The Minions long ago conquered pop culture. (And weird Facebook memes, but that’s another story.) I held out as long as I could, but my home has fallen. The combination of a new Minions movie and a four-year-old daughter threw open the gates.
Our daughter has watched the trailers for Minions & Monsters several times, has decided that it’ll be the second movie she sees in theaters (the first was Hoppers) and was super excited when I brought home the Minions & Monsters Meal from Wendy’s on Tuesday.
Wendy’s has fully given itself over to the Minions. In addition to the Minions & Monsters Meal, which is for adults, you can also get a Minions & Monsters Kids’ Meal.
The Minions & Monsters Meal comes with a Big Bacon Classic or a Spicy Chicken Sandwich (the app will also let you swap that for the Classic Chicken Sandwich), a small fries, a small Banana Frosty Swirl and one of four blind boxes featuring a Minions & Monsters character in a Wendy’s-themed outfit.
“The best partnerships start with an understanding of what our fans are passionate about,” Lindsay Radkoski, chief marketing officer at Wendy’s, said in the company’s announcement. “By bringing together one of the world’s most beloved entertainment franchises with Wendy’s iconic, high-quality food our customers love, we’re creating shared experiences that fans will go bananas for this summer!”
And bananas they have gone. My Wendy’s was decked out in a ton of Minions-themed signage, and the stellar staff all had yellow-hued shirts and hats on.
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The Minions & Monsters Meal is a full meal — if you’re cool swapping in a Frosty for a soda — but the two elements that make it unique are the new Banana Frosty Swirl and the Minions collectible.
The Banana Frosty Swirl and a Minions & Monsters blind box collectible. / Snackology
Since the introduction of Frosty Fusions last year, I’ve pretty much stuck to that elevated version of the classic Frosty. I’m a sucker for the Pop-Tarts, Oreo and cookie dough mix-ins. But for the Minions & Monsters Meal, Wendy’s has put the Frosty Swirl in the spotlight, pairing a vanilla Frosty base with “sweet banana cream sauce.”
The Banana Frosty Swirl. / Snackology
I’m consistently thrilled with the service that we get at our Wendy’s. The staff is super friendly. Our daughter is a frequent visitor thanks to myself and her grandparents, and the staff often treats her like a VIP. They’ve gone above and beyond when it comes to swapping Kids’ Meal toys out for ones that she doesn’t have.
I don’t blame them for the lackluster experience of eating a Frosty Swirl.
The mechanics behind this version of a Frosty just aren’t enough to deliver on the promise. If you look at a promo picture of the Banana Frosty Swirl, the yellow sauce is perfectly rippled throughout the vanilla Frosty base. There’s just no way to replicate that in stores. Instead you get the banana sauce stuck to the inside of the cup.
The Banana Frosty Swirl. / Snackology
Your best move is to just mix everything together.
The Banana Frosty Swirl has potential. The flavor is fun, but it’s not enough. We need more sauce. And we need it incorporated into the Frosty itself.
Unboxing the Minions & Monsters blind box collectible. / Snackology
I love that Wendy’s fully created an elevated Kids’ Meal for this promotion. While they’re not the first fast food restaurant to offer a promo meal for adults — Burger King recently had the Bounty Bundle and McDonald’s has done a KPop Demon Hunters crossover in addition to The Grinch Meal, McDonaldland Meal and A Minecraft Movie Meal — this is the first time I’ve gotten a toy that’s just a nicer version of the toy currently available for kids.
My Minions & Monsters blind box collectible. / Snackology
I don’t know which Minion character this is, but it’s probably more detailed and more eye-catching than any toy our daughter has gotten recently from a fast food chain.
The Omnicosm founder. Snackology, Popculturology and The Cold Open writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
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