Highlights
- Pokemon Happy Meals are back at McDonald's, providing a limited opportunity for fans to get their hands on exclusive Pokemon toys and cards.
- In the past, McDonald's and Pokemon have collaborated for rare Pokemon giveaways, but now the Happy Meals offer a chance to collect a special random Pokemon card.
- Fans should act fast as these Happy Meals have a history of selling out quickly, even though McDonald's is implementing restrictions on the number of toys one can purchase.
Pokemon Happy Meals are returning to McDonald's restaurants. Fans who have enjoyed the experience in prior years and those who have never picked up a Pokemon Happy Meal likely won't want to miss this limited opportunity.
Pokemon has seen a practically endless list of collaborations in the past, including with McDonald's and other fast food chains, like Burger King. Prior to the launch of the Nintendo Switch series of Pokemon video games, fans often flocked to local McDonald's to acquire the latest free Pokemon. The rare Pokemon giveaways required connecting to McDonald's Wi-Fi and then downloading it to one's Nintendo 2DS/3DS. Since then, getting the latest free Pokemon has become easier for fans and hasn't required making the trek to the restaurant chain, but that hasn't stopped Pokemon and McDonald's from partnering in other ways.
One of the popular partnerships includes Pokemon Happy Meals, which have returned multiple times with refreshed toys. This time around, the iconic Pikachu Happy Meal box is making a return, replacing the standard box with one resembling Pikachu, including its ears sticking up over the top of the box. Inside, fans can expect to find the usual Happy Meal fare, plus a random Pokemon card. This time around, the Pokemon TCG Giveaway includes Pikachu, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet starters Sprigatito, Quaxly, and Fuecoco, as well as Klawf and Cetitan. Pokemon Happy Meals are rolling out across the US as of this writing, and will be available through October 3, or until supplies run out.
While there's some time until that date, fans may not want to wait too long to try and get one. These Pokemon Happy Meals have often sold out in the past, though McDonald's is taking some action in an attempt to prevent them from being scalped. Buyers are limited to one toy with the purchase of a meal, plus the ability to add-on one additional toy with their Happy Meal purchase. While this should help to slow down the demand somewhat, eager fans should consider visiting the restaurant in the near future in order to prevent disappointment.
Pokemon manages to maintain its hype year after year with new releases and partnerships like these. This team-up arrives when fans already have lots of reasons to be excited about the game series, with The Teal Mask DLC for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet having just launched and the release of Detective Pikachu Returns is just around the corner.
Source: McDonalds