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Star Wars toys return to McDonalds’ Happy Meal this Friday… As ‘boy toys’

A new occasional feature here will be sharing those things that money (technically) can’t buy (at least not until it is on the secondary market).  Some examples: the podracer 3D glasses (though you can buy them if you’re not near a giveaway theater.)  Orange Death Star hand fans,  Pins, LEGO mini-figs,  ghost Obi-Wan figures,  and Special Edition Luke figures.

It will not be an exhaustive listing, but when we come across various tie-ins, we’ll do our best to share them with you as well as revisit some from the past from time to time.  Why? Because who doesn’t appreciate the free finer things in life?

First up — the McDonalds Star Wars Happy Meal toys for The Phantom Menace 3D rerelease.

McDonalds has had a few waves of Star Wars toys included in their happy meals in the prequel era.  The last couple of series were tied to The Clone Wars and were amusing.  The 2008 set focused on a cross between characters and ships – best of both worlds for most kids I know.

Threepio Happy Meal toy from 2011

The 2011 set  featured lightsabers, a Jedi Mind trick, a C3PO bobble (with R2-KT sticker!) – I still have some of those around and they were great for boys and girls. Who wouldn’t want 3PO hanging around all day?

Starting this Friday (per contacts in my local market, YMMV), you’ll start seeing a new round of Happy Meal toys.  I was excited when I first heard about the promotion, looking forward to seeing what McDonalds would come up with to celebrate the movie.  McDonald toys have been pretty cool lately with either multiple pieces, built in electronic lights and/or sounds, or just something above and beyond a hunk of plastic.  I was thinking maybe Jar-Jar with a long tongue (it’s been approved before), or prequel lightsabers like the 2011 promotion, or ships, or figures with voice chips.  Something strongly tied in to TPM at least.

The toys are previewed on HappyMeal.com. (See the screenshot above.) And they appear to be of the Beyblade  / LEGO Ninjago (minus the mini-fig) style of tops to compete with and collect.

The holders are light saber hilts, 2 pod racers, and R2.  The tops feature pictures of various standouts from the movie associated with the holder model.  The one standout is in the shape of R2-D2, with a matching top.  R2 fans will enjoy adding it to their collection and if you’re crafty you could modify it to match another of your favorite R2-series droids.

Recently Happy Meals have changed to include apple slices as well as fries as part of the meal to encourage healthier eating.  I can’t help but wonder if this decision has affected the budget for the toys.  Healthy living is important and as a mom I appreciate the apples being there and not just a choice, but cheapening the toy further is messing with tradition.  I’d rather not see the Happy Meal toy go the way of Crackerjack prizes in terms of quality.

Kids are still going to be happy with finding one of these toys in their Happy Meal but there is something far more discouraging .  The Star Wars toys have been deemed “boy toys” and have been paired up with Build A Bear as the “girl toy” offering.  Why oh why do we continue to have this designation and only for certain partners?  The Chipmunks were not divided, Happy Feet 2, Avatar – all these toys were offered to both boys and girls equally.

You’d think after 30+ years of girls vocally loving Star Wars, they’d offer an expanded collection for both girls and boys to play with and share.  At least Burger King offered Iron Man jewelry for girls during their promotion rather than assume girls did not want to celebrate Tony Stark.  Iron Man 2 even had at least two strong female characters in Pepper Potts and Black Widow. The Phantom Menace has a queen, her bodyguard handmaidens, a mother, and numerous female characters who appear throughout the movie.  What a disappointment to not include any of these characters in the Happy Meal toys at all.

Shame on you, Ronald.  What a wasted opportunity.

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Salvatore on Chewbacca’s death: “I don’t think I’d go back and do that one again.”

Author R. A. Salvatore is doing a question and answer session on Reddit today. Most of the questions are about his other works, but there is one about about Vector Prime and its most controversial event, the death of Chewbacca. Salvatore’s response:

I was in a conference call with DelRey and Lucasfilm when the editors expressed that they loved the outline. (paraphrasing here) “This is exactly what we want, but didn’t anyone tell you? You have to kill Chewey.”

I won’t type the next two words that came out of my mouth. After a couple of days of arguments and, well, terror, they had convinced me that they were doing it for the right reasons, and well, George was down with it, and it’s his galaxy far, far away, so I did it.

The responses have been mixed, with some people loving the new direction, other people devastated. I think it might be the only thing I’ve ever regretted; I don’t think I’d go back and do that one again.

I’m not sure how long the chat will be going on, but there may be time to slip in other questions about Star Wars. Salvatore also wrote the novelization for Attack of the Clones.

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Video: Trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man

Today is one of those days that the collective internet loses its shit over a comic book movie trailer… On the other hand, I wasn’t a big fan of the whiny Raimi versions, so this already looks like an improvement? (The power of Emma Stone compels you!) And does Andrew Garfield look a lot like Hayden Christensen or am I hallucinating? (The Celebrity Genome Project lives!)

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Out this week: Some 3D movie, Book of Sith, comics

This week is strong with the dark side: Not only are we seeing Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D arrive in theaters Friday, but that’s also the release date for Dan Wallace’s Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side, the latest fancy whatsit you can use to frighten impress your friends with your supreme geekery. (A book coming out on a Friday? Unusual, but it’s no ordinary book… Though I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to get it at midnight.)

Appropriately, there will be a mighty bounty of new Star Wars comics in stores Wednesday: Knights of the Old Republic: War #2, Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse #3 and Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #4. There’s even a little something for the Omnibus fans, A Long Time Ago: Volume 5.

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Surprise! VW’s Star Wars ad is a Super Bowl hit

Volkswagen’s second Star Wars ad officially debuted during the Super Bowl last night, and although reception in the fandom was lukewarm, (‘last year’s was better’) it seems to have done fairly well with the general audience, and the dog (and his fat suit) even got a small spotlight from the Los Angeles Times.

For instance, San Francisco Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub named it his second best, behind only the Clint Eastwood Chrysler spot. The Salt Lake Tribune’s Scott D. Pierce named it his #1. Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams admits that the spot was “shameless” and not as good as last years, but came out in favor because, well, dogs and Star Wars. The A.V. Club were less impressed, calling the dog “fairly cute” but saying the Star Wars endcap was “buzz insurance”.

But, naturally, democracy reigns, and you can vote for your own favorites on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and even the NFL themselves, where the VW spot is currently #3.

Making a surprise showing last night was a spot for The Phantom Menace 3D, which was apparently named the “the most-memorable movie spot” in one poll.

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Annies for John Williams and Rango, but The Clone Wars goes home empty-handed

There was no love – or at least, no awards – for The Clone Wars at Saturday’s Annie Awards. However, ILM’s Rango did take home several prizes, including best animated feature, while composer John Williams won for his Tintin score. ILM’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon took best animated effects.

The Clone Wars had 5 total nominations, including Best General Audience Animated TV Production (The Simpsons won) and editing. The individual achievement categories singled out Joel Aron for animated effects and voice actors Dee Bradley Baker and Nika Futterman.