WHAT THE F%$K IS THIS? Monster Cereal Edition

[stethacantus]

As a kid, my favorite breakfast were the monster cereals.  Originally just Frankenberry, which was dark pink strawberry flavored cereal with pink marshmallows, and Count Chocula, which was brown chocolate flavored cereal with brown marshmallows. The cereals were so successful that after a couple of years they added Booberry, which was blue colored blueberry flavored cereal with blue marshmallows. They also tried to add a werewolf flavored cereal and mummy flavored cereal, but both only lasted a year or two.  The core trio was the vampire Count Chocula, The frankenstine-ish monster Frankenberry, and the ghost Booberry. I never actually had a preference, but all three tasted different. While I generally only ate Cheerios as an adult, I occasionally cheated and bought a monster cereal. Somewhere in the 90s Booberry was discontinued. Later Frankenberry was discontinued, and it was Count Chocula who won the ancient battle over who had the best cereal.  And Count Chocula survived for a long time, until about a decade ago when even Count Chocula disappeared from shelves. Someone told me General Mills still made the monster cereals, but only sold them regionally, and the stored in New York simply no longer ordered them. But if I traveled to other parts of he country, the monster cereals were still on the shelves. Others said General Mills only manufactured them once a year for Halloween, and they could only be found in Walmart. But apparently not in any Walmart near me.  Then a couple of days ago while at Stop and Shop, I saw Booberry Cereal on a 2 for $6 display. They didn't have the other monster cereals in the store, so I snatched up a couple of boxes of Booberry.

But when I got home, I realized it was this shit....

This is NOT Booberry! Booberry is blue! Blueberry looked like this...

This cereal was brownish. This cereal had tiny blue ghost shaped marshmallows, and tiny brown bat shaped marshmallows, and tiny pink frankenberry shaped marshmallows. This cereal didn't taste like blueberry. This cereal tasted like Froot Loops.  And instead of the cereal turning the milk blue, it turned it this color...

An unidentifiable color that looks like it has some blue in it, some brown in it, and some pink in it. A neutral color of all three cereals. And the cereal itself was this shape...

...which could be ghost shape. But when you turn it upside down it  looks like a hybrid of both Count Chocula's head and frankenberry's head.

My guess is that General Mills cheaped out and created a cereal that they could put in all three boxes. An unholy hybrid of Frankenberry, Count Chocula and Booberry that tastes like a brand new cereal, Dinglebury. Does this make me feel nostalgic? No. Does it taste good? Only if you liked those fruit flavored cereals and for some reason the store ran out of them. Otherwise, nowhere as delicious as the original monster cereals. Actually, just barely tasty.


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Bonus: While looking on YouTube for a 70s era commercial to make a screen capture of what Booberry looked like, I found the monster records. If you are too young to remember what the were,  around 1980 they were free in every box of monster cereal. Back then cereals actually gave away free toys in their cereal boxes. Not like today when, if there is a prize, it is a product code for some digital download. For about a year you could find one of three records inside the cereal box. You were supposed to collect all three, but no one I knew ever got the space one in their boxes. We tried, and got dozens of copies of the disco one and the Hollywood one. ( I still have two copies of Monsters Go Disco in my old record collection. ) I am sure General Mills deliberately put a small number of the Monsters Go To Space record in the cereals so that  you would need to buy hundreds of boxes just to complete your record collection. So yea, General Mills were assholes back then too. Thankfully someone uploaded the records to YouTube, so now I can finally hear that last record. I mean, they are terrible. I think the Disco one was actually responsible for killing Disco. it was so bad.  Anyway, here they are:

[RVR II]

Is this a Trick or Treat

[stethacantus]

UPDATE:
Did a little research, and the ghost shaped cereal that looks a combination of Boo Berry, Frankenberry and Count Chocula came out in the 90s, replacing the original shape which was a circle with a cross in the center. But the cereal was always the color of the monster, so Booberry cereal was always blue.  This past weekend the cereals were back at Stop and Shop in their own display area. This time they were selling Count Chocula and Monster Mash. No Frankenberry to be found. The Count Chocula has only brown marshmallows and claims to be a chocolate flavor. Monster Mash is supposedly a mixture of all the past cereals. As you can see, it has a mixture of colors. But it still has the same weird flavor the Booberry cereal did. Is it my imagination, or did Boobery once taste like blue berry?

[stethacantus]

About five weeks ago Stop and Shop once again had a section with Halloween themed cereals. Bat shaped Reese's Puffs,  Cap'n Crunch that makes your milk turn green, and the return of the Monster Cereals. The section remained up for three weeks, then was replaced with a laundry detergent display. Not sure if Stop and Shop discontinued selling Halloween themed cereals on a specific date, or just sold out of everything. But didn't see the cereals anywhere else in the store including the actual cereal aisle. Fortunately I had stocked up before the display disappeared. 
Here are the boxes for this year:

And the back of the boxes:

If you are wondering what the redesign is all about, General Mills is in the midst of a promotion for something called "KAWS Monsters" and every cereal has their mascots altered to look like the KAWS monster toy. Although to me it looks like the mascots are all dead, because everyone knows when you put X's over cartoon characters eyes, that means they are dead. So basically the Lucky Charms leprechaun is dead, the Trix Rabbit is dead, the dog on the box of Cookie Crisp is dead, the Cinnamon Toast Crunch guys are dead, the Hunny Nut Cheerios Bee  is dead, and that crazy ass bird from Cocoa Puffs is dead. Not sure if it was a mass murder event, or a cereal killer got them one by one. But the only thing creepier than visiting the cereal aisle these days is the redesign of the McDonalds characters for the adult Happy Meals.

This year my local Stop and Shop had Frankenberry. Unfortunately the one box I have tried has no flavor. This is what it looks like:

Multi color marshmallows? Why?

The oats are properly colored, but have no flavor at all. Or basically, the same non flavor you get from a Chex or Rice Crispy without sugar dumped on them. I have no idea if General Mills cheeped out and omitted the flavoring, or if there was some sort of mistake during manufacturing, but only the Marshmallows have flavors, and they aren't Strawberry.  Tried the Count Chocula, and it not only had the appropriate chocolate flavoring, but brown marshmallows, and turned the milk brown. No Monster Mash flavor this year.  Did have Booberry. Haven't opened it yet, but the cereal shown on the box appears to be the same as last year, which isn't the original Booberry.  Also, I noticed this:

So the mascot for Frute Brute is shown, but was not available at Stop and Shop. As far as I can tell, that flavor was not re-released this year. So why is it on the box?

[stethacantus]

Halloween is coming. Which means just 37 days until we forget there is a Thanksgiving and begin the pre-Christmas celebrations. Aside from the bags of Halloween candy, with candy bars so small that you'd deserve to get your house egged, Stop and Shop seems to have an annual tradition of selling specialty boxes of Halloween themed cereals. Some of which include the return of the General Mills Monster Cereals.  Looks like this year they went for another redesign:





Okay.. why? If the ones buying these cereals are doing so for nostalgia, shouldn't the damn boxes look like the original boxes? It is not like you are trying to win over a new generation, because this is only being sold for a limited time.

Once again, Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy were not brought back. Instead, they introduced a new monster cereal?



It is all explained in this comic which is found  on the back of every Monster Cereal box..



And it tastes like.... Well, the cereal tasted like styrofoam. Last year only the Count Chocula had any flavor. The others the flavor was only from the marshmallows. The same with Carmella Creeper which sort of has a slight apple flavor, but no candy flavor?

There was also a Monster Mash, called Monster Mash Remix as it now has Carmella Creeper mixed in. Ended up not getting it because I had to also buy these cereals:



There was also a pumpkin spice flavored Frosted Flakes. I didn't dare get it.

Also....



Finally.. It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown flavored cereal!

I hate to nitpick...  but that's not the costume Charlie Brown wore in that special. It was the home made ghost costume with too many eye holes.

There was also a Fruity Pebbles in a Halloween themed box which looked like the same cereal as the regular Fruity Pebbles, so I skipped it. Didn't see the Capin' Crunch Halloween cereal this week.

[stethacantus]

So this weekend I had my phone with me for shopping, and decided to take pictures of the cereal I didn't buy.  So unless the store is taking boxes off the shelves to make room for other cereals in the display, then it appears that the Fruity Pebbles sold out. As was all the monster cereals including the new apple flavored one, and the Chocolate Frosted Flakes with ghost marshmallows. What didn't sell out, and appears to have sold no boxes at all, is the Pumpkin Spice flavored Frosted Flakes.....

....Also appearing not to be selling was boxes of "Pumpkin Pie Spice" flavored Frosted Mini Wheats.....

Common Kellog's. Make up your mind. Is it Pumpkin Spice flavor....or Pumpkin Pie Spice flavor? Above that were the Fruit Loops. Not Halloween flavored Fruit Loops, but boxes of fruit loops in mini bags to be given out instead of  Halloween Candy. For anyone who likes their house getting egged. If you notice, some one had put a bx of Frosted Flakes back after having second thoughts, an put it back backwards. On the back it warns that there is also a Pumpkin Spice flavored Special K. No Capin Crunch yet, so it appears they are not doing it this year. Last year they had Horror flavored Crunch Berries, supposedly made in a lab by mistake by the Capin when he was temporarily a mad scientist. Basically the same Capin Crunch Crunchberry Cereal, but with some sort of green dye covering the berries which turned the milk green.

[Cyrusso]

That reminds me of something from a newer Beavis and Butthead episode, where they're shopping, Beavis puts a box of Count Chocula in the basket, and Butthead(being the wise old man that he is) says "I don't want any health food!"

[stethacantus]

While it appears that some of the pumpkin spice flavored cereals sold, they all did end up moved to the section of the store where the last of the Halloween candy and decorations is being gotten rid of  at half price. Not sure exactly why, as I thought pumpkin spice season went through Thanksgiving. But they did clear the Halloween cereal shelves for the Christmas cereals!

Sadly, the only monster cereal worth buying is once again Count Chocula which oat bits are actually chocolate flavored, and turn the milk chocolate. And the marshmallow bits are all brown and not multi colored. The other monster cereals have no flavor other than the marshmallow bits. And for some reason the Booberry is still brown instead of blue. Frankenberry is pink, and the new  Carmella Creeper is green, so why isn't Booberry blue? Doesn't General Mills get nostalgia? The ones buying these cereals are 50 year olds who remember eating them as kids while watching Saturday Morning cartoons. Hopefully next year they won't be so lazy, will add the appropriate color to the cereals, and actual flavor to the other cereals. The second best cereal was Chocolate Frosted Flakes, which was not only frosted, but on top of that had a thick chocolate layer, and far too many marshmallows. It should be pointed out that Kellogg's flakes have a pleasant flavor even without any frosting or flavoring, and if not for the sugary overkill, this would have been the best of the bunch. It's The Great Pumkin Charlie Brown cereal came in third. It's oat bits do have flavor, but not a lot. I wonder if there will be a Charlie Brown Christmas flavored cereal this year as well?

[Cyrusso]

A little OT, but it's definitely related to cereal. I picked up a cereal recently called "Puffins", which has a super, super cute puffin on it. The best thing about it is that it has a lot less sugar than the average cereal, plenty of good fiber, and it's priced fairly decently. I got it $2.49 for a box, but it was on sale. The usual price is $3.49 which is still kind of pricey, but again... cheaper than most other cereals.

I would love to have more keto cereals... but that stuff is still damn pricey, and I don't think it tastes that good... sadly. 

[LucasM]

A little OT, but it's definitely related to cereal. I picked up a cereal recently called "Puffins", which has a super, super cute puffin on it. The best thing about it is that it has a lot less sugar than the average cereal, plenty of good fiber, and it's priced fairly decently. I got it $2.49 for a box, but it was on sale. The usual price is $3.49 which is still kind of pricey, but again... cheaper than most other cereals.

I would love to have more keto cereals... but that stuff is still damn pricey, and I don't think it tastes that good... sadly. 

I used to buy Puffins at Trader Joe's.  I liked them a LOT - partly because they reminded me of a less-sugary Quisp cereal (my fave cereal from the '60s - still have one of the small insert comics from one of those!)  So, for me it was partly nostalgia in taste, even if not in packaging.  [Then I learned how toxic GMO corn is, and that I'd become sensitized to it, and ceased.]



There was a promotion with the Puffin cereal that you could send in a number of boxtops and the cereal company would pay the support costs for a wild puffin for a year.  I got enough to 'foster' four puffins.  I had them named:  Ray Harry How and Zen. 

[Cyrusso]

a promotion with the Puffin cereal that you could send in a number of boxtops and the cereal company would pay the support costs for a wild puffin for a year.  I got enough to 'foster' four puffins.  I had them named:  Ray Harry How and Zen. 

That's really funny and cute! 

[Pastor of Muppets]

Out of season, but on topic.  From satire website Clickhole:

What Point Were They Trying To Make Here, Exactly? General Mills Just Invented Their Own Mythos Claiming Boo Berry Was A Slave Owner Before He Died And Then Announced They Were Replacing Him With A Different Ghost

[Cyrusso]

Out of season, but on topic.  From satire website Clickhole:

What Point Were They Trying To Make Here, Exactly? General Mills Just Invented Their Own Mythos Claiming Boo Berry Was A Slave Owner Before He Died And Then Announced They Were Replacing Him With A Different Ghost

Most appropriate smiley for this situation ever, and very ironic too, as it bears a striking resemblance to Boo Berry.

[stethacantus]

Ever since Stop & Shop began adding Halloween themed cereals to their shelves, I began stocking up on them. We would gorge on the cereals every day until they ran out around  December, then begin stocking up on Christmas themed cereals. This year they arrived on the shelves late. Or maybe on the appropriate week as last year they showed up on the shelves in September and were all sold out by October. Anyway, for the past two weeks the usual display shelves where we found the cereals in the past, only had Kellog's line of pumpkin spiced flavored cereals. Which acted more as a display than as merchandise as each week I walked past the display and it was still intact without a single box seeming to have sold. Last year they sold so poorly that they were still there in December, and moved to the discount section of the store where the unsold Easter candy and other merchandise that was rapidly approaching the sell by date were moved and discounted. I can't say for sure if lowering the boxes to 75¢ finally got people to buy them, or if the store simply threw them out, but they were eventually gone from the discount section, and I assumed would never return. So I was surprised they showed up again this year. Maybe there are regions where the pumpkin spice flavored cereals fly off the shelves, but no one wants them here. My guess is corporate sent these cereals over and this time  this Stop & Shop put them out early hoping to sell them off first. This week the other cereals returned. Here are this year's monster cereals:

This years theme is the new Frightening Friends marshmallows. And here is what is on the back of all the boxes, with what has become the mandatory puzzles for kids.

I noticed that Carmella Creeper is on the back of the box. There were no Carmella Creeper cereals on the shelves today. Last year her cereal was the slowest of the monster cereals to sell, so I doubt they sold out. Also, no Monster Mash or any other of the Moster Cereals. Not sure if that means they wee not released this year, or if Stop & Shop will stock them on the shelves in the weeks to come. Not really a fan of Carmella Creeper, so was not that broken up about it not being available. There were also two other Halloween themed cereals:

And the back of the boxes:

Yes, I got the Halloween themed Fruity Pebbles this year. Last year I skipped them, the family complained, and when we went back a week later, they were all sold out. I mean, look at the box. There is absolutely no difference between the Halloween Fruity Pebbles and the regular Fruity Pebbles. It even says right there "Same Fruity Taste"! I told them last year we could just buy normal Fruity Pebbles and they didn't want them because they wanted the Halloween ones. Well, here you guys go! Also, got the Halloween themed Apple Jacks that actually adds things not in the regular Apple Jacks, just so they don't complain I didn't get that as well. No one complained that I didn't get the pumpkin spice cereals, so ignored them this year as well. Can't say for sure they didn't fly off the shelves during the week, but suspect they were removed to make room for the other cereals.  They were reduced to just a small section of the shelf, and only just the Frosted Mini Wheats selling for 49¢ less than the other cereals, yet still not flying off the shelves the way the Count Choculas above them were.

Nothing else. Perhaps some more Halloween themed cereals will show up in the weeks to come? They were also had this cereal on the top of the display. separated from the Halloween cereals by a row of apple juices. Didn't look Halloween themed to me, and didn't like the idea of Cinnamon Toast Crunch mixed in, so did not get it. Surprised the Swifties aren't clearing the shelves, but just as the Pumkin Spice cereals, this doesn't seem to be selling.

[stethacantus]

It's the weekend after Thanksgiving. And you know what that means? Time to remove all those unsold Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini Wheats and Kelce Bros. flavored cereals that were just sitting there collecting dust, move them to the bargain isle, and put out the Christmas themed cereals. Here is what I found in the Stop-n-Shop today:

So I got myself some Elf on the Shelf flavored cereal, and Fruity Pebbles, and skipped this:

And wouldn't you know it. After calling home to see if I should bring home the toast crunch as well, and everyone saying they didn't like Toast Crunch cereal. they are now telling me I should have bought the Gingerbread Toast Crunch. Maybe next time they should go shopping and let me stay home on Saturday!
Anyway, here is the Fruity Pebbles box:

Notice it is Winter themed, not Christmas themed, so they can continue to sell this shit long after Dec 25th. Once again, no Cap'n Crunch or any other brand with Christmas themed cereals. But who knows what will appear next week.