Resturant collectables: HULK 2003 Burger King

The big screen, big budget debut of Marvel's HULK was hugely anticipated as the character is so very much beloved and treasured that coupled with 2002's hugely successful Spider-man managing to really whet the appetite and set the bar for comic book based movies meant that HULK's arrival was very much looked forward to! Sadly many were disappointed by Ang Lee's take on the Green Meany with critics calling it a bit of a slog; too cerebral and lacking in exciting action but then there are those who felt that Ang's movie had plenty going for it including beautiful visuals and moving performances adding to what is a more grown up and measured take on the character akin to the 70's T.V series! So is HULK a middle of the road comic book adaptation or is it criminally underrated? It works extremely well in parts but not so well in others meaning that the overall experience is a mixed one for certain!


Among the tons of merchandise that accompanied the movie's release were a nice little set of  six toys made available exclusively in the UK and Europe and released by Burger King (Interestingly the "Re-Boot" of this franchise; The Incredible Hulk was also promoted through Burger King but conversely those toys were only available in the U.S!)  Here we will be taking a look at some of those HULK toy's released in 2003 in detail:

HULK: Geneticist Bruce Krenzler is on the verge of making a major breakthrough in Nanomed research, driven by something hidden deep within his scarred psyche, something he desires to understand but can't get to grips with. Bruce is tormented with nightmarish repressed memories of a turbulent childhood which are finally explained by the appearance of the dishevelled David Banner who claims to be Bruce's father! David had been experimenting on himself when he conceived Bruce and had passed on a genetic deformity which after Bruce is inadvertently exposed to Gamma radiation is finally able to break free from Bruce's subconscious, whenever Bruce experiences feelings of anger, in the form of a giant green monster named HULK !

Whilst this figure looks great this large hollow HULK is just a basic action figure with articulation in the arms and waist and with no additional features!The detailing on this is superb through out, with plenty of muscle definition and bulging veins perfectly accentuating that ripped Body builder physique! It may not be the most movie accurate looking toy made to promote the movie but in some ways it looks even better than the movie design which at times looked a little flat and unrefined!

HULK hand grabber: Another simple toy in its function and design but this also has some really nice detailing to add some realism to the Hulk's hand itself, including veins and texture to the finger nails! The thumb is jointed so that when you squeeze the handle it makes a pinching action which can be used to grip small objects. When all is said and done this is not a bad concept for a fast food toy and it works pretty well to be fair but it still comes across as one of those toys that is in the set just to bulk it out a little! 

HULK: Don't make Bruce Banner angry, you won't like him when he's angry as hidden in Bruce's DNA lurks a monstrous figure, Green and mean with super human strength and agility who has a tendency to smash everything in his path! The childlike HULK is merely reacting to his surroundings but is ultimately considered a threat by the U.S military and no expense is spared trying to take him down, much to the dismay of Colonel Ross' Daughter Betty who happens to be the former girlfriend of Bruce Banner and is the only one who can bring calm to the raging beast!    

This may just be the stand out toy in the whole set! This toy Depicts the HULK smashing through a brick wall, HULK's head is encased in the wall, which can be viewed through a clear window, and is made of thin rubber which incidentally gives it a very lifelike look. The face will contort into an angry expression when you push the button on the back, it's a simple but really  effective function that is achieved by having an additional plastic piece behind which has the teeth sculpted in that when pushed forward manipulates the rubber face to expose clenched teeth and create a frown!  

A better look here at the more "relaxed" HULK expression shows a really accurate likeness to the on screen character! The brick wall portion of the toy is also very nicely detailed with bits of broken brick debris and other damage sculpted in to give it a dynamic and realistic feel. Overall this toy is more impressive than you might originally think with a great gimmick and a fantastic almost lifelike resemblance!


HULK is a pretty divisive movie, with as much contempt for it as there is fanfare! Yes it is slow and methodical in its approach with the "split screen" comic book panel style editing being both unnecessary and distracting at times, however director Ang lee has to be praised for trying something bold and different even if it doesn't always pay off. Burger King's toy set is certainly a solid one but the sheer volume of HULK movie merchandise makes these feel slightly redundant! Though they may not be necessary additions to a serious Hulk based collection these are at least very well made overall and attractive enough to warrant hunting these down!

Restaurant Collectables: Spider-Man Trilogy 2002/2004/2007 KFC Burger King

Before triumphantly swinging onto the big screen for the first time in 2002, Spider-man lingered in development hell for some time, being passed between the likes of directors such as James Cameron and Roland Emmerich throughout the 90's before eventually landing at Sam Rami's feet. The truth is that a Spider-Man movie just couldn't have been made any sooner than it was as the technology was waiting to catch up with the imagination of creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko! The end result is a movie that perfectly captures the spirit of those early comic books and yet manages to exceed the expectations of what modern movie goers want from their summer pop corn movies! The bar was set exceedingly high by the first instalment with all other proceeding comic book movies being measured against it including its own sequel Spider-Man 2, which quickly succeeded its predecessor in almost every way and is still considered to this day as one of the finest superhero movies of all time, taking its place next to the likes of 1978's Superman and 1989's Batman! The final instalment in the trilogy however was not so well received  by critics and fans alike often being cited as the weakest of the three movies but despite the lambasting Spider-Man 3 also happens to be the most finically successful movie of all time!


Spider-man has always been one of the most enduring and popular of the Marvel characters and so it is no surprise that with each new instalment comes much fanfare, excitement and merchandise galore! Toy Biz put out some of the best action figures they have ever produced to co-inside with the release of the first two instalments (but that's for another day!) before Hasbro took over the licence in time to promote Spider-Man 3 but with very mixed results! Each Movie was also very well represented on the fast food front with multiple promotions for each movie across several different regions, here we will be looking at some of the toy's primarily released in the UK and Europe from KFC and Burger King in detail: 






Spider-Man: Awkward high school nerd Peter Parker's life is dramatically changed when he is bitten by an genetically enhanced spider during a field trip, the next morning the once weedy and short sighted Parker is now muscle bound and has perfect eyesight but that is nothing compared to his other newly acquired gifts; the ability to climb walls and shoot webs from his wrists! spurred on by his uncle's sudden murder and with the old man's words of advice ringing loud in Peter's ears: "with great power comes great responsibility" he takes on the mantle of the masked hero known as Spider-Man where he will face his ultimate nemesis The Green Goblin!

This marvellous looking Spider-man figurine comes complete with webbed effect suction cups placed on both hands so that Spidey can stick to any flat surface! The figure is quite basic in its design and function but has a fair amount of detailing going on which is all quite accurate to the movie version avoiding looking like a generic Spider-Man. The few paint  applications it has helps to enhance the "movie look" getting the right shade of blue and the silver of his eyes just right, it even has some articulation which is something of a surprise as they could have easily gone with a simple one piece solid sculpted PVC figurine but instead opted to make him slightly poseable by supplying him with a rotatable head, waist and arms!

Green Goblin: Businessman "stormin' Norman" Osborne is on the verge of loosing one of the biggest military contracts in Oscorp history but he isn't about to loose face with his investors so he volunteers to test his experimental super solider formula on himself, with disastrous consequences! Norman develops a split personality and as a result steals two of  Oscorp's new military inventions; an Exoskeleton armoured suit and a jet Glider reinventing himself as the vengeful Green Goblin!

Wrapping up this set is the Goblin who has incredibly intricate detailing throughout the whole of this toy but particularly on his armour all of which is very accurate to the movie costume, even the Glider he is astride is very nice looking! Though there is distinct lack of paint applications that is to be expected in a premium toy with only the eyes and teeth having additional paint work but the overall look of this toy is so fantastic that it is really hard to find fault! What's more the figure itself even has some basic articulation with rotatable waist, head and arms, the Glider portion has wheels on base so you can roll it along and can make a "cackling" type noise when you push a button at the back! All very simple but very nicely rendered for something that came free with your fired chicken and fries!

Action swing Spidey: Trying to juggle a normal life at the same time as being an always in demand superhero becomes too difficult for peter Parker to handle leading him to doubt who he really is and who is suppose to be, this identity crisis leads to a loss of his powers and so he gives up being Spider-Man altogether! Until Doc Ock makes Peter's choice clear for him that is, by kidnapping Mary Jane and threatening to destroy New York city!

Similar to the previously released KFC toy for the first movie this Burger King effort features Spidey in an action pose but this time he comes in the form of a "dangler", you simply place the clip (which has that similar spider web motif sculpted in) on the edge of a shelf or something similar and watch him swing to and fro! This too has the same amount of basic articulation in the head, waist and arms but features a superior and slightly more dynamic sculpt it is also slightly bigger than the aforementioned figure but also towers slightly over the Doc Ock figure from this set!  

Tentacle Trap Doc Ock: Brilliant scientist Doctor Otto Octavius is about to make a major break through with his fusion based energy source but his experiment becomes unstable and  despite Spider-Man's intervention Otto looses his wife as a result! With his tentacle like "smart arms" now able to effect the Doctor's mind after the inhibitor chip is accidently destroyed he goes on a crime spree to fund a second attempt at his experiment but will he be foiled by Spider-Man for a second time?     

If there is one toy that  really stands out in this entire set then it is without doubt this one as the detailing here is just incredible, They have really managed to capture actor Alfred Molina's likeness perfectly with everything from his stern expression to his hair and shades are just so impressive looking especially in this small scale but it isn't just the head that looks fantastic the detailing is just as fine on the other portions of this toy such as the coat and the brace around his waist and even the tentacles are very nicely rendered!  This superb toy isn't let down by the action feature which is basic but works very well, you simply squeeze on Ock's left leg and the Tentacles on either side enclose around the figure to capture his prey!

Web Rescue Spider-Man: As with any hero, Spider-man's first priority is to those innocent civilians who are often caught in the middle of a battle between Spidey and any one of his many villainous adversaries! Sometimes a master criminal may even use these unsuspecting bystanders to his or her advantage, as was the case with Doc Ock who decided the best way to slow the web head down was to throw a  passenger or two from the R train!   

Lastly for the Spider-man 2 set is this Spidey here with this section of the toy houses the mechanism that retracts the string or "web" and is sculpted in the shape of what appears to be a clock tower with spider-man crouching on the ledge and seemingly about to pull up a young lady from plummeting to certain doom, luckily everyone's favourite web slinger was there to save the day! It is all very nicely detailed however the only paint work applied is on Spider-man himself who also seems somewhat oversized compared to the building he is perching on and yet is smaller than the female figure that accompanies him!

This unnamed damsel in distress is a nicely designed little PVC figurine, posed to look as thought she is free falling before Spidey came to the rescue! You might assume it to be Mary Jane at first glance but you'd be wrong as this figure is clearly a brunette  instead of having the iconic red locks M.J sports! It's shame really as this could have easily passed for the main female character in the franchise by just giving her hair a quick colour change, it does seems really odd that they opted to include a random girl in place of the major love interest but that might just be a personal preference! Overall this isn't a bad little toy however with some minor adjustments (scale is an issue for certain) and a couple of paint changes (Brunette to red head) and this would be much improved!    

Spider-Man: When a mysterious Ooze falls from the sky and bonds itself with peter Parker it brings out the dark side of Peter's nature! He becomes brutal and unrelenting in his search for the Sandman (the true Murderer of Uncle Ben) and shows no mercy in his battle with Harry Osborne, scarring his former best friend in the process before finally coming to his senses!

 Its a good thing that Spider-Man 3 opted to go with the Symbiote storyline from a merchandising point of view as it gave some variation to the Spider-Man figures produced, particularly in the case of these Burger King toys which out of the ten that were available half of those were of Spider-man himself! Each toy came with a unique action feature or gimmick in this case Spider-Man comes with a retractable "web" that you can clip onto a shelf and watch as he climbs up the rope! All of the toys in the set feature an exaggerated oddly proportioned design, that those who collected the Star Wars Episode 3 toys put out a couple of years prior may have been familiar with, and so it may be a matter of personal taste as to weather these appeal to you or not! With that said these are still well made and nicely detailed and as each has their own function can be quite  fun to play around with!

Venom: When Peter Parker finally decides to rid himself of the Symbiote host he inadvertently lets it loose on unsuspecting Daily Bugle rival Eddie Brock, who becomes more than a little than accustomed to his gooey new friend! Eddie renames himself Venom and becomes hell bent on destroying Peter Parkers life in revenge for Peter exposing Brock as a fraud!

This is one of two Venom figures released in this set with this version being the superior of the two. The figure is nicely detailed and looking seriously menacing with his "chopping" action feature but for some reason he is depicted here as being purple (as was the case with the Hasbro action figures) when he is clearly Black in the movie itself! 




The Spider-man movie trilogy can be quickly summed up as being two thirds brilliant and one third disappointing, though the same can easily be said for the original X-Men trilogy and even the Dark Knight Trilogy with all three of these franchises having a solid start, a thrilling middle and an unsatisfying end! Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 are still the definitive big screen adaptations of the most popular Marvel character of all time and it isn't hard to see why, perfectly cast, fast paced, thrilling and dramatic with superb special effects and performances whereas Spider-man 3 is bloated and oddly paced and somehow a lot less thrilling despite some top notch action sequences and special effects. 
Fast food toys are very rarely an indicator of how good or bad the film they are based on is and the various Spider-Man premiums were no exception as all three films were given lots of love on that front! With excellent toy sets from the likes of KFC, Burger king, Hardees, Jollibee's and Hungry Jacks to choose from though finding them all is another matter!

Restaurant Collectables: Marvel X-Men 1996 Burger King

As one of the longest running Marvel comic book series of all time, along with the likes of Spider-man, The Incredible Hulk and The Fantastic Four, X-men is one of the most beloved and fascinating entries in the Marvel universe! With countless Animated series, Video Games, Tie-in products, Movies and books all inspired by the adventures of this band of misfits, freaks of nature who work together to protect humanity from those dangerous mutants such as Magneto who believe in supremacy over man kind, despite the fact that they too are hated and despised by the very people they have sworn to protect!

There was no shortage of Toys based on these colourful and bold Mutant heroes in the days when they had a hit Animated series and healthy comic book sales in the early to mid 90's chief among them were some fantastic action produced by Toy Biz to tie-in with the Saturday morning Cartoon series! Burger King also jumped on the band wagon and put out a really nice set of toys back in 1996 when the show was at its peak, these were available in the UK and Europe only though U.S fast food and X-Men fans were treated to an equally brilliant set of figurines from Hardees restaurants in 1995! Here we will be looking at the full Burger King set in detail:

Cyclops: Scott Summers AKA Cyclops can often be found leading Professor Xavier's band of mutant super heroes into action whenever a threat (be it mutant of human) presents itself! Scott can emit destructive and extremely powerful red laser beams from his eyes which is filtered through his ruby quartz visor enabling him to activate his mutant gift at will! As the groups leader Cyclops occasionally comes into confrontation with  fellow X-Men Wolverine who isn't particularly fond of being told what to do!  

This figure is a really great representation of Cyclops appearance in the then current comic book series and the 90's animated show inspired by Jim Lee's fantastic and now iconic X-men comic book designs! He also has a pretty nifty but simple spring loaded action feature which at a push of a button sends his arms up towards his visor ready to blast his powerful beams!  

Wolverine: Canadian loner Logan is a gruff and bruiser who happens to have certain advantages that makes him one mean fighting machine! Along with rapid healing abilities, which slows down his aging process, his entire skeleton is lined with a indestructible mental named "Adamantium" which is also what his razor sharp extendable claws are made of! though he isn't exactly a team player and is often at logger heads with other members of the X-Men, in particular boy scout Cyclops, but when the chips are down have no doubt that the pint sized Wolverine has his friends back's!

Wolverine appears here in his most iconic form adorned with his yellow skin tight spandex and mask combo! Again this is a very nice looking action figure which is really nicely detailed  and cleanly painted the only complaint being his claws appear a tad short! Additionally his arms can be moved up and down via two levers on his back to make Wolverine swipe his claws in battle, though not a very effective action feature but this is still a great action figure overall!

Gambit: Cocky Cajun Remy LeBeau was gifted with bio-kinetic charging abilities which can be weaponized by being transferred to objects such as playing cards or a metal staff for example! Gambit is a relatively new character to be introduced into the X-Men universe and is best know for his Pepe le pew style interactions with unrequited love interest Rogue, the character proved to be immensely popular helped by his appearance in the 1995 animated series!  

This is one of the best figures in this and truly fantastic looking with lots of great detailing throughout! His  action feature can be enabled by twisting his waist into position and then pressing a button on his back to release it again giving the impression Gambit is throwing one of his super charged playing cards!

Storm: At the time of her introduction to comic book readers Storm was something of a rarity; a strong, Black, female heroine who could hold her own against the likes of Wolverine or Cyclops, in fact whenever Scott is unable to lead the X-Men Storm AKA Ororo  Munroe takes on leadership duties! She also has one of the most interesting Mutant gifts; the ability to control Weather which always comes in handy!

If any figure in this set is a weak link then no doubt it is storm here, on her own this is still a well made and nicely detailed figure but when viewed beside her fellow X-Men Brethren she isn't quite as impressive! Its hard to put a finger on what it is about this figure that seems slightly off, it may be that this figure is a little plain looking when compared to the other three or that it hasn't as much in the way of sculpting details or paint applications but nevertheless this is still a decent figure and isn't a bad take on the character as seen in the show! She too has an action feature but its not particularly effective, Her arms which are spring loaded can be raised a couple of inches when a button is pressed on her back!




Several years before X-Men made their big screen début in 2000 they were best know by main stream audiences for the 1990's Animated series, which took its cue from the more recent X-Men comic books published at the time, the show featured slick animation and stories that were true to the mythology of the comic's pleasing the legions of comic book fan's as well as introducing  youngsters who had yet to pick up an X-Men Comic book! Burger King's tie-in promotion came out at a time when X-Men toys were very prevalent in stores and so Kid's would have been familiar with the likes of Wolverine and Cyclops and as a result these proved pretty popular here in the UK and they still hold up very well to this day!  

Restaurant Collectables: Scooby-Doo 2 2004 KFC

Scooby-Doo is one of the most popular cartoons of all time and is still going strong to this day! With numerous series spanning over five decades, spin-0ffs and Live action movies Hanna-Barbara's wonder dog is a true pop culture icon. His animated misadventures are cherished classics however the two live action big screen attempts are much derided by fans and critics who weren't that impressed with the movie adaptations on their general release, of course small children aren't as fussy and are perfectly happy to spend an hour and a half a go in the company of the CGI rendered Great Dane and his hapless hipster friends in a couple of harmless, fun action comedies! The movies do manage to capture some of the quirkiness and charm of the original series and boast an almost perfect cast, particularly Matthew Lilly as Shaggy, but somehow the films manage to feel more 2 dimensional than their animated counterpart! A couple of straight to DVD live action movies were released and are in much the same vein but somehow due to the low budget T.V movie quality it is much easier to forgive.            
As with any beloved property there are Scooby-Doo inspired tie-in toys and collectables galore available oddly however very little tie-in merchandise was produced for the live action movies making the Scooby-Doo 2 toy set released exclusively in the UK and Europe and supplied by KFC an absolute must have for Scooby-Doo aficionados! Here we will be exploring the full set in detail: 
   

Scooby and Shaggy: Life long best friends and food lovers Scooby-Doo and his human companion Shaggy are complete and utter cowards when it comes to facing the supernatural threats the band of mystery solvers encounter when they embark on their various missions to expose these so called "Ghosts" for what they really are; usually some disgruntled man or woman out for revenge!
The only reason Scoob and Shag even join their teammates on their adventures is for the vague promise of a good bite to eat, usually in the form of a Scooby Snack!

This toy is pretty simple in its function, you simply role the toy along and the figurines attached wobble about, there is not much more to it than that but it does feature a great looking PVC figurine depicting a petrified Shaggy and Scooby in their classic embracing pose! 

Scooby-Doo: He may be a yellow belly scaredy dog but Scooby is as loyal and lovable a hound any crime busting team of paranormal investigators could ever ask for, besides he can always be counted on to come through in the end and help to solve the mystery in his unique way!

Another simple but nice looking toy, featuring a great looking PVC figurine of Scooby-Doo atop a mine cart which has a bump-and-go function that can be activated by pulling the vehicle back and aiming it towards a wall, once it hits it will reverse backwards! The details on this are pretty solid throughout despite being simplistic in design and function.   

If there is one thing Scooby loves more than his best buddy Shaggy it is his food especially when it come sin the form of those bone shaped little treats called Scooby snacks! They are not just for loyal hounds however, no sir, as Shaggy loves 'em too! There is however only one thing better than a Scooby Snack and that is a box load of them which is why Scooby looks like he is having the time of his life in this toy!

Its difficult to know what to make of this toy which features Scooby laying on his belly on top of some structure that is frankly anybody's guess as what it is suppose to be! but anyway the unidentified structure has a button at the back on the inside which when the Scooby Snack branded box is launched at releases Scooby's out-stretched arms! The overall design of this toy is an odd one but at least Scooby himself looks pretty decent!

The Mystery Machine: One of the most recognisable vehicles in cartoon history is the iconic van with its distinctive psychedelic paint job used by the Mystery Inc. gang in their spooky crime solving adventures!

If the other toys in this set doesn't tickle your fancy you might be relieved to discover that included in this set is the iconic Mystery Machine, A vehicle that has seen many Happy meal toy incarnations but only one of those was based on the movie design; this one! It is a good job then that it turned out to be a thoroughly decent representation and even comes with an extra element, that of the ghostly Miner 49er looming above the Mystery Machine as the gang look on in horror! You simply pull the little figurine backwards and watch as the Mystery Machine rolls along with the ghost edging forward as it goes! The detailing on the Van is very nicely accomplished with the odd decal applied for added detail such as the Mystery Machine logo on either side as well as an image of  Scooby and co. appearing through the windscreen window!
    



There isn't anything that remarkable about the movies but they are good fun, this is also true of KFC's 2004 set of toys released to tie-in with the second Scooby-Doo instalment! With that said they are at least very well made if not all that imaginative and the fact that they resemble the characters as they appear in the movie makes them somewhat unusual, as almost every other bit of Scooby-Doo merchandise is based on the classic cartoon! All in all this is a nice little set of pretty decent toys based on an OK movie but one which carries a brand that has been immensely popular over the years and will probably continue to be so for some time. Scooby-Doo fans will certainly want to have these in their collection and fans of fast food toys in general will also find much to love about these!