McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys are not the same as they used to be made. One only has to look at the Smurfs made to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Smurfs in 1998.
In the Summer of 1998 the McDonald’s Corporation in Germany teamed up with I.M.P.S (Brussels) – www.smurf.com to release eight sports themed Smurfs. These were completely new moulds, made out of China. Each figurine had the ‘M’ embossed onto their back of their head. A smaller black printed ‘M’ was also added onto the front of the figurine. The Smurfs are also painted in bright shiny colours.
The promotion took place in Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Series 1 consisted of four Smurfs which included Skateboarder, Inline Skater, Inline Skater Smurfette and Snowboarder. Series 2 consisted of Basketball Smurf, Basketball Smurfette, Baseball Pitcher and Baseball batter.
Skateboarder 
Inline Skater 
Inline Skater Smurfette 
Snowboarder
Skateboarder – Series 1
Riding a yellow skateboard, with his baseball cap turned sideways and wearing green protective gloves.
Inline Skater – Series 1
Wearing orange skates with yellow blades, with corresponding orange shorts and yellow gloves. Can be displayed standing on his skates or on his hands.
Inline Skater Smurfette – Series 1
Smurfette looks more tentive than her skating companion. Wearing yellow skates with orange blades. Orange shorts with white top.
Snowboarder – Series 1
Standing next his yellow snowboard, while wearing wrap around sunglasses, orange shoes, green pants and an orange jacket.
Basketball Smurf 
Basketball Smurfette 
Baseball Pitcher 
Baseball Batter
Basketball Smurf – Series 2
Dribbling the basketball in his left hand, while wearing a white with blue edging basketball shorts and singlet top.
Basketball Smurfette – Series 2
Dribbling the basketball in her right hand, Smurfette is wearing a white with an orange edging basketball shorts and singlet.
Baseball Pitcher – Series 2
Pitching the baseball in his left hand, while his right hand has a baseball glove on. Wearing orange baseball pants with a white shirt.
Baseball Batter – Series 2
Wearing orange pants, yellow short sleved top and green under top. Has the bat lifted ready to strike the ball.
In 2007 a series fake sports themed Smurfs tuned up on eBay. These were made out of a very hard pvc material and had average paintwork. But the most interesting thing is that they included a Schleich tag. The original Sports themed Smurfs were never made by Schleich.
Keep on Smurfin
Kath B
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