Hold the phones, McDonald’s is releasing its first ever purple shake this summer. The limited-edition shake is here to celebrate the birthday of Grimace, the iconic McDonaldland character.

Who, or what, is Grimace?

If you, like me, didn’t grow up in the late 20th century, you might be wondering who, or what, is Grimace? No one knows for sure. The purple anthropomorphized blob was originally introduced in the 1970s as “Evil Grimace,” a malicious monster with a penchant for stealing milkshakes. After terrorizing the children of the 70s, Grimace was reimagined in the 1980s as a lovable gentle giant with a habit of saying “duh” before every sentence.

Following his cutesy makeover, our pal Grimace became one of the main characters in the McDonaldland universe.

Unfortunately, his star faded after McDonaldland was phased out in the early 2000s. Between 2012 and 2020, Grimace practically disappeared, appearing only in Malaysian Happy Meals toys, according to the McDonald's Wiki (it’s a thing).

Many have speculated as to Grimace’s exact species (indeterminate, according to the Wiki). In 2012 @McDonaldsCorp tweeted that Grimace is "the embodiment of a milkshake, though others still insist he's a taste bud." Hmmm.

What is a Grimace shake?

So then what’s in a Grimace shake? The Grimace Birthday Shake consists of vanilla soft serve and berry flavors, Today reports. That actually sounds delicious, kind of like a berries and cream vibe? Definitely worth a try. 

The Grimace Birthday Shake will be available on June 12 (Grimace’s birthday), and in the meanwhile Grimace himself has apparently taken over McDonald’s socials.

Former Twitter CEO Elon Musk is very excited about this, tweeting that a conversation between AXE deodorant and Grimace was "An example of great interaction between brands😂."

I’m not surprised that Elon is into it. First of all, he grew in the 70s and 80s, peak Grimace era. Evil Grimace was probably little Elon’s favorite character. Also, Elon once offered to eat a happy meal on TV if McDonald’s would accept Dogecoin as payment. Apparently, this interaction inspired the creation of grimacecoin (GRIMACE), a crypto token that has nothing to do with either McDonald’s or Musk, according to Bitcoin.com. Grimacecoin is currently trading at $0.5859. Please don’t ask me to explain what that means. Anyway, McDonald’s thankfully rejected Elon’s offer, thus sparing us from the site of Elon Musk eating a happy meal on TV. Not all heroes wear capes.

Personally, I’m so pumped to try a Grimace shake. I will definitely be heading to Mickey D’s to pick the limited edition shake after its June 12 release. I may even go all out and get the Grimace Birthday Meal, which comes with the choice of a Big Mac or 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, fries, and (duh) a Grimace Birthday Shake.

The Grimace Birthday Shake and corresponding meal will be available to order on June 12 from the McDonald’s app, drive-thru, delivery or in-restaurant at participating locations nationwide.