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Nintendo’s Super Mario characters are returning to UK McDonald’s Happy Meals this week. Starting from January 11th until February 7th, customers will have a month to pick up the new series of toys, with a new pair of characters being released each week.
As confirmed by Nintendo Life, the campaign will feature Mario and Yoshi during the first week, Princess Peach and a red Koopa shell in week two, Bowser and a row of Super Star blocks in week three, before finally culminating in Luigi and a Piranha Plant in the final week.
Happy Meal boxes will also be decked out in special Super Mario artwork, and each Happy Meal will come with an activity card to help keep kids entertained while they chow down on their food. By folding the card in different ways, kids will be able to see different Super Mario characters.
However, despite the toys not being available yet, some fans are already raising questions about the Week 1 Mario figure.
While most consumers will no doubt say Mario’s sitting on one of his classic brick blocks, some have said it almost looks like he’s sitting on a toilet – an observation made all the more potent by the rather strange brown block back-plate.
As seen on the Japanese commercial (below), Mario will be able to wave his arm via a lever on the back of the figure. Here’s hoping it doesn’t become embroiled in the same kind of wanking kerfuffle suffered by its 2015 predecessor, where the swivelling arm of the Boomerang Mario Happy Meal figure ended up at the centre of a rather awkward, and very public, practical joke.
The Japanese commercial also shows that the Peach figure will spin when pushed forward along the table, while Luigi can be launched as a projectile out of his accompanying pipe.
That said, it looks as though Japan will be getting a few extra figures compared to the UK, including a light-up Power Star Mario, a Fire Luigi toy and a Goomba on a half pyramid of brick blocks. You can see the commercial in full below:
