Froot Loops & Apple Jacks with Spooky Marshmallows

Review: I don't know how long this has been going on, but lately around Halloween, I've seen a trio of Kellogg's cereals on store shelves that I can only imagine are poised to rival General Mills' hallowed Monster Cereals. These are regular cereals you can find year-round - Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, and Chocolate Frosted Flakes (note the symmetry of having two fruity cereals and one chocolate one) - but marketed with the seasonal addition of "spooky" marshmallows ("bewitched bats", "mischievous monsters", and "ghoulish ghosts"). As much as I hate to split the trio up, I already reviewed Chocolate Frosted Flakes with Spooky Marshmallows last year, so this year I'm focusing on the other two.

The "spooky marshmallows" trio.

As fate would have it, I've already had both Froot Loops and Apple Jacks with marshmallows (recently!), so you're not going to find any surprises here. The only differences are cosmetic; in addition to the Halloween branding, and the shape of the marshmallows, the Froot Loops appear only in orange and purple - like a subdued, autumn version of the cereal's brighter "summer" colors. (Apple Jacks are already a seasonally-appropriate orange and green). Owing to my preference for Froot Loops over Apple Jacks, previous ratings of these cereals (with marshmallows) shall stand. That is, two bowls for Apple Jacks, and three bowls for Froot Loops. As for the Chocolate Frosted Flakes (with Spooky Marshmallows), I'm strongly considering bumping its rating up to three bowls, now that I've had it a second time.

In conclusion, these are fun, festive cereals, and I actually like all three - which is something that I can't say about the Monster Cereals. (Count Chocula is good, but I don't care much for the fruity ones - except Frute Brute, which I tried just this year). Usually, in my opinion, General Mills cereals come out on top, but I think my preference is for Kellogg's in this case. It feels sacrilegious to bet against the Monster Cereals in the season when their strength is at its peak, but I gotta give credit where it's due.

Pour all three into one bowl, and you get a nice mix of Halloween colors!

Name: Froot Loops with Spooky Marshmallows
Variation: Froot Loops
Manufacturer: Kellogg's
Rating: 🥣🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: A little sweet.

Name: Apple Jacks with Spooky Marshmallows
Variation: Apple Jacks
Manufacturer: Kellogg's
Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Barely cinnamon-y.

Ghostbusters Afterlife

This weekend I'm reviewing two cereals that serve primarily as movie promotions - one from this year, and one from last year.

Name: Ghostbusters Afterlife
Variation: n/a
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: I was excited when I spotted this box last fall, in the same shipment as Monster Mash cereal; it touched a nostalgic nerve. I can't say for sure if I ate Ghostbusters cereal as a kid (I might just be remembering the marketing for all the toys I had), but I feel like I did. So I wanted to like this cereal. But, like Monster Mash, it turned out to be a disappointment. It's a fruity cereal with marshmallows, but it tastes bland in comparison to many better cereals on the market (like JoJo Siwa's Strawberry Bop!, Pokémon Berry Bolt, or even Froot Loops with Marshmallows). And you're telling me there's no fun, color-changing milk effect, like with Halloween Crunch's ghostberries? What a wasted opportunity.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Plain...

Hocus Pocus 2

This weekend I'm reviewing two cereals that serve primarily as movie promotions - one from this year, and one from last year.

Name: Disney Hocus Pocus 2
Variation: n/a
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: Boasting a "berry brew" flavor, Hocus Pocus 2 smells fruity right out of the box, and looks a bit like Apple Jacks, but in purple, yellow, and orange star shapes, with tiny green and purple flecks. But here's the trick. There's no magic, color-changing milk effect, but the secret of the "berry brew" is that the stars hold almost no flavor, and all that flavor just goes straight to the milk. So you're stuck with a bowl of plain-tasting stars. It's a bit reminiscent of Peeps cereal - but without the marshmallows. The taste isn't unpleasant (it's just plain), and the texture is fine. I think some marshmallows would have really helped. As it is, this cereal is very middle-of-the-road. Given that its primary purpose is to promote a movie, it's actually not terrible like I was expecting, but it's not particularly good, either. I have no strong desire to eat it again.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: So this is where all the flavor went!

Frute Brute

Name: Frute Brute
Variation: Monster Cereals
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: It occurred to me last year when I tried Monster Mash, that apart from Count Chocula, all the Monster Cereals are fruity. In their defense, they do all have marshmallows, but that's why Count Chocula is my favorite. Still, I was excited to see Frute Brute on the shelves this year, because it's one of the forgotten Monster Cereals that's hard to find, and I don't think I've ever tried it before (unless I was too young to remember). I was even more intrigued when I picked up the box and noticed that it's a cherry-flavored cereal*. Franken Berry suffers in that it has a lot of competition from other strawberry cereals on the market, and I think part of Boo Berry's appeal is the novelty of blueberry as a cereal flavor. Well, cherry has that novelty (maybe even more so), but it suffers from not being very distinguishable - at least visually - from strawberry.

As a matter of fact, when I opened my box of Frute Brute, I thought for a second that there had been a manufacturing error, because it looked exactly like Franken Berry. I guess I thought it would be a different shade of pink. Upon closer inspection, the marshmallows are different (orange, yellow, pink, and purple), and the cereal has a distinct cherry flavor. I like it better than Franken Berry. In fact, excluding Count Chocula, this might just be my favorite fruity Monster Cereal. I'm surprised it's not more popular*. To my disappointment, I saw stacks of boxes on clearance before the end of September (don't get me started on stores displaying Halloween products in August and liquidating them before even the start of October). For a second-tier Monster Cereal, I wasn't expecting Frute Brute to be very good, but it has exceeded my expectations!

Now I just need to get my hands on a box of Fruity Yummy Mummy...

*Some quick research has revealed that Fruit Brute (it used to be styled without the quirky misspelling) originally featured lime marshmallows, instead of being cherry-flavored (imagine combining those features for a cherry limeade cocktail!). I daresay this may have contributed to it being the first Monster Cereal to be discontinued. Which is unfortunate; I suspect it would have been more popular in its current formulation - but how will people know it's been improved? Besides, Frute Brute will never be able to compete with the name recognition of Franken Berry. If I were in charge of Monster Cereals, I would change Franken Berry to Franken Cherry, but I don't know how the rest of the cereal-loving world would feel about that.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: It's pink, but I was hoping for a stronger cherry flavor.

Shocking Orange Krispies

Name: Rice Krispies Shocking Orange Colored Cereal
Variation: Rice Krispies
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: After trying Red & Blue Krispies, I felt a bit like a sucker buying this cereal, knowing full well that I wasn't going to like it. Although you can't say that I'm not dedicated to the mission statement of this blog, which is to document and try novelty cereal varieties. At least I can still make them into Rice Krispies Treats. Which, I'm convinced at this point, is all that plain Rice Krispies are really good for. I'm pretty sure even Kellogg's acknowledges this, as the treats are pictured right on the front of the box, with the recipe on the side. I have to give them credit for coloring the Krispies orange for Halloween. But it's not enough to make me actually like the cereal. Maybe if they mixed it with half Cocoa Krispies, it would taste better - and it would still be visually on theme for the holiday!

I'd still rather they were all chocolate...

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Blander than plain.

Apple Jacks Nickelodeon Slime

Name: Apple Jacks Nickelodeon Slime
Variation: Apple Jacks
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: This has got to be one of my favorite concepts for a novelty cereal that I've seen all year. We start with Apple Jacks, but they've got green flecks in them instead of red ones, which no doubt reflects the distinctive "green apple" flavor (a natural choice for an Apple Jacks alternative) in place of cinnamon. And when you stir it up, the milk turns green!

How does the milk turn green? "I don't know." XD

As this is still Apple Jacks, I'm not going to say that I'm in love with the way the cereal tastes, but the theme is so much fun. And it's great timing, too - as we're heading in to Halloween. I feel like this cereal would sit comfortably on top of the fridge between a box of Halloween Crunch and Shocking Orange Krispies.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: More green than apple.