Sunday, August 25, 2013

The Summer is Dead. Long Live Halloween.

It's seems sometimes that the "nerd-geek" blogging community is sharing the same nerdy/geeky brain, because on every single blog there is one holiday that rises above the rest and becomes their entire focus months and months in advance.

In the immortal words of The Shaggs, "It's Halloween."

There has to be a reason for it, right? A love for scary movies or getting to wear costumes and go trick-or-treating. One night a year where we, as kids, got to break the rules and take candy from strangers. Stay up late watching R-rated slashers and classic Universal fright flicks. A time when it was okay to dress up like monsters and villains without being labeled a weirdo. Maybe it's just an appreciation for the color scheme, everything orange and green, black and purple and sometimes silver.

Or it could be that even our cereal boxes are suddenly adorned with creatures of the night?


It was only eight days ago that rumors started circulating that in addition to the usual Halloween releases of Count Chocula, Boo Berry and Frankenberry, General Mills would also be releasing from their vaults the two long-discontinued Monster cereals, Yummy Mummy and Fruit Brute. The man responsible for initially spreading those wonderful, amazing words was none other than Matt, he of Dinosaur Dracula and formerly of X-Entertainment. We all trust Matt, because honestly, it feels like he's responsible for the vast majority of us getting into blogging in the first place. The guy practically paved the way for nostalgic weirdos to take to the internet and share their love of all things nerdy and dumb.

Anyway, only a short time after the initial rumors started, it was confirmed. They, all five of the monsters, were coming back this Halloween season. The masses rejoiced. The heavens shook. More stuff happened that was crazy and unbelievable, but now nothing was unbelievable because THEY WERE ALL COMING BACK.

And I already found one of 'em.


Well, to be fair, I found four so far, but I'm not counting the Count, Boo- or Frankenberry. I stumbled upon them at a local Walgreens last week, taking up an entire little display towards the front of the store. I went so far as to overcome my usual anti-social tendencies to ask the cashier if she had seen the other two cereals. She had not.

I vowed to return and claim the missing two, the ones that had eluded me my entire life. I was only two when Fruit Brute was originally discontinued, so I never had a shot of trying it. Yummy Mummy was available during the late '80s to the early '90s, but my own mummy wasn't keen on cereals with marshmallows, so the only memories I have of its short run were the ads that littered Marvel comics during those earlier years.

And then, about an hour ago, I found the now-dubbed "Fruity" Yummy Mummy sitting beside his monstrous brethren and nearly wept at the sight. Instead, totally embarrassed, I shelled out the three bucks to the very same cashier [and who, of course, recognized me] and hurried home to share the news with you.

You might be asking, after all this time, how does it taste?

I don't know! I was so excited to share the news that I haven't even opened the box yet!

It seems like such a huge event to me that it needs to be treated like an experience. Which is precisely why I have The Monster Squad (1987) loaded in my player, waiting for me to pour a bowl and enjoy the "official" launch of my own personal Halloween season. Two months early, sure, but it doesn't matter. This is my time, our time, and their time too, so let's all enjoy it together. Happy Halloween..!


11 comments:

  1. Yes! It's about time we saw the return of Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy woot!

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  2. I had the Boo-Berry a couple years ago, and it seemed like it lost its flavor very quickly. The first few bites were great, but then after that, nothing. Maybe it's just a fluke with the blueberry flavoring they used.

    I'm hoping it's not the same deal with the other flavors, since it's been over 20 years since I last had Franken-Berry, and I have some fond memories of how good it tasted.

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    1. Count Chocula is the safest bet of the three Original Gangstas, but if you manage to find Yummy Mummy? I would definitely recommend it. Starts out orange-creme and eventually devolves into a generic fruity flavor not entirely unlike Trix.

      But with marshmallows.

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  3. I looked for the "vintage" style packaging at Target today and came up empty handed. I was soooo bummed. I think I want to get them all in the newer packaging anyway. Walgreens you say? I may just make a trip over there tomorrow on my way home from work...

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    1. Cliff, from The Holidaze blog, also found Yummy Mummy at Walgreens today. I guess they were supposed to be street-dated or something? Not quite sure on the details.

      Sadly, I work for Target, and none of the stores in my area have received any yet. Actually, there's only a couple of pallets of candy that've come in so far, no decorations or anything, so it might be a couple weeks before the retro-boxes hit. I'll keep ya updated, sho'nuff.

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  4. There's a full on, month-long Halloween blog-along if you're interested. Check out countdowntohalloween.com. I've done it for the past 2 years and it's one of the things that got me to start blogging.

    You don't have to post every day but if you think you might, I recommend knocking out a few posts ahead of time for the days when you don't have time to do a post, you have a backup plan.

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    1. Definitely something to consider. I'm hoping the excitement of entering autumn and heading into my favorite holiday will inspire more posts.

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  5. I am so excited for this! I loved these cereals growing up. I am just so ready for this! I have been looking around at stores, but I am going to try Walgreens. Such an exciting time!

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    1. From here right on 'til New Year's Day, this is my absolute favorite time of year. I adore the fall and love the holidays; so psyched that it's already off to such a fantastic start.

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  6. I cannot wait to get my hands on them! Selling bowlfulls of Monster Cereal at My Cafe is just too frickin awesome for words.

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  7. Happy you found Yummy Mummy! I still haven't seen Frute Brute, but I'll be looking this week! Btw, you're right about Matt. I think we all followed in his footsteps!

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