This Vintage McDonald's Toy Set Could Be Worth Way More Than You Think

Since the arrival of the Happy Meal in 1979, McDonald's has been cranking out mini plastic and plush toys of varying quality. Some have been coveted, like the collab that resulted in the TY Teenie Beanies of the '90s, while others, like the toothbrush and toothpaste of the early '80s, were a bit of a letdown. In 2021, McDonald's declared it would phase out traditional plastic toys in favor of more sustainable materials like corn-based plastic, cardboard, and paper (for example, Pokémon cards). While a win for the environment, this initiative has also fueled some nostalgia for McDonald's Happy Meals — particularly the toys of the '80s and '90s. This sentimentality has in turn created demand among toy collectors, increasing the value of some longed-for Mickey D's toys. It may surprise you that one toy set in particular, McDonald's Changeables, have sold for up to $200 on eBay. 

Changeables, Mickey D's transforming toys from the late 1980s, are one of the rarest vintage Happy Meal toys out there, with people apparently willing to pay a decent price for a set. Based on previous sales, if you're lucky enough to have held on to these fun toys, you could potentially sell a set of about eight different Changeables for roughly $60 to $70 online. Toys still in the packaging often sell for more. Meanwhile, larger sets and toys in good, original condition (not repainted) have sold for $100 to $200. This profit isn't too shabby for a McDonald's toy, especially considering a Happy Meal cost a little over $1 in the 1980s. 

McDonald's Changeables were included in Happy Meals from 1987 to 1990 and consisted of three different series (around 22 toys total). The toys were comprised of plastic McDonald's foods — chicken nuggets, burgers, fries, soda cups, and others — that transformed into robots and dinosaurs. The first two series, deemed McRobots, were loosely based on Transformers robots, yet they were not licensed as such, nor did they resemble any specific Transformers characters. Transformers toys were first launched by Hasbro in 1984, while the first Transformers television series existed from 1984 to 1987, and "Transformers: The Movie" debuted in 1986. Thus, it makes sense that McDonald's would come out with the transforming robot toys at this time — they were extremely popular among kids. 

While the toys in the first series didn't appear to have specific names, the second Changeables robot series included fun names like Galacta Pounder, Fry Force, and Robo-Cakes. The third series, released in 1990, were called McDino Changeables and transformed into dinosaurs instead of robots. The colorful dinos were also given silly names, such as Big Mac-O-Saurus Rex, Fry-Ceratops, and McNuggets-O-Saurus. 

Besides the obvious nostalgia for vintage toys, the amusing transforming capability coupled with the growing popularity of collecting miniature food toys and other mini items has likely contributed to the popularity of these collectable Happy Meal toys. For a limited time in 2019, McDonald's brought back some of the throwback Happy Meal toys from the '80s and '90s, including the hamburger Changeable and Happy Meal box dinosaur Changeable. Unless that happens again, if you want one of these retro toys, auctions are your best bet.