Raving Toy Maniac

May 14, 2014 - The boy made just one visit to fast food this past month, but scored two Spider-Man movie toys: Spider-Man and Electro action figures. They are articulated only at the shoulders, but do have light-up features. They have buttons on their backs to press and make their heads light up.

We also unearthed this gem from 2011 - a wee Super Soaker from a Burger King promotion. It was hiding out in a box of regular-size squirt guns in our pantry.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month! (More after the jump)

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

- McDonald's has toys from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in their Happy Meals. The next promotion shown is a joint promo of Pokemon and American Girl: Isabelle.

April 16, 2014 - The boy missed out on fast food entirely this past month, but he has caught on to the concept of eBay and has requested sets of several recent promotional toys.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month! (More after the jump)

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

- McDonald's has toys from Skylanders Swap Force and My Little Pony: Rainbow Power in their Happy Meals. The next promotion shown is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with toys for boys and jewelry/goodies for girls.

Their McPlay app now has free ebooks in it as well as a game. The ebooks are also available on their web site.

March 21, 2014 - We've done a fair bit of traveling in the past month, and from McDonald's, the boy scored another lenticular cup from The LEGO Movie and two Mr. Peabody and Sherman toys, as well two of the mini Hasbro Games from Wendy's.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month! (More after the jump)

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

- McDonald's has toys from Mr. Peabody & Sherman in their Happy Meals. The next promotion shown is a combination of Skylanders Swap Force and My Little Pony: Rainbow Power. Their McPlay app now has free ebooks in it as well as a game. The ebooks are also available on their web site.

February 12, 2014 - Right now, the premiums in the McDonald's Happy Meals are cups from The LEGO Movie. As you can almost see in these pictures, the cups are lenticular. They are also fairly sturdy, so it might be worth getting a full set via eBay. Speaking of eBay, the boy did talk me into a set of last month's Adventure Time toys and a set of the Build-A-Bear toys from December.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month! (More after the jump)

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

- McDonald's has lenticular cups from The LEGO Movie in their Happy Meals. The next promotion shown is toys from Mr. Peabody & Sherman. Their McPlay app now has free ebooks in it as well as a game. The ebooks are also available on their web site.

January 20, 2014 - We were hermits in December, but the Adventure Time toys at McDonald's lured us out... and then the toys were delayed! The boy was so mad about it that he didn't even want to stay and eat there on that visit. The second time we checked for the Adenture Time toys, he had settled down a bit and accepted the Ice Age toy and played in the playroom. He's caught on to eBay now, so after getting the first Jake toy, he requested that I just "order the rest" from eBay.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month! (More after the jump)

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

December 18, 2013 - November saw just a single visit to McDonald's, and the boy scored a blue Build-A-Bear. eBay came through with the other Angry Birds Star Wars trick-or-treat buckets, together in a single lot with a few Angry Birds plush toys which were assimilated into the Borg Collective of his plush toys.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month! (More after the jump)

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

- McDonald's has Furby Boom and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys in their Happy Meals. The next promotion shown is Adventure Time and Paul Frank. Their McPlay app now has free ebooks in it as well as a game. The ebooks are also available on their web site.

November 15, 2013 - McDonald's had trick-or-treat buckets in October, so the boy informed us that we were going. Period. No discussion allowed. He was happy with the Angry Birds Star Wars bucket he got, but quietly let me know later on that I would need to "go online and order the other two" for him. Another visit to McDonald's after Halloween resulted in a cute little book and a bookmark.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month! (More after the jump)

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

October 18, 2013 - The past month was a huge blur and we did not get to any fast food restaurants to eat or buy toys. This month we definitely need to get to a McDonald's that has the trick-or-treat buckets and to Carl's Jr to check out the Despicable Me 2 toys. We missed the Batman toys at McDonald's, so that might mean another eBay purchase.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month!

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

- The Wendy's web site still does not list the toys at all, but I did recently see a television commercial (!!!) promoting their Scared Shrekless Halloween toys. If you are on Facebook, you can see an album of these toys at this link. The toys are: a Shrek/Fiona mask, a Cat Attack Puss in Boots, Donkey Ears, a Donkey Sipper (straw topper), a Haunted Frame, and a Spooky Noises Shrek figure. (More after the jump)

September 18, 2013 - The boy has been collecting the Power Rangers toys from McDonald's and was able to get most of them before the Colorado flooding hit our area. Hopefully he can finish the MegaZord before the promotion ends.

I was able to snag a batch of the Sonic Justice League toys off eBay. It's not a complete set, but it had the pieces I wanted, so I was happy.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month! (more after the jump)

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

- McDonald's has Justice and Power Rangers MegaForce toys in their Happy Meals, with Batman and The Wizard of Oz shown as the next promotions.

- Sonic has Scooby-Doo toys in their Wacky Pack meals.

August 19, 2013 - Earlier this month, the boy got a Smurfs toy at McDonald's and loved it so much that he asked us to get him a set online, meaning from eBay. As you can see from the picture above, we did. All 16 of them. That's a lot of Smurfs! What amuses me about this is that he has no interest in the Smurfs movie, the Smurfs cartoon, or even a Smurfs book that I showed him at the library. (You know to click "read more" if you are seeing this on the front page, right?)