By Kaitlyn Jung
The Mirror Staff
By Jessica Eusebio
The Mirror
“FYI: We had nothing to do with this McDonald’s stuff. Not happy w/how this was handled. Please be cool to the employees it’s not their fault”, tweeted co-creator and voice-actor behind both title characters, Justin Roiland.
ENTERTAINMENT
The Szechuan McNugget Sauce
October 27, 2017
ENTERTAINMENT: “Rick and Morty” fanbase goes wild over sauce.
They’re not lovin’ it.
McDonald’s recently released a one-day limited supply of the Mulan Szechuan Chicken Mcnugget Sauce in select locations for “Rick and Morty” fans on Oct. 7, 2017.
The Mulan Szechuan Sauce was first introduced to the public by McDonald’s in 1998 to promote the movie release of Disney’s “Mulan.”
The teriyaki-based condiment was featured in the animated sci-fi season premiere of “Rick and Morty” on Apr. 1, 2017.
The show follows the interdimensional adventures of an alcoholic and sociopathic mad scientist, Rick Sanchez, and his unintellectual grandson, Morty Smith, across the universe.
In the premiere of the third season, “The Rickshank Rickdemption,” Sanchez recalls the memory of ordering the Szechuan Sauce at a McDonald’s drive thru and later rants to Smith about his obsession with obtaining the flavored dip.
Devoted “Rick and Morty” fans have become fixated over the 19-year-old sauce after the airing of the premiere. The fanbase unsurprisingly turned the old discontinued condiment into a meme: comical concepts in the form of captioned photos or videos.
The joke gave off a nostalgic feeling by those who experienced the limited-time-only dipping sauce back in 1998, as well as to promote a flavor for inexperienced consumers to sample.
The pop cultural trend arose when the creators and numerous fans turned to social media and highly demanded of its return.
Reaching up to 50,000 supporters, numerous petitions on Change.org were signed to bring this beloved sauce back to McDonald’s. Many devoted fans have completed these petitions, becoming another reason for the fast food chain to bring back the Szechuan sauce.
The creators of the show, Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, were sent a bottle of the rare sauce with a custom made label compiling of “Rick and Morty” references. McDonald’s also presented three lucky fans of the show, who entered a raffle by retweeting the fast food chain on the night the second episode aired, with their own 64 ounce bottles.
Due to popular demand, a limited supply of the Szechuan Sauce was brought back to select locations for one day only on Oct. 7, 2017.
However, McDonald’s underestimated the hardcore “Rick and Morty” enthusiasts.
Hundreds of devotees lined up at each selected McDonald’s but were left disappointed and enraged. The supply was very limited to 20 sauce packets and a few posters at each location, satisfying only a very small portion of the fanbase.
The unsuccessful event led an infuriated uproar over sauce; a multitude of furious fanatics were chanting to bring back the sauce and harassing employees. It has been reported that the police were involved in some locations to settle the angry crowd and break up fights.
Roiland, who also voices both title characters, responded to the disturbance by tweeting: “FYI: We had nothing to do with this McDonald’s stuff. Not happy w/how this was handled. Please be cool to the employees it’s not their fault.”
Fans are currently going to great lengths just to get a hold of the rare condiment. Single packets are being auctioned on eBay for up to $400, and people are ludicrously paying full price to get their hands on one. One woman managed to trade a single packet of sauce for a 2004 Volkswagen GTI.
Recipes have also been created to mimic the 2 decade old flavoring.
The day after the fiasco, the fast food chain promised on Twitter that an abundance of the Mulan Szechuan Sauce will be delivered to more locations this winter.
