| 12.14.2018 – The new Happy Meal toys for the month December 2018 in the Australia and the Philippines is promoting the release of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”, which is one of the best feature-length animated films to come out in 2018 that is breaking new grounds with the concept.
Integrating and breaking traditional animation style has greatly changed with how you appreciate them now that it’s now possible to produce superhero films in the live action medium. This is also the same way how McDonald’s trying to find ways making their toys relevant to this generation of video games. |
The latest Happy Meal toys are not exactly what you thought about as presented by McDonald’s. Usually, toys adapted from movies or animation would look exactly like their counterparts. But now McDonald’s is changing the common type of toy and taking cues from the designer art toy scene giving the kids to create their own version of Spider-Man as with Spider-Verse has so many versions of the wall-crawler.
There have been eight blank figurines that were released in Asia, while in Australia they get an additional four total to twelve. These blank bodies come with two stickers each representing characters you’ll meet in the film.
Create Your Spidey
There have been eight blank figurines with each having their own gimmicks. There’s one that shoots a web, the other is a bag tag which doubles as a webshooter that is retractable, and another comes with a stand that is actually paper puncher and the later goes on with interesting surprise if you collect a set.
But for those who have seen the trailers or has actually seen the movie already they’ll notice that the star namely Miles Morales is relatively absent in this set of toys. There is a Miles Morales but the blank body to use the sticker is not the right color as you all know his costume is predominantly black.
Basically, if you look for a Miles Morales in this set you won’t see him and this is the reason why the toys comes in blank figurines because you have to ‘create your own’ Spider-Man. You’re not necessarily limited to follow the instructions that came with the stickers from the figurines that came with it. If you want to make your own version of Spider-Man it’s up to you to use these stickers in producing your own unique character that makes collecting these toys interesting.
The Right Webhead
In putting together the right Spider-Man which is the version of Miles Morales you need two blank figures namely the Peni Parker/Miles Morales that have the yellow blank body that includes paper puncher and the most sought after blank body that has the Spider-Noir/Spider-Ham stickers.
This black body has the bag tag webshooting gimmick that is currently the one has been sold out recently in some stores in Manila. It is unfortunate there’s no white blank body, which is not available for the Asian region. Because the figurine is only released in Australia as an exclusive if you plan to customize a Spider-Gwen.
For now, it’s good that you make your own Miles Morales as he is the star of the animated feature film. Although the quality of the plastic is not as what you expect it’s interesting that McDonald’s chose to make the characters as blank bodies for kids to give them creative ways to make their version of Spider-Man not to be limited to what is presented in the product.
Inspiring Creativity
The idea about customising your figurine is not entirely new and if you’re not familiar with the Designer Art Toy that is different from the standard toys that kids play with you’ll be amazed about the concept. The Art Toys are not playable figures they are sculptured art it’s like a painting made into a figurine.
Art Toys are not mainstream products they are created by artists molded based on their original design and concept. Blank figurines are like canvasses it is up to the artists or anyone to paint their own creation the same way they apply stickers on these blank figurines that are Happy Meal toys for McDonald’s.
But the difference is that these toys that are free and included in a Happy Meal are unlike like the expensive Art Toys that are not entirely for children to play with. The Art Toys are for display only because they are designed by artists. This is where McDonald’s take the concept of the blank bodies and used it for their regular toys in putting creativity for children to have a go at making their own Spider-Man similar to art in making their unique creations.
Into the Spider-Verse
It’s great that the concept that made Designer Art Toys popular in other countries thrive is incorporated in a fast food toy means the mainstream is catching up with that interest and making children become creative with this type of toys.
But with the entire concept incorporate to this idea quality for a Happy Meal toy is not like the expensive Art Toys. Instead of using paint they give you pre-applied stickers that are not high quality. When you apply it to the blank body they don’t stick forever and the stickers’ gets easily ripped off or lose their stickiness.
You have to understand the budget constraints that McDonald’s have for each product to be subpar for the reason quality is cheap. But the idea inspiring kids to make their version of Spider-Man coming from the Art Toy concept is probably the best gimmick of all in promoting creativity not just collecting these toys in general.
Creative Collecting
Surely, not everyone thinks the toy looks interesting for their children. You can’t please anyone in letting their kids venture out promoting creativity with most parents would rather just want the standard figure or toy they can buy and collect. Some of them don’t want the hassle applying stickers or assembling them. It’s understandable that they just want to collect toys for display like most Filipinos would do.
But McDonald’s is in the right direction promoting creativity that has been a lost art in some modern toys. It’s a great concept to make collecting more interesting not just limited to just having all the characters for you to show off its good idea that also help parents and children bond together before they see the movie itself and have some fun along the way.
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