The Energon Pub

News Credits: 4838 · by **william-james88** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:09 am

McDonalds was the first ever fast food chain to have a Transformers promotion, way back in the G1 era. Burger King took on a massive promotion for the live action movie era and lately we even had Transformers promotions at Wendy's. But what about Carl's Jr.? When are they getting their turn at TF goodness. Well, now is their time... in Mexico. That's right, Carl's Jr. locations in Mexico now have Transformers toys given in their kids meals as part of their current Hasbro promotion which is made up of Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and two characters from My Little Pony. Prime has an action feature with his axe and Bumblebee is a non transforming robot that can be hidden inside his car mode. Both come with stickers for some much needed detail. The images below come from TF fan tankor92. If ever these come to the US, let us know.

News Credits: 1 · by **Duke of Luns** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:18 am

The above image makes me think of this Shortpacked! comic(last panel in particular):

News Credits: 56 · by **o.supreme** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 12:27 pm

Glad I read the whole article.. (that these are only in Mexico), because I actually went to Carl's Jr. last night for dinner, (by coincidence), and didn't see anything. Although it is pretty sad....

Although I was not a fan of TF Animated, when those Happy Meal toys came out in 2008, they were (I think) the last actually decent TF fast food toys. My kids got a few pretty good Justice League toys a couple years later, but of course Now they have aged out. Sometime before the pandemic, McDonalds had Cyberverse (non transforming) toys. I gave the Bumblebee to my friend's son who had just turned 2, so his first Transformer (that didn't actually transform), but it was ok, he just liked that it was a car.

I'm pretty confident that, even if they had those toys in the United States, I probably wouldn't have got them, Most of my friends kids are growing up so fast, well I take that back, there is one friend who had a baby last summer, but unfortunately we've only seen them on zoom.

News Credits: 4838 · by **william-james88** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 1:33 pm

o.supreme wrote:Glad I read the whole article.. (that these are only in Mexico), because I actually went to Carl's Jr. last night for dinner, (by coincidence), and didn't see anything.

Is it any good? Like compared to McDonalds and Burger King.

Funny story, my kids (3 and 5) actually preffer Burger King. I am not as poor as I was growing up as a kid so any toy we get from these places is ignored (they have better toys at home) so they actually base their preference on food and they just find Burger King much tastier.

Now I wonder, is the whopper better than the big mac?

News Credits: 56 · by **o.supreme** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 4:01 pm

Funny story... I actually worked at BK while I was in highschool from 1992-1994 until shortly after I graduated. (Yes I am OLD).

Personally I prefer BK to McDonalds, but unfortunately the locations around me have poor customer service and has lead them to have a bit of a seedy reputation with numerous locations closing down (I'd say McDonalds locations outnumbers BK at least 4-to-1 in Northern California).

I looked up on Wiki, and it appears Carl's Jr. has expanded into Western Canada, not sure if they are in your area though:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl's_Jr._Canada

Carl's Jr (or as East Coast U.S. residents know it as "Hardees") has flame-broiled Burgers very similar to BK, (as opposed to fried burgers like McD's) but personally I currently like Carl's menu options a bit better than BK, although they are a bit pricier as well.

It's a shame because while I have a great nostalgia for BK as my first job, the service and questionable locations, especially during the Pandemic, at least where I live always convince me to think otherwise about going there.

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 4:10 pm

william-james88 wrote:Now I wonder, is the whopper better than the big mac?

From personal experience ... their ice cream machine is working more often. So that probably helps wash down the taste of the burger.

by **cloudballoon** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 4:36 pm

Expecting Kid's meal TF toys to be any better quality and can transform nowadays is setting yourself up for disappointment I guess.

Bee's bot sculpt isn't bad. Sticker sheet is pretty packed compared to OP's. Think of it this way, you get 2 figures in one package.

OP is a disaster though. Head sculpt is wonky, legs are standing weird, proportion's all goofy.

News Credits: 100 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 5:25 pm

Looking at that Bumblebee, Earthrise Arcee say: "BAH! I did it FIRST!" [-(

Seriously, those two are far more interesting than what we got in recent years. I would have fun applying the stickers and doing the drawing activities. :-B

I expect them to pop in on eBay at a premium. Plus shipping of course.

News Credits: 22 · by **Rodimus Prime** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 7:27 pm

Burn wrote:
william-james88 wrote:Now I wonder, is the whopper better than the big mac?

From personal experience ... their ice cream machine is working more often. So that probably helps wash down the taste of the burger.

But, no. Big Mac is better. Always. In my opinion.

News Credits: 20 · by **Tuned Agent** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 4:34 pm

o.supreme wrote:Although I was not a fan of TF Animated, when those Happy Meal toys came out in 2008, they were (I think) the last actually decent TF fast food toys.

I remember getting the Bumblebee from that promotion when I was a kid, and then shortly after finding the Ratchet at a garage sale. Those things were awesome, and I don't think any fast food TF toys have really come close since.