Count Chocula, Franken-Berry, Boo-Berry, and Lucky Charms

[vakkotaur]

Q: Why do programmers confuse Halloween and Christmas?

A: Because OCT 31 is the same as DEC 25.

With that out of the way...

When Halloween approaches the Halloween themed cereals reappear. I never had them as a kid and curiosity arose, and alas memory and perhaps judgment did not - as is the nature of the impulse buy. It's been a long time since I saw any of the commercials for any of the Halloween themed cereals. Once I had them - and I went and got a box of each - I realized I needn't have bothered. They are, of course, the same except for the coloring and flavoring used on the cereal part. That's the non-marshmallow (if you can call those marshmallows) bits. And since it's a cereal part and marshmallows, well, it's just a Lucky Charms with added color and flavor, and probably just different dies in an extruder for the shapes. I suspect had I looked at the boxes more closely in the store or had I seen the TV ads again, I might have realized that before making the purchase.

My impressions now? There's good reason Boo-Berry was a rarity in some years. It's not at all blueberry to me, but the amount of color is intense. Franken Berry (the strawberry) probably uses just as much coloration, but seems not to be quite so nasty about it and at least makes a good attempt at being strawberry flavored. Count Chocola is chocolate, or at least what passes for it in dry cereal form. Not great by any means, but at least identifiable. All three, like Lucky Charms, have the modern lousy addition to make sure they "stay crispy in milk!" And that is, there is enough wax to that even if the cereal is left in milk for a good while, the wax shell will provide a crunch. The result is rather abrasive and doesn't taste good. There is sweetness, which trips the "more!" switch, so it's easy to want to have more even if the actual flavor isn't very good. I don't need to do try these again. Once those were gone, it was back to nice, plain, sensible Cheerios.

Comments

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

Another in that Ceres of serials was Fruit Brute ("FROOOOOOOOOT!"). I guess it didn't go over nearly as well as the others, because nobody I know seems to remember it. Then again, I preferred Quake to Quisp.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Evidently it did not go over as well. Nor did Yummy Mummy. I looked up a bit about Fruit Brute and found that as well. Not sure what about Yummy Mummy resulted in it not doing so well. Perhaps the field was just saturated? But Fruit Brute strikes me as odd with lime flavored marshmallows, so perhaps it was just a strange taste that didn't catch on? Or that "brute" was seen as a Bad Thing, but the other monsters were safely fictional.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I don't remember Yummy Mummy. What flavor was it?

Then there were a trio of snacks which were supposedly shaped like their names: Whistles (cheesy), Bugles (which survive) and the one I liked, Daisy*s.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Supposedly fruit flavor and vanilla flavored marshmallows. Curiously, it was supposed to be the replacement for Fruit Brute.

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

Are you amiliar with this web comic?

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/poyorick/botg3/toc.php

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have seen that. Or at least the first "issue" or two. It might be time I looked it over again.

[brodycatsmouth.livejournal.com]

OMG, I am stealing that joke.