Rick & Morty Called Out Fans for Loving Pickle Rick Too Much

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One of the most iconic gags in Rick and Morty's five-season run is Pickle Rick, but one comic featuring the duo actually called out fans for loving it a bit too much.

The joke first debuted during season 3 with the episode aptly named «Pickle Rick.» In Pickle Rick, Rick turns himself into a pickle to avoid going to therapy with his family, loudly proclaiming himself to be «Pickle Rick.» It's a simple joke that fans ended up making bigger than the creators probably expected. Now, the gag has cemented itself in popular culture with people loving it to this day. It's so big that even Rick and Morty themselves officially called out its popularity in the comics.

Related: The Rick and Morty Comic Finished Pickle Rick's Wildest Story

Rick and Morty #40 by Kyle Starks and Sarah Stern follows the titular characters engaged in a Hunger Games-style battle royale. While the two prepare for a fight to the death, Rick unveils his secret weapon: the Transformatron. With this device, Rick is able to turn himself into anything he wants to. He uses this ability to not just take out enemies but also to entertain members of the audience with his antics, which proves to be a success as people can't get enough of him turning into inanimate objects. Morty, on the other hand, isn't as impressed. When Rick asks Morty for the Transformatron, he tells him that he doesn't quite understand the appeal. When Rick reveals that he does it because it's funny and gets them attention to make it further into the games. Morty tells him they aren't as funny as Rick thinks and that it's a pretty low-effort joke. This is a direct call-out to the people that made the Pickle Rick joke as popular (and misunderstood) as it is today. Essentially, Pickle Rick was