| 01.28.2020 – Burger King Toys that came with the BK Kids Meal was once a competitive alternative to KFC’s Chucky Meal, McDonald’s Happy Meal, and even that also include Jollibee’s Kiddie Meal. Nowadays you’ll only find Jollibee and McDonald’s competing for kids and adult collector’s attention in the Philippines.
In some parts of Southeast Asia, Burger King still serves the BK Kids Meal even in Australia & New Zealand, where it’s known as Hungry Jack’s serve them in some occasions. But back more than a decade ago there were alternatives in Manila. |
Towards the tail end of Burger King’s tumultuous franchise sometime in 2007 to 2009 in the Philippines prior to Jollibee Food Corporation acquiring them in 2011. The American fast food giant catered to the mainstream and that includes having a BK Kids Meal in their menu. They have impressive toys and the quality was stingy and this was during the late 1990s to early 2000s sort of the ‘golden age’ of collecting kid’s meal toys with diverse choices.
Burger King’s franchise ownership in the Philippines changed hands twice up to Jollbee’s mother company acquiring it and changed their market catering to yuppies and office workers simplifying the menu not compete with its own Jollibee brand. But prior to that the last toys offered for their BK Kid’s Meal was quite revolutionary in its way of offering early concepts of what could be Designer Art Toys.
By 2006 Ayala Corporation, who originally owned the Burger King franchise sold the rights to MVP Group of Companies and that were things slowly changed. But before those changes BK Kids Meal offered four kinds of ‘Designer Art Toys’ with six variations in each theme and one of these blind box collectibles were Collectible Tins featuring different kinds of artworks in them.
BK Mystery Box Toys
Prior to the ‘Blind Box’ concept used by LEGO or Playmobil and other toy brands that entice you to collect little trinkets like figurines or related to the brands in the early 2010s the idea of mystery box toys where offered by Burger King starting with their version of vinyl toys and followed up with three more thematic toys that didn’t strain away from the Designer Art Toy concept.
The third series consists of collectible tins with varying art works on them, which seems to be done by an unnamed artist as the boxes that came with them doesn’t indicate or acknowledge who did the artwork or the name of the series. It only indicated the designated number continuations from the previous series.
Basically, the collectible tins can let you store little things from candies, paperclips, or varying kinds of trinkets that you want to use them. Unfortunately, the original boxes that came with them were lost during the time this was in storage. But they are kept in their individual Ziploc bags to avoid having the cover surface get scratches on the artworks that makes them interesting.
BK Unknown Art Characters
In this series you collect all six originally packaged in their tiny blank boxes indicating only a designated number in them. From a robot, forest animals, skeleton man with a heart, plane, gorilla with a banana, and a dog with a hat you get to be able to display them altogether as a complete colourful set.
Among the favorites from this series if you’re not keen in getting them all are the robot, farm animals, and the gorilla. There’s no theme but you’ll notice that the artwork is done by one unnamed artist and this was offered in Southeast Asia. It might be also offered in other countries but since this is from 2008 there’s not much information related if it was also offered in some parts of Europe or North America.
Overall the BK Kids Meal Mystery Tins are an impressive set as one of the early concept of defining a Designer Art Toy. Because art toys are not just made from vinyl or resin, it can also be made from plush material and from tins like these.
Currently, you won’t find this being sold or featured as a complete set and back then there was blurring the lines what is a designer art toy from just a toy that is offered by a fast food restaurant. But Burger King was way ahead of the curve that experiment these concepts when everyone has not idea that it would become what it is today when you talk about Designer Art Toys.
BK Mystery Box Toy featuring Collectible Art Tins were offered and sold individually by Burger King in the Philippines and selected parts of Southeast Asia in 2008.
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