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Although most collectors are very aware of the monthly tie-ins at McDonalds
and Burger King, there is a large part of the country that has no idea
other chains exist that also offer very desirable premiums. One such
regional chain that has reached new heights in recent years is
Jack in the Box. Founded in the mid 1950s in Southern California,
Jack in the Box is found today mainly in California, Texas, Louisiana,
Oregon, Arizona, and New Mexico. With a new direction in 1996, Jack
in the Box has slowly been expanding into other markets. Two recent promotions that it has features take advantage of the DC Comics license. More specifically, the "animated style" of these characters as seen in the WB cartoons. Many people believe that most QSRs must have their own staff that designs and creates their premiums, but the truth is that there are a handful of companies across the nation that focus mainly on supplying premiums to large companies. |
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The company that makes Jack in the Box toys is the US office of Promotional Partners Worldwide (PPW), based out of Glendale, CA. PPW is in a somewhat unique situation for two reasons. One, most major QSR chains use more than one company to supply their premiums (for example, McDonalds uses Simon Marketing and the Marketing Store, Burger King uses Alcone Marketing and Equity Marketing, Subway uses Tic Toc and B. Little, etc.) and two, Jack in the Box has a higher price point than most other QSRs, allowing the design team to get more bang for the buck. The price point is the money allotted for each toy by the client. Whereas most major QSRs deal in the $.35-$.50 range, Jack toys reportedly get as much as $.70 to use. Of course, economies of scale dictate that this lets them draw even at best with McD's and BK (those two order much higher quantities of toys due to their being in much more markets than Jack. So they're money goes much further; they more you buy, the cheaper it is). PPW luckily was very equipped to design these toys for DC, as their Creative Department is headed by Steve Erwin, who used to be the penciller on such DC comics as Deathstroke and Checkmate. At the moment I have been told that he is even working on a possible return to comics. But it helps to know the characters when dealing with a project such as this. All of the toy functions stay true to the characters, especially in the first series. Click on each picture for a larger image. |
Series 1
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This first series was released in 1999 and was a welcome surprise to most collectors (those that lived near a Jack in the Box, that is). True to the new models for these characters, this set featured two figures, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, that were close enough is scale to be used with the existing Batman and Superman lines from Hasbro (see picture below). Surprisingly, this was a complete coincidence, according to Mr. Erwin. The design team was unaware how it worked out. They were just trying to give kids the biggest toys they could for the money. Which leads us to a questions that many collectors ask: If they can make Green Lantern that large, why not the Darkseid, or a Superman? Well, this has to do with a trick that many premium designers employ called cost averaging. What this means is that if you are designing an entire assortment of something, you can make some of the toys cheaper than others, then use those savings to "plus up" one of the other toys. So a smaller Darkseid may buy you a large GL. Many companies don't like cost averaging, because they executive in charge of picking the premiums wants to be able to choose from a large range and not be locked into "package deals" due to price constraints. That's another little tidbit most folks are unaware of: the designers may present 20-40 concepts for each pitch, and the client chooses the final toys whether they know the property or not. The features of this series are: Clark Kent "changes" into Superman when you pull a lever on the Phone Booth, the Batmobile is a pullback vehicle, Aquaman "swims" when you wind him up and put him in water, Darkseid's eyes light up, Squeeze Wonder Woman's legs together and she "deflects bullets", Green Lantern's ring lights up (plus he came with a large translucent plastic "ring" shield that fit over his hand), and the Flash's lightning trails spark when you push him. This series sold very well for Jack in the Box, and they had a hard time keeping them in stock. |
Series 2
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Which is why we now have a second series. Keep in mind that the lead time for these toys can be up to a year in advance, and many QSRs set their entire premium calendar at one time, so a year and a half may have been the quickest time to get this license back on the schedule after the initial sales came in. With this series we get a much wider range of figures and most are mainly in scale with each other, if not the Hasbro lines. These too are already selling out at many Jack in the Box restaurants. With this range we get an "under 3" toy, which many states require (this is a toy that has no moving parts that can be choked on-meaning it's safe for children under three years of age, or "zero age graded"). his figure is John Henry Irons, who snaps into a Steel shell. Hawkman has wings that unfold, Superman breaks a chain when you squeeze his legs, Batman is a climbing toy being pulled by his Batarang, Supergirl punches a cardboard Metallo cutout when you pull a lever on her back, Wonder Woman twirls her lasso when you spin a thumbwheel on her back, Shazam!'s symbol lights up, Batgirl kicks a cardboard Penguin cutout when you pull a lever on her back, and Robin is a non-articulated figure that is launched with a catapult to knock over a cardboard cutout of the Joker. Only time will tell if we get yet another series for this line. In the meantime, anyone without a Jack in the Box in their area can call the number found on their website to request that these be made available online. |
Scale pic by Daniel Pickett
Kid's Meal Bag
And thanks to Michael Hawkins for the nitpicking.
