything I've said been untrue?
Is changing out a light switch "electrical work"?
Is changing out a light switch, in and of itself, dangerous work?
Is this something a teenager, or the caregiver of a child could do?
Good heavens. I've rewired entire rooms in my home. I weep for men of the generations below me.
Just for the record, removing the light switch exposes the electrical wiring.
Had the Superman in the phone booth and might still have Bart as Godzilla. Somewhere in a bottomless pit of useless crap I've hung on to for years for no reason what so ever. Thanks TR, I couldn't remember where I had gotten them from. Do kids meals still come with cool toys?
something something burger king something
HOLY SHIT. Steven Colbert just pulled out the Sauroman one and compared him to McCain (who made a Lord of the Rings reference in a speech complaining about the Tea Party) and said he was working for Sauron (who he said was Obama). Then he pulled out some other Hobbit figures and compared him to other Reps. Then he pulled out the BK Gandalf and said that was the Tea Party saying, "You shall not pass.. the bill raising the debt ceiling." Then he showed he also had a LotR pinball game.. that was.. um.. the American people? Also he had Arogon's Sword.. yadda yadda yadda.. given to him by Viggo himself. Not the last one worked in the metaphor, he just wanted to remind people he had it.
That was how I got the Simpsons ones. My father would always come home with whole sets, he would buy, or just ask for a meal toy and pay the price of the meal and just get the toy. BK had some good Simpsons toys/watch sets.
And the second I read this list Gandalf and Saruman BK toys are on Colbert.
I still have my Snarf straw holder. I don't use it, but it is pretty awesome.
First thing I thought when I read the entry!
I don't think Snarf was availble when BK did this promo so yes he was a defacto Snarf for a lot of people I Imagine myself included.
I work at McD, and I want those LotR toys, as well as the Powerpuff girls/DBZ ones, and spongebob. OMG<My emotions over this.
nice list. for remember getitng some of the that thunder cat stuff. too bad future kids now will never get stuff like in future bk meals
Yes, I mean the Star Wars Super Deformed toys from a few years back.
yes.. I remember my many many many many visits to many many many different burger kings hunting down all the simpsons toys. the kicker for me was getting the last one.. I had originally intended to get a full meal (I was starving) and the toy... they refused to only sell me the toy, I had to get the kids meal (no other burger king did this)... so instead of the $10 I was about to spend, I only bought the $3 kids meal...
and my wife, very literally, begged a burger king for the LOTR display when the promotion ended, she being a cute asian girl, got it... so we not only have a complete set, but the non-working, glued-together display... go nerd girls!
You could have put them all on your bike at once and then played them like a seal
The Pokemon one was the single most epic Kids Meal Toy Set in the HISTORY of Kids Meal Toy Sets, regardless of restaurant. It is in a class by itself, bigger than 2-10 on this list COMBINED. Something like 60 different Pokemon were represented, and they were all quite well-made as well. And as David mentioned, it was a HUGE deal at the time. Thus as good as this list otherwise is, and it otherwise is good, I must regretfully invalidate it. Better luck next time.
Also, as far as national fast fast food chain burgers go, Burger King is easily the best (unless you count Steak 'n Shake as fast food). I miss when BK had tacos though. They were soooooooooooooo good OMG.
Severely disappointed in the lack of Pokemon and Men in Black the Animated series toys on this list.
pardon, 'more awesome'.
I deny the nerdiness of these Burger King Kids Meal Toy Sets.
That one was Awesome! The only better one was blight (come on, he was frickin' awesome).
Not to mention they were the only Place to actually get an Inque figure (bendy no less). It is proudly included with my Batman Beyond collection.
I was always impressed by the McDonalds Inspector gadget tie in. Yeah, the movie sucked... But if you collected all the pieces you got a foot tall Mathew Broderick! and all the pieces did stuff to boot.
Actually, the commercial's scarily accurate portrayal of crazed Twilight fans over the age of 14 was the only good part of that entry. I'm glad they didn't feel the need to put the boy in a "Team" shirt.
Actually, if anything, the Twilight toys should have been taken out to make room for the pokemon toys, if for no other reason than that Twilight isn't really a nerd thing...
ILLITERATE NERD RAGE!!
think of the kids- don't use any thundercat light switches.
psst! it's limited to burger king toys!
oh yes! :dumps truck loads of twilight edward and jacob figures into gotham reservoir:
batman! you shall drink the bitter tears of twifans!
Ya forgot The Tick toys from Taco Bell!
u hush. u have municipal water supply poisoning to do.
Well, compared to you, I'm a genius.
You've made a mountain out of a molehill. There is absolutely no electrical work to be done in replacing a light switch. None. Nada. Not a bit. Zilcho. Hence, the likelihood of "the kids and their safety" being an issue is none, nada, not a bit, zilcho.
Watch, I'll teach you how to remove a light switch cover.
1. Use a screwdriver on the top and bottom screws of the light switch cover.
2. Remove the light switch cover.
3. Attach the new light switch cover.
4. Replace the screws in the pre-drilled holes, being careful not to- ah to hell with it- throw caution to the wind. You'll be fine.
So, in review- I'm not calling you names over the "safety of kids". I'm using a descriptive word to describe your non-sensical scying on the interwebz over your lack of knowledge and perceived self-importance.
TLDR- trolling trolls is funz.
here's the bonus question - does Rob opt to bathe or not to bathe while playing Goku in order to be as "authentic" as possible.
further bonus question - who gets to be his Vegeta?
Rob is still searching and hoping to find saiyajin ball perfume to complete his Goku testicle collection
Well, it was kinda fun to have a lame one to laugh at with all the neat ones. I always got the stupid toy that I didn't give a crap about in my Happy Meal. :P
The better question is, what parent would let her girl read Twilight? I mean, seriously, it reads like some of the worst shit on Fan Fiction Friday, only not as explicit. What I found funny about those ads, is that they had construction workers staring at each other over the Team Edward/Team Jacob thing. Why not? They haven't had a job since Bush came to power.
Eat more Burger King, and you'll look like Stephanie Meyer too! Okay, that's mean, but worth it.
Um.....That wasn't the question--but thank you for playing! ;)
Doesn't Rob loooove Dragon Ball Z? So much so that he regularly cosplays as Goku? I bet he would take the DBZ stuff over the Power Puff Girls
The toys were in the kids meals (I remember being old enough that a kids meal wasn't filling enough anymore, so i ordered 2) and the "Solid Gold" cards had to be bought separate if i remember correctly, like the LotR goblet glasses.
SD? is that superdeformed? McDonalds did something like that with characters giant heads on top of ships. Is that what you're referencing?
Yes! Those Pokemon toys they had were amazing! Burger Kings even held swap meetings for kids/collectors it was that big. There were the ones that came in the Pokeballs and later they had the card type ones.
Nice list. I remember collection the LotR, Simpsons, and Spongebob ones.
Btw, am I the only guy here who would have preffered the Power Puff Girls toys to the DBZ toys a hundred times over? :D
Just askin'....
(sigh)
Great list--but MAN did I see this coming! (Re: Twilight)
Umm, maybe you've heard of this little nerd thing called THE STAR WARS FRANCHISE!!
http://www.starwarstoymuseum.com/burger_king_star_wars.htm
and that totally reminds me - are those dragon ball z toys 'scratch and sniff' perchance?
Those Dragon Ball Z toys were cool, but there was a series of DBZ Burger King toys before that that were absolute crap. They were painted to look like they were made out of rock for some reason. Like you were collecting unpainted statues. Anyone remember those?
ILLITERATE NERD RAGE!!
"I'm sorry, but I can't let this go."
I say that all the time whenever I get my :fill in the blank: on tsu'tey peen
what about a list of the worst, most embarrassing and wimpy vampires known to man?
Well thank you for proving what the internet is like. Oh yeah you are a genius and one more thing who the heck starts calling names over the saftey of kids. WOWWY!
I'm sorry I can't let this go.
You should have just let it go.
Be humble!
Wink
Seriously this. They did three Pokemon promotions, one of which gave you cards and card game accessories. Doesn't get much nerdier than that.
Guess someone never got The Tick toys from the animated series when Taco Bell was offering them...
I'm sorry, but I can't let this go.
You are an idiot.
Love, the Internet.
You forgot He-Man, SpiderMan, Beetlejuice and a a whole bunch of others. I personally liked the Hamtaro electronic Halloween toys that lit up and played scary sound affects.
An finally, what about the Star Wars SD figures?
One, I think Burger King was still mocking Twilight in that ad, but doing so with some subtlety.
Two, Spongebob as Don Quixote makes sense on a basic level.
Three, apparently my mom decided to stop going to Burger King when I was 11 or I would have had any of the LotR set.
i would love to see you do a list on top 10 taco bell kids meal toys god those toys suck
couldn't you replace twilight with another simpsons toy set or the beetle juice toys?
I had the action wing Batman Beyond toy. Really good stuff.
Dude! I STILL have that Bart one on my nightstand! XD One of the pieces of my nerdling year that I simply refused to give up, really.
Please never include anything Twilight in another list. Ever.
I remember the toys given out for the first "Star Trek" film. They were generic, plasti-rubber spaceships that had nothing to do with the movie. Still, they were awesome to four year-old me.
Twilight? I can't think of a single nerdy friend of mine, male or female, who likes the Twilight series. Plus, those toys look exceptionally lame. Otherwise, good list.
aw, man, Cap's chesticles have been knocked out of the rotation :(
No Star Trek toys? I still love the little talking Spock and Scotty figures from the new movie
I bought a complete set of the Lord of the Rings toys at a con recently. Set me back $100....it was worth it!
Ah now that does make more sense. Thanks for the info.
No no no. I had that, and it was a sticker that was placed over the lightswitch cover. Glowed in the dark, too! Taking it off was a pain, as some of the glue wouldn't come off without some effort (and a putty knife). I speak from experience; I remember all those Thundercats toys, and loved them! That ring was great! Even the meal boxes they came in were great.
It makes me want to go back to the late 90s again.
The Twilight stuff is pure Schwarbage, though.
I agree with #1 but I thought POKEMON would be there! How can you put Twilight and forget that you could collect random Pokemon at Burger King? What's nerdier than that?!
The trick was to find a BK where they would sell you toys without a meal. I managed to get most of the Star Trek toys and all of the glasses that way.
Did any kid ever actually collect all of any of these?
I would always get like all by one or two, just to find out that our local Burger King only ever got like six of the one I was missing, and some fat ass got all of them whilst trying to give himself a coronary...
Superhero Squad toys of course!!!
What did you get 'im to make up for Stephenie Meye's abomination?
Those were McDonald's, if I recall. I don't collect fast food toys any more, but I still can look at the ones shown on the drive thru sign... Thing.
Was it BK who did the recent Young Justice toys? Cause those were GREAT. The batman especially.
My kid, who was 3, actually cried. We went to Toys R Us afterwards.
Burger King sir. It is in the title.
Urwrong, it isn't about the two screws that is the problem. Hell some adults can do it without injuring themselves.
who offered those? the article doesn't say and i totally missed the ads i would have totally collected them
Twilight stuff sucks in general, but at least it was the werewolf and not the pasty sparkly whiny vampire.
Adrian. ADRIAN. Twilight? Really? Twilight? I would have put the Pokemon toys they released around the first movie, what with the solid gold (or maybe gilded silver) "cards" (more like placques" and the friggin' Pokeballs they had to discontinue because they were a choking hazard. Seriously, Adrian. Twilight?
I took my kids to BK for a rare treat (kids meal) . They got the Twilight toys. Some fucking cameo looking thing with a shirtless dudes pic on it. That sucked.
Yes! I have the whole Lord of the Rings set! I finally have something listed on here.
My favorite BK toys were the original Toy Story toys- those were well made and hella fun. Glad to see LOR at number 1.
TotalComments: 100
Nerd news, humor and self-loathing.Edited by Rob Bricken
Fan Fiction Friday: "The King's Garfield"... Everyone's favorite feline is back, ready to dispense justice -- but this time it's not to the English, but on their behalf! Weird, right? ...
Don't Panic...Unless You Can't Get Tickets... Celebrate Towel Day with this trailer promoting the incredible Hitchhiker's Guide Live show that will be touring the UK this summer....
