When I was a little kid, I would only occasionally get to have sugary cereal for breakfast. I mainly survived on Rice and Corn Chex, as the smell of Cheerios made me (and still does) want to barf. Every once in a while my Mom would let me get a temporary tie-in cereal for some cartoon (i.e., Smurf-Berry Crunch, G.I. Joe) or a movie I was into (i.e., E.T. [although I only got that once, because I didn’t like it], C-3POs). But if it was a regular cereal, like Froot Loops, Cap’n Crunch, Apple Jacks, etc., I couldn’t get it. Now, by the time I was about 10, she had relaxed her stance on cereals and I was able to regularly get Honey Comb and eventually ate Berry Berry Kix like it was going out of style, but I really only ate your run of the mill sugary cereals when I stayed over at a friends’ house. Which means that, despite being a monster obsessed kid, I never got to have Count Chocula, Franken Berry, Boo Berry, Frute Brute, or Yummy Mummy, collectively known as Monster Cereals.
MONSTER HISTORY
First introduced in 1971 by General Mills, chocolate-flavored Count Chocula and strawberry-flavored Franken Berry were made to capitalize on a generation known as Monster Kids.

Starting in the mid-1950s, the Universal Monster films from the 1930s and 40s, like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, and Phantom of the Opera, were available in syndication for television. This led to an explosion of interest in monsters among teens and pre-teens, many of whom were watching these films for the first time from the comfort of their own homes. Magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland were selling out at the local drug store, bobbleheads of Frankenstein and his pals were available at toy stores, and drive-ins became the new home of horror movie schlock.
This bled over into the 1960s, where we saw competing monster family shows like The Addams Family and The Munsters, as well as a slew of new films in monster franchises like Godzilla, Frankenstein, and Dracula.
The monster fad got a boost in 1971 when the Comics Code Authority, the self-regulating industry rules that had been in place since 1954 to prevent any comic book stories from being too violent or salacious, was loosened to allow for some more mature content. This allowed monsters to make a return to the comic book page, so Marvel and DC both quickly put out titles like Werewolf by Night, Swamp Thing, and The Tomb of Dracula.
While Count Chocula and Franken Berry were the first, blueberry Boo Berry was introduced in 1973, followed closely by Frute Brute, a “fruit-flavored” cereal with lime marshmallows, in 1974.

Much to Quentin Tarantino’s disappointment, Frute Brute would be discontinued just a few years later in 1982. The three cereals – Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry – coasted along until 1988, when Fruity Yummy Mummy was released. However, this fruit-flavored cereal with vanilla marshmallows, would only stick around until 1992, before being discontinued as well.

In 2013, both Brute and Mummy made a brief comeback, but were shelved again in 2014. Brute made yet another comeback in 2022, but hasn’t been seen since.
2023 saw the introduction of the latest Monster Cereal, a caramel apple-flavored cereal featuring a mascot called Carmella Creeper, a zombie DJ that is said to be Franken Berry’s long lost cousin.

Since the beginning, the Monster Cereals had been available year-round. However, in 2010, they disappeared from store shelves and are now only available around the Halloween season, typically in September and October.
MY MONSTERS
Since I didn’t get to have Monster Cereals when I was a kid, I was determined to let my kids enjoy them, especially now that they were only available around Halloween. So, in 2013, when Frute Brute was brought back for the first time, I bought my first boxes of Monster Cereals so that my daughter (and I) could enjoy them. She’s a chocoholic, so she was instantly hooked on Count Chocula. I’ve always been a strawberry guy, so Franken Berry was my favorite. But, really, the best flavor is a combination of Franken Berry and Count Chocula. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but I wish I’d kept those boxes from our first Monster Halloween.
In 2021, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Monster Cereals, a new flavor was released, Monster Mash. This cereal featured all the monster flavors – chocolate, strawberry, blueberry, and fruit-flavor – in one bowl. Since it was the anniversary of the cereals, I actually held on to the Monster Mash box. It also doesn’t hurt that the design of the box is just plain awesome.


I especially appreciate the little history lesson on the side of the box…

In 2022, General Mills got on the hype beast train and hooked up with artist Brian Donnelly, who goes by the name KAWS, to redesign the Monster boxes. The artwork was essentially the same as boxes from the 1970s, except the linework was fuzzy and KAWS’ signature “Xs for eyes” were highlighted.

I have to say, I wasn’t a very big fan of these designs. From my experience, the online community felt the same. I purchased my Monster Cereals in a four-pack of boxes from Sam’s, so I have all the KAWS boxes, but they’re currently hidden away inside the empty boxes for my AT-ST and Millennium Falcon toys to help keep them standing upright.
As part of the KAWS promotion, you could enter a code on a special website and be eligible to win a set of small, Monster/KAWS figures. I don’t think these proved to be as popular as General Mills had hoped, because it seems like anyone who sent in their code wound up getting a set. Honestly, even these were a little disappointing, as they’re so thin that they fall over if you look at them too hard. The entire KAWS collaboration seems to have been a bit of a bust.
In 2023, Carmella Creeper was introduced. Not only is she the first new Monster since 1988, but she’s the first woman in the line-up. I kept the box from her debut, even though I can’t stand the taste of the cereal. Just give me Apple Jacks with marshmallows instead of trying to make caramel apple happen! All of the Monster boxes from 2023 had this sort of 3-D rendered look to them. They were fine, but nothing really special, in my opinion. I didn’t bother keeping any of the other individual boxes from this year.


Carmella also took center stage on the Monster Mash release in 2023…

2024 saw new box designs and this time, I absolutely loved them! The artwork was retro-inspired, but still felt fresh. The addition of “pet-shaped” marshmallows was a unique twist. This time around, I’m keeping all of the boxes for my collection.
I do have one more Halloween-inspired cereal box, though it’s not Monster Cereal. In 2023, Kellog’s released a Peanuts-themed cereal, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I grew up reading Peanuts and loved the 1966 TV special of the same name, so when this was released, I searched high and low for a box. Unfortunately, I absolutely hated the taste of the cereal. I had one bowl that I didn’t even finish before throwing the rest away (my kids didn’t like it, either). I know I’m in the minority here, as quite a few people liked it; it just wasn’t for me. But the box is cool, so I held onto it. I guess it must not have been a big seller, because it didn’t make a return in 2024.


I have a few other cereal boxes that I’ll share one of these days. Boxes are kind of a strange collector’s item, but that’s why I like to pick them up when I can. I’m always searching for something to make my collection unique.