Happy Meal Toys!

They've done it again: McDonald's latest Happy Meal toys are Lego Batman video game toys (cute, but nothing Laura nor I are interested in) and the return of the Madame Alexander Wizard of Oz dolls. They started last week, so Laura and I dragged my mother-in-law along last Saturday to enjoy a scrumptious (?) and nutritious (??) Happy Meal. Sure enough, we got Glinda and a Winged Monkey — actually, multiples of them, as we were really hungry and each got two Happy Meals. Then, before we left, Laura recalled her toy hunting adventures of last spring and asked the manager about the Customer Satisfaction box. At this particular McDonald's, it hadn't even been opened yet, so the three of us and several McDonald's emplyees had some fun digging through and seeing what we could find. Last year the set had eight toys, and I'd heard there may be ten this year, so imagine our surprise when we pulled out bags with the numbers 11 and 12! Yes, there are a dozen of them this year. In numerical order:

1. Dorothy (and since the packages are also labeled in French and Spanish, Dorothée/Dorothy), with a little Toto in a basket
   
2. Glinda the Good Witch (Glinda, la Bonne Fée/Glinda, la Bruja Buena)
   
3. Winged Monkey (Le Singe Ailé/El Mono Alado)
   
4. Cowardly Lion (Le Lion Peureaux/Léon Cobarde)
   
5. Wicked Witch of the West (La Méechante Sorcière de l'Ouest/Bruja Mala del Oeste)
   
6. Winkie Guard (Le Guard — I guess "Winkie" doesn't translate into French well/Guardia Winkie)
   
7. Tin Man (L'Homme de Fer Blanc/Hombre de Hojalata)
   
8. Scarecrow (L'Épouvantail/Espantapájaros)
   
9. Flower Munchkin (La Munchkin aux Fleurs/Flor Munchkin) — as I told Laura when I saw it, "There's Margaret!" as it looks a bit like Margaret Pellegrini, who played the Flower Munchkin in The Movie, and we've met now at two Oz conventions
   
10. Lullaby Munchkin (La Munchkin à la Berceuse/Arrullo Munchkin)
    
11. Lollipop Munchkin (Le Munchkin à la Sucette/Pirulín Munchkin), which does look a bit like Jerry Maren
    
12. The Wizard of Oz (Le Magicien d'Oz/El Mago de Oz) — so at least half of my April Fool's joke last year has actually come to be real!
    

This year, instead of a bag, the meal comes in a very nice box, which I have a few examples of now, including a still-folded one that the McDonald's manager gave me when I asked. (Laura has now asked our Canadian McDonald's contact about getting the Candadian version of the box.)

So, to get back to my adventure in acquisition, I reached for my wallet to pay for the ones we found in the box, but my wonderful mother-in-law told me to put it away. She bought them for me. Woo-hoo! She's going to get an extra nice present for Christmas, I think. (I just have to thinnk of what...) So now I have a complete set, two extra Glindas, and another Monkey. Maybe I'll see about getting another complete set that I can take out of the packages. They'd make great Christmas ornaments.

Hey, McDonald's and Madame Alexander, next time you do this — and with the seventieth anniversary of The Movie just around the corner, I have a suspicion you will — can we have the Munchkin Mayor, the Munchkin Coroner, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, a Sleepyhead Munchkin (another reason to say, "There's Margaret!"), and some of the citizens of the Emerald City? Okay, thanks.