McDonald's
McDonald's is a North American-based fast food restaurant chain. In the past, the company has offered many Transformers toys as part of their "Happy Meals" targeted to human children. Most Transformers promotions were aimed towards male children while female children were lured in with other, "girl themed", Hasbro brand products. Their transformer toys were usually very simplistic in design, such that you'd be lucky if they had even a single gimmick.
Fiction
Marvel The Transformers comics
A McDonald's was located next to Rimmer's Ooptician in Washington, D.C., and was damaged by Bombshell when the Insecticons attacked the city. Plague of the Insecticons!
As part of their joyride in a hotwired Bumblebee, Waldo and Ernest stopped at a McDonald's. Plight of the Bumblebee!
Dreamwave Generation One continuity
The Transformers Trilogy
Bonecrusher smashed a McDonald's in Las Vegas to pieces as a show of strength while battling Bumblebee and Prowl. Only the Golden Arches were left to mark where it had stood. Hardwired
Promotions
1985 St. Louis The Transformers McDonald's promotion
In 1985, McDonald's gave away non-transforming, non-poseable figurines of four Mini Vehicle characters, each rendered in six different color variations, in various two-color combinations of red, green, blue, yellow, purple, pink and black. These figures were only available in St. Louis as a test run.[1] The line included:
- Gears - Came in blue&yellow, green&blue, green&red, green&yellow and red&yellow colorations.
- Brawn - Came in blue&green, blue&yellow, green&red, green&yellow and red&yellow colorations.
- Cliffjumper - Came in black&blue, black&green, black&purple, black&red, black&yellow and pink&blue colorations
- Bumblebee - Came in black&blue, black&green, black&purple, black&red, black&yellow and pink&blue colorations.
1996 Beast Wars Promotion
Promoting the then new Beast Wars cartoon and toyline, McDonald's offered five different toys as part of their Happy Meals, one of which was aimed towards children of age three and younger. To date, this is the only time when there have been new characters introduced solely as fast-food exclusive.
Two different cardboard boxes, containing both food and toys, were distributed:
The first box featured a purple, mechanically-style background with punch-out cards of Optimus Primal, Dinobot, Razorbeast, Polar Claw, Cheetor, Rhino and Panther, with an additional card depicting both Optimus and Megatron in the midst of a fearsome fist-shaking contest. Additionally, it featured the two following jokes:
"Q:Why do robots keep batteries in their wallets? [2]"
"Q:What did the Transformer sing when he paddled upstream? [3]"
The second box had a green, mechanically-styled background with punch-out cards of Megatron, Terrorsaur, Tarantulas, Scorponok, Manta Ray, Beetle and Waspinator, with the same card featured on the first box representing Megatron and Optimus shaking fists at each other. This box also featured two jokes.
The hand-painted artwork featured on the characters' punch-out cards showcased the characters' robot mode in the foreground with designs heavily based on early promotional designs of the first wave toys. Both Optimus and Megatron appear as a bat and an alligator respectively, and all characters have their color schemes based directly on their toys. Scorponok even appears orange, as early promotional photos presented him. Save the card featuring both Megatron and Optimus, each card's background was dominated by a representation of the character's beast mode rendered in a realistic fashion (to the point where it sometimes did not match up with the animal-kibble on the characters' robot modes).
While the Beast Wars toys were targeted towards the boy patrons, Littlest Pet Shop dolls were targeted to the girls.
1998 Beast Wars Promotion
McDonald's once more promoted the Beast Wars toyline two years later, this time focusing on the Transmetals sub-line. Three toys were produced, depicting three characters that, although part of the main cast on the television series, had not received toys depicting them in Transmetal bodies. Mirroring the gimmick of Transmetals sold in stores, they possessed a "metalized" look on some parts of their bodies.
The meals were now distributed in paper bags instead of cardboard boxes, and featured much more crudely drawn depictions of the promoted toys, directly based on the characters' toys, posed statically. The first bag presented on one side Dinobot, Blackarachnia and Scorponok standing in a thundercloud, while a lightning bolt strikes a stony landscape. Said landscape is in actuality a simple puzzle to be solved, as explained on the bag:
"Wild storm, MAXIMIZE! See which beast changed into a robot by filling in the spaces that have one dot.[4]"
Notably, Blackarachnia was depicted mis-transformed in the artwork.
The second bag featured on one of its sides similar artwork, this time depicting Dinobot's robot mode in the middle of a field, riddled with flows of lava, spewed forth from a volcano in the background. The bag instructs:
"TRANSFORMER Dinobot is a robot in disguise! Follow the lava trail from his cool robot mode to see which beast he changes into." The possible choices depicted are either A: A mechanical scorpion (depicted on another side of the bag, which the puzzle also occupies), B: A mechanical velociraptor or C: A mechanical black widow spider.[5]
This time around, My Little Pony toys were the girl-targeting counterparts to the Beast Wars figurines. Artwork and puzzles for these toys occupied the remaining two sides of the bags.
2000 Beast Machines Promotion
Two years later still, McDonald's promoted the Beast Machines toyline, successor to the Beast Wars franchise. Unlike the previous toys it offered during the Beast Era, this time its toys were meant to depict the characters as they appeared in the televised show, as opposed to new characters or bodies. The result was a varying degree of success in terms of show-accuracy, with most toys concentrating on one mode to be most faithfully a depiction of the character. The toys produced for this promotion were:
Returning to boxes for distribution, the two variant cardboard vessels were:
- A Vehicon-themed box, with one side occupied by an image of Megatron, in his harness menacingly raising an arm forwards (and erroneously labeled as being in "vehicle mode") while the other side was adorned by images of Jetstorm; his vehicle mode flying over a Cybertronian landscape alongside several Aero Drones, and his robot mode in a stock pose. The image of his robot mode could be punched out, advertised as a Jetstorm bookmark.
- A Maximal-themed box, with one side featuring an image of Optimus Primal in beast mode, gesturing invitingly, and another side dominated by an image of Cheetor in robot mode, with a smaller image of the technorganic cheetah in beast mode and an image of Blackarachnia in beast mode, advertised as a "straw crawler" which could be punched out similarly to the Jetstorm Bookmark.
This time around, the toys advertised towards girls were Hello Kitty themed, with images of said character occupying the remaining two sides of each box.
Additionally, some participating McDonald's also distributed coupons that offered $3.00 off any Beast Machines Figurine purchase of $15.00 or more.
2003 Armada Promotion
The Armada promotion not only included individual gimmicks for each toy, but also featured powerlinx points, allowing these toys to interact with the larger figures and Mini-Cons sold in stores. On top of it all, all of the members of each faction were promoted as being able to combine into a larger machine. Although this resulted in somewhat awkward combined forms, it did a thorough job of driving the point home of what was the focus of the Armada toyline: powerlinking. Each figurine was a simplified version of one of the main characters of the television series:
Autobots:
- Optimus Prime - Featured a "punching" gimmick for robot mode.
- Hot Shot - Featured a pull-back motor for vehicle mode.
- Red Alert - Featured a pull-back motor for vehicle mode.
- Smokescreen - Featured a "battle damage" gimmick.
Combined, they would form a "Mighty Robot," with Optimus becoming the upper torso, head and arms, Hot Shot becoming the crotch and upper-legs, while Red Alert and Smokescreen became the left and right legs respectively.
Decepticons:
- Megatron - Featured a gimmick simulating his motion of firing his cannon while in robot mode.
- Cyclonus - Featured a spinning rotor gimmick.
- Starscream - Featured a gimmick similar to that of Jumpstarters.
- Demolishor - Featured a "battle damage" gimmick.
Combined, they would form a "Mighty Vehicle," Starscream forming the front, Cyclonus the upper-portion, with Megatron and Demolishor providing locomotion as the left and right segments respectively of the bottom of the vehicle.
2008 Animated Promotion
The Animated promotion featured six different figures aimed at boys while Littlest Pet Shop was once again the promotion for girls. None of the figures featured individual gimmicks like the previous promotions and although the toys were mostly successful in representing the characters on a limited Happy Meal toy budget, some figures' second modes suffered greatly.
Autobots:
- Optimus Prime - Week 1
- Bumblebee - Week 3
- Ratchet - Week 5
Decepticons:
- Megatron - Week 2
- Starscream - Week 4
- Lugnut - Week 6
2010 Revenge of the Fallen Promotion
The Revenge of the Fallen promotion featured six different figures aimed at boys while Hello Kitty was the promotion for girls. In a similar fashion to the Burger King promotions of the live action movies, none of the figures transformed, but all featured gimmicks instead. Oddly enough, Blackout was included in the assortment of figures, despite being replaced by Grindor in the movie.
Autobots:
- Optimus Prime - Week 1
- Bumblebee - Week 3
- Ironhide - Week 5
Decepticons:
- Megatron - Week 2
- Starscream - Week 4
- Blackout - Week 6
2012 Transformers: Prime promotion
For the Transformers: Prime promotion, McDonald's featured non-transforming toys of Prime characters' vehicle modes, incorporating various gimmicks into them. The promotion for bronies girls was My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Autobots:
- Optimus Prime — Lit up when you pushed his smokestacks forward.
- Bumblebee — Featured a missile launcher in his roof.
- Bulkhead — fired paper discs from a launcher under his hood.
- Ratchet — Had a non-firing cannon under his roof.
Decepticons:
- Megatron — Fired a spring-loaded paddle from his front end.
- Starscream — Featured two pop-out non-firing missiles.
- Breakdown — Featured a non-firing cannon revealed by turning his spare tire.
- Knock Out — Featured two pop-out non-firing cannons.
2013 Transformers: Prime promotion
A second promotion for Transformers: Prime took place the following year, this time featuring toy of Prime characters in robot mode with exclusively mechanical-based gimmicks. It was accompanied by a Littlest Pet Shop promotion.
Autobots:
- Optimus Prime — Turning his upper torso caused him to wave his sword.
- Bumblebee — Pushing down on his wings caused him to punch with his right arm.
Decepticons:
- Megatron — Fired a spring-loaded missile from his fusion cannon.
- Starscream — Fired a spring-loaded missile from his left arm.
- Breakdown — Pinching his legs together caused his upper body to spin, flailing with his hammers.
2015 Transformers: Robots in Disguise promotion
The first promotion for Transformers: Robots in Disguise included a variety of figurines, as well as Transformers "diadems" stylized after Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.
Autobots:
- Optimus Prime —
- Bumblebee —
- Fixit —
- Sideswipe —
- Grimlock —
Decepticons:
2016 Transformers: Robots in Disguise promotion
A second promotion for Transformers: Robots in Disguise took place the following year. It was accompanied by a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic promotion. Coloring sheets were also available, with an image from each franchise on each side.
Autobots:
- Optimus Prime (robot mode) —
- Optimus Prime (vehicle mode) —
- Bumblebee (robot mode) —
- Bumblebee (vehicle mode) —
Decepticons:
- Thunderhoof (robot mode) —
- Thunderhoof (vehicle mode) —
- Steeljaw (robot mode) —
- Steeljaw (vehicle mode) —
2018 Bumblebee/Authentics promotion
Autobots:
- Optimus Prime/Optimus Prime —
- Bumblebee/Bumblebee (robot mode) —
- Bumblebee/Bumblebee (vehicle mode) —
- Grimlock/Grimlock —
- Windblade/Windblade —
Decepticons:
