8 Fast-Food Toys Every Millennial Begged Their Parents to Buy

There are a lot of toys today that have us adults thinking, "I wish they had thought of that when I was a kid!" But one category of toys has younger generations envious of millennials: the fast-food toy. Today's kids' meal toys are pretty lame compared to what we had as kids. Their low quality is laughable next to the '90s figurines that could have been confused for toy store purchases.The fast food toys of today will never be as cool as the ones we got in the '90s because, sadly, companies don't make them like they used to. But we can reminisce about some of the best kids' meal toys that every millennial just had to have.Hot WheelsBatman: The Animated SeriesMighty Morphin' Power Rangers101 DalmatiansTeenie Beanie BabiesMcFurbyPokémon Gold CardsRugrats WatchesHot WheelsMcDonald's used to give actual die-cast Hot Wheels cars in their Happy Meals, and it was incredible. Starting in 1983, McDonald's collaborated with Mattel to offer Hot Wheels brand cars with their kids' meals. Quite a few of the cars zooming along our Hot Wheels tracks came with our fries and nuggets. Only older millennials got to enjoy these Hot Wheels cars, though, because McDonald's began switching out the die-cast models for cheaper plastic cars in 1991.Batman: The Animated SeriesWere you even a true millennial if you didn't watch Batman: The Animated Series? Logical fallacies aside, the beloved series teamed up with McDonald's in 1993 to give us toys of the Caped Crusader, his allies, and his enemies. These action figures were of much higher quality than today's fast food toys, and the only critical thing millennials had to say about them was that they wished the four vehicles had just been figures as well.Mighty Morphin' Power RangersThe Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers movie came out in 1995, and McDonald's had two sets of promotional toys for its release. The first came with a regular Happy Meal, and were items you could cosplay as a Power Ranger with. The second set was action figures that could be purchased for an extra $1.59. They were totally worth it, though, because they came with their own Zord vehicle. The vehicles didn't combine as they do in the movie, but it was still pretty awesome.101 DalmatiansTo go along with the release of Disney's live-action 101 Dalmatians in 1996, McDonald's launched 101 unique Dalmatian toys. They really went all out for this one, and millennials loved it, even if there was no possible way any kid could collect them all. Collectors could actually purchase them all at once in a special case. Today, a full collection in the box sells anywhere between $200 and $400, so you could fulfill that childhood dream with enough money.Teenie Beanie BabiesEvery millennial will remember the absolute frenzy that took hold of us when TY Beanie Babies were released. McDonald's hopped on the Beanie Babies bandwagon in 1997, and their Teenie Beanies joined the fervor. There were literal fights over these small, plush animals. Fast food toys as collectibles went from a niche activity to the mainstream thanks to these little guys.McFurbyAnother baffling toy craze that millennials remember was the Furby. Some thought it was cute, others said it was creepy. McDonald's was again ready to cash in on the fame this weird little toy had, and in 1999 they released 8 series of 80 Furby figurines. They weren't as fancy as a full-size Furby, but the McFurby toys could make noise, move their ears and eyes, or act like a pull-back vehicle.Pokémon Gold CardsEven if you had never seen the Pokémon television show or played the card game, you were super hyped for Pokémon: The First Movie, and you needed one of the gold-plated cards from Burger King. Anyone who was anyone had at least one of these cards, which came in shiny, metallic red-and-white Pokéballs in late 1999. What could you do with the cards? Nothing. But nowadays, you could get a few hundred dollars for a set of all six cards.Rugrats WatchesBurger King had several different toy releases featuring Nickelodeon's Rugrats, but one of the greatest was their Chatback Watches in 2000. These watches coincided with the release of Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, and were available for $1.99 with a meal purchase. If you pressed the side button, the watch would play a conversation between two Rugrats characters. It might have told the time too, but we weren't paying attention to that.More Millennial Nostalgia: