In 1999, LEGO sold an official McDonald’s restaurant set through its Shop at Home catalog in the United States. Set 3438 used 98 pieces to build a drive-through window, a car, and an umbrella table. Stickers did most of the branding work. Today, a fan-designed lego mcdonald’s menu concept takes that idea in a different direction.
One collector paid $75 for a sealed copy in 2011. The set cost about ten dollars new. Twenty-seven years later, a fan builder has dropped the restaurant entirely and gone straight for the food.
The design, a lego mcdonald’s menu build, comes from brickbybrick_ and sits on LEGO Ideas, the platform where fans submit builds for possible production. It shows a cheeseburger, a carton of fries, and a cup of ice with a striped straw, all on a red tray. There are no minifigures and no drive-through. The submission went live on October 29 and had 1,440 supporters at the time of writing. Adult fans of LEGO, known as AFOLs, tend to rally quickly behind a build like this.
A lego mcdonald’s menu tray built to look used
The tray is made from red plates with a raised, rounded rim and a handle at each end. The shape reads as molded plastic rather than a stack of bricks, a detail that matters to any lego mcdonald’s menu fan. A large yellow set of Golden Arches sits in the center and breaks up the red.
The food follows the familiar arrangement: burger on the front left, cup at the back, fries on the right. Anyone who has eaten lunch at a McDonald’s will recognize the layout. The composition feels like a meal someone just set down.
If the fries here made you smile, the playful food-and-animal collages in Surreal Visual Mashups with Toucans and Fries take the same whimsical approach with bold color.
A burger assembled from leaves and plates
The cheeseburger starts with a dome of tan curved pieces that form a smooth bun. Beneath it sit a red layer for tomato, bright green leaves for lettuce, a yellow slice of cheese, and a dark brown patty. The leaves come from LEGO plant elements, which the builder repurposes as salad. Brick builders call this kind of reuse NPU, short for nice part usage.
Each layer sticks out at a slightly different angle. The stack looks squashed, as if it came straight out of the wrapper. That is an accurate detail for fast food, which rarely arrives perfectly stacked.
Fries and a drink with the lid off
Yellow plates and bricks spill from the red fry carton on every side. Some stand upright, and others lean over the edge. The carton copies the real container’s wide mouth and the profile that keeps fries from tumbling out. McDonald’s introduced that carton in 1970.
The Golden Arches on the carton use the same red and yellow pairing the chain has used for decades. Building fries that look casually messy takes more effort than it seems. The only thing missing is the salt.
The drink is the strongest detail. The white cup is open at the top, packed with transparent pieces that stand in for ice. A red-and-white striped straw leans out at an angle. It is the tallest point in the build and the only major splash of red on the white cup. It also nods to a real quirk: McDonald’s has said its straws are slightly wider so more soda reaches the taste buds.
What it takes to reach production
This is not the first McDonald’s submission to LEGO Ideas. Among lego fan builds, restaurant themes have a steady following. In 2021, adammark’s McDonald’s Franchise 1955-1969 reached 10,000 supporters and made the Third 2021 Review. That round included 36 projects, and only Hocus Pocus was approved. McDonald’s Menu takes a different approach by shrinking the subject from a restaurant to a single meal.
Fans chasing bigger LEGO challenges might enjoy LEGO’s 1,849-piece Joker mosaic wall art, which shows how far the bricks can stretch into display art.
The lego mcdonald’s menu build is unlicensed, so the Golden Arches are a fan tribute. An official version would need McDonald’s approval. The two companies have worked together before, including LEGO’s first Happy Meal promotion in 1983, so the precedent exists.
The lego mcdonald’s menu submission has 1,440 supporters and 599 days left to reach its next milestone of 5,000. Projects that reach 10,000 supporters get reviewed by LEGO for a chance at production. Every set on store shelves began with zero votes, so the climb is possible, if slow. If you’d like to see this combo in a box, head to the LEGO Ideas page and give it your vote. Personally, I’m holding out for a Super Size edition, which McDonald’s retired in 2004.
Source: yankodesign.com
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the LEGO McDonald’s menu fan build?
The design was created by a fan builder going by brickbybrick_ and was submitted to LEGO Ideas, the platform where fans propose builds for possible production. The submission went live on October 29.
What items are included in the LEGO McDonald’s menu build?
The build includes a cheeseburger, a carton of fries, and a cup of ice with a striped straw, all on a red tray. It has no minifigures and no drive-through, so it focuses only on the food.
How many supporters does a LEGO Ideas project need for review?
Projects that reach 10,000 supporters are reviewed by LEGO for a chance at production. The McDonald’s menu submission had 1,440 supporters at the time of writing.
Is the LEGO McDonald’s menu build an official LEGO set?
No, the build is unlicensed, so the Golden Arches are treated as a fan tribute. An official version would need McDonald’s approval.
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