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Showing posts with label toys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toys. Show all posts

Jan 14, 2025

Neon McDonald's Evangelion


Neon Genesis Evangelion Chanegables
McDonald's Japan (2025)
The latest collaboration by McDonald's in Japan has managed to capture several of my nerdiest interests in a single promotion.  Earlier this month, the fast food chain began a partnership with Khara to create toys and limited edition menu items based on 90's anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion.


The toys are very similar to the McDonald's Changeable series that were available in the United States during the late 80's and early 90's.  Changeables were a Transformers-like toy which looked like different food items and packaging from the fast food chain, but each one could be transformed into a robot (in the 1987 and 1989 sets) or a dinosaur (in the 1990 set).  The Evangelion Changeables transform into the giant mechs that are piloted by Rei, Shinji, and Asuka in the animated series.

Eva Unit-00 is a soft drink cup
Eva Unit-01 is a Big Mac
Eva Unit-02 is a carton of McDonald's fries

These toys won't be available until January 26th, but they're only available in Japan and only to consumers who enter and win a lottery for the chance to purchase them for ¥3,900 (about $24.72 American).  Pre-orders for the set of three have already popped up on eBay with prices hovering around $200.  If you're like me and would rather keep that money in your pocket and look at images of these toys for free, there are lots of high quality photos of the box and each of the figures at Tformers.com.


The toys are very cool, but if I lived in Japan, I'd be even more excited to try each of the three limited edition McEvangelion burgers.
 

Representing Unit-00 at a cost of ¥540 (about $3.42) is the Zakugiri Potato & Thick Beef Garlic Mayo burger, which is described as follows on the McDonald's Japan website:
This hearty dish consists of a thick 100% beef patty layered with garlic mayonnaise sauce, steak sauce and chopped potato patty. 

The Unit-01 sandwich is the Cheese Double Teriyaki costs ¥530 (about $3.36).  Its description is:
This hearty dish consists of two pork patties tossed in teriyaki-flavored sauce, combined with rich cheese and crunchy lettuce.

Finally, the Unit-02 sandwich is the Mexican Cheese Chicken.  It has a price of ¥490 (about $3.11) and is described as:
A spicy Mexican dish made with a chicken patty, taco meat filling, cheddar cheese, and pickles.   
*Please be careful if you don't like spicy food.

All three of these look very tasty, but trying them would be even more cost prohibitive than buying the toys on eBay since it would involve a round trip flight to Japan.

I might try to recreate these here in Pennsylvania, but it's going to involve more than a few creative liberties that I'm sure would taste quite a bit different than the ones currently available in Japan.  I'm thinking a McDonald's hashbrown on one of their cheeseburgers with some A-1 steak sauce and garlic mayo for the first burger, a couple of McDonald's breakfast sausages with lettuce, cheese, and teriyaki sauce for the second, and a McChicken with pickles and cheese, and some beef from the Taco Bell that's next to the McDonald's in front of the Laurel Mall in Hazleton for the third.  If I actually do this, I'll share the results on here.

Dec 1, 2024

Even More Stuff From Slatington


The Slatington Marketplace
Route 873 - Slatington, PA
We paid another visit to our new favorite antiques mall a couple of weeks ago.  The place is massive, so we only got through about half of it.  Here are some of the more interesting oddities that I came across.


Well this will haunt my nightmares for the foreseeable future.


This corner was like a miniaturized version of an independent bookstore. It's the kind of place that I'd want to bring a beanbag chair and a thermos of coffee to chill out for a few hours.
 

Haunted houses are probably my least favorite subgenre of horror fiction, but for some reason, they're my favorite type of Halloween decoration.  The plastic popcorn wall hangings are awesome regardless of the holiday.


The Lime Pine drink on this sign got my attention.  It sounds more like a hardwood floor cleaner than a beverage, but I'd still try it.  I did a little research and found the recipe in an old newspaper ad.
Lime Pine
First, pre-chill a bottle of King-size Coke.  Then dip rim of glass in lime juice and then in granulated sugar, coating heavily.  Let sugar dry and fill glass with ice-cold Coca-Cola.  Garnish rim of glass with cartwheel slice of lime.  A "punch" in a glass.  A novel idea.  Ideal for a party of 2-3.
Here are the other recipes if you're curious, along with a recipe for the Lemon Log which isn't represented on this sign.  Click to enlarge:

Santa Cruz Sentinel (December 19, 1962)

The Candy Cane Jingle with peppermint ice cream looks especially good to me.


The Ben Revere garden gnome will cover a lot of ground in your back yard, but don't expect him to hit for power.
 

Fun Fact: In the 1950's, Hasbro sold a line of Mr. Potato Head's friends.  In addition to Oscar the Orange, the toy company also produced Katie the Carrot, Kooky the Cucumber, and Pete the Pepper.  In those days, the package only included the plastic eyes, nose, ears, and other features, and you were meant to plug them into an actual vegetable or piece of fruit from your kitchen.  It didn't come with a plastic potato until 1964.


Procter & Gamble produced a series of three Star Wars promotional posters, with original artwork by Ken Goldammer, as a giveaway in the year after the release of the first film.  You can usually find these on eBay for less than ten dollars, with some going for as little as three bucks.


This metal wall hanging was in my bedroom when I lived with my mother and stepfather in Nuremberg when I was a kid.  I never really cared too much about cars, but I guess it fit into whatever decorating scheme they had in mind.


This is a Videosphere television.  JVC produced these from the early 70's to the early 80's.  You can find them in the background of a few scenes in Soylent Green, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, and The Matrix.  I've been on the lookout for an inexpensive one since I first learned of their existence to use as a monitor for an Atari 2600, but they usually sell for far more than I'm willing to pay.  This one was priced at $795.
 

Even at 40% off, this 1964 Beatles poster cost almost as much as my first car.


This sign caught my eye because my grandfather worked at Spaulding Bakery in Hazleton for many years until it closed the year after I was born.


When I see old packaging at antique stores, I wonder how much money the contents of an average trash bag would go for after a few decades.
 

And that's a wrap on our latest trip to Slatington.

Oct 22, 2024

A Frosty Halloween


Frosty Frights
Wendy's (2024)
A few weeks ago, Wendy's introduced a new line of spooky themed Kids Meal toys that remind me of the McDonald's Halloween McNugget Buddies from the 90's.


Frosty Frights are little Frosty toys that are dressed up for trick-or-treating.  There are six different characters: Frosty Bite (vampire), Franken Frosty (Frankenstein), Cold Spell (witch), Coolie Ghoulie (ghost), Brrr Beast (wolf man), and Junior, who I think is just supposed to be a kid, but I'm not sure.  


Each of the toys come in a standard color and a limited edition color variant that are going for ridiculous prices on the secondary market.  I'm not into chasing down a complete set, but I did pick up these four little guys from an eBay seller to put out as Halloween decorations.