Squishmallows Spring Vibes

Name: Squishmallows Spring Vibes
Variation: Squishmallows
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: Aside from the hot pink box, I'm struggling to determine what makes this "Spring Vibes" version any different from last year's Squishmallows cereal, so this review might sound repetitive. It does give off spring vibes (although it did that last year, too) - with its pale, yellow loops and pretty pink, blue, and purple marshmallows. Although the sheer variety of Squishmallows depicted on the box is sorely represented by these marshmallows. But that's to be expected - cereal marbits are far from the best medium for artistic expression. Their aesthetic value (setting aside the pivotal role they have in enhancing the flavor profile of a cereal) rarely extends beyond providing a pleasing pop of color. This is a perfectly pleasant marshmallow-flavored cereal, but I'm wondering if the market is saturated between this and Peeps cereal (also manufactured by Kellogg's)...

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Like a mini marshmallow milkshake.

Blue Raspberry Trix

Name: Blue Raspberry Trix
Variation: Trix
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: Not to be outdone by everyone's favorite leprechaun cereal mascot, the Trix Rabbit is starring in its own promotion for the new Super Mario Galaxy movie! Although one would imagine that the Rabbit shares Luigi's penchant for jumping, I think Lucky (in his green get-up) makes for a better pairing with Mario, at least visually. Moving on to the cereal, what is blue raspberry anyway? Well, it has a strong fruity aroma, and an almost juicy flavor. The cereal is not as colorful as usual, but I get a better impression of galaxies from these blue and purple swirled puffs than I did from Strawberry Lucky Charms' "galactic" marshmallows. Throw in some of those yellow stars, and between these two cereals they might have earned a three-bowl rating!

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Nothing to write home about.

Strawberry Lucky Charms

Name: Strawberry Lucky Charms
Variation: Lucky Charms
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: I had just missed Fruity Lucky Charms around the time that I started this blog, but this tie-in with the new Super Mario Galaxy movie reminds me of that cereal. I like how putting Mario on the front of the box opposite Lucky emphasizes how much Lucky's green outfit makes him look like Luigi.

The oat pieces are coated in a pretty pink layer of strawberry flavoring - which would have made them the perfect base for my Pixie Charms fantasy cereal. However, the "galactic marshmallows" just look like swirled blue, red, and green lemons. Apparently, General Mills didn't learn with their Galactic Lucky Charms that as cool a concept as space is, you really can't effectively represent something as nebulous as a "galaxy" in the form of a dehydrated marshmallow bit.

The small yellow stars, on the other hand, look great. (As cool as the unicorns and rainbows are, it's a testament to the importance of simplicity when it comes to marshmallow design). There are stars of all different colors drawn on the side of the box - I think the cereal would have looked better if they had ditched all the other marshmallows and just focused on the stars. Anyway, it's a lot better than the last Super Mario cereal I tried - you can't go wrong with Lucky Charms - and even better still with fresh strawberries cut up into it!

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Purple like an overcast sky - every stargazer's worst nightmare.

Scooby Doo! Cinnamon Crisp!

Name: Scooby Doo! Cinnamon Crisp!
Variation: n/a
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: After trying Cinnamon Pebbles not that long ago, my interest in purely cinnamon-flavored cereals has wavered. Not that I don't like cinnamon, but I'm not sure it's a flavor that can really stand on its own. I mean, even Cinnamon Toast Crunch has that rich, buttery flavor going for it. However, this cereal turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The paw-shaped biscuits are good as a dry snack, offering a crispy bite. And in milk, they have a much more satisfying mouthfeel than Pebbles do. Honestly, it's a relief after three weeks of not-so-great cereals. But, it's still a lot of cinnamon - I'm finding that when I eat too much cinnamon, it irritates my throat a little bit. As a final note, the back of the box offers a mystery (appropriately enough) for you to try to solve while you eat breakfast, and it actually provides a fair challenge.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Tastes like cinnamon cookies!

Mott's Very Berry

Name: Mott's Very Berry
Variation: n/a
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: I had to take a break after trying Mott's new applesauce-inspired Apple Cinnamon cereal, but I couldn't avoid trying its companion flavor, Very Berry. Honestly, I'd be more excited it it were just classic strawberry, instead of this generic conglomerate of berry flavors. The puffs are dark pink and purple, and smell very fruity. The cereal still isn't sweet enough, and tastes too corn-y, but it's marginally better than Apple Cinnamon was. Which isn't saying much. And it's not enough for me to recommend it.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Barely berry...

Glazed Donut Holes - Blueberry

Name: Glazed Donut Holes - Blueberry
Variation: Glazed Donut Holes, Froot Loops
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: This year, Kellogg's is adding a new flavor to their Glazed Donut Holes lineup, and it's such a natural fit, it's a wonder it wasn't released with the first wave! Being a fruity cereal, blueberry is a great choice for the Froot Loops banner. Now, you might recall that Froot Loops is a lemon-flavored cereal (somewhat surprisingly), but anything in the lemonade family seems appropriate to me. The pink box even accurately depicts the way blueberry lemonade turns red and not blue (again, somewhat surprisingly)!

The cereal smells very blueberry-y. In fact, I think it smells more strongly of blueberries than it tastes. Obviously, it's improved by adding fresh blueberries, which is a natural pairing. The puffs are glazed and crunchy, with a good mouthfeel, but the more bites I take, the plainer it tastes. I like donuts, but I don't know that I'm crazy about donut holes in particular. I don't hate this cereal, but would I buy it again? I doubt it. At this point, I think my enthusiasm for this lineup is pretty much played out.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: You do get blueberry milk at the end.

Mott's Apple Cinnamon

Name: Mott's Apple Cinnamon
Variation: n/a
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: Mott's enters the cereal market! I have to wonder if this is General Mills' bid to compete with Kellogg's Apple Jacks. If so, they're going to have to try a little harder, because this cereal just isn't doing it. It's plain, it doesn't have a very strong apple flavor (who puts corn in their applesauce, anyway?), and it isn't sweet enough. There have been some good apple cinnamon cereals on the market - like Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, and even TMNT Mutant Mayhem. Mott's is the king of applesauce. So how did they mess this one up? Were they trying too hard to be "healthy"? Yet, despite being "made with apple puree", their cereal is "not intended to replace fruit in the diet". I did see, after picking up this box, that there is a Very Berry flavor available, so I hope it fares better. But in the meantime, if I want to dig into a bowl of Mott's, I'm just going to have some applesauce.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Kinda plain, but flavored with cinnamon & apple.