Elizabeth McGovern

With the release of “A Minecraft Movie” in theaters, McDonald’s launched a themed “Minecraft Movie Meal” and “Happy Meal.” The Happy Meal includes one of the 12 Minecraft-themed toys, and the Movie Meal includes—with a choice of the 10-piece nuggets or a Big Mac—one of the six collectibles and a trading card with a code to unlock an in-game bonus. The Minecraft meal promotion has quickly become a hit for the fast-food chain.

Capitalizing on the nostalgia of the game and the popularity of the movie, the collectibles—more than the food itself—have led to sellouts at some locations. With the exception of the spicy Nether Flame sauce, the Minecraft-themed packaging and collectibles have been the main appeal to consumers. The collectibles themselves are nothing drastically different from the Happy Meal toys, other than that they are slightly larger and some of the collectibles possible to obtain are McDonald’s mascots from the 1970s.

“The only thing I really think lived up to the hype was the Grimace Egg. But other than that, it’s so-so,” sophomore Oval Wolf said. “They do provide skins in the game, which is cool, but these collectibles themselves don’t look as interesting.”

While the Happy Meal is marketed for kids, in the last few years McDonald’s has released limited-time meals that offer a collectible geared towards older kids and adults wanting to experience the childhood nostalgia again of finding a toy in their Happy Meal. 

In 2022, McDonald’s released the viral “Cactus Plant Flea Market Meal” that included a collectible of one of the original McDonald’s characters like Grimace and Hamburgler. Two years later, they introduced the “Collector’s Meal” which included one of six collectible cups themed from the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s. 

Later in 2024, a 30th anniversary “Friends” themed meal was released in Spain, and the most recent example is, of course, the Minecraft Meal. This formula has worked as all of these meals have sold out in different locations and the collectibles themselves have sometimes sold for more than the meals are worth at questionable prices for a plastic fast-food collectible. 

Like the Minecraft Meal, these special collector meals tap into nostalgia, appealing to both younger audiences and adults who grew up with the shows or remember their first Happy Meal. Since Minecraft has been around since 2009, it has become a classic childhood game for many teenagers and has now turned into a movie and McDonald’s meal.

Wolf, who has collected five out of the six collectibles from the meal, has been playing Minecraft since 2011 and believes nostalgia is a large part of the popularity of the Minecraft meal.

“I think [nostalgia] does factor into it because as a kid, I have just always liked collecting stuff and especially with Minecraft, something that I’ve grown up with, it’s a rite of passage,” Wolf said.

At the end of the day, most of these sought-out collectibles end up in the trash or collecting dust on a shelf as society and pop culture move on to the next trending thing. While the value and popularity of the plastic toys and collectibles of McDonald’s are often fleeting with time, the nostalgic feeling of being transported back to simpler times is perhaps worth the most in the end.