GM's Monster Cereals

My first post will take a look at General Mills' Monster Cereals.

Count Chocula and Frankenberry were old favorites (which my veganism has summarily removed from my morning routine; ah, small sacrifices...) but I'll be goddamned if I ever had Boo-Berry more than once in my life. So very elusive, the Holy Grail of Breakfast Cereals if you will. I'd ALWAYS tell my mom when she asked what cereal I wanted- BOO BERRY. Would always look for it in every cereal aisle of every store; never any success. I think I had it once at a friend's house, most definitely the highlight of that particular sleepover (saying a lot-my weekend sleepovers at this particular friend's house rank among my most treasured childhood memories) This was close to 25 years ago, so hell if I remember what it tasted like. Probably a different strain of the artificial color/flavor chemical cocktail that was Frankenberry.
Apparently it still exists, but even to this day, I have never seen it in stores. Boo Berry really IS a ghost!

As I said though, Frank and the Count were regular guests at my breakfast table (there was another variety called Fruit Brute available through the early 80s, but I never saw that one either) throughout my childhood.

I do recall always eating the marshmallows first (sorted by color; I believe there were 4 different shades of chocolatey goodness inside in the Count's case, and a similar variety in Frankenberry) and then the crunchy things. By the time I got done eating in order, I was usually running late for school. Whatever man, I totally had my priorities straight.

In the late 80s, they introduced Yummy Mummy, a fruit flavored variety that haunted the aisles for a few years (and wasn't bad, but nowhere near as good as Frank and the Count!) before unravelling into extinction.

I also always appreciated that Frank, The Count, and that elusive prick Boo Berry shilled each other's product, though Boo didn't always show up to the set and missed his chance to plug his cereal. Seriously though - commercials hawking two or three different cereals at once? Groundbreaking, and they probably saved a lot of money on advertising. You'd think they could have used the money they saved to ship some more fucking boxes of Boo Berry out, but hey, what do I know? Probably all went to hookers and blow. It was the 80s, after all.


Here's a box of Boo Berry. I'm posting this just as reassurance that it isn't in fact a figment of my imagination!