When it comes to “we should probably release another random flavor”, Pebbles cereal does battle with the good Cap’n for supremacy. Both cereal lines’ extensions are often forgettable. But they try, and that’s the important thing. And here, we have both brands offering up another variety.
Cinnamon Pebbles seems like an obvious choice, since that’s a flavor that can work for almost any cereal. But Pebbles cereals aren’t exactly the most subtle of cereals, flavor-wise. And that often works to their advantage. I wouldn’t argue against someone claiming Cocoa Pebbles is the best chocolate cereal out there. And Fruity Pebbles are awesome.
Pebbles two core cereals are the Andrew WK of cereals – they have something they do well, it’s simple, it’s loud, and it’s awesome.
For the most part all of their other varieties have been forgettable. Not bad per se, just… I’m not sad any of them are gone. Or if I see they are still on the shelf, I have the groundbreaking thought of, “Huh. There it is.”
And Cinnamon Pebbles are… fine. They’re just completely one-note. Surprisingly, I would have expected them to be sweeter than they are. They are plenty sweet, I just assumed Pebbles would go overboard. The cinnamon flavor is odd – it’s more “natural” tasting than you would expect. They hedged their bets between “real” cinnamon and “cereal” cinnamon, and wound up in this not overly satisfying middle ground.
But the cereal is good enough. It’s Cinnamon Pebbles – they’re giving you what they’re saying they would. It could be better, but if it sounds good to you, you’ll probably like it well enough. What an exciting endorsement of the product!
[insert sure why not seal of approval here]
Cap’n Crunch’s offering is Blueberry Pancake Crunch. I’ve never loved the maple / waffle cereal flavors. They’re just a flavor I don’t want to eat that much of.
The artwork on the box is tough to process. It’s kind of awesome looking – odd blues and garish designs. But at the same time, the visual strengths are precisely what make me not want to eat the cereal. Something about the aesthetic is off-putting. I think it’s the shade of blue. The light blues (and the washed-out colors of the cereal) make it look like the box didn’t get colored in correctly, or something.
The odd coloring continues with the cereal itself. You’d think “blueberry pancakes” would involve a darker blue and a darker brown for the cereal pieces. Instead, we get a mix of Kix and the light blue Crunch Berry. They even already have a darker blue Crunch Berry ready to go, which makes way more sense for a blueberry, but instead went with this one. It’s a fine mix of colors in a vacuum, but to be “blueberry pancakes”, the wrongness of the shades – like on the box – don’t inspire me to want to eat it.
When finally eating the cereal, thankfully it’s pretty good. I haven’t had a waffle or whatever cereal in a while, so my memory for comparison isn’t the best. But from what I can recall, the Cap’n’s maple-ness isn’t as strong, which I prefer.
Also : Cap’n’s seems like the correct formatting, but it looks horrendous.
I don’t get much blueberry, but you do get that Crunch Berry flavor which is an adequate enough substitute, I suppose. Not shockingly, the cereal doesn’t convey any subtle pancake flavor. But then again, neither do pancakes. They just taste like whatever sugary coating you’ve doused them in to make them edible.
Like Cinnamon Pebbles, this cereal gives you what it says it will. Also like Cinnamon Pebbles, I don’t think it’s particularly great, but enjoyable enough. Another “if you like the description, it’s worth a shot” cereal. Maybe I can spin all of this as me reviewing these two cereals together to form a cohesive theme. So let’s go with that.
[insert sure why not seal of approval here]
Thus concludes my thoroughly-planned, and artistically organized “Cereals Where If The Description Sounds Good To You, You Will Probably Enjoy Them Somewhat I Guess.”
