Astrosniks were an attempt by Bully, a German company, to replicate the success of Smurfs. They were essentially space Smurfs. They were first introduced in Europe in 1975, and eventually made their way to the States in the early 1980s. They never really became a hit here, probably because they didn’t have a cartoon tie-in like a lot of the biggest toylines (although there were plans for a show, it just never came to fruition).
In 1983, McDonald’s licensed the Sniks for a Happy Meal campaign. The figures were altered from their original designs to feature the famous Golden Arches to tie them to McDonald’s. Sometimes the alterations were as simple as adding an M to a part of the figure. But others are a little more extensive – as you’ll see at the end, I have a few retail Sniks side-by-side with the McDonald’s version so you can see the differences.
McDonald’s released another series of Astrosnik Happy Meals in 1984, but I’ll share those with you some other time.
I also have Happy Meal boxes for the McDonald’s Sniks.
You might notice that there are Sniks on the boxes that were not available as part of the Happy Meal…
These Sniks were available at retail or as part of the Series 2 Happy Meal release, but not as part of the Series 1 promotion…
These rare Astrosnik tray liner and translite sign are courtesy of Consumer Time Capsule, the collector of all things McDonald’s. I have a few translites in my collection, so I asked him about the Astrosniks one, and he said it’s nearly impossible to come by. He has one in his collection and it’s the only one he’s ever seen. Man, what I wouldn’t give to get my hands on one those…
There was another series of Astrosnik Happy Meals released in 1984. Head over here to read all about them!
