The History of Golden Fast Food Toys

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: 1984. Taco Bell debuts what most consider its first ever Happy Meal style fast food toy, the Hallmark Hug-A-Bunch Dolls. A set of four plush babies designed with velcro hands, and outfitted only with a shiny metallic diaper, one of which was colored gold. Now, most are probably familiar with the concept of the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket, the concept whereby opening a purchased product, you could have the chance of revealing a rare special golden something. In the context of fast food, kids' meals toys often play that role. Like in the movie, these sometimes unlock a prize upon discovery, but other times gold fast food toys purely serve as just a fun chase variant. Now, is that the case for the 1984 Taco Bell Hug-A-Bunch Dolls who differ only by their diapers, one of which that just happens to be gold? No. These huglets, as they're called, are actually all unique characters made distinguishable only by their diaper color. If the idea of opening and playing with a plush doll at Taco Bell of all places wasn't gross enough already, they decided to name this gold guy Fluffer. This situation is similar to the Happy Meal collab with Astrosnicks, a Smurf knockoff with German Origins that in 1983 had its own eight-figure set release at McDonald's, of which included, you guessed it, a standout gold variant. Well, upon further investigation, this is a metal body robot, not a fleshy green alien. And again, this is a unique character with a name situation, not a rare special gold chase variant. Robo, as he's called, has that satisfying gold shimmer, allowing him to stand out whenever seen alongside his green contemporaries, but at the end of the day, not what we're looking for. Within the endless sea of fast food toy releases starting in the late 70s, up through the modern day, there are numerous examples of golden toys out there that at first glance appear to fit the Willy Wonka gold ticket slash golden chase framing, but for one reason or another are disqualified. In order to find the first legitimate example, let's fast forward a bit into the 90s. The Friendly Skies Meal from 1991 is interesting for not only involving a special golden toy, but for also being exclusively available only to those actively flying on a United Airways airplane, specifically to Orlando, Florida, within only a two-month time frame. How it worked was when pre-buying your plane ticket, you were given the option to purchase a McDonald's meal that would then be served to you mid-flight in a unique box, complete with a unique toy. The four toy options included Grimace and Ronald, and either a white or gray plane, in addition to a super special third Ronald in what looks to be a gold metal plane. There was also a silver Grimace, but who gives a damn? This whole promotion was eventually expanded to more cities, and even lasted some say 10 years, but these specific toys were only around for that November to December run in 1991. So, what's the story with this gold Ronald? Well, he actually wasn't commercially available. This particular toy was only included as part of an award given to Milton Bradley employees behind the development of the unique in-flight toy. When diving deeper online, other Friendly Skies awards can be found, one of which features both metallic mascots, this time mounted on a plaque. Who knows how many of these were made? They could have even belonged to the same people. Regardless, they weren't available to just anyone, therefore requiring an asterisk on this promotion's golden chase variant status. Occasionally, some less shiny examples of the gold Ronald can be found online, except those are merely a result of aging plastic. Jumping ahead a few years to 1996, McDonald's is again the restaurant responsible for a promotion unlike most. This time, one centered around the live-action version of Disney's 101 Dalmatians. To tie in with the movie's title, you would receive one of literally 101 different Dalmatian figurines, each of which was taking part in some different activity, like for example being stuck in a Christmas bow, a bow that just happens to come in multiple colors, including gold. Now this undoubtedly is a lame example of the gold toy phenomena, but one nonetheless, as aren't all of these dogs meant to serve as collectible variants? When looking at all 101, it's clear they're split into groups, with this golden foil fellow fitting into the tangled up two-legged subsection. Nowhere in the advertising or mentioning of the set online, is this particular dog traded any differently from the rest in terms of rarity, it just happens to satisfy a lot of the requirements needed for an on-paper golden chase. To guarantee your chance of owning the not-so-elusive gold ribbon Dalmatian, you are best off buying the equally common COA-certified complete set, similar to the one seen in within the year 1997, McDonald's finally unveiled the first ever truly legitimate golden chase variant for the eight-figure toy set released to promote the second theatrical run of The Little Mermaid, eight years after its initial 1989 debut. Instead of simply one gold toy to keep an eye out for, each of the eight characters received high-quality shiny gold makeovers, not with any connected prize giveaway, instead they were just advertised as "special treasures," in reference to the gold typically found in an underwater treasure chest. This premise is also shown on the in-store display, alongside the text "1 in 10 toys is gold-colored." Obtaining the gold variations did not appear to be challenging whatsoever, as they are incredibly inexpensive to buy online even after 30 years. The bag each toy came in did label what character you'd receive, but was kept purposely opaque in order to obfuscate whether or not you got the gold. Like with the 101 Dalmatians, a mail-away collector box could be purchased containing all 10, all in gold surprisingly, complete with a certificate of authenticity and a theme again based around buried treasure. This, too, is surprisingly affordable. You wouldn't think based on their mechanical nature, but these were advertised as "water toys." This is most obvious with the inflatable rubber Ursula, who, in order to be gold-colored, had to have her outer ring painted. 1997 also brought with it these guys, gold semi-posable versions of Ronald McDonald and Birdie the Early Bird. This is most obvious with the inflatable rubber Ursula, who, in order to be gold-colored, had to have her outer ring painted. 1997 also brought with it these guys, gold semi-posable versions of Ronald McDonald and Birdie the Early Bird. Upon further investigation, the two look to have been released in standard colorways, alongside a Hamburglar and Grimace, who also received metallic variations. The full story on these is seemingly lost to time. What is for certain is they're all dated 1997, each came in three variations, except for Grimace, and they came with a piece of playground equipment. A little bit of research will tell you that a similar, more well-known set released in Australia that same year, under the name McFun Park, except that set's Grimace is different, and there's no mention of the color options in the commercial, on the box, or on the bag. A nearly identical set is seen sealed in Spanish bags, with a date of 1998, and this time marked as "Made in Brazil." This metallic set, in particular, is almost always seen strictly on Brazilian websites, so it's safe to say that's their country of origin. The tie-in Happy Meal box and commercial have seemingly been found, but nowhere is there any mention of any variant options, a special gold toy sweepstakes, unlockable prizes, nothing. Searching the Spanish text on the bag, which translates to simply "playground," again yields no results. Eventually, a sealed bag of the initial Grimace was found, but with a different set name in a year of 1999. Again, this is said to come from Brazil, confusingly. These two gold characters, alongside the other two metallic mascots, alongside the other yellow, white, and red variants, aren't too tough to track down. But gathering info on why they were colored in the first place, good luck. When searching the words "gold" and "McDonald's" together online, you will find no shortage of Bill Elliott McDonald's-sponsored #94 branded pieces of merchandise, featuring the iconic NASCAR 50th anniversary gold paint scheme, but did that specific vehicle ever make its way into a Happy Meal? Well, in 1998, it sure did, not only in gold, but also in the standard red with Ronald, and blue with "he who should not be named." The context of this being a real race car replica in a set dedicated to Bill Elliott's iconic looks doesn't make for a "chase" variant per se, but the Ford Thunderbird mold is the same across the board, so it counts. The 64th scale set of metal McDonald's cars actually totaled four vehicles, with the extra "not matching" Bill, instead Kyle Petty, with his being a Hot Wheels of his Hot Wheels-sponsored Pontiac. Burger King 1999 Wild Wild West Artemis Gordon Gold Glasses. Variant? Yes. Toy? No. [00:09:51] Speaker 2: This fall, the ultimate Pokémon showdown is here. Are you ready? [00:09:58] Speaker 1: Maybe the most well-known/culturally relevant golden fast food toy promo of all time has to go to the 1999 Burger King 23-karat gold Pokémon cards released to promote Pokémon the first movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back. For those unaware, Pokémon was massive in the 90s. The show, the games, the cards, and now a movie? The hype was real. So, Burger King decided to, of course, release some toys to capitalize on the excitement, not with 8, 10, or 12 in the set. Instead, 57! Not included, but instead on the side were 6 collectible golden cards, obtainable for $1.99 apiece, added on to the required purchase of a value meal. So, in total, there were 63 toys, 57 of which were a free mystery included in the BK Big Kids meal, and the other 6 required an extra fee, but were extra cool. To add to the confusion, one toy had 2 variants, and you'd receive 1 of 151 different cardboard cards, also as a mystery, making for actually 216 different items to collect. To help kids complete their collection, Burger King hosted trade nights on each Tuesday for 4 weeks, allowing children to swap their duplicates at their local restaurant. Focusing purely on the 6 "gold" cards, the characters depicted included Pikachu, Mewtwo, Jigglypuff, Poliwhirl, Charizard, and Togepi, not using the standard card layout, instead a more Pokedex-style visual. These 6 were also notably smaller than your traditional cardboard card. Material-wise, they are metal in order to have some heft, then coated in an extra-thin, essentially worthless, layer of gold to achieve that 23-karat designation. Each gold card came in a protective covering inside a shiny Pokeball display case, which also included a small COA with an official Nintendo stamp of approval. Worth noting that this display ball is not the same one that caused that choking hazard controversy. That was the cheaper-smaller one made for the larger mystery-free BK Kids toy meal. Even though the gold cards were bought separately and labeled with what card was in what box, it's unclear if they were given to the customer as a mystery. Whether you had the choice in which of the 6 you wanted likely came down to the leniency of the worker. When spotted online, you'll see the cards either in a blue or red box, supposedly because the initial batch of blue boxes sold out, requiring a second run in a new red box, thus making the blue set slightly more valuable. The gold cards in general aren't at all rare, but worth a little, especially when all 6 are kept together, with Charizard being the only one that, by itself, is worth a bit. They're definitely all still sought after, enough to where PSA even agreed to officially grade them starting in 2024. Three months after the whole promotion ended on December 31st, 1999, the promo was run again, this time to celebrate the VHS release of the film, except this time only the mystery toys were offered. An opportunity to own the elusive golden cards was never offered again. Now officially into the next decade, not only is Burger King back, they once again are collaborating with the Pokémon brand. This time in order to promote the fresh new video game, Pokémon Gold and Silver for the Game Boy Color. Like with the previous Pokémon promo, this was quite a large endeavor for collectors. In total, there were 12 different scaled down Game Boy handheld replicas, one of which was gold, that then had the possibility to play 8 different play functions, then add on there being 100 replica game cartridges, which also contained gold, and 50 translucent character cards, which contained no gold, just yellow. The cartridges were meant to be shoved in the top slot, and the carbonite-style Pokémon were meant to be stored in the back compartment. Breaking down the specifics behind each play function, and how many existed within each colorway, is just not worth our time. We're only here for the gold. Obviously, as a way to tie into the game's title, the gold, and silver, Game Boy Collectibles, as they were called, were treated like the Big Get. The blind bag each came in as well teased the chance to own the titular colorways. For the gold consoles in particular, their play function was only ever talking, meaning they could produce a sound unlike the seven other functions. When compared to the previous year's promo gold, these are considerably more rare, and on average more valuable. The actual Pokémon options within the gold body included Pikachu, Togepi, and Slowking, with the electric mouse being the singular gold-only option. At first glance, the seven-figure set for the 2000 Burger King Dragon Ball Z promotion, appeared to be simply a lineup of the show's main characters, with metallic paint jobs, similar to other sets from around that time, nothing too special. That's until you read the nameplates and realize, wait, there's two Gokus, one silver, one gold, making this another chase variant situation. Well, sorta not really. See, Gold Goku was labeled with an SS, short for Super Saiyan, AKA the transformation Goku goes through, resulting in a more powerful form, complete with a golden blonde hair makeover. So you could argue the golden paint job is just a way of representing that, but he's oftentimes treated as the most desirable, and given the restaurant involved in the year 2000, it's obvious what they were going for here. The seven characters were advertised as having a light-up display stand, a unique trading card, and the ability to win you a free VHS Dragon Ball video, with the collecting of any seven figures. Despite the seemingly high quality of the figures in the set, time has not been kind to some, as you can see. If you thought the Pokemon promos were convoluted, get a load of the McDonald's Crazy Bones release, also from the year 2000. A set, some sources claim, contains 800 pieces. Yes, over 800 for a measly three-week Happy Meal promotion. For those unaware, Crazy Bones, also commonly known as Go-Go's, are small plastic figurines loosely based on the game played in Ancient Greece and Rome, where children would clean, decorate, and toss real sheep bones, then assign points based on how they land. Fast forward to 2000, Crazy Bones are hitting their peak in popularity, so McDonald's decides to not only re-release 12 classic bones in a new, large, hollow body, non-chokeable size, but also introduce 12 brand new Halloween-themed entries, making for a total set of 24 characters to collect. Each time you receive the blind bag in your Happy Meal, you'd be given one of 12 pairs, made up of one classic bone in one Halloween, each of which had the chance of being gold. Now, in theory, there should be 24 total gold Crazy Bones, and with enough digging, that does appear to be the case. Proven once more with this image showing one hardcore fan who completely filled in the tie-in collector's case. These are often treated like the Holy Grails in the set, with them being often deemed precious metals. That is actually a real term carried over from the standard Crazy Bones collector's world. Breaking down the exact amount of total bones in all colors is essentially impossible. See, there's 24 gold, 24 silver, then there's glow-in-the-dark, translucent, gray, Halloween-exclusive orange and black, marbled colors, basic colors, and also silver glitter and gold glitter, making for actually 48 total gold McDonald's Crazy Bones. It still isn't clear how many total color schemes there are. Some collectors show what looks to be shades in between shades. Add to that the fact not all gold bones appear to be the same hue, and also there's supposedly New Zealand variants out there that break all sorts of rules. In addition to the two mystery color Crazy Bones, each Happy Meal toy also came with a sticker trading card and a free poster coupon redeemable only at your local Rite Aid. When asked to name the highest quality line of toys ever released by a fast food chain, one often brought up is the 2001 Burger King Lord of the Rings 19-figure connectable set, of course released to promote the 2001 film The Fellowship of the Ring. Within the center of the fully assembled circular display is none other than the ring itself, in all its authentic metallic glory. Yes, the ring is in fact metal, unlike the rest of the set, it features a unique base, and it serves a legitimate purpose. See, each of the 18 characters either light up, speak a voice line, or both, and that function is triggered by a front-facing ring, or this small back switch. When you assemble the pizza-style diorama, the one ring as it is officially named, slots right in the center, connecting all pieces, then when twisted is able to activate all the various characters by interacting with that back switch. So when you think about it, the one ring literally rules them all. The promotion itself even advertised to customers, "Build the ring of power. Bring the power of the ring to life." Just look at this thing. It's clear why so many people call it the GOAT. If the ring wasn't cool enough already, its flames light up and it has two rub-and-reveal secret messages. This Burger King promo also involved collectible goblets, mail-away action figures, and even some character variants within the 19 core figures. Does it exactly fit the definition of what we're looking for in terms of golden fast food toys? Not really, but come on. The one ring's central, desirable, functional status in its special shiny gold real metal material? You can't ignore it. 2002. The year responsible for, without a doubt, the most interesting example of the golden fast food chase variant concept, that being the Nintendo Superstars' search for the golden toy sweepstakes. A promotion centered around winning free GBA games by finding gold-painted versions of Nintendo's most popular characters via blind bags. The set in question contained ten figures including Kirby, Yoshi, Luigi, Link, Mario, Peach and Bowser together, Wario, Kirby again, Diddy Kong, and Donkey Kong. When advertised, a golden Yoshi was always used as the mascot for the sweepstakes. He was seen in the print ads, on the cups, and on the bags, leading many people to believe he was the only gold figure to keep an eye out for. After 12 years of waiting, a user came forth on Reddit in 2014 with the story of how they obtained the fabled golden Yoshi, complete with image proof of what looked to be possibly the standard toy painted gold by Burger King. With renewed interest in the 2002 promotion and overall increased fascination with lost media adjacent topics, more info, images, and false rumors started circulating. Eventually, in 2019, a Reddit post was made showing evidence of Wario receiving a gold variant. That was then followed up by a 2023 eBay listing showing proof that Kirby as well received the gold treatment. It was then accepted that all ten toys in the line likely had been given gold paint jobs. They just needed to be tracked down. Over the next several months and years, evidence would eventually surface showing a gold Link, a gold Diddy Kong, and a gold Luigi. Now, it's worth mentioning the golden hue of each toy doesn't appear to 100% match, with Diddy Kongs being especially dubious, so it's possible fakes are out there, as these would be quite easy to bootleg. Shockingly, another golden Yoshi would pop up for sale on eBay, and on Instagram, visual proof of the mail-away free game coupon was showcased from the buyer behind that original gold Kirby auction. With this many winners coming out of the woodwork, it was revealed that the free game wasn't always the same. There's reports of at least four different titles sent to winners. In the comments sections of any post or video made about the obscure 2002 Nintendo Superstars promotion, people like to claim they own one of the ten gold variants, or at least did it one time, with some being more convincing than others. One particularly interesting comment involving a small profile pic of gold Donkey Kong did result in the real-deal reveal of the now seventh golden superstar. For Mario as well, a simple follow-up to a comment resulted in the gold variant reveal, in this case, times two. With eight out of the ten discovered, it leaves only the Kirby ball toss and the race around Peach and Bowser left to be found. In terms of rock-solid info on this promotion as a whole, there isn't much. Yes, a commercial exists, but the display kiosk has never been found, the website archive is broken, two different relevant print ads have contradicting dates, there's a 2002 article mentioning 10,000 total toys handed out, but come on, no way that's true. Just to be clear, there was likely more than just one gold character apiece, given how many people remember finding them and by comparing the differences between the duplicates found thus far. What also needs established, this is not gold. This Kirby is just notorious for poor plastic aging. The prize, obscurity, mystique, and golden ticket nature of the Nintendo Find the Golden Toy sweepstakes definitely puts it at the top in terms of juicy lore-filled golden toy examples. Now it's just up to those two remaining collectors out there to speak up and complete the 10-piece set. The next entry that needs investigating comes this time from McDonald's Japan, that being their 2002 Robo-Chi Pets set of four toys, one of which has that ever so majestic gold complexion. With it being the sole non-grey character in the set, was it considered the special rare gold chase? No, but in the broader context of Robo-Chi McDonald's toys, it kind of counts. In the early 2000s, this particular line of robotic pets was big, not iDog big, more like is big, so it was a given that a Happy Meal toy line needed to be made. In 2001, Poo-Chi the dog, as it is officially named, was first seen connected with McDonald's in the Tiger Action Toys nine-figure set, purely in red. Then later in the year, Poo-Chi returned, this time in his more traditional stance, with four different functions as part of the official Robo-Chi debut set featuring eight figures, all of which had four color variants each. Then again in 2001, the UK had its own Robo-Chi set, this time all in gray with no variants and with only one Poo-Chi. Okay, so then in 2002, Japan had their four-piece set, two Poo-Chi's within, one being gold, followed by another US set that same year, this time with another damn dog, alongside seven other figures, each of which received three color variants this time, making for in total 20 different Poo-Chi variants connected to McDonald's. On top of all that, it appears Thailand and Malaysia got repeat sets, the gray Japanese dog's plastic is so bad it often appears gold, Poland has some confusing tie-in with the actual retail Robo-Cheese, and then there's a mystery sixth Happy Meal set with nothing known about it besides some connections to Uzbekistan. All of this to say the gold dog in the Japanese McDonald's set shouldn't really count. But in the commercial, it sparkles, so maybe. While on the topic of almost countable animals, what's the call on the 2004 Teeny Beanie Baby Bear, named after the famous McDonald's Golden Arches? Tough one, but it's a no. The IP is Hello Kitty, the involved chain is McDonald's, the country of origin is Japan, the theming is Crystals, the figure in question is officially named after Rutilated Quartz. Okay, okay, okay, jumping ahead in the timeline a bit, Hello Kitty in gold was a reality two years later in 2006 via the McDonald's Hong Kong exclusive kitty brick collection, a set of 16 lego-inspired colorful figures, one of which is the exact shade of gold we're looking for. Even though we could care less about the inclusion of its metallic brother silver, together they do help show how these were meant to stand out. Neither gold or silver were treated like the top chase, those instead being the two additional variants based on the comedy rap duo, Soft Hard. And then beyond that, you could send in a coupon with payment for four versions of what they called 400% kitty brick, AKA four times bigger figures. And on top of that, there's proof showing online raffle exclusives. Point is, there was a lot of them. Not only was it especially neat that all colors came on card backs, but when put side to side, they could connect via puzzle piece borders. It doesn't appear this particular gold Hello Kitty was considered more rare than the others, as it is seen quite often in collections and marketplace listings online. You could just obtain the shiny gold Gato by going the Little Mermaid 101 Dalmatians route and just buy the full set outright, which was an option for a measly 40 USD. Bringing it back to 2005, once again at McDonald's and still within Hong Kong, the options made available to celebrate the Peanuts cartoon turning 55 years old included three plushies of Snoopy the dog, one plain, one silver, and one gold. Despite these not fitting the typical definition of a included with your meal style fast food toy, they were offered within McDonald's locations and branded with the iconic logo. When translating the display name tag, the color and focus is shown to be specifically named glory gold. Prior to this entry, several examples have been seen showing the concept of "fools gold", where a toy starts at a color, then shifts to gold with age, then unsuspecting sellers later incorrectly deem it gold, which then confuses prospectors attempting to catalog every example of a golden fast food toy. Anyway, Snoopy is an especially interesting example of this phenomenon as over the years, if not stored properly, all three variants appear to slowly transition into one singular vague shade of orange. Despite how obscure the 55th anniversary glory gold Snoopy plush is, enough is known to get an idea of how the promotion worked. If only that was the case for this MF. One of, if not the most recognizable golden chase fast food toy was delivered to the world in 2007, in the form of the golden Homer, released alongside 15 other non-gold figures in an effort to promote the Simpsons movie releasing that same summer. The reason you either remember or have heard of the golden Homer before is because of how hard they went promoting this film. Mention of it was everywhere. Upon discovery of the elusive golden Homer, no prize was won. This was purely a repaint of the standard figure designed to be chased. The sound chip as well was kept the same. Within the pages of this BK Simpsons themed pamphlet, a board game style activity is included called the golden Homer relay, whereby flipping coins and following instructions, the cowboy hat toting toy could be won at the finish line. During the toyline's one month run, Gold Homer was listed as limited edition, which is sort of pointless terminology when aren't all fast food toys limited edition? It's probably alluding to the fact the golden Homer toy was dispensed less often than the other 15. According to 2007 forum posts, other sources say four figures released a week for four weeks, in addition to Gold Homer every week, making him maybe the most common, which would make some sense given his lack of worth. Few probably know that outside of the US, more gold figures could be obtained via this 15-piece set of Oscar-esque characters, once again including Gold Homer, this time with a trophy base. Concrete info on this foreign release is hard to come by. It looks to have been released at least in Mexico, evidence being that same 2007 forum, Germany, evidence being their use of German voice actor's sound chips, and China, evidence being this bag. And definitely Australia, given the fact that some of the toys include the country-exclusive Hungry Jack's alternative logo. It's interesting to note how all the figures use the same exact molds, besides Mr. Burns, who was instead forced to stand. Another extremely legit example, this time on the lesser-known side, is the 2007 Japanese-exclusive Sgt. Frog Happy Meal set of 66 total keychain figures, one of which is, you guessed it, silver. On paper, this is exactly what we're looking for. Large toy set, use of blind bags, tons of commons, with a few rare variants sprinkled in for fun. The math breaks down into 5 characters spread across 8 different expressions, which then each receive 8 alternative looks, most of which are themed to McDonald's in some way. The 65th and 66th characters of gold and silver, which were labeled as secret, were then positioned as the toughest to find and most visually appealing. From a collector's standpoint, completing this had to be brutal, but from a variant chaser's perspective, this had to be a rush every time you ordered. Luckily for the diehards out there, an official completionist guidebook and 66 complete set collector's box was made available, the latter of which needed to be won through a sweepstakes. For the next entry, the 2007 Sonic Drive-In Wacky Pack Top Parade Jack Tot Plush. The lore got too crazy, the rabbit hole was too extensive, the need for a separate deep dive became too strong. Enough to where if you want to learn the interesting history behind the fabled Golden Tots and the Sonic Tots toyline as a whole, you're going to have to check out that spin-off investigation. If you do, you might be treated to a couple bonus golds as well. Jumping way ahead to 2010, a quick shoutout needs made to the McDonald Bakugan Gundalian Invaders 24-piece set, of which includes two Battle Gear accessories named Jetker and Swather, who, depending on the version, might include some subtle gold accents. Without going too in-depth, Bakugan are traditionally small spherical toys that, once connected to a magnet, pop out to reveal an elaborate origami-style monster. Then there's Battle Gear, which can then be attached like weapons. Point is, all eight toys in the set were said to come in three colors apiece, hence the 24 toy total. Distinguishing the ball variants as a piece of cake, telling the Battle Gear apart? Good luck! The silver version? Yeah, no problem. Differentiating gold from bronze? Better get out the microscope. A slightly more intriguing golden toy, also from 2010, back over in Japan, was seen via their Pokémon McDonald's set of 24-colored blind bag Pokéballs, tied in with the concurrent release of Best Wishes, the Generation 5-focused anime series. Within the many-colored "monster balls," as the country calls them, a shiny gold variant does exist, but does not open up, it instead is able to project a small laser image. The other ball types either contain a light-up figure, produce a specific Pokémon sound, or serve as an ink stamp. When looking at all 24, divided into their four categories, a pattern then emerges, revealing the gold Pokéball is sadly just a metallic yellow. Out of nowhere in 2011, a new player entered the gold game, that being Wienerschnitzel, the hot dog-focused fast-food chain not typically associated with kids' meal toys. When looking into their history, it's clear they've given out a toy or two over the years, the most popular being the antenna toppers made of their mascot, the delicious one. The plain old Basic Frank from 1998 is the one seen most often, which is probably why in 2011, for their 50-year anniversary as a company, Wienerschnitzel decided to re-release the topper with a gold makeover and include him for free with the purchase of any meal combo. Despite being described as "the world's most valuable antenna topper," the golden antenna weenie is not considered a rare hard-to-get item, more of just a fun way to pay tribute to their fan-favorite topper toys, and to thank fans for 50 years of business. If that wasn't cool enough already, that same year, another weenie was produced, this time one in actual gold, well, technically with an 18-karat gold coating. These COA-certified, numbered-out-of-a-thousand collector-case-enclosed metal toppers are a bit of a mystery, but said to have ties to a Los Angeles 50th anniversary celebration event in March. When reading the packaging of the foam gold topper, the Wieners described as a way to balingify your car or keychain via the top keyring hoop, and it also says this, which calls into question its inclusion here in the first place. one-star's toy collection from McDonald's Japan in 2011 is a perfect fit in terms of what we're looking for. 20-piece set, all in blind bags, with two gold chases hidden within. Sometimes these are shown in the advertising, but not too much in order to build a little mystique. For the show's 50th anniversary, notice a trend, 18 previous protagonists got their own statuesque torso toys, reminiscent of those vintage belly washer toppers. The 19th and 20th characters are just golden versions of specifically characters Kamen Rider #1 and Kamen Rider Ozu. When giving those figures a closer look, #1's function is to make a noise via a sensor, and Ozu's is to produce a multicolored light, viewable through his translucent eyes. These two functions were actually exclusive to the gold guys, as every other character either produces a single color light, a sound from a button push, or worked like a tiny viewmaster of sorts. This, in addition to their color, is probably why they were often referred to as "special versions" in the related promotional material, alongside the mention of a Lottery One Complete Collector's set. One that likely is similar to previous examples, except we don't know because photoproof has yet to surface. While on the hunt for gold, you might stumble into this guy. A golden cup character with cherries for eyes filled with a red icy liquid said to hail from Sonic. Information-wise, all the listing is able to prove is a date of 2012. Using that year, another sold listing can be found, again one with no info about what set the figure actually comes from. The confusion continues on Reddit with several posts being made about fully lost Sonic-related vinyl soda figures, a kid robot-style slushy cup they remember looking like this, a humanoid three to four inch toy with stickers and molded ice cubes on its head. It was clear from these posts that many people remember these but are unable to recall their exact name. Commenters would often bring up Sonic Squirters from 1997, but knowing what we know, this gold guy is a part of the set everyone's talking about, a set with how many total figures though? Eventually, a Redditor was able to show visual proof of two similar slushes, but stated again they had no idea what they were called. Via image searching, more online evidence of the set can be found on eBay, Mercari, and Worthpoint once again, but not one of those sources contained any info whatsoever. Five months later, a huge discovery was made when the previous OP updated his post with a link to a video in which a collector showcases what they call "Sonic Sippers." This video was huge as it showed visuals for 15 different characters, three of which appear to be custom sticker placed planes. Most importantly, the rare golden cherry was seen alongside a silver, thus confirming his chase variant status. Though when further searching the name "Sonic Sippers," nothing comes up, with the only thing close being these "Spooky Sippers" from 1998. A sold listing for the exact 15-figure lot was found soon after, but again, no useful info contained within. At this point, the gold was found, its year in chase status was confirmed within what looks to be a 12 to maybe 15-figure set, but what were their names? With a mystery this hard to solve, there was only one more site worth searching. As you can see, there was only one more site worth searching. After days and days scrolling through the vast catalogue of Flickr photography, not only did the final name reveal end up being specifically "Sonic Sips," but it was seemingly proven to be a 12-figure set with three additional sticker customs. Using that newly discovered search term, more evidence started to surface, including a video with a checklist complete with collector's cards. By the looks of it, gold, officially named "Chocolate Cherry," wasn't even treated like the rarest. That title belongs to the mystery "Tot" variant based on the 2007 toyline who may or may not have had a deep dive dedicated to it. The next few years of golden fast food toys were a bit uneventful. Yes, several were released, but there wasn't much hype backing any of them. 2015's offering from Shopkins, aka the brand known for blind bag style miniature shopping items, provided Penelope perfume, an ultra rare chase character available within the 56-piece set from McDonald's. Outside of gold, Penelope also came in two other colors, which was the case for the other two ultra rare characters, Tiara and Kelsey Compact. Just like with Crazy Bones, the scale of these toys was very likely increased to avoid a choking hazard. Whether this ultra rare was truly that is unlikely given the eBay asking prices. It's a similar situation with the Sonic set of Moshi Monsters, also from 2015. Again, this is a situation where a toy already known for blind bag golds enters the fast food game with scaled up versions of their well-known characters, who again are able to be found in that same desirable colorway. The super special rare paint jobs seen on the three out of five total characters do look pretty good, but compared to the past, this whole promo feels a bit lifeless. Like with Shopkins, they're easy to track down, they have zero nostalgic fanfare, and don't have any fun Willy Wonka-style prize. Besides, maybe some lame digital unlocks if you count those. In 2016, things were still looking bleak. Get a look who was next up to receive the rarely afforded golden opportunity. Talking MFing Tom. 12 total figures, one of which is gold. McDonald's was the one behind it, not only in the US, but in several other countries as well. In terms of qualifications, does this pass the golden toy test? Yes. Is it unlikable for some hard to explain reason? Also, yes. The lame name, the stupid functionality, the overdone mold repeats, the casual usage of gold as just another colorway, and the simple fact it's Talking Tom, a brain rot icon known mostly for this BS. Overall, it's just not worth spending time on. Plus, that's not even gold. That's mustard. That same year, over in Europe, McDonald's offered up a hard to answer question. If a shiny Pokemon was to exist within a Pokemon-themed set, alongside 15 other completely standard, non-shiny Pokemon, does that qualify as a golden chase? Well, depending on the country involved in the year of availability, as this promo was run multiple times, the full roster of characters varies. When and if the shiny Magikarp is included, it's sometimes presented normally, other times a golden shimmer is added, even in some commercials, other times a little notable speech bubble is featured, hell, even the figure itself is described as having a unique, one-of-a-kind matte texture? Combine that with McDonald's rarity acknowledgement and inclusion of the gold carp in every weekly wave release in Poland? The evidence seems to point too, maybe. There's no non-shiny, despite the UK commercials saying so, it's just too tough to call. Maybe the best modern example of the Willy Wonka golden ticket golden toy phenomena is Burger King's 2017 Spongebob tie-in toy promotion featuring a whopping 42 character mashups, some of which were gold, most of which were extremely off-putting. The idea was for the six main characters of the show, each would have variants that incorporated either the body or face of another, making for all sorts of bizarre combinations. The most desirable of the 42 were of course the six non-combo gold characters, who, unlike all the flat face figures, actually had some 3D features. What these were meant to tie in with was the marketing campaign Spongebob Gold, which served as the umbrella theme for many celebratory Spongebob events, mainly special episode compilations. Since the US didn't participate in the event, the toys were only seen overseas, with the Australian Hungry Jacks release receiving the most attention. In reality, the promo was conducted all over Europe and Latin America as well, mainly in 2018. Some countries advertised less than 42 characters, while others claimed there were actually 43, with a special bonus bedazzled Spongebob that, if found, would win you a family trip to Nickelodeon's hotels and resorts in Punta Cana. This particular figure seemed to be available only in Spanish-speaking countries, oftentimes being tied into what they called the Spongebob Heart of Gold campaign. This involved other ticket-winning methods, pineapple-flavored ice cream cones, it looked to be quite extensive. How many of these special golden Spongebobs were out there, what exact countries received them, isn't quite clear. What is for certain, people were extremely confused. On just about every post made about the Bedazzled Bob are tons of comments asking if the gold toy they found counts. In their defense, the advertising does a very poor job at making it clear that there's this gold Spongebob, and then there's this one, the latter of which is required for the trip. With clear rules and less deceptive wording, this could have been a legendary release. It instead just pissed a lot of people off. Burger King Spain are the only ones to come out and announce a winner, that being this family right here, therefore ending the "Render Only" rumors alleged against the 2017-2018 Bedazzled Golden Spongebob. Sonic is back once again, this time in collaboration with Teen Titans Go, resulting in this 8-piece set, two of which are variants, the notable one of course being the Special Edition Gold Cyborg Pen, aka the least practical writing device ever made. What's there to really say about a Sonic set in 2018, based around the infamous Teen Titans spin-off, that chose to represent one of its main characters as a chubby chibi pen, that just so happens to receive a meaningless gold variant? Nothing. Back overseas, once again in the country of Japan, a unique trend was starting up at McDonald's, one centered around collectible miniature car brand Tomika. Beginning first in 2019, 9-piece varied vehicle sets would hit McDonald's Happy Meals, with 8 of the options being advertised, and the final toy kept a secret. For the years 2019 through 2026, the hidden vehicle would always be released within the second wave, and oftentimes be gold, but not always. The first example of this was 2019's Nissan GTR Special Gold Edition, which stood alongside a basic blue, making for a perfect chase situation. Each car in the set was housed in a labeled box, which also contained a sticker sheet meant to decorate the plain stock body. This pattern can be seen repeated in 2020 with the Toyota GR Supra, and in 2021 with the Nissan GTR Nismo, this time in a bag. 2022's offering, the Nissan Fairlady Z, as well was made guessable via blind bags. The non-gold variant of the Z was notable for using a shade of yellow that, if in the right light, could pass as the ninth special secret. In 2024, the pattern was altered a bit with there being no non-gold variant, instead two different gold vehicles, with the rare mystery car being a Toyota GR86. 2026 would bring it back to boxes with the standard formula of a basic black and special gold for the GT GT3, again from Toyota. To be clear, in 2023 and 2025, Tomika did have happy meal releases, but the secret vehicles within each set weren't the colors we're looking for. For some collectors, these miniature supercars were probably a huge hit, but for non-Japanese-speaking gold prospectors disinterested in cars who are attempting to catalog every golden fast food toy example? Goddamn are these hard to tell apart! The secret second wave blind bag gold concept was seen once more in 2019 Japanese Happy Meals within the Dorymon 9-piece set released to promote Dorymon the Movie: Nobita's Chronicle of Moon Exploration. Labeled with that same mysterious silhouette in question mark, the toy this time was revealed as this bad boy, a seemingly gold version of the titular cat who, unlike the other toys in the set, did not have a play function and was simply a keychain. After giving the Dorymon lore a quick once-over, the "gold" status of this figure is called into question. Apparently, this is a cat who started as a yellow/gold robot, who then had its ears chewed off by a robotic mouse, causing him to cry so much he washed off the yellow paint, revealing his real blue robotic exterior. So does this count? Kind of, given it's an anniversary-esque nod to the original Dorymon? Are we retroactively going back and counting every previously released yellow/golden Dorymon? Hell no. Maybe the most unique method for acquiring gold in a fast-food context was also seen in 2019 through the Shogaku-Kan Neo Encyclopedia Happy Meal tie-in, once again from Japan. What made the promo so unique, some might say annoying, is you didn't actually get the toy in the restaurant. You first had to get a mini encyclopedia within your Happy Meal, which then had a QR code within it that, when scanned at a participating bookstore, after buying a full-size Neo Encyclopedia, then you would receive one of five golden figurines capable of some minimal movement. All that effort and money to then maybe get a duplicate, as even these are kept a mystery until opened. Having to jump through this many hoops for toys that are admittedly not the greatest was asking a bit much of the consumer. You could argue this multi-step process created a fun hunt and added a layer of exclusivity, but let's be real, these are just basic PVC figures painted gold. In 2020, this was repeated with a T-Rex, and then again in 2021 with five more animals, a bear, tiger, deer, cow, and wild boar, making for 11 total golds. Well, 12 if you count the lame coin in 2020. The Minions. Love 'em or hate 'em, you can't deny their success. Their global success. Due to their gibberish language and slapstick appeal, it should be no surprise that multiple countries participated in the 2020 Happy Meal promotion of Minions: Rise of Gru, a film that wasn't even released that year, instead in 2022 due to a COVID delay. The set featured a whopping 48 standard figures and an even more shocking 48 gold variants, which were said to have a 1 in 10 rarity. This whole promotion is similar to the previously discussed 2017 Spudgebob line, with it also being seen in countless countries, sometimes with less figures but sometimes more, and sometimes with and without gold. To determine how many unique gold characters exist would require not only determining definitively what countries did and did not participate, but then all rosters would then have to be cross-referenced, which just isn't worth it. To make it clear how confusing this whole release was, the US handed out one toy per mystery capsule, which itself had variants, while other countries gave them out in pairs, and sometimes in groups of four. South Korea only got three gold variants, at the same time Malaysia was offering only 35 variants, at the same time the Philippines was offering a collector's set of only 15 figures. Hell, Indonesia didn't even have the same toys. Speaking only for the US release, the 48 character lineup consisted of all basic yellows besides one purple evil minion and a singular baby Gru. Keeping in 2020, Sonic returned with another serving of mid, this time in the form of a seven-piece set released to promote the Netflix original show, She-Ra in the Princess of Power. The gold figure made of the main character was notable for its compatibility with cardboard weapons, and that's about it. There's just something about Sonic's take on the gold chase concept. There's no advertised rarity, no prize, no mystery, no shiny paint job, instead just a mustardy, plastic, equally rare variant with no height built around it. Take for example their 2021 Wacky Pack, featuring 11 Tokidoki toys, one of which being the Golden Tot Kaiju. Credit where credit is due, some gold is better than none, but to get people excited, it needs to be held at a high status. Popping out three figures all in one plastic color isn't going to do the trick. The name Golden Tot is maybe a reference to the obscure 2007 plush potato covered extensively in the companion investigation, but more likely just designed and named to complement the silver colorway, who also loosely ties into the Sonic menu. Tokidoki would make another appearance in a 2025 Wacky Pack release, again with many variants, including one that could be considered gold only if altered accents count. It was finally given some sort of rarity distinction, so at least there's that. In a similar fashion to the Tomika toy lines throughout the 2020s, miniature train brand Play Rail conducted their own series of yearly releases involving secret vehicles, with 2022's mysterious entry being the Golden D51 #22 steam locomotive, a high quality looking alternative to the basic black included within the base set. McDonald's Japan really delivered with this one. Blind bag? Check. Commercial? Check. Solid paint job? Check. Non-gold variant? Check. It's damn close to a perfect example. The only downside is it didn't appear to be rare whatsoever. The Play Rail brand would be seen in Happy Meals several times before and after the 2022 D51, but never again did the secret vehicle color match the mystery silhouette. Back in 2018, Play Rail alongside Likacon Princesses are notable for introducing the idea of the secret toy option in Japanese McDonald's Happy Meals. The phenomena then continued on with tons and tons of examples, most of which are just extra characters or random variants. Every so often though, gold could be seen, like in the 2024 Curious George set, featuring a secret soccer player, playing with what looks to be possibly an 85th anniversary inspired gold ball. There's also the 2024 Hello Kitty set, featuring the secret golden trophy, which when given the context of this being in celebration of the 50th anniversary, the chosen color starts to make more sense. Same goes for the 2025 Thomas and Friends 80th anniversary set, featuring the shiny gold goat himself, Thomas. This particular example wasn't kept a secret, but still serves as a slam dunk in terms of chase variant. Are these as cool as the late 90s, early 2000s golden fast food toys? No, but they still allow for the chance to make a kid's day Willy Wonka style. 2022 Sonic Wacky Pack Zuru Mega Mini Brands Golden Rare and Super Rare Kony Tots and Slush. If this doesn't reek of blind box slop, what does? Many trends return here. Increased size that decreases choking risk, likely false rarity classifications, single plastic color cop-outs, and an overall dark side of YouTube type vibe. No hate to Sonic, they've produced greatness, but a lot of their releases just come off as forced. Take a ride on the cartoon side. Probably the most bizarre example we'll cover today also comes from 2022, or does it? The confusion began back in 2020 with the opening of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway attraction at Walt Disney World. To promote the ride, Disney partnered with McDonald's to release a 10-toys set under the same name, focused not only on the railway, but several other iconic rides as well. These could then connect and form a train system of their own. Only one week after release, the toys were all then recalled. The reason being many of the included vacation sweepstakes game tickets having faulty QR codes that, quote, led users to an error message or, in rare cases, unintended search results. Once the 10 toys were pulled, a promise of a quick restock without the broken tickets was made, but not kept. That was until nearly 18 months later when the same toys were re-released, this time in promotion of Disney World's 50th anniversary. The tie-in box was changed and the commercial was altered, except only with its narration. [00:57:55] Speaker 2: Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway at Walt Disney World is rolling into McDonald's. The Walt Disney World magical 50th anniversary celebration is heading to McDonald's. [00:58:05] Speaker 1: This new lineup only included eight ride-inspired toys, with the Hollywood Tower Mickey and Pirates of the Caribbean Mini not making the cut. When seen in the restaurant within their Happy Meal display, it was stated these particular figures had the chance to contain a spot of gold color. This ended up meaning the addition of small subtle golden accents. Good ones this time. Examples of each golden variant can be found, except for one. That being Mission Space Mickey. Nowhere will you find any version of Mission Space Mickey with any gold whatsoever. Not within new listings, not within old. The choice to re-release these toys with little anniversary gold touch-ups makes complete sense, but why just leave only one out? And Mickey of all characters? The official blog from the time did specify that only select toys had golden accents in their design, so at least they gave themselves an out. Occasionally an eBay listing will show what looks to be proof of the gold Mickey, but never will you see it in stock. Looking at the two released versions, their printed dates prove they're different, so this isn't an old stock new release year situation, they just seemingly forgot to release an accented update. If by chance the Mission Space Mickey was made and has just yet to be found, he would be in the running for rarest golden fast food toy of all time. Love and Thunder's Golden Armor Th- The Marvel's Captain Marvel Gold Energy Fist- [00:59:39] Speaker 2: Coming to you from Frost Way, with a buddy and a meal in every box. [00:59:43] Speaker 1: Now that's more like it. In collaboration with fashion music internet creative Kerwin Frost, McDonald's decided that in 2023 it was time to bring back one of the best Happy Meal toys of all time, the McNugget Buddies. Each of the six brand new characters were said to be inspired by Kerwin's Harlem roots, with one actually representing the man himself. This comeback was hailed as the first time a McNugget Buddy was released in more than 25 years, which isn't quite true, but close enough. The whole McNugget Buddy rabbit hole is worthy of a deep dive in and of itself, that's for sure. In addition to the six well designed and high quality figures, a seventh secret nugget was tossed in, one that was made extra mysterious due to its complete absence in the advertising. With an entirely gold body and no clothes, McNugget Legend, as he is officially called, was revealed to the world as the elusive number zero entry. On that character card, he can be seen described as golden like the arches, golden like the fries, golden like the edges on a McDonald's apple pie. This then sort of legitimizes that 2004 teeny beanie baby bear. For less than a second, McNugget Legend is seen in the commercial, except only as a distant background character. The fact his existence was left out of almost all the marketing and instead just spread via word of mouth makes this whole promotion that much cooler. As the promo went on, McNugget Legend was hinted at more often, but he still serves as a prime example of how to build organic hype. If the figure wasn't cool enough already, McNugget Legend was notable for actually being heavier than the other characters as a nod to his metallic composition. By literally cutting one in half, it was discovered this was achieved by two interior steel plates. The nostalgic comeback of a toy both old and young find fun combined with the wholesome partnership, highly detailed customizable options, awesome commercials packed with Easter eggs, and a legitimately tough chase for a figure worth chasing? This is definitely an all-timer Happy Meal promotion. Without a doubt, this release right here revitalized the golden chase concept. The attention it received had every competing restaurant from 2023 onwards attempting to match its level of cultural impact. As the years went on, the golden toy trend could be seen just about everywhere. McDonald's would return not only with a basic gold, but also with the first ever pink gold in the form of Princess Peach and Mario, two of the options available in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe promotion in 2024. All things considered, these are solid and should count, but at the end of the day, they're just referencing popular in-game skins, so they aren't the most interesting. That same year, Sonic re-entered the game with Monster High Monster Mini Surprise Rare Golden Frankie. Bet you can guess my thoughts on this one. In an equally lame attempt at Blind Bag Gold, Raisin Cane's of all restaurants released Caniac Collectibles, a three-piece set that happened to include this sucka. The games pretty quickly went overboard with the use of this plastic, to a point where it could be considered gold abuse. The concept where the color is not handled as rare and instead an everyday color palette possibility. Though, in their defense, their mascot does sorta justify it. Things started looking more optimistic in 2025. McDonald's released their hit toy line Lil McDonald's, a 21-piece set of scaled-down, miscellaneous McDonald's-themed gadgets, food, devices, etc. Including the sticker-filled gold Happy Meal box, which stood alongside a Basic Red. This toy in particular seemed to really grab people's attention, at a level comparable to the McNugget Legend. The whole set really got people back into Happy Meal collecting, proving once again that high-quality toys is how you get fans excited about visiting your restaurant. When diving into the foreign side of the promotion, the gold Happy Meal box is revealed to be nothing in terms of rarity, when compared to the juicy regional exclusives. 2025 also saw Arby's enter the gold game for the first time ever, with the Arby's Squad. Like their food, these are very underrated. In addition to nine unique characters, three variants were tossed in, two of which were gold. The Arby's Squad roster and overall brand would later be expanded, but the only two characters to receive the gold treatment were Roast Beef and the Arby's A. Yes, this is a single plastic, Sonic-esque situation, but these designs are incredible. Speaking of Sonic, they somehow got their act together in 2025 with their Bad Guys 2 Wacky Pack collaboration, featuring six different characters, all of which came in gold. Paint job wise, it doesn't get lazier than this, especially with Mr. Snake, but the loose plot connected gold heist edition idea makes for a somewhat improvement over previous releases. 2025 examples just kept coming. McDonald's partnered again with Disney, this time for the 70th anniversary of this time Disneyland. Within the 70 toy roster, two Cinderella castles were present, one of which was, you guessed it, Wendy's wet their beak a bit in 2025 with the DC Comics hero and villain muscle style action figure line of 72 total toys, 18 of which were gold variants, made distinguishable from yellow by this little sparkle. Then KFC entered the fold with their five Chinese exclusive gold Gundams, released in honor of the anime/toyline's 45th anniversary, obtainable only via a token that when put into a gacha machine would pop out a random model kit that then needed assembled. Strangely, this promotion was not tied to fried chicken, but instead a Wagyu Burger. 2026 kicked off with McDonald's once again, but only at the restaurants located within the Philippines. To tie in with the Year of the Fire Horse, and of course their new sprite-based Golden McFloat, McDonald's debuted the 12 Zodiacs characters. A group of familiar faces all wearing apt astrological outfits, with Grimace sporting not only a grey horse housing, but a golden one as well. That was then followed by Jack in the Box, with their Lobubu-inspired Jibby Gold Baller Boss keychain, then by Sonic again, with Hello Kitty again. But this time, they smell good. It should be obvious by now that everyone was in on the trend. The quality of the toys, the sophistication of the promotion, and the actual rarity of the chase always varies? But there's just something about gold, man. Your brain's drawn to it. You can't deny that Willy Wonka rush. KFC's 2026 Singaporean-exclusive Hot Paws Fortune Cats is a good example to end on, as they did about everything right. For an admittedly steep price of 7 USD, you would receive a blind box cat figurine in one of four poses that, if in gold, could win you a cash prize. Not a big prize, but one worth celebrating. This opportunity was available to only 10 participants, all of which were actually announced at the end of the sweepstakes. Many of the lucky winners could be seen within the required social media photos, with one particular poster choosing to include the video in which it happens. "Holy!" [01:07:19] Speaker ?: "Holy!" "Holy!" "Holy!" "Holy!" Thank you.