I Want a Little Dude in My Hand

Remember that sense of delight and wonder you'd get when you'd force your parents to stop off at a fast food restaurant, reach into a bag containing foods that would slowly come to destroy your body over the intervening decades, and pull out a tiny plastic symbol of the power mass consumerism held over the youth of a generation? Well we do, and we're excited to talk about it! That's right, The Hill Is Always Greener is looking back at the history of Sonic the Hedgehog fast food toys! From Sonic 3 the game to Sonic 3 the movie, and from windups to LCD games to "here's some cardboard, make it yourself", we cover the breadth of Sonic's kids meal collectables over the last 30 years! (Warning: this episode may present a choking hazard to children under 3 years of age.) (0:00:00) Intro/Main topic: Sonic fast food toys (0:03:17) Burger King (1993, Sega Zip Strips) (0:07:53) McDonald's (1994, Sonic 3) (0:17:07) McDonald's (1994, Happy Train) (0:20:50) Carl's Jr. (1996, Sonic the Hedgehog and Pals Mini-Viewers) (0:25:50) Burger King (1998, Sonic R) (0:29:58) Jack in the Box (1999, Sega PC) (0:32:59) Burger King (1999, Sonic Adventure, cancelled) (0:36:57) Denny's (2000, Sonic Underground) (0:40:15) McDonald's (2003, Sonic Adventure DX LCD games) (0:43:05) McDonald's (2004, Sonic Heroes LCD games) (0:47:15) McDonald's (2006, Sonic X) (0:50:23) McDonald's (2007, Sonic X) (0:51:30) Red Rooster (2012) (0:53:24) Carl's Jr. (2015, Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice) (0:56:27) Subway (2018, combining gears) (0:59:21) Arby's (2019, Sonic Dash) (1:01:40) Kura Sushi (2020) (1:03:39) McDonald's (2022, Sonic 2 the movie) (1:06:39) Burger King (2023, Fidget toys) (1:08:40) McDonald's (2023, buildable Toys) (1:10:14) McDonald's (2024, Sonic 3 the movie) (1:14:06) Final thoughts (1:17:53) Outro Amie Waters on Linktree Sonic McOrigins Plus