WTF?! You can now get an Xbox Series S toaster to go with your Xbox Series X refrigerator. Microsoft quietly launched a two-slice bread toaster modeled after its digital-only console. In addition to looking like a Series S, it emblazons your toast, frozen waffles, bagels, or English muffins with the Xbox logo. Talk about product placement.
The Xbox Series S toaster was first spotted in France about nine months ago. Presumably, it did well enough there that Microsoft figured it would offer it more widely. It is currently available at Walmart for $40, which isn't a bad price for a fanboy toaster, so long as scalpers don't start buying up entire allotments and try flipping them for three times the price.
While its iconic black grill vent makes it generally look like its console counterpart, its additional width, rubber feet on the bottom, and toaster controls on the side give the illusion away. Sorry, you won't fool anyone into thinking you modded your Xbox to cook your bread.
In addition to six toasting levels, it has a defrost button for perfectly crisping your Eggos straight from the freezer. Instead of two slots, it has one slot wide enough to fit two slices of bread. A bagel button tells the toaster to cook thicker breads like rubber biscuits or English muffins a tad longer. The device also has an LED countdown timer to let you know when to have your butter knife ready.
Toasting the Xbox logo into your bread is clever but not all that unique. Two years ago, Bungie released a Destiny-themed toaster for a Saint Jude fundraiser that etched the Destiny logo on bread. The main difference is that with the Series S toaster, the Xbox emblem is inverse, so your toast is more evenly cooked than Bungie's burnt-in logo on mostly untoasted bread (below).
The Xbox Series S toaster is the second kitchen appliance from Microsoft's gaming division. Jokes and memes about the Series X looking like a refrigerator flooded social media shortly after the gaming division unveiled its two next-gen consoles. Xbox took the light-hearted ribbing in stride, even poking fun with its own meme.
However, Microsoft took it to a whole nuhva level when it gave Snoop Dogg a full-size Xbox Series X refrigerator for his birthday, packed with a Series X cake and plenty of Gin and Juice. Redmond then went on to launch a limited-edition mini fridge. Unfortunately, the $99 cooler was snapped up by scalpers only 10 minutes after going on sale and immediately began appearing on auction sites for $300 or more.
Scalper activity for the toaster has so far been low, with only a few listings on eBay selling for between $50 and $100. As of publishing, you can still pick up an Xbox Series S toaster from Walmart for $40 with free shipping, so steer clear of secondhand sales.