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One of the easiest ways that parents can introduce their fandoms to their offspring is through the toys that come from popular family restaurants. Fast-food chain McDonald's has been exploiting the geek culture for many years, often producing themed meals and Happy Meal toys that even entice many grown-ups to purchase them. Now, McDonald's is bringing back classic Mario Kart to its Happy Meal offerings, with a new line-up of toys based on the racing game's characters.
Seeing toy replicas of video game or anime characters included in McDonald's Happy Meals is definitely not new. Though most of the time the fast-food chain often goes for other, more popular franchises like Disney, Dreamworks, among others, geeks are treated to Happy Meal toys from their favorite titles once in a while. This was seen in the most recent Happy Meal collaboration with Pokemon, where collectible Pokemon cards were included in each purchase of a specific meal. Given just how popular Pokemon TCG is, the McDonald's Happy Meals were sold out and scalped almost right after the launch date.
On the official McDonald's Happy meal website, the whole lineup of Mario Kart toys have been showcased by the company. The collection consists of 8 products, each representing a familiar character from the Super Mario universe. The characters included are the titular Super Mario brothers, Princess Peach, series nemesis Bowser, sidekicks Toad and Toadette, Yoshi, and even Donkey Kong. When purchased with the meal, each toy will also come with a specific set of stickers and toy decals, depending on the character purchased by the customer.
A certain YouTube channel called Fast Food Toys provided more information about the Mario Kart Happy Meal collection. In the dedicated video, details such as when the toys will pop up across McDonald's branches across the United States were shared. According to Fast Food Toys, Mario Kart toys and figures will be available from March 8 to April 5, 2022. This gives collectors short of a month to purchase and collect all the items in the lineup. The channel also shared that the upcoming Happy Meal collection will feature Sonic the Hedgehog. However, until official news is announced by McDonald's, fans should take this statement with a grain of salt.
With news that the 10th installment of Mario Kart is already in active development, excitement about the racing game will likely rise again. Big brands and companies will likely ride the hype, and fans can probably expect more themed merchandise to pop up once the game is released.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is available now on the Nintendo Switch.
Source: HappyMeal.com