DCAU Merch: "B:TAS" Happy Meal boxes (1993) and "Batman Forever" mugs from McDonald's!

[about_faces]

While I'm older and wiser enough to know that McDonald's is shit that will kill me, I still have a great deal of fondness for the Happy Meal toys I had collected over the years as a kid growing up in the 90's. Of course, when it comes to which line of tie-in toys were my favorites, you can probably guess:

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Comments

[abqreviews]

"All the cats from the city's richest people"

Considering what a powerful weapon cats can be in the wrong hands, I'd say they made a wiser choice in stealing cats rather than mud pies and forty cakes.

It could be because I avoid fast food like the plague, but I never knew any of this stuff existed. All I knew about Batman and McDonalds was the Batman Returns Happy Meal controversy.

>Sadly, I have been hesitant to use the mugs ever since those stories broke out about lead being found in pretty much all McDonald's glasses ever made. Does that extend to the Batman Forever glasses too, or just the glasses that had paint on them? I haven't been able to find out either way, but better safe than sorry.

I guess the odds of getting lead poisoning from those glasses are....

*Puts on sunglasses*

50/50.

[psychopathicus]

Could you elaborate on the controversy in question? I may have heard about it, but nothing's coming to mind.

[mothy_van_cleer]

The Happy Meal tie-in for Batman Returns was pulled before it could hit shelves, largely due to criticism by that the film contained just a bit too much sexual content (i.e., a woman in a skin-tight leather catsuit giving herself a tongue-bath) and disturbing/macabre imagery (i.e., a fat deformed guy in Victorian underpants bleeding copiously from the mouth before dying) to be deemed "suitable for all ages".

[psychopathicus]

Oh, yeah - I might have heard about that; I'm not sure. It's interesting, because one thing I have heard is that the official merchandising for the movie drastically toned down the Burton-ness, at least in terms of toys and stuff. I've never seen a Batman Returns Penguin figure, for instance, that looks anything like the DeVito version - it's just a standard Penguin that could have come from any time period. So if the Happy Meals were yanked, that would seem to indicate one of two things - A: it was a simple overreaction to the grotesqueries of the movie, not taking into account the toys' more innocent nature, or B: the Happy Meal versions actually did stick closer to the movie designs than the others. Hmm... I don't suppose anyone's ever posted any pictures of what this tie-in stuff actually looked like, have they?

[killermoth]

"Hmm... I don't suppose anyone's ever posted any pictures of what this tie-in stuff actually looked like, have they? "

Penguin looked fairly accurate to how he looked in the film - at least how he looked after Jen and Josh spruced him up:

[mothy_van_cleer]

For comparison's sake, the entire line of vehicles:

[killermoth]

"The Happy Meal tie-in for Batman Returns was pulled before it could hit shelves..."

Not to disagree with a fellow Moth, but this just isn't true! They did all four weeks of the promotion, and I was able to get the whole set of toys twenty years ago (commercial below:)

There was also six 'Collector's Cups', of which I was also able to get the whole set of:

I do know there was controversy over the inappropriateness of some of the film's tie-ins being marketed explicitly to kids, but it didn't lead to McDonald's cutting their promotion short. In fact, I still see the toys at flea markets and street fairs here in NY all the time...

[mothy_van_cleer]

Well, so maybe I don't attend the necessary local bazaars to learn that sort of information first-hand! What business is it of yours, sir? Fie to you, you most uncouth of brigands!

(Seriously, though, I'll bet those cups look nice. If you have a picture of them all together, now would be the time to show it off.)

[killermoth]

Well, so maybe I don't attend the necessary local bazaars to learn that sort of information first-hand!

You're not missing much, my friend, mostly a lot of cigar smoke :)

(Seriously, though, I'll bet those cups look nice. If you have a picture of them all together, now would be the time to show it off.)

[psychopathicus]

Holy crap, Pengers in his Duck Vehicle! Me likey!