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X-E’s ’08 Summer Megaparty: Burger Tyrant.


Bah, this shit's ridiculous. I've been seeing commercials for this Burger King "Club BK" kids' meal starring Pikachu and Apple Fries for a while now, and it seemed like just the type of neoclassic Happy Meal worth blogging about. I realize that Burger King doesn't make Happy Meals, but you know what I mean.


I expected the world, but what I got back was this sad, boring bag, with a Pokemon toy haphazardly shoved in with overcooked fries and crown-shaped chicken tenders. They didn't have Apple Fries in stock, which is kind of unbelievable. If there's one thing I'd never expect anyone to sell out of, it's APPLE FRIES.

That isn't what's bothering me, though. What really bugs me is the total lack of customized packaging. There's no "experience" to this.

BACK IN MY DAY, the Happy Meal was as much about its flashy bravado as its toys and cheeseburgers. Was there a single kid in the country who didn't at least try to keep the house-shaped Happy Meal box in perfect working order throughout their meal, free of folds and fry oil? Hell, a good many of us, myself included, went so far as to take those boxes home with us, working under the idea that we'd keep them forever and ever. We never did, but the fun was in the notion that we could.

Those Happy Meal boxes, with their colorful artwork and random puzzles, were as much a part of the filthy food experience as anything else. When McDonald's began phasing out the boxes in favor of less-artful bags, I was sad, but at least the bags still had the same gamut of illustrations and puzzles...albeit less colorful ones.

But this?! An unrelated bag lacking any kind of kiddy theme? APPALLED.


To protest, I refuse to acknowledge the neat holographic Prinplup card or the Pokemon-themed card holder it came with. Take that, BK.

In anti-celebration of this disappointing turn of events, I'd like to institute a new survey. In the comments, talk about your favorite Happy Meal toy ever. Yes, the free toys you got from other fine greasy food establishments are totally fine to talk about, too.

On the plus side: If getting pissed about the quality level of a Burger King "Club BK" kids' meal is the worst thing that happened to me today, I think I'm still in the black.

Posted by Matt on 07/17/2008. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 264 comments
1 … 9 10 11

Hey mat speaking of Bk, did you see or know of the BK Ketchup & Fries Snack Food? If not I got a bag if your interested in some.

Chestnuts roasted by J Towski @ 07/21/2008 6:11 AM

sorry, * Matt.

Chestnuts roasted by J Towski @ 07/21/2008 6:12 AM

When McDonalds had the hot wheels (one of the first few runs) you could turn the happy meal box into a garage and race track. It was the best use of the box.

Best toy would have to be the potato head kids (I think that might have been BK) but McNuggets were of the same style. I still have my snorkel McNugget.

Chestnuts roasted by Dave Thinks @ 07/21/2008 9:41 AM

Toys that no one mentioned yet are Zbots from BK. Those are my favorites and I still have the whole set along with 10 others. Only time I went to BK as a kid.

Other favorites are:
Tiny Toons flip cars
Lord of The Rings cups
BK Xbox360 games

Chestnuts roasted by Captain Tylor @ 07/21/2008 1:17 PM

Does anybody remember Astrosnicks?
I had a ton of those guys…they probably weren’t the most fun toys that McDonalds gave away, because they were basically Smurfs that were aliens.

Chestnuts roasted by Kurious Oranj @ 07/21/2008 2:06 PM

remember getting those awesome trick or treat buckets for halloween instead of a happy meal box, my fave was the ghost one, that was my halloween bucket for years to come. It didnt even hold that much candy, but i didn’t care. i wanted everyone to see my cool ghost bucket.

Chestnuts roasted by louiecue @ 07/21/2008 2:39 PM

I got the Pikachu plush with a Manaphy card.

Chestnuts roasted by DeathlyH @ 07/21/2008 4:57 PM

“BACK IN MY DAY, the Happy Meal was as much about its flashy bravado as its toys and cheeseburgers” preach my brother!

Chestnuts roasted by thejyav @ 07/21/2008 8:38 PM

cheese

Chestnuts roasted by Anonymous @ 07/24/2008 10:58 PM

does anyone remember the straws taco bell had back in the nineties for halloween? the straw itself wrapped around a large eyeball that moved around. i had the purple (my favorite color to this day) and loved that thing so much. i even managed to keep it until i moved into my first apartment in college where it was stolen during a party we had at the house. it’s now three years later, i’ve graduated and still continue to search for another one from time to time on ebay. if anyone has any leads on where i could find one please let me know!

Chestnuts roasted by icky @ 09/24/2008 4:06 AM

Wow! I can’t *believe* no one has mentioned the colorful (though flimsy) big plastic train cars that the Happy Meals came inside during the summer of ’83! The containers *were* the toys and one week it’d be the engine, then the caboose, etc. And they came in all different colors: bright blue, green, orange, red and could all be connected together to form a great long train that you could put things in. My brother and I both collected those. So fun!!

And the beach pails were cool, too. So were the inflatable beach balls that my brother and I used for years!

Chestnuts roasted by jenny70s @ 04/23/2009 4:19 PM

COME ON GUYS-does not ONE person remember the Thundercats toys from Burger King way back?Thundercats HOOOOO!!!

Chestnuts roasted by dougestarr @ 04/28/2009 2:43 AM

we look for comments like yours and try to address them…

while the idea was to reduce packaging waste and move the fun online where no waste would be produced and were we can create a long term experience… we still appreciate the comments towards the original, tactile components of the kids meal experience, thanks for the words..

try it out: http://www.clubbk.com

-e

Chestnuts roasted by Eric @ 09/22/2009 5:09 PM

Eric……
Move the fun online? Seriously? Kids can’t have fun anymore without sitting their lazy a**es on a computer chair? You should be encouraging active kids!! You should encourage SOCIALIZATION, not fricken’ ONLINE interaction!!! Encourage recycling of packaging, not reduce the fun in it.

D*mnit, BK… what an awful excuse…

Chestnuts roasted by Jessica @ 01/06/2012 3:30 PM

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