What in the world is Grimace?!

This is re-posted here from my Friendster blog. Original date of posting is August 2006.

I bought a grimace Bobble-head toy with a Happy Meal. That’s when I felt a knock at the back of my head, what does Grimace represent? What is he? Heck, I don’t even know if he’s/she’s a he or a she (p’wede naman siyang maging babae ‘ah kahit mukha talaga siyang lalaki baka nasobrahan sa testosterone). I remember an e-mail sent by my cousin about grimace which was nothing short of hilarious.

The Characters of McDonald's

Ronald McDonald – the main character whose reason for existence isn’t quite in my grasp. What does he represent? Wild guess! McSpaghetti! Hehe, I just thought that his red and white stripes denote the spaghetti. Is the meat in the spaghetti, Ronald McDonald’s real flesh? Morayta Chainsaw Massacre?

Birdie? -- Damn! What’s the name of that yellow-bird in a pink dress? She obviously represents Chicken McDo. She was intentionally designed not to depict a chicken, sige nga sabihin niyo nga kung mukha siyang manok. Why? So there won’t be any case filed against them for false advertisement. (another assumption) If she really is a hen, that’s fallacy. Look at the size of the servings, how miniature (Kasi naman chicken fillet binibili ko eh, maliit talaga ‘yun).

Hamburglar – Bright Idea! The advertisers used a criminal as an image. A burglar! Guess what, he’s still in his prison-cell uniform in black and white. How foolish, kids are the only ones who appreciate (that is if they’re not scared) these surreal mascots and they have fun with a BURGLAR? Oh save McDo from real hamburger-thieves. If they established a thief as the hamburger representative then they should not complain for any missing buns and burgers.

I don’t know (and don’t care) if there are anymore characters but my favorite is Grimace, though I don’t have any idea about his true nature. I don’t even know his/her gender. The color violet is too unisexual to infer his orientation. Is McDo secretly promoting homosexuality?

Grimace – What does he stand for? Ano ba siya? Who’s the purple blob?
There has been an e-mail rampantly passed around with Grimace as the point of ridicule. It’s hilarious! I grieve for my loss of that e-mail. Can someone email it to me?

These are not my ideas though I did infuse some of mine. All of these were in the email, but I couldn’t find mine, so this is basically what I can withdraw from my memory bank and a few other thoughts.

Queries about Grimace:
1) What is he?
2) Why is he purple?
3) Why is he blobbish?
4) Why name him Grimace?

Some theories:
1) Kamote Fries. Grimace is alleged to represent Kamote Fries that McDo intended to include in their menu but didn’t push through. But it still doesn’t explain his ‘blobbiness’ and the origin of his name.

2) UBE flavored ice cream. That explains his purple shade and blobby feature but if he’s an ice cream why not use strawberry instead? Pink is more of a head turner than violet, it calls more attention. Also, pink is somewhat friendlier than violet. Grimace is also an absurd name for an ice cream. I mean, hindi siguro masarap ‘yung ice cream kaya napapasimangot ka ‘pag kinain mo. Or nahuhulog lagi kaya naiinis ka dahil sayang binayad mo.

3) A milk-shake. Possible, but why not present the character with its container? So people can quickly perceive what he signifies. Again, why name a milk-shake as such? Does the milk-shake cause a scowl or a grimace? Siguro masyado expensive?

4) This is the most probable conclusion. Grimace is a VOMIT! Haha! He is the result of the mixture of different McDo products vomited by a customer. It does satisfy our criteria;
a) The mixture of the different McDo products can be purple in color (haven’t tried, nor do I have plans to)
b) A vomit is blobby
c) Ngumingiti ka ba ‘pag nasuka ka? You don’t smile before or after you throw-up right?
Hence the name—Grimace.