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Topher's Breakfast Cereal Character Guide

General Mills Cereals

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To permit faster loading, our General Mills Cereal guide is divided into multiple pages.
You will find a link to the second page at the bottom of this page. Thank you, and enjoy!

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Note: On January 31, 1997 General Mills purchased the branded ready-to-eat cereal business from Ralston. This included the core Chex and Cookie Crisp brands, along with trademark and technology rights for these branded products. You will find information about those cereals and characters in the Ralston pages.

General Mills has a marketing agreement with Nestle. You'll find these cereals and characters (like the NesQuik Rabbit) in the Nestle & Nabisco page.

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Trix

The Trix Rabbit

General Mills Trix		Old Trix
Trix was originally launched in 1954, becoming the first fruit-flavored cereal on the market.

First appearing on cereal boxes in 1960, this large white rabbit originally raced around trying to get some raspberry red, lemon yellow, and orange orange Trix corn-puffed cereal to eat. "Trix. The corn cereal with the natural taste of fruit". Trix Rabbit was originally voiced by Delo States.

Two kids, a boy and a girl, always catch him before he can eat the Trix. "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids". (To date, the Trix Rabbit has only tasted Trix five times: 1968, 1976, 1980, 1987 and 1991).

The Trix Rabbit and the slogan "Trix are for kids" were created by Joe Harris in August 1959. Here are Joe's own words: "I created the Trix Rabbit in its entirety, including copy, character and storyboard, in August of 1959 one Sunday night. It was done at the request of the copy supervisor for General Mills at our ad agency, Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, who said, 'They're looking for an identity for this brand. Why don't you see what you can come up with over the weekend?'"

"The first storyboard is dated August 4, 1959. It was presented to the Mills and approved for production within the month. I went ahead to supervise its animation at the production house of Gifford Kim. Because in those days there was little crossover between writers, storyboarders and production people, it posed a dilemma. Back then, artists weren't supposed to write, writers weren't supposed to draw and producers were only called in only at the end of the creative process."

"As a result of the success of the commercial, the little-known Trix brand suddenly leaped into the national consciousness and became one of General Mills' best sellers. My line, 'Trix are for kids' became a countrywide mantra. It still is, 43 years later. I believe it may be that Trix is one of the oldest, if not the oldest commercial in existence to have sustained itself with the same character, the same selling line and the same plot since I created it."

Tony Jaffe is also credited with writing "Trix are for Kids" spots for a number of years.

From late 1991 - 2006, puffed fruit-shaped pieces replaced the round ball cereal pieces: red raspberry clusters, yellow lemon wedges, purple grape clusters and orange balls. The orignial Trix cereal balls returned in 2006 and ran until 2018 when the fruit-shaoed pieces reappeared.

In addition, 4 new flavors were added sometime in the early 1900's: grapity purple, lime green, wildberry blue, and watermelon. In 1995, the colors became brighter.

In mid 2003, the Trix Rabbit was removed from boxes of Trix during a "Solve The Great Trix Train Robbery" promotion. In his place appeared one of five suspects: Willy Gettum, Bunny O'Hare, F. Rudy Flavors, "Wild" Barry Blue, and Sally Rabbit ("Trix are for kids").

In Summer 2004, the Rabbit steals the kids' Trix and hides it somewhere in the jungle, but just as the he's about to tell them where he hid it, he gets hit on the head with a falling coconut! His response is totally jumbled up and comes out "kannufrutestoneahhappeyleef". Unjumble it and you'll know where the Trix is.		 Jungle Rabbit

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Dr. Hypnosis

Dr. Hypnosis

General Mills Trix
Dr. Hypnosis appeared in TV ads. We believe his job was to help the Trix Rabbit overcome his strong desire for Trix cereal.

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Stick Figure Boy

Stick Figure Boy

General Mills Trix
The Stick Figure Boy character predated the popular Trix Rabbit.

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Trix Kids

Trix Boys

General Mills Trix
The Trix Boys (1960) appeared the same year as the Trix Rabbit. One boy is juggling Trix cereal while riding a unicycle. The other boy appears to be catching Trix in a large bowl. They are doing tricks. (Get it?)

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Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse

General Mills Trix
Mickey Mouse promoted Disneyland's Adventureland on early boxes of Trix "The Sugar Cereal with the Fruit Flavor".

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Lucky Charms

L.C. Leprechaun

General Mills Lucky Charms
General Mills Winter Lucky Charms (2001)
General Mills Chocolate Lucky Charms (2005)
General Mills Double Shooting Stars Chocolate Lucky Charms (2005)
General Mills Great Green Clover Marshmallow Lucky Charms (2005)
General Mills Hidden Key Marshmallow Lucky Charms (2005)
General Mills Berry Lucky Charms (2006)

Lucky was born in 1964. Lucky's full name is L.C. Leprechaun, and he touts his cereal as being "Magically Delicious." Lucky the Leprechaun magically changes ordinary, shapeless white marshmallows into shapes with bright colors. Originally he put the pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers into Lucky Charms cereal. Tony Jaffe was Creative Director for Lucky Charms, written by Pat McInroy, in the mid-to-late 1960's. Dancer Fitzgerald Sample (now Saatchi and Saatchi) handled the account.

Lucky Charms was the first cereal to include marbits (freeze-dried marshmallows), which were invented in 1963 by General Mills Vice President, John Holahan. The key was to create a marshmallow that didn't release moisture into the dry cereal - clumping it all up. Marbits are a mixture of sugar, corn syrup, and gelitin, which are whipped until foamy. Coloring is added before the mixture is extruded like pasta through intricate molds, cut into small pieces, and finally freeze-dried. General Mills eventually created a large number of different shapes, colors, and even multi-colored marbits.

In 1975 Lucky added blue diamonds. Purple horseshoes arrived in 1984. Red balloons were added in 1989. In 1991 the star-in-balloon replaced both the red balloon and the orange star. A blue, yellow and pink rainbow was added in 1992. The yellow and orange Pot of Gold replaced the yellow moon in 1994. New brighter colors were introduced in 1995 along with the return of the moon, only now it is blue! And the star was changed from a 6-point to 5-point shape. A dark green clover in a light green hat replaced the green clover in 1996.

The primary marshmallow shapes, as of January 1999, became: red balloons, blue moons, pink hearts, multi-colored rainbows, yellow and white shooting stars, Lucky's green hat with a green clover, orange and yellow pot of gold, and purple horseshoes.

Winter Lucky Charms featured holiday marshmallow shapes: present, stocking, candy cane, wreath, ornament, snowman, and pine tree.

In 2008, for the first time in more than 10 years, Lucky the Leprechaun added a new permanent charm --- a magical hourglass --- giving Lucky the power to control time. It replaced the pot of gold.

The primary marshmallow shapes, as of June 2008, became: yellow and orange hourglass (power to control time), pink hearts (power to bring things to life), yellow and white shooting stars (power to fly), purple horseshoes (power to speed things up), green clovers (luck, but you never know what kind of luck you'll get), blue moons (power of invisibility), multi-colored rainbows (instantaneous travel from place to place) and red balloons (power to make things float).

As the story goes, a predatory whale swirled the colors on the marshmallows in 1986, and was subsequently "punished" by being turned into a rainbow-colored whale marshmallow for a limited time. Green pine trees were featured as an Earth Day promotion, and an annual Christmas version of Lucky Charms includes festive holiday marshmallows. Olympic "Marbits" (1996) and "Twisted" (1997) two-color shapes: Pot of Gold, Moon, Balloon, Horseshoe, and Heart have been boxed.

In early 1999, General Mills celebrated an "Around the World Event" with globally famous marshmallow shapes. These are: green and yellow torch, gold pyramid, blue Eiffel Tower, orange Golden Gate Bridge, purple Liberty Bell, pink and white Leaning Tower of Pisa, red and white Big Ben clock, and green and white Alps.

Later in 1999, they went back to their previous shapes except they modified the blue moons by giving them a yellow mouth and called them "Man in the Moon". This promotion featured Lucky wearing a green space suit with a bubble helmet.

Come 2003, the primary marshmallow shapes were: pink hearts, orange stars, green clovers-in-hats, blue moons, purple horseshoes, red balloons, orange and yellow pots of gold, and 3-color rainbows. Bigger marshmallows followed.

Lucky Charms was the first cereal to include marshmallow pieces (technically called "marbits"). Marbits were invented by John Holahan in 1963.

Lucky is voiced by Arthur Anderson, and he has been the only voice since the very beginning.

Quentin Tarantino's 2003 movie "Kill Bill Vol. 2" included a scene near the end of the movie in which Lucky Charms could be seen.

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Waldo the Wizard

Waldo the Wizard

General Mills Lucky Charms
General Mills attempted to replace L. C. Leprechaun in the mid-1970's. Waldo the Wizard, a man in a green wizard's cap and gown (and black sneakers on his feet), appeared on boxes in 1975. "Ibbledebibble delicicious". Waldo was created by Alan Snedeker, and designed by Phil Mendez. It was a test to find a replacement for the leprechaun. Officially, Waldo proved to be less popular than "Lucky" and magically disappeared from boxes one year later.

An inside source tells us "In fact, Waldo the Wizard actually scored far better than Lucky the Leprechaun in focus group tests. The entire project started because kids (and therefore the client) got tired of Lucky. Despite Waldo’s success, which I was told was considerable; the client got cold feet."

"Not only did Waldo beat Lucky in focus groups," confirms another source, "it was test marketed in New England with great success".

"They [General Mills] worried about losing the "equity" they had in Lucky, though at the time it couldn’t have been much if they initiated a new character search, produced and aired commercials, rather than just running storyboards past focus groups as a disaster check."

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The Monster Cereals

General Mills Cereals Named For Each Character
(Collectively known as "The Monster Cereals")
Although General Mills will only credit Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Boo Berry, and Fruit Brute as being part of the "Monster Cereal" collection, while Yummy Mummy is included by fans of these cereals. We frankly do not know why General Mills does not consider all five as members of their "Monster Collection" but it could be because Yummy Mummy appeared in the decade following the introduction of the first four.

In the late 1980's Count Chocula, Frankenberry, and Boo Berry were transformed into "less scary" creatures while Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy were discontinued altogether.

Tony Jaffe was Creative Director for early commercials featuring Count Chocula and Frankenberry. Laura Levine wrote the spots. Both worked at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample (now Saatchi and Saatchi).
chocula"I vant to eat your cereal!" Count Chocula (1971) is a vampire.New Count Chocula

Count Chocula

New Count Chocula

Lagosi BoxIt was rumored that Count Chocula once wore a six-pointed medallion (the Maltese Cross, from the Order of the Thelemic Knights or the Order of St. John). This is not true. In 1987, a box of Count Chocula was produced which included an image of Bela Lagosi as Dracula on the box. As you can see, it was Dracula that was wearing the six-pointed medallion on his chest. A box of Count Chocula can be seen in the 2004 movie "Blade: Trinity". Count Chocula is currently voiced by Larry Kenny.
booberrybooberryNew Booberry
1973 Boo Berry1986 Boo Berry1998 Boo Berry
Boo Berry (born in 1973) is a blue ghost. You can find out more about Boo Berry at The Official Boo Berry Page
frankenberryFrankenberry (1971 - present) is a non-threatening Frankenstein monster. You can find out more about Frankenberry at The Frankenberry Homepage.
I also encourage you to check out this great 34-second computer animated redux of a classic Frankenberry cereal commercial.		New Frankenberry

Frankenberry

New Frankenberry

fruit brute

Fruit Brute

Fruit Brute (1974/1975-1983) is a werewolf. He was discontinued in 1982. A Fruit Brute box shows up occasionally in Quentin Tarantino movies. It appeared in Pulp Fiction (a scene in which Vincent calls Lance on his cell phone, Lance is eating a bowl of Fruit Brute), and Reservoir Dogs (in Mr. Orange's apartment).
yummy mummy

Yummy Mummy

Yummy Mummy is a mummy and was available from 1987-1992.
He was also available as "Fruity Yummy Mummy" from 1988 to 1990. Fruity Yummy Mummy was self-described as an "artificial fruit flavor frosted cereal with vanilla flavor marshmallows". Technically, Yummy Mummy was not classified as a "Monster Cereal" by General Mills.

Casper, the Friendly Ghost

While not a monster cereal, Casper (from the 1995 movie and 1998 video) appeared on boxes of Frankenberry and Count Chocula in October 1998. (He was also a marshmallow shape, along with Wendy the Witch, in the cereal).		New Casper

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General Mills's Cereals Continued on Page 2


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Tophers Breakfast Cereal Character Guide: Boxtops Navigational Map General Mills Kellogg's Post Quaker Oats Ralston Nestle and Nabisco Other Cereals Fictional Cereals Unclassified Cereals Side Orders Cereal Publications Create Your Own Cereal Name Cereal Index Vote for your Favorite Character Manufacturer's Contact Info Cereal Links

[ General Mills | Kellogg's | Post | Quaker Oats | Ralston | Nestle and Nabisco ]
[ Other Cereals | Fictional Cereals | Unclassified | Side Orders | Publications ]
[ Cereal Creator | Cereal Index | Vote! | Contact Information | Links ]


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© 1997 Topher
Reloaded 2015 / Updated 2020

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Disclaimer: This is a non-commercial site with the sole purpose of assisting visitors in locating information on their favorite breakfast cereal characters. All of the names, characters, brands, and icons listed here are trademarks of General Mills or their respective parent companies and cannot be used for commercial purposes. Enjoy General Mills cereals and support your favorite characters!

Most of the non-icon images on this site have been painstakingly removed from cereal boxes or original advertising cels and enhanced for your enjoyment. You are welcome to link to this page, but please do not link to any individual images or borrow any images for use on another website. Thank you.

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