Photograph courtesy of King of Pops

It’s Pickle Riiiiiiiiiiiick! Well, sort of.

In collaboration with Adult Swim, King of Pops has launched a Rick and Morty-themed pop that references arguably the biggest meme to come out of the show’s third season: Pickle Rick. But while packaging on the green ice pop features Rick in his pickle form, it says at the bottom of the package, “I’m not a pickle. I’m matcha lemonade.”

That’s likely a relief for those who gag at the thought of a pickle-flavored pop, although with Sonic’s upcoming pickle-flavored slushie and pickle-flavored soft serve making the rounds recently in NYC, it wouldn’t be unheard of. Nor would it be new for KOP.

“We considered [making it pickle-flavored],” says cofounder Steven Carse. “We’ve done it before, and I really like it. But it’s far from universally loved.”



Instead they went with another green flavor, matcha lemonade, because “it seemed like it would be great for a hot day at a music festival, which is where we were going to focus the promotion,” Carse says.

The collaboration is also meant to spread the word about the season three Rick and Morty DVD and Blu-Ray, which drops later this month. (The cover of the DVD features the same Pickle Rick illustration as the pop.) Carse explains that the KOP team got a call from the cable network earlier this year and were excited to find a way to team up. “It’s always a lot of fun to work with the [Adult Swim] folks, and it happened pretty naturally,” he says.

For those not familiar with the hit cartoon, it follows a neurotic teenager, Morty, and his nihilist grandpa, Rick, going on absurd adventures, often in space. In the “Pickle Rick” episode, Rick transforms himself into a sentient pickle to get out of going to a family therapy session. Left to his own devices, he rolls into a storm drain, uses rat and cockroach carcasses to build himself arms and legs, escapes into a random embassy, and ends up in a bizarre, violent, action movie scenario complete with lasers, guns, explosions, and a helicopter escape. Thanks in part to some viral marketing before the episode even aired, it quickly became an internet phenomena and favorite among Rick and Morty fans.

KOP’s not-a-pickle pop debuted at Shaky Knees Music Festival this weekend and will be available in Atlanta for a few more weeks. (You’ll certainly be able to find it at the Ponce City Market location, but keep an eye open for others). It’s also be available at several summer music festivals, including the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama; Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee; Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware; and the Governor’s Ball Music Festival in New York City.

Photograph courtesy of King of Pops