Galactic Lucky Charms

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

Review: I originally spotted this novel edition of Lucky Charms last summer with a Space Jam promotion. I was prepared to post it as a flashback, then I spied some more boxes in Target recently. It tastes just like regular Lucky Charms - which would normally earn it a rating of three bowls. However, as much as I love the subject of space, I'm not impressed with the look of the new marshmallows. The appeal of Lucky Charms' marshmallows is their simplicity and recognizability. These "galaxy" shapes are too vague - dare I say, nebulous? - and the multi-colored approach just looks busy. Therefore, I'm docking one bowl from the rating because, although I would buy it on occasion just for the novelty, I don't feel that the new marshmallows add anything substantial to the original cereal.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Plain.

Space Jam: A New Legacy

Name: Space Jam: A New Legacy
Variation: n/a
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: Upon pouring this "berry" flavored cereal into a bowl, one immediately gets a strong visual impression of "grape". Unfortunately, the predominant flavor is actually "corn puff", with only a slight suggestion of fruitiness. Marshmallows vaguely shaped like basketballs and Bugs Bunny offer marginal value, but it's not enough to save this cereal. Chalk it up to another film cash-in, where they depend on name recognition to sell boxes, and the product is gone (I found this one at Big Lots!) by the time word-of-mouth spreads that this cereal isn't that good.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Plain...

Frosted Flakes with Crispy Cinnamon Basketballs

Name: Frosted Flakes with Crispy Cinnamon Basketballs
Variation: Frosted Flakes
Manufacturer: Kellogg's

Review: I'll be straight with you, Frosted Flakes is not one of my favorite cereals (notwithstanding the version that's chocolate and has marshmallows). But adding cinnamon basketballs is such a cute concept, I was looking forward to trying these. My first impression was that the basketballs definitely make an improvement over plain Frosted Flakes, but by my second bowl, the "cooling factor" of the cinnamon was already a bit strong. As cute as the novelty is, is it enough to get me to eat Frosted Flakes more often? I doubt it.

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Flakey...

Lucky Charms Magic Clovers

Name: Lucky Charms Magic Clovers
Variation: Lucky Charms
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: Magic Clovers is basically Lucky Charms' Halloween Crunch - it tastes just like the regular cereal, but it turns the milk green! The difference is merely cosmetic, but in a way that's fun. With the marshmallow shapes restricted to gold coins, four leaf clovers, and pots of gold, this is the perfect cereal to eat around St. Patrick's Day. I make a point to grab a box every year.

Rating: 🥣🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Plain, but green!

DunkAroos

Name: DunkAroos
Variation: Cookie Crisp?
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: I guess you might remember this treat from the '90s. I am vaguely aware of it, but it was never a product I was crazy about. It's basically cookies dipped in vanilla frosting. The cereal is actually very reminiscent of Cookie Crisp, but with vanilla instead of chocolate chip cookies. And while I don't have anything against vanilla, it's not a flavor that tends to get me excited. Now, if they ever make a chocolate DunkAroos cereal, I'm gonna have to give that a try.

In addition to shining a spotlight on '90s slang, the back of the cereal box provides a series of fascinating examples of how much technology has improved since the '90s - mainly focusing on the dizzying power we carry around in our pockets these days in the form of mobile phones. It's easy to take this power for granted, since it's become a regular fixture of our everyday lives, but it really is remarkable when put into perspective. I think I enjoyed the back of the box even more than the cereal itself!

Rating: 🥣
Leftover Milk: Plain, in spite of the derelict sprinkles left behind.

[Flashback] Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch

Notice: Flashback reviews have been written from memory, without having the cereal in front of me. I started taking pictures of notable cereal varieties several years before I decided to start a blog reviewing them. As such, details beyond whether I simply liked the cereal or not may be hazy, especially regarding the quality of the leftover milk. Whenever possible, I have made an effort to procure another box of the cereal for a proper review (even the ones I didn't like), but due to the ephemeral nature of many of these novelty cereals, this is not always possible.

Name: Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch
Variation: Cocoa Puffs
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: I stumbled upon this cereal last year while browsing the shelves at Gabe's, where you can sometimes find odd products that maybe didn't sell too well in more conventional venues. Although I can't imagine why these turned up there - they're incredible. Making Cocoa Puffs that taste like brownies (and they really do!) is one of those ideas so obviously brilliant that you have to wonder why it took them so long to come up with it (and why they're not more popular). I liked it so much I bought several boxes and then came back for more, until they were all gone. Now I fear I'll never see it again. And since I found Hot Cocoa Puffs this past winter, these (which I think I like even better) are bound to become my new Holy Grail.

Rating: 🥣🥣🥣

Strawberry Banana Cheerios

Name: Strawberry Banana Cheerios
Variation: Cheerios
Manufacturer: General Mills

Review: Two weeks of Cheerios in a row? I've noticed lately that there are a lot of varieties of Cheerios on the shelves. I'm not even sure how many of them are new or limited edition. I don't intend to try them all (at least not in the immediate future), but sometimes there are flavors that catch my attention - like this one.

Strawberry banana is one of my favorite fruit combinations (especially in smoothies and on top of French toast); they're also the two most likely fruits that I'll cut up and put in my cereal (blueberries are also good) - and what better cereal candidate could you have for that than this one?

About half of the cheerios in this box are shaped like hearts, which is cute, and the banana flavor is thankfully not that gaudy flavor you get in banana-flavored candies sometimes (which is like bananas on plutonium). As a kid, Cheerios always seemed like such a dreadfully boring cereal, but with all these creative flavors, my impression of it is definitely improving.

Rating: 🥣🥣
Leftover Milk: Tastes of strawberry and banana, as you would expect.