Count Chocula

Notice: The year I started this blog, General Mills came out with Monster Mash. The following year, they brought back Frute Brute. And last year they introduced Carmella Creeper. I originally didn't review Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry because I considered them the regular cereals, and the others the limited edition novelties. But I've been waiting for a "fallow year" with a lighter load on Halloween so I could properly review the classics. And now that time has come!

Name: Count Chocula
Variation: Monster Cereals
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: Count Chocula is easily my favorite Monster Cereal. I mean, come on. It's chocolate, and it has marshmallows. A combination like that can't fail. There's really nothing more to say about it. I could take or leave the fruity Monsters (although I was pleasantly surprised by Frute Brute), and Carmella Creeper was an enjoyable novelty, but Count Chocula is the only cereal in the lineup I've made a habit of buying, and the only one I've over-enthusiastically indulged before, by buying what was probably too many boxes for one person to eat in a single spooky season...

Rating: 🥣🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Satisfyingly chocolatey!

Monsters' Frightful Friends

Name: Monsters' Frightful Friends
Variation: Monster Cereals
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: Monster Cereals' new innovation this year is the introduction of the Monsters' pets - Carmella's snake Scratch, Franken Berry's bat Bennie, Boo Berry's cat Meow Berry, and Count Chocula's spider Igor. Represented by the addition of new marshmallows, I imagine the taste of the individual cereals remains the same. And this cereal - Monsters' Frightful Friends - would seem to be a reskin of Monster Mash Remix, mixing - not all, but some - of the different cereals together, with these new marshmallows.

Like last year, it seems to be mostly Carmella Creeper with a bit of Boo Berry tossed in. It makes for a good visual aesthetic - like rotting zombie flesh. Did they introduce Carmella Creeper last year just so they could have a green Monster cereal? Although I applaud the addition of a zombie girl to the lineup (and the caramel apple flavor was a great choice), I think a swamp monster would have been a better fit for the brand.

Anyway, it's not a bad flavor combo (unlike the original Monster Mash, which was trying to do too much). It's fruity; although it begins to taste kinda plain after a few bites. And, maybe my box just wasn't shaken up enough to evenly distribute the pieces, but for the pets to be the star of the show, the marshmallows are scarce, and don't make much of an impression. I'm struggling to think of a reason to justify continuing to eat this cereal every year, other than the novelty factor.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Just a mild hint of fruity, marshmallow flavor.

Frosted Chocolate Cake

Name: Frosted Chocolate Cake
Variation: n/a
Manufacturer: Post

Review: Although I'm not really a fan of shredded wheat, this new cereal from Post grabbed my attention with its reference to Frosted Chocolate Cake. The back of the box mentions "decadence" more than once, which is promising - but I still have my doubts. The whole aesthetic of the cereal has a nice black-and-white look, that goes really well with my bowl. The biscuits smell cocoa-y, and have a good, chocolatey flavor. Occasionally, you'll get a bite of real chocolate chips.

All of this is good, but it doesn't disguise what the cereal is. All the different varieties of Frosted Mini-Wheats I've tried so far have had good flavors, but I could never get past the drudgery of eating shredded wheat. This cereal is honestly as good as any of them, but it still has the taste and texture of shredded wheat. Given the high sugar content, what's the advantage of eating it over something better-tasting, like Chocolatey Chocolate Lucky Charms? Unless you have a fiber deficiency, it beats me.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Some chocolate flavor, at least.

Wednesday

Name: Wednesday Cookies and Crème
Variation: n/a
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: I got so excited when I saw this cereal, I couldn't wait to snatch it up. Not only because Wednesday was a good show, but because I'm a little bit obsessed with Jenna Ortega right now. And even though I don't usually like cookies and cream cereals, the black & white aesthetic (well, mostly just black) is perfectly on point. Hey, at least it has marshmallows!

The cereal is super dark. Like charcoal; I'm afraid it'll stain my teeth. But it looks magnificent. The smell and taste is very strong - like concentrated cookie crumbs, a hint of Oreo cheesecake, really dark chocolate, or even black coffee. I'm not sure there's enough cream (I'm sorry, crème) to balance it out. If that's what the marshmallows are doing (they're shaped like coffins), perhaps there should be more of them. Or, they could have just called it "cookies 'n' scream" and been done with it. XD

It's turning my milk black! Rarely does eating a bowl of cereal inspire such excitement. Do I like it enough to buy it again? I'm not sure. But I really enjoy the visual presentation, and how thoroughly it commits to its premise. As an artist and not just a cereal lover, I respect that. Plus, I get to have Jenna Ortega staring back at me (unblinkingly) from the cereal box every morning for a week. So that's a bonus. :-p

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Black as midnight; black as pitch; blacker than the foulest witch.

Trix Mystery Color

Name: Trix Mystery Color
Variation: Trix
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: Honestly, I'm getting a little annoyed with all these minor variations of Trix. I don't even like Trix that much* to begin with. I was fed up when they kept throwing different versions with marshmallows at me, and now they don't even have marshmallows!

First it was "silly rabbit turned milk pink", and now it's "turns milk a mystery color". The mystery color better not be pink. >.> In fact, I would hope that it would be a different color each time, based on the combination of cereal pieces - although I don't know how that would work, if it's all pretty much evenly mixed in the box.

Anyway, it tastes just like Trix (with the fruity shapes, not the puffs), and the mystery color reveal is anti-climactic. My default rating for Trix is 2 bowls, but I'm tempted to rate it a 1, just because the novelty is so lame, and I feel like I've been "Trix'd" into buying another box...

*It's funny how, being forced to repeatedly eat some cereals I kinda like (such as Trix) is making me like them less, while being forced to repeatedly eat some cereals I never really liked (such as Frosted Flakes), is making me like them more.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: 1 of 3 colors? All I get is orangey-pink.

Frosted Flakes with Jibbitz Marshmallows

Name: Frosted Flakes with Jibbitz Marshmallows
Variation: Frosted Flakes
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: Kellogg's is doing a promotional tie-in with Crocs (also featured on Froot Loops w/Marshmallows, but with the regular marshmallows). I'm not crazy about Crocs - I think they're a dubious fashion statement. And for a while I passed this cereal up. But ultimately, I decided I could stand to add a box of Frosted Flakes w/Marshmallows to my breakfast lineup, since I didn't hate it when Tony was schmoozing with the Creeper Bits.

Toucan Sam is sharing the advertising duties.

The light green and orange marshmallows - while not as strongly colored as they look on the box - make for a nice, soft visual palette. As far as nutritional content goes, Frosted Flakes is actually fat free, but because they're frosted, it's not the least sugary cereal on the market (and adding marshmallows doesn't help). I think the marshmallow shapes could be more interesting, especially if they're imitating Jibbitz charms (what are they - flowers, fish, and... balls?).

What are Jibbitz charms, you ask? They're a last ditch effort to make Crocs seem cool by giving people the option to accessorize and individualize their shoes (while lining the inventor's wallet). It's this generation's fidget spinners, or Silly Bandz bracelets (remember those?). Anyway, the taste of Frosted Flakes with marshmallows has definitely grown on me. If it were plain, I wouldn't be so sure, but with the marshmallows, it's actually not bad.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Sweet, but flakey.

Fruity Cheerios

Name: Fruity Cheerios
Variation: Cheerios
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: You'd think something with a generic name like "Fruity Cheerios" would have been done before, but the box says it's new. Ignoring the green Cheerios, this cereal makes a much better impression of "red, white, and blue" than Team Cheerios did (ironically). The only fruit mentioned by name on the box (on the back, and in the ingredients) is pear - which is intriguing. However, the flavor is a little underwhelming. After having Team Cheerios (which was good), and Peach Mango Cheerios (which I liked better than I expected to), this is a bit of a letdown. It's too bad that both of those cereals are "limited editions", and this is the one that's "new" (and therefore, more likely to stick around). That said, it's been growing on me, and it does taste good with fresh fruit added in. I think I could learn to like it.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Pink and pear-y.