McDonald's Pokémon Promotion Is Officially Coming Back
In 2021, McDonald's celebrated the 25th anniversary of the beloved Pokémon franchise with all kinds of collectable goodies (per Bulbapedia). With a true "gotta catch 'em all" attitude, fans flocked to the fast-food chain in droves to get their hands on the card sets and toys that were featured. From that promotion alone, it's plain to see that Pokémon is just as popular as ever!
We're happy to say that Pokémon trainers can rejoice once again, because McDonald's has decided to bring back the magic this year. The restaurant chain posted a photo of a bright yellow Happy Meal box with Pikachu's cheery smile and cute little ears with the caption "It's back" (via Twitter). The posts were flooded with overjoyed commenters expressing their excitement over the announcement. On Instagram, fans were ready to hit the drive thru, saying, "Gonna go order a happy meal" and "Grandma wake up, Pikachu box is back." Has a Happy Meal ever made anyone as happy as this?
What about the Pokémon cards and toys?
The return of McDonald's Pokémon promotion was announced with very few details, which raised a lot of questions about whether the meals would include cards and toys like last year. According to PokeBeach, the Pokémon Happy Meals appeared in Europe a week prior to its availability in the United States. They confirmed that "each Happy Meal comes with a 4-card booster pack containing one foil card and three non-foil cards. There are 15 cards to collect: six of them are always holo." The foiled cards will feature McDonald's signature confetti design that has been used in its previous Pokémon partnerships.
A McDonald's employee posted a sneak peak of one of the Pokémon toys included in the promotion on Reddit. One person commented, "Ah yes, dear, we need to get our daughter happy meals, she loves them! What toy? I didn't see a toy." (We're not so sure that toy is for the kid!) Pokémon Happy Meals are available at McDonald's now for all ages to enjoy and collect.