Toy OTD: American Idol Happy Meal Toys

I'm sure that most of you are either annoyed or horrified (or both) that I'm giving either of these overexposed entities any more attention. Regardless, I think this toy line is another step in the mainstreaming of the designer toy trend.

These days, an embarrassment of detail and color apps (regardless of their necessity) are the new production value in toys, so it's really unusual to see such stylized designs coming from such a broad-based source. While the designs and colors schemes of these toys aren't as strong as their overseas inspirations, it's still encouraging to see the influence spreading. I'm also impressed that I bought into this line, because I have no real interest in the show!

The line is very simple - each figure is a contestant, each represents a musical genre. If you switch the toy on and lift its microphone arm, it will play a short riff in that style. The sound is decent, and the figures do balance well despite their proportions. For the money, the line is a nice value - the only real negative is the show logo, which can be peeled off most of the figures with little difficulty.

I have Soulful Selma, Li'l Hip Hop, New Wave Nigel, Country Clay, Rockin' Riley and Hippie Harmony. Li'l Hip Hop has the best music clip so far - there's a nice variety of tiny cues to cycle through.

The only thing that might have made this line more interesting is if the designer had been able to caricature some past winners (or memorable contestants) in this style. There's six or seven seasons of personalities - more than enough to keep these toys going for quite a while!

I think this promotion just started, so you should be able to buy any of the characters that are available for just a dollar or two. Most branches also allow you to buy the toys without a food purchase, so that's a plus. Happy Spurlocking!