McDonald's Grimace Mascot Is Actually A Taste Bud

As popular culture from the '90s and early '00s makes a comeback, you may be feeling a bit of nostalgia remembering some of your childhood favorites. Butterfly clips, pizza bagel bites, and mood rings are all making a resurgence in popularity as younger generations find new interest in old pop culture. If you were a '90s kid, you probably remember those things, along with the music, fashion, and cartoon characters that made that era great.

Some of those characters include the various McDonald's mascots. You remember those, right? The most famous, of course, would be Ronald McDonald, a clown. He's still around as the restaurant's mascot, but there were others who aren't as noticeable, anymore. That's probably because, according to a petition on Change.org, McDonald's largely retired the characters in 2003. The petition was being circulated in a bid to bring the characters back, even though they have made a few appearances over the years.

Those other characters, who all resided in McDonaldland, included Mayor McCheese, a cheeseburger, and the Hamburglar, a thief. There's also Birdie the Early Bird, the Fry Kids (yep, fries), and the moon, Mac Tonight. These are all pretty straightforward and easy to recognize, but there was one McDonald's character that had everyone scratching their heads trying to figure out what it was — Grimace.

If you don't remember Grimace, or you've never encountered him before, he's the large, somewhat triangular, purple blob in the cast of McDonald's characters. He's larger than most of the other cast, and he has amorphous features, with big eyes and a wide smile. According to People, Grimace was originally meant to be evil, working alongside the Hamburglar and stealing milkshakes from unsuspecting customers. However, that changed at some point, and he became a lovable character that always had his arms open for a hug. Still — what exactly was he?

Brian Bates, the manager of a McDonald's franchise in Windsor, told CBC News that Grimace is an enormous taste bud. His purpose? To let people know that McDonald's food tastes great! Even more interesting, though, may be the fact that even McDonald's can't quite seem to figure out what Grimace is. The official @McDonaldsCorp Twitter Twitter account has tweeted on more than one occasion that Grimace may actually be a milkshake, though they mostly leave it up to the interpretation of customers, noting the alternative hypothesis. 

Grimace, according to Reader's Digest, is one of the characters that has made a comeback in the new adult Happy Meal as a throwback toy, so if you want to collect the purple creature, you can! Other available characters include the Hamburglar and Birdie. This is slightly ironic considering that Happy Meals have been blamed for childhood obesity, according to The Washington Post, and as such, some states have even placed restrictions on buying them. Still, the nostalgia these toys bring for all things '90s can't be denied, even if Grimace is just simply a taste bud.