McDonald’s Singapore 1988 CNY Dragon Toy Collectibles Evoke Nostalgia
A picture of McDonald’s Singapore’s 1988 Chinese New Year (CNY) dragon toy collectibles recently surfaced on Facebook, a timely upload considering that 2024 is also the Year Of The Dragon.
On 21 Jan, 46-year-old Mr A. Kaneshiro, a self-employed Singaporean, shared his McDonald’s toy collections in the Heritage SG Memories Facebook group.
In his caption, he reflected on how the CNY toys from McDonald’s were “fantastic” back in his days of yore.
The post evoked heartwarming and nostalgic memories from netizens who also remembered these collections fondly.
1988 McDonald’s CNY series featured 4 unique dragons
In his post, Mr Kaneshiro shared an image of the 1988 Dragon Year collection he obtained from McDonald’s Singapore.
The set features four distinct dragon designs — a blue, green, yellow and purple dragon. The blue and yellow dragons stand upright, whereas the green and purple dragons have their chests resting on the ground and their tails brandished tall in the air.
Source: Akira Heng on FacebookÂ
In line with the CNY theme, the dragons are adorned with festive elements such as red packets and oranges.
One Facebook user shared that they remember each dragon having a unique name — Xiao Fu Long, Xiao Xiang Long, Xiao Ji Long and Xiao Gui Long. They were even able to recall that the green, blue and yellow dragons are males, and the purple a female.
Source: Facebook
Within the same comment, the netizen even recounted the specific advertisement from 1988 which marketed the toys for “only 70 cents each” with purchase of “any McDonald’s burger”.
They said that the ad featured the four dragons singing along to a McDonald’s jingle: “It’s a good time for the great taste of McDonald’s!”
Source: Facebook
Mr Kaneshiro’s post rekindled fond memories among fellow Facebook users, many of whom excitedly shared that they also had the CNY dragon collection back in the day.
Source: Facebook
Other classic McDonald’s CNY toy collections
Apart from the dragon toy series, Mr Kaneshiro uploaded pictures of his other McDonald’s CNY collections over the years.
One such collection was the Ronald McDonald series, which featured four different Ronald figurines.
Then there was the Year of the Monkey CNY collection, consisting, of course, four monkey decked in CNY attire.
Source: Akira Heng on FacebookÂ
Mr Kaneshiro told MS News that he had purchased the aforementioned series in the late 80s and 90s. The toys were mostly bought from the McDonald’s outlet in Clementi, near the place where he grew up.
Old toys more attractive & could last longer
Speaking to MS News, Mr Kaneshiro reminisced about how McDonald’s used to play advertisements on television when they released new toy collections. He recalled how his parents would bring him and his siblings to purchase them.
Among his extensive collections, his personal favourite is the “transformer style robot” series that were a part of the 1987, 1989 and 1990 releases.
When asked about his thoughts about the changes in McDonald’s toy designs over the years, Mr Kaneshiro said he feels that they were superior back in the day, as the material was made “durable enough to last (more than 30 years)”.
On the other hand, the newer toys are not as hard-wearing, and the designs are also “not attractive like what they (used) to have back then”, he opined.
He also shared with MS News more of the precious collections he has kept over the years.
For instance, he has so many of these cute little figurines from the classic animated film ‘101 Dalmations’ that we wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking that he really has 101 of them.
Image courtesy of Mr Kaneshiro
Some other classics include old-school McDonald’s characters like the Hamburglar, which kids these days may not recognise.
Image courtesy of Mr Kaneshiro
Do you recall having any of these collections back when you were younger? Share about them with us in the comments.
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Featured image adapted from Akira Heng on Facebook.
