Tintin Forums

McDonald's in the U.K. are to promote a Tintin movie-themed Happy Meal; no word on whether it is to be a chips with mayonnaise based meal, but in the mean time you can download a .pdf of a colouring-sheet and puzzle while you are waiting... ;-)

Maybe they're serving the fries in those little paper bags so that they stick out of the top with a quiff.

Surely, for the fully authentic Tintin-book-themed menu, the meal should involve a hind leg of young dog in Syldavian sauce...?
Or, if they wanted a Tintin book theme more suited to an American burger outlet, reflecting Hergé's own view of such cuisine, they could print those posters of the missing pets from Tintin in America on the side of the meal cartons?

Balthazar


Isn't that the sort of food that MacDonald's already serves?

Bad idea, because Tintin is a traditional, old-fashioned character.
I know it's nice to see him in modern eyes for once, but reducing him to a Happy Meal toy is degrading.
It's not the classic Tintin, and will pose a new view on Tintin.
According to the trailers, Sakharine is a villain in the movie, so they've already botched it.
They should leave Tintin as it is (besides the movie) and let it be enjoyed by those who truly know it.

I don't see anything wrong with having Tintin toys. Seems to me that there have been a lot of toys long before the movie hove into view.

Tintin is a traditional old-fashioned character?
Only if you are born today! You should bear in mind when reading the books that they are actually contemporary, cutting-edge and packed full of modern detail appropriate to the period in which they are written.
I think it does him more of a dis-service to consign him to the past, than to see him as a figure who was constantly revised and up-dated, to allow him to go from (for example) the open cock-pit planes of the 1920s in Soviets, to the supersonic jet-age of Flight 714.

Again, that's to miss out on the fact that Tintin was used to advertise lots of products for decades, and not just his own magazine and books.
Nutella spread, Citroën cars, rain-wear, various varieties of chocolate, cakes and biscuits, cooking oil, yoghurt - the list goes on and on, in addition to which there were the collectible Timbres Tintin/ Chèques Tintin, which were coupons to be collected and redeemed for various pieces of merchandise.
As Jelsemium says, there have been many toys and figurines before, of varying degrees of fidelity, and the MacDonald's toys are quite tasteful in comparison to some of those items!

This is taking this thread off topic – you've expressed opinions about the movie in the review thread, so any further thoughts should be voiced there. Let's keep this on target, and stick to the Happy Meal toys, please.

On a further point, has anybody managed to make the secret-message reader in the bottom of the life-boat work? It's beaten me so far!

I like those toys too, and thanks to my McDonalds-loving nephews, over the course of the month of that promotion I managed to aquire pretty much all of them, and they have pride of place on a shelf in my study. They're well made, and concidering how expensive Tintin merchandise can be, they're a nice little collection to have.
My favourite is probably the Jack-in-a-box Tintin, followed by the Thom(p)sons set.
I did wonder for far too long- why have the large Snowy and the black telephone together as a pack?- but then I remembered the bit in the book where he picks up the reciever for Tintin who was still in bed. It may have been a homage to that- unless there was a moment in the movie that I've forgotten.

I'm sorry but I've no idea- I've looked at the instructions, and moved the boat around the circle in the way the illustration seems to suggest, but I don't see anything that could be any kind of hidden message.

Maybe it's "I lit a wee fire"...? ;)

Yes! Yes! Yes! :D
Finally, a legal way to obtain an affordable Tintin toy!

Please let this come to Australia...! :(

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Moderator note: Sadly, it doesn't look like we're going to see the toys any time soon - see thread Wanted: McDonald's Happy Meal Tintin toys -marsbar.

Anyone know why the McDonald's Tintin ship The Unicorn is brown and not the actual colours?