If you thought choosing a breakfast cereal was merely about taste and nutritional content, think again. The cereal aisle is a colourful tapestry of marketing genius, culinary innovation and occasional nutritional nightmares that have evolved dramatically over the decades. From the groovy introduction of monster-themed cereals in the early '70s to the sugary adventures of the '80s and beyond, let's munch our way through the history of these iconic breakfast staples.

Chapter 1: The Monster Mash-Up Begins

1. The Dawn of Franken Berry and Count Chocula

In the shadowy corners of the General Mills boardroom in 1971, a deliciously spooky idea was born: why not combine breakfast with Halloween? Thus, Franken Berry and Count Chocula stomped and flapped into the hearts and bowls of children everywhere. With Franken Berry boasting a sweet strawberry flavor and Count Chocula diving into the chocolate realm, breakfast was never the same. Little did the kids know, the first iteration of Franken Berry could turn your poop pink - a harmless but startling effect thanks to some indigestible pigment! By the way, they fixed the problem in later versions.

2. Enter Boo Berry, Fruit Brute, and Yummy Mummy

Not to leave the ghostly and the furry behind, Boo Berry floated onto the scene in 1973 with its eerie blueberry whisper, followed by Fruit Brute in 1974 and Yummy Mummy wrapping things up in 1988. Each brought their own unique flavor to the monster cereal banquet, completing what would become a cult classic lineup of monster-themed breakfast options.

Chapter 2: A Smorgasbord of Sugar

3. The Sweetest Decade: From Waffelos to Smurfberry Crunch to CTC and even NERDs!

The 1980s were not just about big hair and neon spandex but also about some of the most imaginative cereals to ever hit the market. Waffelos, with its maple-rich crunch, introduced us to the cowboy Bill, who could lasso blueberries like no other.

Meanwhile, the Smurfs didn't just caper around Smurf Village; they invaded the breakfast table with Smurfberry Crunch and later, Magic Berries, which included whimsical marshmallows to the fruity mix.

And if we’re speaking of sweet, we cannot forget Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The cereal, which has been around since 1984, aimed to mimic the flavor of cinnamon sugar toast, and many feel they got it pretty spot on. Proof that there's nothing like sugar to make your morning, Cinnamon Toast Crunch is the most popular cereal in more than half of the United States. The second most popular? Special K, not really a kid’s delight in the morning…

Meet Strawberry Shortcake and all her friends! They live in a "berry" special place called Strawberryland. All the kids enjoy a simple country life. They make delicious things to eat from all the good things that grow around them. Now, Strawberry Shortcake has her own strawberry-flavoured cereal. So, won't you join her for a bowl? As she would say... it's "berry" good!

Now this was genius! – NERDs cereal - two cereals in two compartments, just like the candy. Though let's be honest, this was breakfast candy. Orange/Cherry vied for your taste buds with Grape/Strawberry in 1985.

4. TV and Movies: Mr. T, Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

During the same era, cereals became a platform for celebrity endorsements and movie tie-ins. Mr. T Cereal let kids team up with the tough-talking star from "The A-Team," with catchphrases like "Team up with Mr. T, it’s cool" and "I pity the fool who don’t eat my cereal". 

Ninja Turtles cereal offered crunchy ninja nets and pizza-shaped marshmallows, capturing the essence of the beloved cartoon. Some prizes inside the cereal boxes were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cereal bowls, and cups that changed color when you added cold milk to them.

Even Batman had his own cereal, mimicking the shape of his famous bat symbol. A TV commercial for the cereal called it "a smashing taste... a honey nut flavored part of your complete breakfast." Many people remember this cereal tasting very similar to Cap'n Crunch.

5. The Classics: Cap'n Crunch, Frosted Flakes, Honey Smacks and Lucky Charms!

Cap'n Crunch continued his long-standing reign over the cereal seas with his crunchy, sweet squares. And who could forget the Ghostbusters cereal, which capitalized on ghost-catching fever with fruity flavors and marshmallow ghosts? They went on to add green and purple ghost marshmallows. The green marshmallows were based on Slimer. His picture was even added on the front.

Frosted Flakes in North America or Frosties in the UK and EU is a cereal like Corn Flakes from Kellogg’s but coated with frosted sugar. Tony the Tiger has been the mascot for Frosted Flakes since it was first introduced in 1952 as Sugar Frosted Flakes. The word "sugar" was dropped in the mid-1970s, and he is known for saying the cereal's slogan: "They're grrreat!".

Honey Smacks were introduced in 1953, the cereal has undergone several name changes, starting out as "Sugar Smacks". In the 1980s, it was renamed "Honey Smacks" to downplay its sugar content, even though the sugar content stayed the same. In the early 1990s, the word "Honey" was dropped from the name and the product was then simply called "Smacks".

Lucky Charms hit the shelves in 1964 after some crazy food scientists experimented with Cheerios and Circus Peanuts marshmallow candy to form the cereal we love today. Nowadays you get rainbows, hearts, balloons, moons, shooting stars, horseshoes, hourglasses, AND clover hats in your cereal bowl, the first boxes of Lucky Charms had just four 'mallows: yellow moons, orange stars, pink hearts, and green clovers. The first newbie to arrive on the scene was the blue diamond, added in 1975... but the first newbie to actually stick was the horseshoe, forged in 1983. RIP, blue diamond.

Chapter 3: Novelty in a Box

6. The Rise of Novelty Cereals: From Ninja Turtles to Dunkin' Donuts

As we rolled into the late '80s, the boundary between breakfast food and dessert continued to blur. 

Not to be outdone, Dunkin’ Donuts jumped into the mix with cereal versions of their famous glazed and chocolate treats, proving that coffee and donuts could indeed be part of a balanced breakfast—sort of. The idea for the cereal came from the rising popularity of coffee drinks, and the desire to offer an item that is different than what was currently on the market. Coffee and cereal are both popular choices for breakfast and afternoon pick-me-ups, so it was a natural mash-up.

Dunkin’ coffee extract was even infused into the cereal pieces to provide maximum coffee flavor in each bite.

7. The Continuation of Cereal Adventures: G.I. Joe, Star Wars and Video Games

Every good cereal story includes a hero, and G.I. Joe Action Stars cereal brought military excitement to the breakfast table, each box featuring a different character ready for action. There were multiple variations of cereal box - each featuring a different character from the G.I. Joe collection drawn in an action pose. Among the characters pictured were Duke, Gung-Ho and Shipwreck.

As cereals continued to evolve, they became a mirror reflecting popular culture, so it was no surprise there was a Star Wars cereal - C3POs. Goldenrod got his cereal in 1984 a year after the first trilogy wrapped up. As for the shapes, they looked like Bs and 8s. Hey, why didn't they bring this back as BB-8's Cereal?

Video games and arcades dominated the landscape in the 80s. I will admit I spent way too much time and hundreds of quarters in these haunts… So, they had to have their place in the morning cereal sun. Donkey Kong Junior was a fruit-flavored cereal with red apple-shaped pieces and yellow banana-shaped pieces.

Some boxes of the cereal had a roll of Pez fruit-flavored candy. You could send in the proof of purchase seal on the side of the box, along with 75 cents, to receive a Donkey Kong Junior Pez dispenser. Other boxes included either four Ralston All-Stars baseball cards or one of three Donkey Kong Junior Game Books.

Pac-Man Cereal enticed you to chew through corn puffs and colored marshmallows shaped like Pac-Man and the four Ghosts, Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. Later versions also had bigger Pac-Man marshmallows – surprisingly dubbed "Super Pac-Man" marshmallows, as well as two-tone Ms. Pac-Man marshmallows.

Chapter 4: The Legacy of Fruit Flavours

8. The Everlasting Charm of Fruity Cereals: Froot Loops and Fruity Pebbles

While monster and novelty cereals took breakfast by storm, fruity cereals held a special place in the hearts of many. Toucan Sam is the notorious and beloved mascot of Froot Loops! He is known for being able to find Froot Loops anywhere just by following his powerful beak with a strong sense of smell. And did you ever notice just how colorful his beak is? Featuring pink, red, and orange stripes, the beak colors are representative of the original 3 Froot Loop colors.

As time went on and Froot Loops started adding more colours, the stripes on Toucan Sam’s beak remained the same.

Now at eight colours, that would be a few too many stripes to add to his beak with limited space!

Fruity Pebbles was a colorful, crispy rice cereal with orange, lemon and tangerine flavours. The Post cereal company introduced Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles at the same, and they were the first cereals to be created based on a television series. The show that inspired these popular cereals was none other than “The Flintstones.”

The flavours and colours of “Fruity Pebbles” have been tweaked over the years. The first change was to replace tangerine with cherry fruit flavouring. Post added purple in 1985 and green debuted in 1987, “Berry Blue” came along in 1994, and “Incrediberry Purple” joined the cereal box after that. “Bedrock Berry Pink” was added in 2005.

9. Special Mentions: E.T. and Ice Cream Cones Cereal

No retrospective on cereals would be complete without mentioning some of the more unique offerings. E.T. Cereal was a "peanut butter and chocolate-flavored crispy, sweetened cereal". The pieces came in the shapes of the capital letters "E" and "T".

TV commercials for the cereal used the tag line "A glowing part of (a) good breakfast" - a indominable reference to ET's glowing finger.

Its flavour was quite like Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs. This was probably intentional as the character of E.T. in the 1982 Steven Spielberg film was shown eating Reese's Pieces peanut butter candy.

With its mascot Ice Cream Jones, these sugary servings of Ice Cream Cones cereal from 1987 stopped pretending they were healthy. They even came with gumballs inside. Still too healthy? There was a Chocolate Chip iteration as well. Cereal and candy were sometimes a bit hard to differentiate in the 1980s.

Conclusion: Breakfast of Champions or Childhood Nostalgia?

As we look back at the evolution of cereals from Franken Berry to the multicolored loops of today, it's clear that cereals have been more than just a morning meal. They’ve been a marketing playground, a canvas for creativity, and a source of joy (and sometimes weird bathroom surprises). Whether you’re a fan of the sugary past or prefer a more wholesome start to your day, there’s no denying that cereals have left a lasting impact on our culture - and our taste buds!