Kids Meal Toys

[SteveJ09]

Long time no see,

I made a thread here a while back about starting a category for 'Fast Food Toys' but unfortunately back then I didn't have the free time to make it come to life. Now I do have time and I'd like to see a category for food premiums here on Colnect.

I think we should cover fast food toys, cereal toys, kinder surprise etc as well (in this category). I'm perfectly willing to kick start work on this category but unfortunately I'm a UK collector so don't have a vast amount of knowledge of other fast food toys (such as from the huge number of American restaurant chains) but they're are enough print and online catalogues to compensate for this.

Anyway I've probably talked too much, just to say if anybody here is interested in helping me set this category up, I'm more than willing to put everything I have into it.

Oh by the way, here's something I was wondering about navigation... Some series of premiums (toys) are released in specific regions only, eg: McDonald's Smiley Trees (Worldwide), McDonalds Smiley Clouds (Europe), McDonalds Smiley Birds (UK Only)... Any ideas how that could work navigation wise?

Here's an example navigation system:

Brand > Year > Series > Premium

McDonalds > 1997 > Smiley Clouds > Mr Fluffy

Sorry again for such a long post, I'm just in a rather excited to get started.

Cheers,

Steve

[Dana-Levitas]

Good to hear from you on this! I remember thinking this was a good idea back when I saw your first thread suggesting this - Fast Food Toys

I for one think it could be a beautiful category

There's no problem if you collect more UK items, rather than other countries, because other collectors could come to complete it later.

Regarding the Countries issue - we can do it the way we have in other categories, and create "Worldwide", "Europe" and "UK" options under the "Country" field. What do you think?

So, before we start, just to make sure, you want to start this category and be the coordinator of it? If you are, I'll be happy to go through it all with you, and even though I am not a collector of Food Premiums myself, I can help with the process and be a Colnect guide

Any others interested in this category? We would like to hear your opinion! Respond here, answer the poll and let's make it happen!

[Dana-Levitas]

Also, do you have a collection or images of collectibles you could add to the catalog?

[Rubycored]

I wonder how much of those old school toys I still have left... one I know that I remember foldly of is this Halloween "Lamp" I got from BK way back in 2000 (the one that lights up if you whack it, though the battery in it has since run out years ago).

As for navigation, here's what I can suggest (subject to SteveJ09's opinion, too)

Main page > Category> Distributor > Theme/Series > Listings

e.g. Fast Food Chains > Burger King > Halloween > Pumpkin Lamp

I am not sure we need the year because the toys themselves are mostly undated and it would be unlikely for non collectors to remember when they got their toys (and many series of toys are distributed over many years) not saying it shouldn't be included but i am saying it should not be a requirement for browsing.

So for Categories it would be mainly "Fast Food Clains", "Kinder Surprise" and "Cereals" (there maybe more)

Distributors would be the company that sold the toys, simple. (For Kinder Surprise it would be whether it's from the small eggs or the special big ones)

Theme would be if the toys are part of a series

and then the Item listings.

Also, mindme asking: How would one know whether a toy is localised issue and not a worldwide one?

[SteveJ09]

Hi Dana,

Thanks for responding here so quickly! Just to confirm I'm up for being the coordinator of this category, I have some personal catalogues which I can use to get started. Though I don't have many pictures at the moment, I'm sure I can source some (non copyrighted or with permission). Regarding the countries issue I like your idea of putting the country as a field, I think that would work for sure.

Rubycored, those are fantastic suggestions! I'm definitely in agreement with you about the year thing, most toys are dated either by the packet or by marketing materials but for older toys especially, these are hard to find. The navigation system your proposing is the way to go I think

Also the only real reliable way to determine if a toy is worldwide issue or not (for global chains like McDonalds, Burger King etc) is to look at the marketing materials (if you can find them). There are archived copies of the restaurant websites in different countries which are also handy, especially with Burger King as they list their toys there. One last resort is to speak to the marketing departments directly, they're usually quite helpful.

[Rubycored]

So we're good to start? if we are Dana will talk you through the construction of the NIF and all the testing procedures. (it's tedius, but you'll get used to it, lol, since you have your own catalogues which you can use, that makes the Catalogue Code construction a lot easier)

have fun!

[SteveJ09]

I'm ready to go whenever Dana is Thanks again Rubycored for those great suggestions, I have a vague idea of how the NIF can work but I'll wait for Dana's wisdom before I put anything together.

[Dana-Levitas]

Right! So, I am here to bring forth... Wisdom!

Not really, I'm just the person that tries to make sure we have everything we need and that the category details fit

[Rubycored] - thanks for your input, many good suggestions

[SteveJ09] - and so, we start at the very beginning. Before everything we need to Define the category and Name it.

Which items could be included in the category? Is it any toy that comes as a free gift with a Food Distributor?

If so, what will be the name of the category? In the past you named them "Fast Food Toys" and now "Food Premiums" - we need the name that is at the same time the most accurate, comprehensive and popularly known/understood. (We will probably not find one... a perfect one I mean. But we'll do our best to choose a good one!)

[SteveJ09]

Hey, don't be so modest Dana, your 'colnect wisdom' is what helps to make this place work so great

Which items could be included in the category? Is it any toy that comes as a free gift with a Food Distributor?

When I first imagined this category I thought of it solely focusing on fast food toys but I noticed some people collect cereal toys too, including myself to a limited extent. Kinder surprise toys can come under the same category eventually but given my very limited knowledge of them, I think it's best to focus on fast food and cereal toys for the moment and we can expand it later if there is interest.

So any toy that comes free with your meal (usually kids meal) at a fast food chain or free with special cereal boxes should be included, but not items that you have to save vouchers and send off for (such as a branded bowl with cereal).

If so, what will be the name of the category?

The technical name is 'Food Premium' but that is 'marketing language', so I think to keep the category accessible we should call it something similar to 'Food Toys' or 'Kids Meal Toys' (anyone got better suggestions?)

[Dana-Levitas]

Alright, that sounds like a good category definition

The Name - 'Kids Meal Toys' sounds like good name. The only thing is that it is now very popularly recognized as "the toy that comes in your McDonald's/Burger-King etc. meal". Technically speaking, all the included items are a kids meal...cereal, kinder eggs even.. I think it could be a good name anyway. "'Food Toys'' for some reason I find confusing... I expect to see Edible Toys for some reason.

Anyhow, I'll be happy to hear more opinions on this!

We will see with responses how we'll decide on that issue (I'm leaving with a temporary name for now as a 'pending' issue. We can also check what is popular online. Let me know if you have any other thoughts on this.

Now to another matter the NIF Fields! Like fields of wheat they need us to dig the ground and prepare it for the catalogs seeds (a-ha! a metaphor!). We need to decide what are the important pieces of information collectors want to know of each toy item, the ones that contributors will fill in when submitting a NIF and that will appear on the item page displaying it.

So, what are they? I'm guessing from the Navigation you suggested that "Distribution Company" / "Brand", "Year of issue" and "Series" will fit there. What else?

Also consider the Item Picture fields - what they should be of? The toy itself? Promotional material? A cover? Do we need both front and back picture? Do we need a third picture option?

[Rubycored]

Another suggestion: "Type" of toy? (sorry, don't have a better term for this)

For example:

Fixed Figure (figurines, dolls, stuffed plushes, etc),

Mobile Figure (Figurines with moveable bodyparts, Toy Story toys would go under here),

Mechanical (ones where you wind up and then see it roll off the table ),

Construction (you get the toys in parts and you construct the toys yourself),

Puzzle (Kinder Eggs are full of them, apparently),

Games (Game & Watch-like handheld, used to be popular in the late 80s and 90s)

Educational (Science toys, and the like, but i guess most of these go under "MEchanical" anyway?)

Don't look at me, i got dragged into the passion that SteveJ09 is showing for this category, lol.

[SteveJ09]

Dana, I think "Kids Meal Toys" is a good start, if anyone comes up with anything better though then great

Ah the NIF Fields, otherwise known as the field of dreams (or perhaps nightmares by the time we're done testing...

In my personal catalogues I have the following fields, (not in any particular order here):

'Category' eg: Fast Food Toy or Cereal Toy (or Kinder Suprise?)

'Distribution Company' or 'Brand' eg: McDonalds

'Series' or 'Set' eg: Toy Story 2 Action Figures

'Toy' or 'Name' eg: Buzz Light Year

'Description' (What it does / what it is) eg: Plastic figure with light up belt.

^ this is useful for cataloguing variations of toys such as colour variations within a series or set...

After giving it some thought I don't think 'Country' is that important, sometimes there are toys exclusive to certain countries, where that is the case we could perhaps note it in the description? It would be a lot of work to track down which countries each figure was carried in so I think for the sake of simplicity in display (and editing) we should exclude this field, but as always it's open to discussion

Finally Rubeycored, you have a second set of fantastic suggestions there!

I definitely think we should include the 'Type' field (all good suggestions there, I think you've covered most bases, except I think 'plush' should be a separate type?

Actually I was thinking with the navigation we could have something like this (I'll amend the example you gave before):

Main page > Category> Distributor > Type > Theme/Series > Listings

e.g. Fast Food Chains > Burger King > Fixed Figure > Halloween > Pumpkin Lamp

I think including the type in navigation would make it much easier to navigate so that we're not having thousands of 'theme/series' listings on one page.

What do you guys think?

[Dana-Levitas]

Grrreat!

And thanks, [Rubycored], for another good suggestion! very

So what we have for now is for the NIF fields is:

Part 1

Category

Type

Distribution Company / Brand

Part 2

Series / Set

Toy Name

Description (What it does / what it is)

Comments (there's always a "comments" column at the end for additional info)

If you are familiar a bit with our NIFs, then you you know that they are divided into 2 parts. The first applies to ALL items submitted on that NIF, the second details information for each individual item.

I've made an initial NIF so we have something to look at and a common understanding of what is needed. I've chosen the intials "KT" for the category for now.

Please notice what I've put in Part 1 and what in Part 2. See the scroll down lists in Part 1 and hints. I've chosen certain names for fields but all those could be changed. The NIF is very "drafty", mind you. Let me know what you think of the NIF and if you have any questions. Much of it I will explain anyway in the future.

SO NEXT we need to decide

1/ Do we need any other fields? Are the existing fields in the right place (Part 1/Part 2) and order?

2/ Lists - For some fields (Brands, Type and Category) it's better to have a list. We can do without it, but it's better, in my opinion to start with a list of some of the popular names, for convince. Do you have lists for those fields or can you maybe compile some? (no need for too long lists anyway, mostly of items you know)

* I usually prefer to decide on Navigation after the NIF fields are chosen (then the navigation goes accordingly), but it's good that you are already mentioning and discussing this.

[SteveJ09]

That is one great looking NIF! (I know that it's just a draft.. Maybe it's just the feeling of seeing my category idea on a NIF..)

Ok so here are my thoughts regarding the NIF (other opinions welcome as always)... I think the 'Type' field should be in part 2 (per toy).. That would allow people to submit multiple series from a distributor/brand, some of which might be different types (eg: a mixture of construction and puzzle toys). Given the varying nature of these toys I think it's best.

A couple of suggestions for the 'Type' list too, perhaps 'Plush' and 'Electronic' (to cover toys such as these for example: https://i.ebayimg.com/t/Rare-McDonalds- ... 60_35.JPG) ... Toys that light up could come under this category too, also what about having Film/TV as a 'Type'?

Dana, I'm not sure whether it's possible (or wise) to have different lists of brand appear based on the category. So for example if the category is Fast Food Toys we list the fast food restaurants but if the category is Cereal toys we list brands of cereal. I don't think it would be a problem to do it all in one list (with fast food / cereal together in the same list) but I'll leave that up to your 'wisdom'

Finally the hints for the 'set' and 'catalogue number' are the wrong way around, but other than that all the hint text looks good to me...

[SteveJ09]

Oops, forgot to give you a list of restaurants, I'll list just a few of the popular ones (toys wise) to get us started and then we can add more when we need to (or when others suggest it)...

Arby's (American chain, I'm not very familiar with their toys)

Burger King

Chick Fil-A (As above)

KFC

McDonald's

Pizza Hut

Subway

List for Cereal Toys to follow, I just need to do a little more research first to work out what brand are worth listing... (in the mean time, anybody is free to suggest brands)