Everyone remembers Ronald McDonald, Grimace and the Hamburglar, but there was a time when McDonald’s turned an actual Big Mac into a member of its cast of characters. For those in need of a reminder, you can find the even rarer action figure based on the peculiarity listed among the many items on eBay – and it is not cheap.
A graded 1976 action figure of Officer Big Mac, a burger-headed cop from McDonaldland who has been almost entirely forgotten by everyone except serious collectors, is listed on the auction site for a huge $9,999. This is exactly the kind of price you would expect to pay for a rare Star Wars figure or other holy grail toy, but for a McDonald’s action figure? Well, why not.
For anyone who never met him the first time around, Officer Big Mac was McDonaldland’s Chief of Police, a character with a Big Mac for a head and built in the mold of a bumbling Keystone Cops officer. His job in the overarching story was to keep order in McDonaldland, which mostly meant failing to stop the Hamburglar from making off with hamburgers and Captain Crook from swiping Filet-O-Fish. He never quite reached the same level of fame as other characters, which is why he is seen as something of an oddity today.
The figure comes from a 1976 line produced by Remco, which turned the McDonaldland characters into a series of six-inch poseable figures. The set included Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Mayor McCheese, Captain Crook, the Hamburglar and Officer Big Mac, each dressed in multi-piece cloth outfits. Additionally, they had a little lever on their backs that controlled the character’s head. Remco was known at the time for making cheap toys, but the McDonald’s line was one of the company’s products that bucked the trend, adding to their collector appeal years later.
The rest of the value comes down to good old condition and nostalgia. The item listed on eBay right now has survived the last half a century in great condition. Graded AFA 85 NM+, this is probably one of the best preserved versions of this character still in its original box to have been put up for auction, which boosts that near-$10,000 price tag. Obviously, that price is just an open invitation right now, but whether anyone is willing to pay it is another matter.
McDonald’s Happy Meal toys have frequently sold for large amounts, especially those linked to Disney franchises and other tie-ins. That doesn’t mean their own characters are not ready for a comeback of their own, and this vintage Officer Big Mac could soon find himself being joined by a modern counterpart. The chain has leaned into that feeling lately, bringing back the beloved Changeables and building whole promotions around past iconic collectibles.
Nostalgia is clearly one of the biggest drivers for any vintage collectible, and who doesn’t want to be reminded of good times when police officers had hamburgers for heads and a clown wasn’t just there to dwell in the sewers and eat children? The holy-grail vintage figures that occasionally surface for enormous sums generally come from long-forgotten franchises or are lost items attached to a big IP. Officer Big Mac may have spent decades in obscurity, but someone purchasing this old toy for a five-figure sum could potentially change that overnight.
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