Back in the summer 1994 kids everywhere were going Yabba-Dabba-Doo for everyone's favourite "modern stone-age family" The Flintstones! At the time the iconic 60's cartoon series was the longest running of all time and remained very popular all throughout that run and its subsequent re-runs on cable T.V channels such as Cartoon Network. The 90's was the decade for making movies out of anything that was even remotely popular with kids particularly if it was based on a cartoon or kids show or featured dinosaurs especially after Jurassic Park stormed the biggest box office a year earlier becoming a multi billion dollar franchise! Steven Spielberg served as producer and Jim Henson's creature work shop supplied the beautifully rendered animatronic prehistoric beasties whilst T.V and film favourite John Goodman was ideally cast in the lead role with equally solid support from Rick Moranis as long suffering best friend Barney! The movie saw great success at the box office but received mixed reviews with most citing that whilst the movie looks fantastic and the creature effects are wonderful as is Goodman as Fred Flintstone the overall plot was a little too adult and younger children struggled to engage with what was going on outside of the cartoon antics!
There was a huge promotional campaign following the Flintstones release as well as a large number of merchandise being produced including Action figures and play sets courtesy of Mattel but one of the most impressive tie-in's came from fast food chain McDonalds who went all out to promote the movie via Flintstones themed Menu, with giveaways including Etched collectable drinking glasses and a fantastic range of toys made available through their very popular Happy meal's! There were several different sets of toys produced for several different regions and here we will look at both the U.S and U.K sets:
Fred/Bedrock bowl-O-Rama: After Fred receives a promotion at the quarry he decides to live it up and trades in the flint-mobile for a snazzy new "Le Saber Tooth 5000" sports car! A sort of prehistoric take on a Ferrari only this vehicle is powered literally by a sabre Tooth engine! Both Fred and his sports car both represent their on screen counterparts very well boasting a pretty good John Goodman likeness particularly for the tiny scale! All of the little detailing, that extends to the vehicles wheels, are very nicely accomplished also!
Each toy comes with a miniature play set, in this case Fred's favourite haunt the Bowl-O-Rama which is a really nice idea and makes for a fun feature. The play set opens up in order to store the vehicle inside, there are also a set a decals that accompany the toy to add extra detail such as the Bowling lanes!
Dino/Pebbles/Toy-S-Aurus: Excitable family pet Dino is extremely fond of his owner and looks forward to being able to greet Fred when he arrives home from work! Dino is peddling along with Pebbles on their trike whilst making their way to the prehistoric version of Toy-R-Us which features in the background of a couple of sequences in the movie! Whilst the vehicle in this instance isn't as interesting looking as the others it does have a decent amount of detailing to give the impression it is made of wood both figurines are very nicely detailed particularly as they are quite small in stature, Dino especially is very nice looking and very close looking to the animatronic puppet used in the film!
When deciding on which real life stores to use in the movie they obviously chose the ones which work the best as prehistoric puns! The reason for its existence aside the toy replica is pretty great looking and has a really nice aesthetic complementing both the characters it comes with and the other buildings in the set nicely!
Betty/Bam-Bam/Roc Donald's: Barney Rubble and wife Betty are given a chance to have a child thanks to the generosity of best friends and neighbours The Flintstones, in the form of an adoption. There new son Bam-Bam has incredible herculean strength and a rebellious streak but quickly becomes best friends with Fred and Wilma's daughter Pebbles! Betty and Bam-Bam come seated in a twin log double seater vehicle with as doesn't appear to have a name of any kind but is nicely sculpted to look as though it is made of wood. Betty and Bam-Bam themselves are decent looking though not especially detailed but accurate looking enough that it is obvious who they are suppose to be!
Betty and Bam-Bam come with a miniature replica of the Roc-Donald's restaurant glimpsed briefly in the movie and featured in the advertising posters for McDonald's Flintstones promotion. It has a fair amount of detail but as with all of the buildings in this set has no additional paint applications which is made up for by the inclusion of a couple of stickers!
Barney/fossil fill up: Barney is best buddy/Work college/Bowling partner/neighbour and more to the hapless Fred! the poor sap even switches test results with Fred meaning that instead of himself being made vice president Fred is instead! Barney takes a one man log style vehicle for a fill up (even though all the cars are powered by foot?) in a nod to one of the various job's that Barney takes on after his dismissal from the quarry! Barney's vehicle is basically a log with wheels and a canopy which have basic but effect detailing, the figurine however is very nice indeed and actually looks a lot like actor Rick Moranis! 
There are some nice sculpted details on this including the humorous caveman/cavewoman toilet signs on the back section as well as the usual decals to add some colour and personality! there is a section at the back that can be removed in order to place barney (or any of the toys for that matter) within!
Wilma/Dino: The first of the UK offerings is probably the best figure in the set, which like the U.S version depicts Wilma in the classic Flintstone family car but this time she comes with Dino who is popping his head through the roof just like in that classic opening sequence! as you roll the toy along Dino bobs up and down and the front and rear wheels also roll along! Due to this toy being a couple of times larger than the vehicles from the U.S set the detailing is that more intricate and impressive particularly on the vehicle itself and the detachable roof!
Roc Donald's: Another replica of the restaurant as it appears in bedrock but this version is somewhat larger but somewhat less detailed, it has four panels which can slide across in order to access the inside but there is nothing on within plus the figures from this set can't even fit inside!
Supplied is a sticker to decorate each panel with each one depicts the main characters ordering their fast food meals, bizarrely they all look like they are modelling for an McD's advertisement campaign!
When Fred isn't at home with his feet up or at the Bowl-O-Rama he is hard at work in the quarry, operating his brontosaurus crane as depicted here is this toy! Pulling on the Dinosaurs tail will raise the Bronto's neck and have Fred bounce up and down!
This is a simple but nice looking little action toy, with both the Brontosaurus and Fred looking pretty decent but just not much like John Goodman it has to be said! Also Fred's Tie seems to stop at the neck collar which is odd perhaps it was intended to be attached later but the manufacturers never got round to it?
Live action incarnations of cartoon shows rarely work and while The Flintstones is probably no exception it is certainly miles better than some of the other ill fated attempts such as Yogi Bear and Garfield! McDonald's certainly went all out in promoting it and for the most part produced some great little collectables which Flintstones fans will want to pick up in their entirety, chief among them are the U.S mini play sets and figure/vehicle combos which if you were so inclined could create your own miniature Bedrock!
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