MacDonald's Hello Kitty Fairy Tales Collection: The Wisdom Owl

So with the whole Hello Kitty Fairy Tales fad having being extinguished and the Minions taking over the mantle as the Latest McD's Fad, I finally received the MacDonald's Hello Kitty Fairy Tales Collection: The Wisdom Owl. Got it for SGD17 which was pretty decent compared to what people were paying for on eBay.


Okay so The Wisdom Owl is not noticeably different from all the rest from the front and back.

The theme colour for this round is brown.

As always, the artwork is top notch as always and it looks like the rest with that has nice trees and shrubs.

Again the same book pattern is used for the box packaging but this time we can see it is much thicker than the others.

Somehow one has little owl faces all over the yellow rim.

Now looking at the kitty itself, one can see it is not like the base shape of the rest of the Hello Kitties. It is fatter, round and is cannot remove its hood to show the ears. It comes with a little card as well which talks about some app but I was not able to find and download it from the Google Play Store.

On the back, it is like looking at a grizzly bear than an owl...

Finally, we end off with the artwork. The owl costume looks somewhat creepy as there are 2 sets of eyes there. itt seems like Hello Kitty is emerging from the owl becuase of the way it is drawn.

Alrighty, so this is the final piece to my collection. It is the final chapter I guess until the next theme come out...

Here are the links to the other Kitty Dolls in this series
Wizard of Oz Hello Kitty
McDelivery Hello Kitty 
Little Red Riding Hood Hello Kitty
The Frog Prince Hello Kitty
The Ugly Duckling Hello Kitty
The Singing Bone


Here is a link to a set from last year's series
McDonald's Hello Kitty Series 2012

MacDonald's Hello Kitty Fairy Tales Collection: The Singing Bone 27 Jun

For the more observant ones amongst you, you would notice that I did not put the week that The Singing Bone was supposed to be available, I put just the date it was released. Why you may ask why good sir did you do that? Well because it is simple. Singing Bone Hello Kitty was gone on day 1 within a couple of hours of the start of the promotion. Poof. Gone in an instant. Too fast too furious.

Unlikely my mostly positive experiences and non-too-violent incidents, other places were not so. Take a look at this.

Some even rude exchanges were made in Facebook. Really people do you want to show everyone your moronic side and regress?

 
Okay so The Singing Bone Hello Kitty is noticeably different from all the rest as it is black as it can be.

The theme colour for this round is black.

As always, the artwork is top notch except it has a dose of scary added.

Again the same book pattern is used for the box packaging.

Somehow one has skulls all over the yellow rim. Not sure if that is considered child friendly...

Now looking at the kitty itself, it is like a negative of the usual Hello Kitties. This is black with silver embroidered patterns. This does not have any hood or any other kind of clothing but still manages to make it up with the very nice embroidered patterns. One can tell that it is not that well made, as all the previous ones but seem less deformed especially the ears part where they are usually asymmetrical but are hidden by the hoods. Again for SGD$4.60 on cannot really complain.

On the back, it is the plainest amongst all the 6.

Finally, we end off with the artwork. Maybe it is the black theme but this one certainly looks very Batman to me! But I do love it even though it is quite different from the rest.

Alrighty, the promotion is finally over. It was crazy especially getting this last one but it was at the same time fun but stressful at the same time. I am sure many of those who like me were collecting full sets feel the stress of getting this last piece. Here is a shot of them on my cabinet with my other toys.

Until next time...

Here are the links to the other Kitty Dolls in this series
Wizard of Oz Hello Kitty
McDelivery Hello Kitty 
Little Red Riding Hood Hello Kitty
The Frog Prince Hello Kitty
The Ugly Duckling Hello Kitty
The Wisdom Owl*
*this is released after this one


Here is a link to a set from last year's series
McDonald's Hello Kitty Series 2012

MacDonald's Hello Kitty Fairy Tales Collection: Ultimate Showdown Extravaganza

Like all good shows, the finale has to be a no holds barred showdown of epic proportions. McDonald's has restricted the purchase of Hello Kitty The Singing Bone to 4 per person. Surely this will drive people to purchase 4 per person due to the perceived limited edition status of the last one but even I had no idea how epic this was going to be.

My initial idea was it head down around 2300hrs to join the queue. I thought that Changi City Point (CCP) was a relatively deserted branch and hence I would face little competition for the plush toy. Boy was I wrong, totally dead wrong.

Michelle was pretty excited and wanted to head down earlier but I dissuaded her from doing that. Later though a friend sent a picture if the queue developing at Yew Tee. I dismissed it as a 24-hours branch located near neighbourhood housing estates and hence such branches would face such issues but on the other hand CCP was located in the east and was relatively secluded to IMHO. Nevertheless we went down earlier than planned to try and get into the queue earlier. Here is her leading a fast march towards kitty.

Both of us were carrying bags to stuff the food into. This would become handy as the plan changed later.

We reached around 2215 and a long queue had developed. The queue got pretty long within the next half an hour and the manager of that branch started issuing Kitty Coupons (actually scraps of paper with hello kitty on one side).

Almost half the queue was sorely disappointed that the coupons ran out and as those kitty-less people left some were furious on their mobile phones deciding on their next move. I was lucky! I was standing safely away from that set point. Later we found out from Michelle's colleagues at other 24 hours branches that this was a similar situation elsewhere. Most of her friends sadly failed to get their kitty fix.

Still people kept coming as they did not know that the CCP branch has already reached their kitty limit. Several times I saw the queue grow again to double the length and only to collapse quickly when informed by the staff of the unfortunate news.

An overseas Indian who was working around there had obviously not seen such Kiasu-ness in Singapore before and approached someone in front of me to ask what was going on. Cracked me up.

eBay quickly sprouted sellers of the Singing Bone and outrageous bids like over a 1000 dollars were reached but I did notice that for a lot of them, the first and last letter of the bidder was exactly the same in all bids. Also the buyers' rating were 0. I quickly surmised that someone was spoiling the bids perhaps in frustration at all this scalping going on. 10 Million for Singing Bone Hello Kitty? That is even better than selling property! Haha.

Initial plan was to walk home in order to save costs but Michelle had a change of plans, she was actually short of 3 Singing Bone Hello Kitty! Argh and she badly wanted to get them for her colleagues and friends.Very badly to the point that it was not funny. She had thought that re-queue was a possibility but hell it was not for sure with the high demand. At the same time almost all her friends had failed to secure any as they were late in the game in other 24-hours branches like Woodlands, Queensway.

We discussed and decided to take a taxi back to another McDonald's branch but this time the regular branch type that opened in the morning at 7am/8am type. We decided on Parkway branch as it was nearer to our home and I was familiar with the surroundings. One thing is some branches are not directly accessible and are located in the shopping centre but not at the sides. So where to queue in such an instance. At least the Parkway one we knew where the entrance was.

Meanwhile back at the CCP, after almost one and a half hours, we reached the counter and ordered 4 double cheeseburger sets, 4 fillet o fish sets and changed all drinks to ice milo, my favourite drink of all time. EVAR. And of course finally got our Singing Bones. With that, we managed to get a taxi immediately at the taxi stand and asked the driver to wait for us as we got home, packed her work attire with her and I carried a spare bag to stuff the food into and left for round 2! I thought it was crazy but oh well there are those days...

We arrived at Parkway and as expected a queue had already formed. They consisted of those who were disappointed from the other 24-hour branches which I correctly predicted and the "first-timers". This branch had more creature comforts as one of the guys commented. We could sit on nice seats while in the queue overnight.

Staff from the 24-hour East Coast Seafood Centre branch were re-deployed there to help out and the coveted Kitty Coupons. Here is a shot of how it looks like.

This was an even closer shave than round 1 at CCP. We were about the last ten people before the cut-off. So finding ourselves in the "confirmed list", we sat down and tried to prepare for what was surely going to be a long night. I packed 2 double cheeseburgers, 2 fillet o fish, 1 packet of fries and 4 ice milos as a night snack which Michelle once settled down nicely started to dig into. Nom Nom Nom Nom.

Fast forward, skipping the dozing parts, walking around Marine Parade Central in the middle of the freaknig night, killing of cockroaches, 7am could not have come sooner. Some people who were not in the cut-off decided to stay and try their luck as some of those in the confirmed list would give up their places...just like the BTO scheme!

At CCP I did not see any ugly sights of Singaporeans but over at Parkway it was a different story I am sad to say. Some people unhappy for some reason, 2 ladies who came later in the morning argued with the staff but they stayed to try their luck. One of them demanded those in the "confirmed list" to show their coupons to prove that something. To me, she had no right and we need not entertain her. A guy in the queue with me commented typical Singaporean.


1 young girl came like past the 7am timing when the show started rolling,  she begged people to spare her a Kitty. The guy just behind me was a very nice Malaysian just behind me, gave her one ticket which later she said, she was looking for 2 and continued asking around for her...I really not too sure what to say about it. On one hand, she was very very determined on the other hand. People queued like for 7+hours for that hello kitty, people behind the confirmed list are trying out their luck. I felt she was a bit too much, but on the other hand, her persistence paid off? I don't know what to say...it is a tough situation.....she was SO DAMN LATE IN THE GAME WHAT MADE HER THINK SHE COULD BEG AROUND FOR 2??!!

3 aunties kept asking me and those who go the kitties to spare a kitty for their grandchildren or twin grandchildren and so on...sigh I did not know what to say about that situation as well. While we were queuing overnight, the haze and its distinctive BBQ smell started coming back. Oh well we all knew it was a matter of time...

It was home sweet home for me after round 2. Michelle had changed to work clothes earlier before 7am and we took a bus to Paya Lebar MRT and went to work in the other direction. 2 small hiccups to the overall well executed plan. I brought 2 chocolate bars thinking I would be hungry and put it my backpack...then I put the meals in the backpack. Now the aluminium sealed foil has "liquid" all inside it and had to freeze it back. Also, I accidentally put hash brown forgetting the oil will seep out, so my Deuter bag is being sent for washing.

With that I took a long nap. Check out the next post which will be the review of the Singing Bone Hello Kitty itself. Boy was it an adventure and a hoot to get it! Here is the shot of most of the kitties we got lined up and ready to receive their new owners over the next few days as friends and colleagues come and pick them up. 4 of them were already distributed by Michelle. Darn cool if you ask me.

[Update 27th June 2013 2245hrs]: They have released a PR statement on the Hello Kitty promotion which they do not condone staff doing any reselling and that they remove posts on their FaceBook of resellers. If you ask it, things are very hard to control and the main way to kill of reselling is to simply have a very large supply to squash it (like what the G did with N95, they flooded 9 million in, now where are the queues) or alternatively have rounds and rounds of Hello Kitty promotions which will devalue the secondary market.

Great Scott! We are surrounded in a cloud of haze

As shown from the animation below of a collage of regional haze maps 20th June to 25th June, the has almost flanked our island from almost all quarters except the South East direction. So it looks like it will be a matter of a few days more until we start to experience hazy conditions again. Sadly, no hail on the east side. Shucks and I thought things were just about to get a tad bit exciting around here.

Meanwhile the 3M Filtrete seem to be sold out still in Home Fix. I eagerly await the 3M Filtrete Room Air Conditioner Filter to arrive so as to test out the higher MPR one.

Although the skies are clearer now, there is no doubt there is still quite a bit of crud in the air as I still occasionally cough out super thick yellow phlegm.

To end off on a more light hearted note, here is someone's rendition of the PSI Index according to Hello Kitty Fairy Tale series. Witch Kitty is first I guess as she does not wear any hood on her head. The next four features hoods and masks, going from green to red, like a traffic light status. Finally with super high PSI of more than 500, we will all become black like the Singing Bone one and yes tomorrow is the finale to this exciting crazy chase for all the kitties.

MacDonald's Hello Kitty Fairy Tales Collection: The Ugly Duckling 20 Jun - 26 Jun

So in the last round, The Frog Prince was sold out on Day 1. People now have taken to getting their Hello Kitty fix at the stroke of midnight!

Due to the haze situation (see here on how bad it is), McDonald's has decided to halt their McDelivery service. Good call.

The trend is of the Hello Kitties getting sold out earlier and earlier. For The Ugly Duckling, it was sold out in most places before lunch time.

As McDonald's did not impose a limit, I have personally seen people walking off with 8 sets of these things. I am sure that a large majority of them are genuinely buying for their colleagues while only a small group of scalpers are taking it to eBay to sell or even pimping it on McDonald's Facebook even thought McD's themselves have stated categorically that this is not condoned by them. Unfortunately as the administrators are not removing those comments, enterprising folks are still putting them on McD's Facebook. Oh well they gotta do what they gotta do to push sales...hopefully the breaking of glass panes will not repeat itself again next week when the last and limited edition comes out. Now onto the review!

Okay so The Ugly Duckling Hello Kitty is noticeably different from all the rest as it is yellow.

The theme colour for this round is blue.

As always, the artwork is top notch

Again the same book pattern is used for the box packaging.

Somehow this reminds me of the line "mirror mirror on the wall..."

Now looking at the kitty itself, one can tell that it is not that well made, as all the previous ones. They seem to be slightly deformed in some manner or other. In some cases, the head or ears are not balanced. Other times the bodies are the ones slightly deformed but we cannot really complain considering it is SGD$4.60. The duck design for the hood is not as nice as The Frog Prince which I still feel looks the best among them all.

On the back, it is rather plain as expected. The yellow is quite light and is not banana bright so that makes it quite okay. The yellow also contrasts nicely with the blue colour box packaging.

Finally, we end off with the artwork. Maybe it is the blue theme but this one certainly looks more subdued than all the other ones before it.

Here are the links to the other Kitty Dolls in this series
Wizard of Oz Hello Kitty
McDelivery Hello Kitty 
Little Red Riding Hood Hello Kitty
The Frog Prince Hello Kitty
The Singing Bone Hello Kitty* 
The Wisdom Owl* 
*these are released after this one


Here is a link to a set from last year's series
McDonald's Hello Kitty Series 2012

MacDonald's Hello Kitty Fairy Tales Collection: The Frog Prince Hello Kitty 13 Jun - 19 Jun

Alright we got Kermit the Frog's other cousin in da house! Once again Michelle has graciously decided to help me acquire a pair of them. Sweet. Okay today's Straits Times newspaper's front page does not have any more Hello Kitty promotion posters. I guess the campaign has gone on strong and needed no more boost.

In the morning the queue at the Alexandra branch around 8am had built up to the entrance door. So a lot of people are chasing kitty. Michelle bought one set with her breakfast and the plan was to buy another one one the way back home for dinner.

Wow! latest update at 1826hrs was that Alexandra McDonald's actually ran out of this on Day 1! Michelle headed to Harbourfront to see if that branch had it and thankfully it did! So I still will get my pair after all...phew. Seems that based on the online tracker The Frog Prince Hello Kitty is selling fast.

Not only that, the McDelivery (Witch) Hello Kitty has been sold out 2nd week into this promotion. With 3 more weeks to go and people are not happy.

Now onwards to the review proper. I said previously that some people even bought these kitties at the stroke of midnight and I felt it was an unnecessary action but then again, with the Frog Prince Hello Kitty, the trend seems to be the kitties running out earlier so maybe that is something that everyone into getting the last 2 sets might have to factor that trend. I think everyone has just got to get it on Thursday mornings with their breakfast meals to secure the kitties.

The front artwork is great as always. This time the lower right corner logo is...Kermit the Frog!

The back artwork like the front has lime green as the outline but the dominant colour is pink throughout both covers.

The isometric view show the box is the pattern design for the book edges/pages remain the same for all so far.

The theme colour for the Frog Prince Hello Kitty is the theme lime green in case you have not figured it out.

 

From the front we can see a happy smiling frog face with nice big round eyes. It is really cute and this kitty has a baby bib with a crown design on it. The eyes are much better than the "mabok" eyes that Wizard of Oz (Lion) kitty had. In fact I would go so far as to say that this is currently among the 4 released so far, the best looking Hello Kitty.

In tribute to the upcoming reboot Superman: The Man of Steel film, here is a flying super kitty.

And to end this review, here is a scan of the cover art.

Here are the links to the other Kitty Dolls in this series
Wizard of Oz Hello Kitty
McDelivery Hello Kitty 
Little Red Riding Hood Hello Kitty
The Ugly Duckling Hello Kitty*
The Singing Bone Hello Kitty*
The Wisdom Owl*  
*these are released after this one

Here is a link to a set from last year's series
McDonald's Hello Kitty Series 2012