Raving Toy Maniac

August 5, 2013 - McDonald's is on fire this summer with the toys in their Happy Meals. The Spy Gear toys were a huge hit in our house, as were the Despicable Me 2 Minion figures, and now they have gorgeous toys from Smurfs 2.

Our boy is enjoying the Minions as we dole them out to him, and so far his favorite is this Evil Minion with the party noisemaker.

The neat thing about it is that there's a mouthpiece on the back, so when you blow on it, it really does make noise.

So you can imagine his disappointment when he went to McDonald's and got a Smurf figure with a party noisemaker, and... it does not make noise. It is "just" a sculpture. Poor kid. (more after the jump)

(RTM note: we're a bit sad to see this, if only because Taco Bell had what was likely the best fast food promotion of all time, the Star Wars toys back in 1997.)

Taco Bell® Becomes First Quick Service Restaurant to Discontinue Kid's Meals and Toys Nationally

IRVINE, Calif., July 23, 2013 -- Taco Bell® today announced that it will discontinue kid's meals and toys at its U.S. restaurants, becoming the first national quick service restaurant chain to do so. Select restaurants will begin the removal in July, with nationwide implementation anticipated by January 2014.

"As we continue our journey of being a better, more relevant Taco Bell, kid's meals and toys simply no longer make sense for us to put resources behind," said Greg Creed, chief executive officer of Taco Bell. "What does make sense is concentrating on expanding choices that meet and exceed the diverse needs of consumers of all ages, without losing focus on what makes us great today."

July 14, 2013 - The McDonald's Spy Gear toys last month went over so well that we ended up buying two more sets off eBay - the 2006 set and the 2012 set. So we have tons of Spy Gear to play with and a few lost projectiles to find.

Cereal premiums are competing with fast food toys for the boy's attention this month, though: at the moment, General Mills cereals have small Despicable Me 2 Minion toys in them and Kellogg's cereals have codes which can be redeemed for a Monsters University pillowcase. One morning he ate a custom mix of Trix and Apple Jacks.

SUBWAY® Restaurants And Lionsgate Team Up For The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Companies Will Support Feeding America as Part of Collaboration

MIL FORD, Conn. and SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 8, 2013 -- SUBWAY® restaurants, the world's largest restaurant chain, and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a leading global entertainment company, today announced that SUBWAY® will be the exclusive restaurant promotional destination for the film "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," the highly anticipated second installment of the global blockbuster "The Hunger Games" film franchise. "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" will open in theaters worldwide on November 22. SUBWAY® and Lionsgate will utilize their promotion to support Feeding America, a non-profit organization consisting of more than 200 food banks nationwide.

SUBWAY® Restaurants And Disney Collaborate For Release Of "Monsters University" And "The Lone Ranger"

(bleep)ORD, Conn., June 17, 2013 -- This June, SUBWAY® restaurants, the world's largest restaurant chain, and The Walt Disney Company will celebrate one year of working together with the announcement of two additional movie integrations: Disney-Pixar's "Monsters University" and Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer Films' "The Lone Ranger." In 2012, SUBWAY® restaurants and Disney collaborated on films including Disney-Pixar's "Brave," Disney's "Frankenweenie" and Walt Disney Animation Studios' "Wreck-It Ralph," recently winning the award for "Best Promotional Campaign" around these movies at the 2013 Cynopsis Kids Imagination Awards.

June 16, 2013 - In May, we took the boy to Wendy's for another Klutz Trip-tivities activity book. We also went to McDonald's for a Spy Gear toy, but by then they had changed over to Epic toys, so we ended up buying a Spy Gear set for him on eBay.

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:

- McDonald's has Hot Wheels and Twinkle Toes by Skecher's toys in their Happy Meals, with Despicable Me 2 shown as the next promotion. Apparently Epic came and went since last month's round-up.

- Burger King has Jungle Book toys in their Kids Meals, with Care Bears and Beyblade toys coming soon.

- The Chick-fil-A site lists Martha Speaks sticker books as the goodies in their Kid's Meals. The "kids under 3" item appears to be a board book.

May 16, 2013 - For April, we made a single trip to Wendy's. We really should have gone more often so the boy could complete the Cranium brain, but it is still a cute container by itself. So far in May, he's only been to Wendy's, and scored a Klutz Trip-tivities activity book.

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:

- McDonald's has Spy Gear and Winx Club toys in their Happy Meals, with Epic shown as the next promotion.

- The Chick-fil-A site lists mini scrapbooks as the goodies in their Kid's Meals. The "kids under 3" item appears to be a board book.

- Sonic has Slush Saucers in their Wacky Pack meals.

April 18, 2013 - For March, the boy had no fast food at all. He did get multiple new toys from other sources, though, so he really only missed out on calories.

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:

- McDonald's has Skylanders Giants and Fijit Friends Shimmies toys in their Happy Meals, with Spy Gear and Winx Club shown as the next promotions.

- The Chick-fil-A site lists Amazing Cow Heroes comic books as the goodies in their Kid's Meals. The "kids under 3" item appears to be a board book.

- Sonic has three different Ripley's Believe It or Not pop-up books in their Wacky Pack meals.

- Burger King has Jurassic Park toys in their Kids Meals, with Jungle Book toys coming soon.

MCDONALD'S® BRINGS SKYLANDERS GIANTS TO HAPPY MEAL®

Nine Skylanders Giants-Themed Happy Meal Toys & $10 Coupon for Skylanders Giants

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - April 10, 2013 - Skylanders Giants Happy Meals arrive at McDonald's restaurants as Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), launches the company's first-ever partnership with McDonald's USA LLC, the nation's leading foodservice provider. In North America, the inaugural Skylanders Giants Happy Meal program will run from April 12 - May 2, while supplies last, and will rollout in other select countries later this year.

DQE Announces a Licensing Deal with Walmart and 12 Other New Licensing and Merchandising Agreements for 'The Jungle Book'

HYDERABAD, India, March 28, 2013 -- DQ Entertainment International (DQE), a leading animation, gaming, live action, entertainment production and distribution company, is pleased to announce a number of new licensing and merchandising deals concluded during the quarter ended March 2013, mostly in USA.

The most significant of these were signed by DQE's partner in North America, Australia and South Africa, SMC Entertainment Group, Inc. ("SMC") in collaboration with the home-video distribution licensee Phase4 Films, who have launched "The Jungle Book" DVDs across all Walmart stores in USA and are launching in Canada soon.

Recently, DQE and SMC concluded a high-value licensing deal with Burger King Worldwide (BKW) for a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) - promotion that will begin worldwide in June '13.

Other important new licensing and merchandising agreements for "The Jungle Book" franchise concluded recently include:

• Magic Jump Inc. for inflatable bounce houses in USA and Canada