Say the words fast food toy
and the first thing that springs to mind is probably a mcdonald's happy meal
but don't be too quick to discount other fast food toys
let's see if you've got some hidden treasure with the top 10
best taco bell toys men in black you're late sit out
before it turned into a franchise men in black was a fairly modest comic property
turned into a fairly modest buddy comedy highlighting a comedic duo
you wouldn't expect to work will smith and
tommy lee jones the toys related to the film were already pretty impressive with
the alien bug designs especially so which meant taco bell had
a lot to compete with come on seriously
fortunately they didn't shirk their responsibility
it's actually somewhat difficult to track down images from the promotion
which is incredibly rare but those who remember the campaign were
treated to fairly detailed tiny versions of the
characters the evidence is out there somewhere
i make this look good star wars may the force be with you it's not hard
to turn a prophet name-dropping star wars
but the taco bell toys promoting the re-release of the trilogy in cedars
pulled out all the stops not only were the toys themselves particularly clever
with action figures cased in r2d2 style intergalactic matroshka dolls but even
the packaging worked as a toy taco bell kids meal boxes were adorned
with cardboard that could be cut and shaped like origami star destroyers and
it was a virtual playset in addition to a meal 1997 was an
important year for star wars nerds i'm really nervous we've been waiting so
long for this it marked the very moment fans of george lucas's three film space
western then 20 years old but digitally
remastered would be re-released in cders again 1997
in 1996's mind was going to be epic and as mel brooks suggested in
spaceballs so came the merchandising where the real
money from the movie is made and they're still paying off
wrapped star wars re-release toys from taco bell
sell for around 20 to 40 dollars a pop it's not a toy dc superheroes
can i keep this there's something to be said for getting there
first and dc can make the claim a victory
contrary to some popular belief in the world of comics
batman and superman predated marvel by just
months to publication and the actual detective comics had four
years on its competition what do we do cal
we fight in 2010 however the two were on fairly equal footing nolan's dark knight
films were on par with marvel's less gritty approach and the properties
were the subject of much hotly debated casting decisions
that combined with the 75th anniversary of dc made it
the perfect time for taco bell to release a line of commemorative
3d comics posters and glasses it didn't hurt that
3d one say gimmick exclusive to b-movies as a cheap trick to luring customers was
getting a serious overhaul courtesy of filmmaker
james cameron and imax theaters the posters are just
as impressive as any a collector may seek and the 3d is a
nice throwback wrapped editions of the taco bell batman
comic are going for 80 bucks on ebay what are your
superpowers again i'm rich and 64.
do you have any more
the brilliance of taco bell's innovative n64 line of toys was entirely in its
concept how can we best replicate the experience
of playing the nintendo 64-bit console using only analog equipment the answer
was simple rather than recreate facsimiles of
characters from the beloved games they instead mold plastic miniature
controllers that worked like the old mini silver ball games at dollar stores
and nickel arcades from long before the days of frogger it's
certainly more effective than the cd-rom releases that fast food companies were
guilty of attempting to pawn off as toys at the time
which were usually poorly assembled mini games
taco bell toys would later be guilty of that as well
but not with the n64 it was all plastic as such these little gems
were handcrafted to recreate the treacherous maps of mario kart 64.
if you're lucky enough to have resisted the urge to open your taco bell toys
a complete n64 set sells for around a hundred and seventy dollars
she's not for sale goosebumps be careful for those fortunate enough to live
through one of the best eras of child-centric programming
goosebumps began as a series of children's novels by r.l stein
keep reading and like any good corporate entity taco bell
saw dollar signs there was an advertising tie-in but the commercial
doesn't really scream goosebumps which was less about scaring kids than
getting them to fall in love with the idea of being
scared stein's books were tame using standard horror tropes and cliches to
tell spooky campfire tales it wasn't long before fox's programming
saw the potential of a weekly series and soon kids all over the country were
tuning in just slightly past their bedtime to catch
faithful retellings of their favorites the toys themselves were somewhat
generic save for slappy the evil ventriloquist doll who worked
as a pez dispenser the others are some fairly nifty designs
on standard scary characters a wrapping mummy a skullmobile and the
cutest evil hamster this side of rabies i want one of those school blocks
what would that even be and so we've reached the present day
a place in which after revisiting the 90s for so long
feels a little otherworldly those who grew up without the internet require a
college-level course and how the technology has been used to entice
children to learn parents may not know how their children's tablets work
they just know the blocks will tell them what to do
schools have used the roblox platform of reality gaming and role-playing to work
in conjunction with educators allowing kids to earn points by solving
problems this has proven incredibly successful and is a welcome
addition to early education i'm not joking around young lady taco
bell wisely introduced their school blocks
foldable paper character avatars with stickers and instructions kids could use
in real life and just to further get with the current
times the school blocks toys were among the first released in the fast food
world not to use environmentally harmful
plastic bags this it would appear is the modern
approach to advertising and branding today taco bell is offering healthier
alternatives to deep frying and experimenting with bio-friendly
materials which also encourages education if that's not a
triple threat in today's food service industry
then there is no such thing earthworm
gym it's well documented that taco bell had
a good working relationship with the nintendo 64 console
but their efforts prior to that era are not too shabby either
earthworm jim was one of the few moderately successful
attempts by a toy company to create a video game mascot
it being the mid-90s said mascot needed only two things
be an anthropomorphized version of a real animal
but with tons of snarky attitude sonic crash bandicoot and earthworm gym were
all cut from the same gen x cloth that gave
the simpsons a poochie it wasn't long before toys and a tv
series followed the games and taco bell got in on the action
releasing just four kids meal toys
a squeeze toy a bowling game a piggy bank
and a wind-up car the line was cheeky enough to be in keeping with the tone of
the cartoon and the video game they don't appear to be selling for much
right now but they're worth keeping around
right next to a box of slap bracelets and bubble jug
where do you get these great ideas the adventures of batman and robin
i got mine where's yours before we get into the importance of batman in the 90s
let's get down to the brass tacks the adventures of batman and robin toy sets
that taco bell released to accompany the hit show
are incredible it's a shame there were only five of them
as they represent an ambition in the fast food industry
rarely achieved though they don't reach the same detail as
say a micro machine set it's not far off from what they were aiming for
beyond the playsets even more imaginative and handy for a child was
the plastic batman shaped popsicle maker any kid
would delight in having the shape of batman with cowl and cape
forever emblazoned on anything they owned and taco bell
toys wanted a part of it there's a reason there's no
shortage of fondly remembered 90s merchandise
the decade launched with the batman craze in full swing
thanks to tim burton's 1989 film excuse me
have you ever danced with a devil in the pale moonlight
and the franchise was so successful that it survived what some
assumed would be a deadly tonal shift when the recently departed
joel schumacher took the reigns the animated film release
batman mask of the phantasm is largely considered superior to schumacher's
batman forever we were getting the royal bat treatment
don't it's not funny if we preferred our hooded vigilante to be complex and dark
we had the cartoon but we still had access to the adam west style camp that
schumacher provided taco bell saw their opportunity
and leaped the batman toys don't appear to
be moving much online right now but give chris nolan's bat trilogy some
more time to wear off america's consensus nostalgia will swing
back in their favor godzilla
society needs to study godzilla roland emmerich's notorious 1998
americanized flop of the atomic lizard to avoid ever making that mistake again
first let's address the toys much of the money godzilla earned back from its huge
budget came from the merchandising in what was
possibly the most aggressive marketing campaign for a project that seemed
destined to fail godzilla's actually pretty cool
somebody's hungry where godzilla succeeded most was in its fast food toys
at once both still surprisingly utilitarian
and lovingly detailed not only are the individual godzilla figures released by
taco bell finely painted better than the average
cheap trinket at the bottom of a kid's meal
they also offered cup holders shaped like the giant lizard
these enormous figures curled around the cup to create a mug-like application
and there was something satisfying about godzilla watching you drink
and after seeing the movie some viewers needed a drink
it's not every summer a film costs 150 million dollars and garners a reputation
of 16 on rotten tomatoes fortunately there
were still some quality taco bell toys associated with the fiasco and they're
turning a pretty penny on ebay right now if you have them in pristine condition
how much muppet christmas carol ornaments
gonzo you got my gift the reason a christmas ornament
something seemingly lame for a kid ranks so
high on this list is in part due to its worth beyond
childhood but also due to what it represented
at the time this is christmas it's a time for generosity
jim henson's muppets first debuted starring in their own show in 1976.
as the show gained in popularity movies soon followed and the muppets won over
audiences worldwide with their appeal to both kids and adults alike
the release of a muppet christmas carol in 1992
which features a wonderful performance from michael kane
not only stayed true to dickens novel it also marked the first muppet film
not directed by jim but his son brian as jim had just passed as such the
collectible muppet ornaments from taco bell represent a changing of the guard
each ornament was a muppet-themed globe that could hang from the highest bow
they aren't even selling on ebay yet instead
forever immortalized on family christmas trees
happy christmas harry happy christmas ron stay right here and tap that screen
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