As part of our ongoing series into the sad
history of McDonald's Happy Meal toys, we've shown you some of the most terrible ideas
that have ever existed. Unfortunately, there are still so many more that just can't be
forgotten. A Happy Meal is supposed to make you happy, not sad. Needless to say, these
toys really missed the mark. Here are the Top 10 Saddest McDonald's Happy Meal Toys
Ever - Part 3. Batman Returns Toys In the early 90s, back before superhero and
comic book-based movies dominated Hollywood cinema, Tim Burton released Batman Returns.
It was the second Batman film in what would become a growing franchise, pre-dating any
Avengers blockbusters. The film featured Michael Keaton returning for his role as the Caped
Crusader, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, and Danny DeVito as The Penguin. At the time,
McDonald's wanted in on the franchise action and planned their Happy Meal toys to coincide
with the film's launch. The toys themselves were little cartoon-style versions of the
film's characters, each in their own little cars. Catwoman's purple car even had a little
tail sticking out. The problem with the Batman Returns toys wasn't that they weren't fun
- it was the fact that they were based on a movie that wasn't appropriate for the young
children for whom the Happy Meals are designed. Burton himself is known for his love of dark
themes and imagery, so that's not really a surprise. However, after releasing the toys,
McDonald's faced a huge backlash once parents realized the contents of the movie itself.
Batman Returns was contested with audiences because it had a lot of gross, somewhat disturbing,
and violent scenes. It also came with a PG-13 rating. This rating is well above the 1-10-year-old
age range that Happy Meals are marketed to. Sky Dancers Back in the '90s, Sky Dancers were a really
popular toy. In fact, they were so popular they even created an animated TV show based
on the toys. If you remember, Sky Dancers were little plastic fairies with long wings
that sit on top of a plastic base. When launched, the dolls would spin into the air using the
wings to propel them. Naturally, McDonald's wanted to capitalize on this super popular
trend, so they created their own version to include as the "girl toys" in their Happy
Meals. Little girls likely got really excited when they found them lurking under their fries
and burgers. However , the Happy Meal version was made from cheap materials that didn't
hold up to the real thing. The dancers never really stood on the base properly, which meant
they really didn't work that well. Sky Dancers were notorious for being dangerous. The way
that the toy was designed meant that the fairies Foam Tickle Feathers The tickle feather sponge was released in
1982, in the early days of basic Happy Meal toys. It was essentially just a piece of foam
in the shape of a feather meant for kids to randomly tickle their friends. But, according
to marketing, only if they were "sponge worthy." What does sponge worthy even mean? Chances
are, this toy probably ended up annoying parents more than it provided any entertainment to
children. This was utterly useless and, quite frankly, strange. Ultimately, the only practical
use for this odd tickle sponge is soaking up the tears of disappointed children who
were expecting something fun in their Happy Meal. Nickelodeon Game Gadgets Back before Disney cornered the market on
kids' entertainment, Nickelodeon was the dominating force on TV. For '90s kids, Nickelodeon was
the ultimate in after school programming, giving us classic hits like Hey, Arnold!,
The Rugrats, Ren and Stimpy, and so many more. So, naturally, everyone wanted a piece of
that commercialization. McDonald's partnered with Nickelodeon to release Nickelodeon Game
Gadgets in Happy Meals in 1992. These were basically just plastic advertisements disguised
as toys. The Game Gadgets included the following toys: Applause Paws, which were plastic pieces
that clapped together; Loud-Mouth Mike, which was some type of microphone; Blimp Game, which
was a plastic blimp toy representing the Nickelodeon blimp that did basically nothing; Gotcha Gusher
Squirter, a tiny water gun that barely held enough water to spray someone; and Squirt
Blimp, for children under three. Their only real use was to promote Nickelodeon and these
toys didn't really provide much actual use for playing. Popoids In the '80s, toys that let you build things
provided hours of entertainment for children. Popoids were toys sold as a set with lots
of little parts that kids could use to build little people or weird creatures. They could
basically take the bendy parts and pop them onto plastic blocks and bases. McDonald's
Popoids would come with a specific set that made a small object. The problem with these
toys wasn't really that they weren't any fun, but that they were dangerous. Many kids at
the time ended up getting their lips caught or pinched between the parts. Today, it'd
be hard for McDonald's to get these approved without any legal ramifications because of
the choking hazard they pose. While Popoids do still exist as its own brand, the McDonald's
version wasn't as safe. Food Fundamentals The Food Fundamentals were a collection of
plastic food creatures that had arms, legs, and faces. Milly was a little milk carton
holding a set of dumbells in her hands. Slugger was a juicy piece of steak with sunglasses.
Otis was a little whole wheat sandwich with a blue baseball helmet. Ruby was a little
red apple who, for some reason, was winking and holding a tennis ball and racquet. Duncan
was an ear of corn who wore a basketball outfit and held what's supposed to be a basketball
in his hand. When you opened them to pull out their hands and legs, they had little
notepads inside shaped like their particular food representation. This was yet another
failed attempt by McDonald's to hypocritically promote healthy eating. While kids were munching
down on their large doses of sodium, trans fats, and calories, they could play with figures
of healthy foods that weren't sold at McDonald's restaurants. Each toy also came with a little
pamphlet that talked about healthy eating, provided tips about exercising, and had various
little activities like word puzzles based on healthy food themes. While kids may have
gotten some entertainment out of these toys, McDonald's really has no business promoting
healthy lifestyles to children while simultaneously serving them greasy burgers and processed
chicken nuggets. Ninjago Camera Viewer In 2017, to coincide with the release of the
Lego Ninjago movie, McDonald's released a series of Happy Meal toys based on the ninja
theme. There were six in total, including a secret message stick that you could hold
up to a special paper to read "hidden" symbols, and a locked journal. But one of them in particular
was not much fun: the camera viewer. This was a plastic green camera with a dragon on
the front and the Ninjago movie title on the back. While it seems like a cool idea in theory,
all it actually did was show you stills of the Ninjago movie. Unless you really, really
loved the movie and wanted to watch still images of it over and over again, there weren't
really many uses for this toy after the first time. This toy was kind of a nod to the classic
View-Master toys that were popular in the late '80s and early '90s. These were fun way
back before virtual reality and 3D movies were a big and easily accessed commodity.
At the time, this was an exciting new technology people hadn't seen before. But now, with so
many advancements out there, kids these days just aren't excited by this type of thing.
Even the original View-Masters now use virtual reality imaging to stay on top of the digital
trends. With just one reel of eight specific images, the fun here was pretty limited and
boring. Space Rescue Toys Sometime in the '90s, McDonald's released
a series of Space Rescue Toys in their Happy Meals. They were designed to make kids feel
like they were going on a space rescue mission, although we're not really sure what they were
supposed to be saving. On the surface, they looked cool. They were odd-shaped gadgets
designed to be futuristic looking, which is always a fun theme for anyone. What kid doesn't
love a good space adventure? However, there's a right way to do a space toy and then there's
a wrong way. McDonald's chose the wrong way, unfortunately. These toys didn't go over well
because they were too complicated to actually use. The neon drawing pad, was the only one
that was relatively easy to figure out. But because it was cheaply made, it didn't wipe
completely clean. It was only good for a certain amount of uses before you could barely draw
anything. Letterland Postcards and Stationery In the late '70s, '80s, and early '90s, McDonald's
marketing was deeply embedded in their fantasy world, McDonaldland. This fantasy world was
where all of their fictional characters lived, like the Hamburgler and Ronald McDonald. Many
of the Happy Meal toys featured the McDonaldland characters, and the McDonaldland theme provided
the basis for a lot of the items in the McDonald's PlayPlaces. For example, kids could climb
inside a jail shaped like a Big Mac. In the mid 70’s a toy company called Remco released
a line of McDonaldland action figures along with Letterland themed stationery and postcards.
Although technically not a Happy Meal toy as these were sold in stores, the character
themed toys may have been pretty cool, but the stationary addition definitely was not.
First, postcards are not a toy. What little kid is using stationery, anyway? No kid needs
that unless they're sending their grandmother a postcard telling them how much fun they're
having at McDonald's down the street. Then, to make things worse, you had to go out and
buy a stamp separately. That means you had to spend more money on a toy you already paid
money to get. McD’s Gendered Spiderman Toys It’s common knowledge that McDonald’s
has gendered toys. The franchise offers “girl toys” and “boy toys” that are usually
two completely different things. This strict gendering of toys has garnered controversy
among customers so in 2014 McDonald’s decided to switch things up. For the release of the
movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the restaurant put out a line of Spider-Man based toys and
announced that they would be for both boys and girls. However, when the line of toys
was actually released, they were still gendered. The set for boys featured action figures of
Spider-Man, a Spider-Man themed car, a tin of trading cards, and more, all in the traditional
Spider-Man color palette of red and blue. The half of the collection that was meant
for girls featured a Spider-Man themed purse, headbands, and bracelets, along with a tin
filled with heart stickers. Even though McDonald’s tried to say that girls can like superheroes
too, it still made the unnecessary divide between the boys and the girls toys, and made
it seem like girls are only able to like traditionally feminine things. Stay right here and click on one of our other
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