An excellent question, and one we've pondered ourselves. After all, everyone else in the McDonald's family has some sort of identity.Ronald -- clown. Hamburgler -- good-natured thief. Mayor McCheese -- a terrifying human/burger hybrid. But what the heck is Grimace?

Alas, no definitive answer exists. The amorphous talking blob is apparently just that -- a big, purple...thing. We can confirm he lovesmilkshakes, which may offer a clue as to how he came to be in the physical shape he's in. But as to whether he's an alien, a dinosaur, or a grape McNugget, we can't tell you. Sorry.

While Grimace's heritage is a mystery, we did track down some interesting factoids about the jolly fellow. For one thing, he wasn't always so jolly. According to Wikipedia, Grimace was "evil" when he first made his appearance in McDonaldland commercials. Since then, he's been given more of a slow-witted, klutzy attitude.

Of course, Grimace isn't the only creature with a confusing heritage. Fans have long wondered whether Goofy is man or dog. And Gonzofrom the Muppets has left many top zoologists scratching their heads.

Grimace, Goofy, and Gonzo. Maybe all this ambiguousness has something to do with the letter "G."

In the first cycle of McDonaldland commercials beginning in 1971, Grimace was the "Evil Grimace", with two pairs of arms with which to steal milkshakes. After that first campaign, the character was revised to be one of the "good guys", and his number of arms was reduced to two.

According to McD

According to the McDonald's website:
“ Grimace is a big, loving, fuzzy purple fellow who is Ronald McDonald's best friend. He's sure Ronald is the world's ultimate authority on everything. While Grimace loves all McDonald's foods, he's absolutely crazy about milkshakes. Grimace is very enthusiastic and eager to try new things. His joyous spirit helps everyone overlook the fact he's a little slow and clumsy sometimes."

According to Wiki:
Grimace is a fantasy character, and not intended to be anything specific. However, ever since the character's introduction there has been much speculation (though much of it tongue-in-cheek) about his appearance. Because the majority of McDonald's characters more or less directly represent a food product sold at the restaurants (e.g., Mayor McCheese, Fry Guys, McNugget Buddies, etc.) many have naturally tried to guess as to what, if any, food product Grimace is supposed to represent. It is often suggested that he represents the contents of a milkshake. It has more recently been suspected that Grimace may actually be a taste bud, seeing as everything relates directly to food and that the association with a taste bud being Ronald's best friend would be an idealogical relationship. Grimace's "official" role, according to McDonald's, continues to be to represent the chain's milkshakes. However, he does this out of love for the taste, and not because he is in any way a shake-based creature himself.