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Lesser Known Character Profile: Sunny Jim
by Topher
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Sunny Jim, one of the first fictional ad characters, was a mousey looking grandfatherly character with spectacles, and a top hat, wore a high-collared, red-tailed, coat and carried a cane. He wore his hair braided in a pig-tail. Force Flakes were a whole wheat flake.
"Whatever you say, wherever you've been, you can't beat the cereal, that raised Sunny Jim!"
"High 'oer the fence leaps Sunny Jim, Force is the food that raises him."
A coin was issued as a cereal premium. The front of the coin had an image of Sunny Jim's head, the word "FORCE" and a motto which read, "Bring back prosperity with Sunny Jim". The flip side of the coin read, "Forget that times are tough and grim, cheer up, and smile with Sunny Jim." and "Good Luck. Good Health."
The cereal itself was described on the box as being "Toasted Whole Wheat Flakes with harvest bran removed. Deliciously flavored with sugar, salt and malt syrup".
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New Cereal Book In The Works - Author Asks For Your Help
by Topher
Rob Berry, editor of Planet-Q! cereal magazine is working on his forthcoming book "Cereal Boxes & Prizes: The 1970's". Looks like he's going to pick up where Scott Bruce left off. Robb has a huge collection of cereal boxes and high resolution scans but he needs our help.
"I need scans of cereal boxes and premiums along with store displays and newspaper ads. Some much-needed premiums include R&L stuff, General Mills monsters, as well as Quisp and Cap'n Crunch. As to cereal boxes, I need a large variety from 1970-1979. For other projects, I also need many 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and even 80's boxes and premiums. (Hint: I am also working on the 80's cereal book). So please let me know if you also have these.
I can send you a list of what I already have and you could let me know what you own that is not on my list. Even if you have only a box or two or a few premiums, it could possibly make the book that much better. I could even use boxes if they are incomplete or
damaged as I can fix them up using a graphics program. Some complimentary copies and full credit would, of course, be given, but this would be a labor of love so please do this out of love for the hobby without regard to monetary gain much as I do with my own cereal/toy fanzine- Planet-Q!
If you are interested in helping out, I can be reached here: Robb Berry. I'll provide certain details about how to get this material to me while maintaining a consistent look throughout the book. Thanks for your time and
consideration!" -robb |
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New Cereal Website
by Topher
| CerealBits [2017 editor's note: site no longer active] is a message board for all us cereal nerds to come together and share stories, post boxes for sale, look for new boxes and just generally have a good time. This is a non-political forum! It will be 100% family friendly. This forum is 100% FREE for its users (you). It is sponsored by MonkeyInADryer.com, which handles screen printing and promotional items. |
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InDigEnt Releases "Flakes" (The Movie)
by Topher
| Zooey Deschanel, Aaron Stanford, Izabella Miko, and Christopher Lloyd star in this 84 minute feature about "an old hippie who owns a bistro that only sells cereal and spends his days serving cereal and chatting with the local clientele about the history of cereal and the ideal milk to flake ratio. Suddenly his utopian state is disrupted when a competitor shrewdly rips off the concept and opens his own cereal shop across the street". ~ Yahoo! Movies. We understand that Robb Berry supplied copies of his cereal magazine Planet-Q! for use in this movie. |
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Breakfast Of The Gods (The Comic)
by Topher
 | Breakfast Of The Gods (The Comic)
Brendan Douglas Jones, a very talented and creative writer and graphic artist has started a second satirical serial comic featuring dozens of your favorite cereal characters, entitled "O Cap'n, My Cap'n".
You can also visit his first dark original cereal serial "The Last Good Morning" in its glorious entirety.
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Sites Collide - Podcast Interview
by Topher
| Tyrel McMahan, the Producer of podcasting site "Sites Collide" out of Warsaw, Poland, interviewed Topher about Topher's Breakfast Cereal Character Guide. |
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Cereal Reviews
by Barbara Ellis
Kellogg's Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest
 This cereal was issued in advance of the third installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie trilogy which hit theaters in the USA in late May 2007. It is a repackaging of the Pirates of the Caribbean cereal which was released last year in advance of the July 2006 sequel "Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest". The cereal is self-described as "naturally sweetened chocolate pearl-shaped cereal with pirate-shaped marshmallows" --- basically cornmeal Cocoa Puffs with marbits in the shape of a dagger, treasure map, ships wheel, and skull. I like the oversized Cocoa Puffs with marshmallows. It's a strange combination on the first bite, but you get used to it pretty quickly. It turned my milk brown. I rate Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest 7 Boxtops (Very Good! Recommend Purchase). |
Kellogg's DreamWorks Shrek
 In late 2006, Kellogg's lost the Disney account, but they picked up the DreamWorks account. Kellogg's DreamWorks Shrek cereal was released in connection with DreamWorks "Shrek the Third" which opened in theaters on May 18, 2007. It's a multigrain (primarily corn flour) cereal with marshmallows in shapes which are difficult to discern. I can identify a crown and a donkey, possibly a sword or dagger, and the other two are Shrek or Fiona, and a footprint or donkey head. The crunchy, sugar-filled, cereal in the shape of ogres teeth are flavorless. They also skimped on the marshmallows. I don't understand why they would make a kids cereal with so few marshmallows (unless they were trying to keep the total sugar content below a certain level). I rate DreamWorks Shrek a lonely 2 Boxtops (Why Bother. Leave It On Your Grocer's Shelf). |
Kellogg's Barbie Fairytopia Cereal
 Barbie's latest cereal is made up of purple and red multigrain hearts with marshmallows in the shape of fairies and butterflies. The hearts are crunchy and have a very heavy berry flavor and smell like blueberry soap. The marshmallows are pleasantly sweet. The milk became berry-flavored and a light pink/purple in color. I am not excitedly looking forward to eating more, but it was good enough to keep eating. I rate Barbie Fairytopia Cereal 5 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse). |
Kellogg's Hot Wheels Cereal
 Ralston first brought Hot Wheels to the cereal aisle in 1990 featuring frosted oat mag wheels with car-shaped marshmallows. The real treat was that each box contained a real Hot Wheels car inside the box. It was awesome! Along with Barbie's Fairytopia (above), Kellogg's reintroduced this cereal based upon a Mattel toy. The box is filled with "sweetened oat cereal O's with car-shaped marshmallow bits". (Think really thin Cheerios with too many marshmallows). The box-back features a set of 6 Hot Wheels card cut-outs. There are at least 2 different series of cards. This is a cereal where you can eat one bowl and not ever have to eat them again. At least Ralston gave you something to play with after you tossed the cereal. Kellogg's Hot Wheels Cereal is worthy of no more than 1 Boxtop (Why Bother. Leave It On Your Grocer's Shelf). |
Cereal Reviews
by Topher, Editor
Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies Choconilla
 Rice Krispies have been snap, crackle, and popping since 1928. Cocoa Krispies have been around since 1958. One of the latest iterations is Cocoa Krispies Choconilla. It is a "chocolatey and vanilla sweetened rice cereal". They taste pretty good together. Not so good separately. The cereal looks like a blend of regular Rice Krispies and Cocoa Krispies, except that the Rice Krispies have a very strong vanilla flavor, sort of like Vienna Fingers cookie frosting. The chocolate is more subdued. I rate Cocoa Krispies Choconilla 6 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse). |
Post Honey Bunches of Oats with Cinnamon Clusters
| Post introduced Honey Bunches of Oats in 1989. It has become a very successful product line for them. I have not been very fond of this wimpy-flaked line, but thought I'd give their new product a try. When you open the box you are greeted with a nice, strong, cinnamon smell. That's as good as it gets. The weak, fairly tasteless flakes do not hold up well in milk. The cinnamon nuggets are very small and don't do enough to help the cereal. Honey Bunches fans who enjoy soggy flakes might enjoy this. I would have rated this cereal a "2", but my teenage son who consumes 3 boxes of cereal a week, polished off the box without comment. I rate Honey Bunches of Oats with Cinnamon Clusters at 4 Boxtops ("We Have A Spill On Aisle 4". You Can Do Better.) |
General Mills Total Honey Clusters
I am a fan of Total, the crispy whole grain wheat flake cereal with tons of added vitamins. Now frost the flakes with sugar and add flavorless clusters and you've got Total Honey Clusters. I found the crunchy flakes that stay crispy in milk to be a little too sweet. They aren't worth eating again. I rate Total Honey Clusters at 2 Boxtops (Why Bother. Leave It On Your Grocer's Shelf.) |
Post Shredded Wheat'n Bran Spoonsize
 Nabisco first brought Shredded Wheat to the public in 1894. Post absorbed Nabisco in 1993, handing Post the Shredded Wheat franchise. This cereal is for the health conscience. It has good texture from the "whole grain wheat and wheat bran" but lacks any real flavor. I rate Post Shredded Wheat'n Bran Spoonsize at 5 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse.) |
Post Honey Nut Shredded Wheat Spoonsize
Good concept cereal. Take Post's Spoonsize Shredded Wheat and bake in some honey and almonds. It's a pretty firm cereal biscuit due to the crunchy honey crust. I would have liked larger almond bits. Overall, it's pretty good. I rate Honey Nut Shredded Wheat Spoonsize 6 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse.) |
Post Selects Apple Cinnamon Harvest Cereal - Organic
Post boasts that they select "only the finest, high quality ingredients for each of our delicious multigrain cereal combinations". This cereal had a nice roster of ingredients: organic rolled oats, organic cane sugar, organic red wheat bran, organic yellow corn flour, organic corn bran meal, organic white rice flour, organic apples... you get the idea. The big, very crisp flakes taste of cinnamon and infused apple juice. Once chewed they gain a gritty, sawdust texture. (Be sure to use milk. They are not a taste-treat right out of the box). It takes a little getting used to but then the cereal is fairly pleasurable. However, unlike Kellogg's dried strawberries, Post's dried apples do little to perk up the cereal. I rate Post Selects Organic Apple Cinnamon Harvest Cereal 6 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse.) |
Kellogg's Toasted Honey Crunch
This is the flagship of Kellogg's "Crunch" line of cereals. It was introduced in 2005. Kellogg's advertises this cereal as "naturally and artificially flavored toasty, crisp flakes and irresistibly crunchy oat and granola clusters splashed with honey". My truth-in-advertising line might go like this: "Crispy flakes with sweet, but not overpowering, flavors of honey and coconut float while the small less-than-tasty clusters sink to the bottom of your bowl". This cereal could be improved with larger, more abundant, and more flavorful clusters. Nonetheless, Toasted Honey Crunch still rates 6 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse.) |
Quaker Oats Life Chocolate Oat Crunch
 Life Chocolate Oat Crunch is basically Life cereal with chocolate oat clusters. I generally like Life's sweetened little compact shredded oat squares. The chocolate oat clusters make for some variety of flavor but do not improve the overall cereal. A real dark chocolate flavor would have been better. I rate Life Chocolate Oat Crunch 5 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse). |
General Mills Total with Strawberries
| General Mills is looking to extend the Total cereal lineup. I haven't found one yet that is better than the original. Total with Strawberries is no exception. These "lightly sweetened whole grain wheat flakes with real sliced strawberries" sounds better than it actual is, but it's not a Total loss. I found them unnecessarily sweet. The sugared flakes square-off against strong strawberry flavors. It's kind of a battle of two opposing flavors. Total with Strawberries is rated 5 Boxtops (Middle Of The Road. You Could Do Worse.) |
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What's New In Cereal?
by Topher
 | Jean LaFoote Has Returned!
Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries features Jean LaFoote on the front of the box in a special "limited edition" cereal with pirate-shaped crunch berries. The barefoot pirate has been gone for almost 20 years. It's great to see our favorite old sea pirate back (just in time to indirectly capitalize on "Pirates of the Caribbean 3"). There wass an essay contest for youngsters 8 to 13 years of age which allowed kids to tell the "Legend of LaFoote". Contest ended July 14, 2007.
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 | Original Ball-shaped Trix Are Back
General Mills has heard you load and clear. Just look for the boxes touting the "New Shape". Great looking box by the way.
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 | General Mills Spiderman 3 Cereal
This lightly sweetened fruity red and green-colored corn puff cereal was released in connection with the Sony motion picture of the same name. Cool box.
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Kellogg's Teams Up With Mattel
In early 2007, Kellogg's inked a deal with Mattel to produce cereals based upon Mattel toys. Hot Wheels and Barbie Fairytopia (both reviewed above) were the first cereals released.
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 | General Mills "Cheerios" To Go
General Mills has a pour-able, shake-able, refillable container that is designed to fit in your purse, stroller or diaper bag. It's packaged in a handy Wipes container.
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Kellogg's Closes Cereal City USA
We were very sad to see Cereal City USA close its doors on January 4, 2007. The Kalamazoo, Michigan, attraction featured Kellogg's boxes, characters, history and great cereal manufacturing information.
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 | Post Bamm-Bamm Berry Pebbles
Post released a new Pebbles cereal featuring Bamm-Bamm, with the flavor of mixed berries.
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Kellogg's Discontinues Fruit Harvest Cereals
Kellogg's discontinued most of it's popular line of Fruit Harvests cereals in early 2007. With one exception, the lowly-rated Fruit Harvest with Blueberries and Strawberries, these different dried-fruit cereals were consistently among the top rated cereals here at The Boxtop. (Guess what? They only kept Fruit Harvest with Blueberries and Strawberries). We have received numerous inquiries as to the whereabouts of the better flavors. Unfortunately, and sadly, they have been discontinued. Fruit Harvest has a number of loyal fans who would love to see this cereal return.
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A Couple of Cereal Blogs
If you can't get enough cereal news and happenings, check out these two cereal blogs. The Breakfast Bowl: "This blog is about our favorite breakfast food, and the important role that it plays in our culture. Special attention will be given to cereal news, and to the marketing of cereals through memorable characters, creative boxes, and attractive promotions"; and Cereal Buzz: "Your #1 source for cereal news and reviews".
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Send Us Your News
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If you notice anything new in your supermarket cereal isle, or wish to report a new cereal development, please email us. We'll give you credit for your information, or keep it confidential, at your request. Thank you. |
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Edited 2017
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Disclaimers and Other Legal Stuff
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The Boxtop is a non-commercial publication. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any cereal or company. All of the names, characters, brands, and icons included here are trademarks of their respective parent companies and cannot be used for commercial purposes. Enjoy breakfast and support your favorite characters! |
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Opinions expressed are those of the writer, which like most things having to do with cereal may not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editor, anyone else on the staff, or the world at large. A good sense of humor is appreciated. |
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Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the Editor.
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All information contained herein was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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