Top 10 Rarest Collectible Fast Food Toys

#10: “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” Toys

McDonald’s

McDonald’s officially introduced Happy Meals in 1979, commencing a longstanding tradition of marketing tie-ins. Their first promotional meal was for that year’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” With the film going over budget, a McDonald’s tie-in was seen as one way to help recoup costs. The “Star Trek Meal” included prizes such as rings, iron-ons, a Starfleet board game, and a “video viewer,” which was essentially a more complex way of reading a comic. Speaking of which, the meal had five - debatably six - different boxes that featured artwork. Being the oldest Happy Meal tie-in, collecting every toy, not to mention the boxes, is a tall order. Diehard trekkers can boldly go online, but certain toys only surface once in a blue moon.

#9: McNugget BuddiesMcDonald’s

Of all the Happy Meal collectibles, the McNugget Buddies may be the most distinctly tied to the McDonald’s brand. First appearing in 1988, these toys gave kids permission to play with their food, dressing them up as scuba divers, police officers, and rock stars resembling Elton John. New sets of McNugget Buddies were released throughout the 90s, only to disappear for nearly two decades. The McNugget Buddies recently made a comeback, with one set featuring a rare golden nugget known as the McNugget Legend. Based on one Reddit user’s collection, there appears to be at least 43 McNugget Buddies, including exclusives from the UK and Australia. However, the collection didn’t extend to the McNugget Christmas ornaments, which were available through the Official McDonald’s Collectibles Club.

#8: Snoopy World Tour

McDonald’s

Snoopy has no jurisdiction. In the late 90s, the beloved Peanuts dog set off on a World Tour, courtesy of McDonald’s. Each Snoopy figurine came with a different costume to reflect the changing backdrop. From a Canadian Mountie to an English King’s Guard, there was no limit to what Snoopy could be. The toys were released in two sets, with each having around thirty figures. With a new toy popping up virtually every day of the promotion, collecting them all became competitive and even violent. In Hong Kong, there were reports of fights breaking out over the Snoopy dolls. It was also reported that the toys, which were valued at ¢75 each, were being sold on the black market for $26 a pop.

#7: “Fraggle Rock” Figures

McDonald’s

“Fraggle Rock” was a childhood staple for any kid who grew up in the 80s… assuming their parents could afford HBO. Even if they couldn’t, Happy Meals provided another gateway. The 1988 set included four Fraggles driving veggie-based cars, as well as two other toys made for the under-three crowd. While those figures are hard to come by, even rarer are the Doozer toys released in the Southern portion of West Virginia a year earlier. These toys were distributed as a trial run to see if Fraggle Rock Happy Meals would do well on a wider scale. McDonald’s pushed forward with the national promotion, but the Doozer toys were only released in a small part of the country for a limited time.

#6: “The Dukes of Hazzard” Cars

McDonald’s

“The Dukes of Hazzard” has been a source of debate due to the iconic 1969 Dodge Charger synonymous with the series. Not only was the car nicknamed the General Lee, but it had the Confederate flag plastered on the roof. To some, the flag is a symbol of pride. To others, it’s one of pain. Given the recent controversy, it may surprise you to learn that in 1982, McDonald’s had a “Dukes of Hazzard” Happy Meal with five plastic cars. The centerpiece was the General Lee, complete with a Confederate flag sticker. The promotion wasn’t national, being restricted to states like Nebraska, North Carolina, and Missouri. Considering the flag’s divisive nature, McDonald’s is probably glad there are only so many in existence.

#5: “101 Dalmatians” & “102 Dalmtains” Figures

McDonald’s

Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, kids knew that the latest Disney movie meant there’d be a McDonald’s tie-in. As is the case with most promotions, there were typically several toys to collect. With the release of 1996’s “101 Dalmatians,” though, McDonald’s went all out. Taking the number to heart, McDonald’s produced 101 unique Dalmatian toys. They topped themselves with one more toy for their “102 Dalmatians” promo. If you tried to collect them all, chances are you ate more McDonald’s than the “Super Size Me” guy. Tracking them all down now is a challenge that we’re not sure even Cruella de Vil would accept. (xref) McDonald’s pulled a similar promotion in 2002, commemorating 100 Years of Magic with 100 Disney toys.

#4: Poké Balls

Burger King

With the release of “Pokémon: The First Movie,” Burger King distributed a set of 23 different Pokémon cards plated in karat gold. While it’d take a true Pokémon Master to catch them all, this infamous promotion is remembered more for the small, plastic Poké Balls. The containers may’ve seemed like an afterthought compared to the Pokémon figures inside. The balls made headlines when one resulted in the fatal suffocation, however. After another child nearly perished, Burger King officially recalled the Poké Balls, which claimed at least one other life. 500,000 were returned to Burger King, which reportedly destroyed 22.5 million undistributed Poké Balls. It’s unclear exactly how many slipped through the recall, but the balls are arguably scarcer than the toys they contained.

#3: “Batman Returns” Toys

McDonald’s

Parents were caught off guard by how dark and twisted 1992’s “Batman Returns” was. Despite the PG-13 rating, they were led to believe it was a kid-friendly flick due to a tie-in with McDonald’s. Admittedly, the four vehicle-based toys that came in Happy Meals suggested a far more lighthearted film than the emotionally scarring one we got. McDonald’s would thus cut this promotion short, making these toys a rare throwback. The Happy Meal fiasco is just one of the reasons that Warner Bros. drastically toned things down in “Batman Forever,” which opens with a fast-food joke that McDonald’s didn’t hesitate to use in their marketing. “I’ll get drive thru.” Yeah, that’s a real line from the movie, and we have these toys to thank.

#2: 1983 Hot Wheels

McDonald’s

McDonald’s has been partnering with Hot Wheels for decades, releasing toy car sets almost annually. Good luck trying to find them all. Arguably, the most coveted set is the first one from 1983. This original series consisted of fourteen cars, although the West and East coasts had different sets. Only six could be found on both coasts. So, you would’ve required a real car to hunt down the whole set. Of course, we have eBay now, but that doesn’t mean collecting these miniature cars has become any easier or less expensive. Even if they don’t rank among the absolute rarest Hot Wheels ever manufactured, the 1983 set is as vintage as fast-food tie-ins get. You might say that they lead the way.

#1: Teenie Beanies

McDonald’s

We can’t underestimate just how bonkers consumers were for Beanie Babies at their peak. McDonald’s got in on the beanie fever with these teenie tie-ins, introduced in the late 90s. Just as collectors had to get their hands on the regular-sized Beanie Babies, the demand for their smaller counterparts was just as intense. Various McDonald’s locations reportedly faced fights and thefts over the Teenie Beanies. Some patrons resold their Teenie Beanies at higher prices, attracting die-hard collectors. Some called it an obsession. Others called it an investment that would totally pay off. For some, it might’ve. Nowadays, most Teenie Beanies only go for a few bucks, but if you have one in the original packaging, you could be a thousand-aire… or at least a hundred-aire.

Do you have any old fast-food toys in your garage, attic, or closet you haven’t cleaned in twenty years? Let us know in the comments!