McDonald's Happy Meal Minions

There has been a minions (from the movie Despicable Me 2) craze here in Singapore.
As retailers try to cash in on this craze, we have seen minions merchandise from figurines, cakes and nail art and people are just lapping them up.

Thinkway toys is the main company doing the Despicable Me 2 toys. Based on their track record from their work on the Toy Story Signature Collection and Wreck it Ralph toys, I am very interested in their 9" collector's edition minion Dave (the highest end minion in the market). However, there is a great price discrepancy of Despicable Me 2 toys in Singapore and US. The 9" collector's edition minion Dave in the US sells for US$59.90 (S$80) but it goes for S$179.90 in Singapore. I seriously don't want to spend that kind of cash given that someplace else it is so much cheaper.
Fortunately, I have a friend going down to New York this week and I have asked him to get me the minion. If he is successful, I will do the review.

So what can tie me over this minion fever before I can get my hands on the prized 9" collector's edition minion Dave?
Well....we have McDonald's series of palm-sized minions in different designs - free with every Happy Meal.
Even though these are much cheaper figures as compared to Thinkway toys, they are also difficult to get.
Last Thursday, McDonald Singapore launched the first series, Tim Giggling, Tom Googly Eye Grabber and Dave Gadget Grabber, and by Friday afternoon they were sold out.
I wonder if they are so popular in other part of the world too, since McDonald also launched this series in many parts of the world.

I am not a collector of McDonald's toys because of the action features that usually comes with the toy. I am more of a guy who like his toys movie accurate with good articulation.

Dave Gadget Grabber

The design for Dave is simple and the main attraction of this figure is the gadget grabber.
By pressing a lever, the claw like gadget will go into a grabbing motion which I think will keep the kids entertained.
There is zero articulation just the action feature.

The lever to move the claw

Tim Giggling

Not a big fan of Tim and I think this is the weakest toy in the first wave launched.
Shake it and hear Tim giggle.
Zero articulation.

Tom Googly Eye Grabber

This is my favorite minion. I think it has the nicest sculpt and the coolest action feature.
I love the way they have sculpted the hair making them more realistic.
By pressing the back, Tom will move his arm in a hugging or grabbing motion and his eyes will move from side to side.
Because of this, the eyes are 2 actual balls which make it so much more realistic than Tim and Dave's which are just sculpted in.

Overall these are just fun toys meant to be played with.
Looking forward to the next few launches in the coming weeks.
I am looking out for Stuart Babbler Grabber and maybe Tim Giggle Grabber.