McDonald's Happy Meal Toy

This project entailed the design and thought process behind creating a fun, low-cost, safe, and sustainable Happy Meal toy. In light of the recent release of the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the team designed spinning tops that visually correspond to one of the four nations in the show: fire, earth, water, and air. The toy spins due to a gear and ripper design, spinning the top as the ripper is pulled through a slot aligned with the gear. They are designed to be collectible, as different happy meals have a chance to contain any of the four spinners. Kids can also battle a friend’s spinner, fostering a social play environment that increases sales of happy meals. Each spinner and its included parts are large enough to be considered safe and pose no choking threat.

Happy Meal toy line of the theme Avatar: The Last Airbender 3D-printed prototype designed to be easily injection-moldable to allow for bulk production and implementation into happy meals. Final design features a spinner and launching mechanism that is safe and easy for children to use. The launch mechanism works by first placing the spinning top onto the pin inside of the launch box. Then simply stick the ripper cord through an opening on the side of the box, after which the cord prevents the top from falling out of the launch box. The ripper cord teeth will automatically align with the gear on the spinning top. The assembly can then be flipped upside down, and pulling the cord results in a smooth and long lasting spin.

Because the team has been tasked with solely creating designs that are easily injection-moldable, creating parts with complex or intricate part geometries, sharp corners, thin walls, undercuts, or insufficient draft angles that can hinder the moldability of a part was avoided in the design process. All parts designed for this toy are rounded as well to facilitate removal from molds. The size of the toy is also acceptable to be found contained in a Happy Meal, and is very manageable in a manufacturing environment. The spinner and launch box, when together, occupy a small space—2.1in x 2.1 in x 2.1 in—that may be easily packaged and distributed. The ripper cord is longer, but poses no length concerns and also fits easily into a real Happy Meal box. Molds of each of these parts are thus easily obtained and used, and small volume allows for faster and more manageable production.