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07/27/2004: The Froot Loops ALIEN FRUIT MONSTER Fiasco, Part I.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the “Alien Fruit Monsters” who so viciously attacked Toucan Sam before fizzling into the abyss of Forgotten Cereal Guest Stars. I honestly can’t remember how the campaign started or what it was exactly about, but here’s the basics: Toucan Sam and his three nephews (think Hewey Dewey & Louie) are attacked by “Alien Fruit Monsters,” a bunch of grassy green extraterrestrials with deep, comical voices and a penchant for the nostrilicious yum of Kellogg’s Froot Loops.

I’ve seen a lot of Froot Loops commercials, and I do mean a lot. The “Alien Fruit Monster” campaign was much different from anything previously tried, with episodic ad spots that continued on for months and a whole lot of freebies and special gimmicks thrown towards kids who’d been thinking about switching to Trix.

Near the end of the campaign, Kellogg’s did the unthinkable. Released in a box three times the normal size, Froot Loops had been graced with…marshmallows. For a limited time only! The first marshy was a pale blue and completely pathetic Toucan Sam that nobody cared about, but the second? Oh my, oh the second. The second marshmallow represented the Alien Fruit Monster - a lime green dribble with ghastly pink eyes and a vague attempt at illustrating tentacles.

I bought the box months ago - many months, actually - intended for use in an article that never came to be. Regardless, I marveled at how such a simple change and goofy campaign could make me think the world of Froot Loops. I was obsessed with a little green monster some guy probably spent three minutes thinking up after a bong hit. The Alien Fruit Monster marshmallows rapidly approached Lucky Charms Swirly Whales in terms of breakfast candies I’d sleep with. And, remembering how much I miss those Swirly Whale marshmallows, I wasn’t about to go through the torment again.

There they be. Alien Fruit Monster marshmallows, plucked from a stale and completely obsolete limited edition box of Froot Loops, gently tucked into some plastic beaker thingy we found under the fridge. I’m sure they’ll disintegrate in due time, or team up into one solid mass of lime green marshmallow gunk. At least I’m making an attempt to conserve the second greatest cereal marshmallow ever. Few of you could say the same. Callous pigs.

Unbelievably, I’m not even half done with this story. There’s a point to all of this, but you’ll have to click “more” to get the scoop.

The other night I found a different box of Froot Loops — not a special edition, sans marshmallows, but with the special offer shown above: a chance to obtain cute little PVC figures of Sam’s three nephews and the end-all, be-all…an honest goodness woodness Alien Fruit Monster. Ah yes, for just 3.99 and one proof of purchase, the treasures will be mine.

You know the drill…six to eight weeks. I’ll let you know when it arrives. Oh will I ever.

For a while during the beginning of the campaign, they also had a Toucan Sam bendin buddy FREE in the Froot Loops box.

I totally remember the alien fruit monsters, but I haven’t seen the birdie nephews on tv in forever, and I thought they’d discontinued those marshmallows already! (Ooops, they have!) I also thought it sounded like a pretty gross oversugared combination, but I’m perfectly willing to eat those words. Provided they are composed of obsolute lime green marshmallow gunk.

I think now would be a good time to mention that I miss the days in which they would include a coupon for a free (yes, you heard me correctly, FREE) pack of Skittles in specially marked boxes of Cheerios.

On a further note, they were probably included in many other specially marked boxes of General Mills cereals.

Jonas-I’ve often wondered what would happen if Link, Zelda, Mario, Luigi, and Princess Toadstool all moved in together. I have a theory, but it doesn’t involve fighting…chicka bwah bwah, chicka bwah bwah.

I always wanted to try the crazy ass alien marsmellow Froot Loops, but the grocery store I worked at neve, EVER sold them. I clearly remember seeing the same five boxes sitting on the shelves for months at a time, so I was always afriad they would just taste like crap. Besides, the mix of marshmellows and Froot Loops doesnt exactly seem right, kinda like mixing peanut butter and ham.

Those commercials were rather annoying.. and those marshmallow’s look rather discusting, I s’pose Toucan needed competition or something though.

well, I am despairing ever finding half the things that are reveiwed or otherwise mentioned by our illustrious narrator.
Of the new things oddities in the food genre, I have found absolutely one of them in my area. Halloween tinned orriginal pringles chips. Oh, it was glorious, don’t mistake me (though am I the only one that thinks it was a crime against nature to miss the chance at having neon orange CHEESE flavoured pringles as apposed to my hated nemesis, origional [read: boring]?) Here I was happily checking and waiting for halloweeny Kool-aid and other such things which never appeared.
Evidentally the Shreckness is so big I have no chance to not see his leering face everywhere and certainly have, but though I saw the commercials with the fuit alien, I only ever saw the first and never any other "episode" and will likely never see the box with the alien toy offer.
I will look, and c’mone! my home town isn’t like New York or Jersey but are we really so small? Never mind, you can’t answer that.
But I can hope that all will be well, at least by the time Halloween rolls up…

Swirly whales were awesome. Give me some swirly whales and some ecto cooler and i’ll be a happy man.

1) How limitited is a limited time offer? By which I mean will Matt even get his alien and creepy triplets?

2) Is Sam his last name? I mean the kida call him Uncle Toucan, but I’d think it ws more of a description or a nickname

3) Why didn’t my mom ever let me eat cereal with "candy" in it when I was a child?

5)Why do some cartoon cereal mascots get to eat the cereal while others don’t?

Jesus Christ, just look at that bowl of Froot Loops. Could they be any . . . fruitier? It’s like a friggin’ Mardi Gras for feathered comical mammals and giant grassy aliens with a thirst for coloured corn.

Fruit Loops did the same thing a while ago, except it was like colorblind peacock who was stealing the obviously bright, cheerful cereal.

Toucan Sam saved the day by feeding the peacock Fruit Loops. I guess in Toucan Sam’s world Fuit Loops is like crack. The first bit is free, the rest must be paid for.

I tried these Marshmallow Froot Loops, and something in either the marshmallows or the Froot Loops renders the marshmallows incredibly tough, almost "stale." They don’t taste like they ought to; they don’t even approach the obvious gold standard for cereal marshmallows, Lucky Charms’s pieces of heaven (that stuff you eat that’s packed with rabbit food for protection).

Maybe I just got a bad box, though. Or maybe those aliens "tampered" with it before I got it home…

To quote Eddie Murphy as Gumby: "Coo-coo for Coco Puffs? No. Retarded!" At least Toucan Sam is still around. I miss Cookie Jarvis, the Cookie Crisp wizard.

X-E cereal, with NEW! troll-flavored marshmallows. The only cereal that makes its own pudding!

Nate: I smell a g4/techtv reality series in the making! Hurry before they steal your idea!

Matt: are you going to put a countdown for the cereal toy on the main page, or on every blog post? That would be cool…Reminds me of that Calvin and Hobbes series where Calvin was waiting for his motorized propellor Beanie.

Man, I feel so left out. This is the first I have heard of these alien invaders.
I was still waiting for the Soggies to end over 15 years of peace with Captain Crunch.

True, the alien’s cool, but my favorite Froot Loops moment was when Toucan Sam traveled into that weird cave/ancient temple/underwater ocean thing. Each step in his adventure was a different commercial and a different change in the cereal. They would put shark-shaped cereal bits when Sam got chased by sharks, for example.

Finally, something that not about trolls, I believe when the "Alien Fruit Monsters" campagien began, Tocan Sam nephews ask children if they wanted to give Fruit Loops to the "Alien Fruit Monsters," or not. What do you know, the children voted to give the monster the Fruit Loops. How stupid children are today, the monster is now more addicted to fruity favor of Fruit Loops than he was before, breaking in to Tocan Sam house to get (steal) more fruit loops.

If I was Tocan Sam in the lastest commerical, I would not ramble like an idiot over the lost of one box of Fruit Loops and "Follow My Nose" to a new box of Fruity, Declious Friut Loops or at least go to a supermarket.

(Boy, writing about Tocan Sam made be remenber one of Kellogg’s least use mascot: Cocca, the Cocca Crisp Monkey. The Jingle in that Commerical was catching: "Hello my name is Cocca, and I live in the Tree. Everybody wants Cocca Crispbe.")

Yes! I’ve always wanted 3 identical tucans and a green…thing from a ceral box and only $3.99! Thanks for living my dream for me!

Yes, Beta-Theta, you beat me to it. Sam goes BATSHIT INSANE in that ad when the monster takes the box- I wish I had a screencap of it. He looks like civilization is crumbling before him or his scrotum is in a vise or something.

What pisses me off is that the last ad for this campaign ended on a cliffhanger, telling everyone to go to ToucanSam.com for the conclusion. But I’m too lazy.

Oppp! I miss spelled Cocoa, the Monkey; however, for those who don’t know what Cocoa look like here some picture, live-action and animated form.

My favorite cereal UPC giveaway were those "DarkWing Duck" mini figurines. I can’t remember what cereal they were tied in with (Frosted Flakes, maybe?), but I do remember ordering a fuckload of those little, non-poseable pieces of cheap rubber. Oh, do I ever…

FYI, the Darkwing Duck figures came in a pack of four and included:
Darking Duck
Goselin(sp?)
Megavolt
Lauch Pad

i just had my first box of the divine loops this past weekend, and i can’t believe i’ve neglected these for so long. one thing, though, i remember the remaining milk being much more colorful. did they change the recipe over the years so the dyes didnt bleed so much?

King you are a friggen genius ! I would but XE cereal by the truckload! Subject for discussion : What premiums would be in the box? A photog bowl caddy? A bulbasor squeaky toy? Maybe a green bamboo peanut sticker set.

X-E cereal should be all marshmallows, all the time. Slimer should promote it. Matt could get rid of his 1,500 Mare Winnengham figurines by wrapping them in saran wrap and putting one in each box. Or maybe each box could contain one puzzle piece, which, when put together w/ the other 24, makes an airial photograph of Matt’s office, as seen from the light fixture in the ceiling.

Anyway, I think you should put a pile of those green marchies in the microwave and nuke them for five minutes or so. I want to see what an advanced state of decomposition in marshmallow land looks like.

"Try new XE cereal with swirly Baleen whales, blue Photogs, green bamboo peanuts and pink Krangs. Loaded with 19 essential types of sugars." I think the spokesman should be Evil Matt.

My little brother just got the "Bendin’ Buddys" in the mail. The Alien Fruit Monster is on my computer moniter right now.

I would never shout at you for infrequent updates Matt, neither would I call you a "mean dickhead"……those aliens remind me of the commander keen ones….sniff….I loved those little guys…

The bad thing about Commander Keen was how quickly you ran out of ammo, but I loved how guys looked when you shot them. REMEMBER THE POGO STICK?

GOBBELDY GOSH!!! Gotta love toucan sam. I have been following my nose for years and it has gotten me out of many a sticky situations. How inspiring is it to know a cartoon toucan could impact someone’s life so much…
As for that green monster dude he’s a friggin douchebag. I hate when perfectly good cereals start adding f’n marshmallows. Thats probably what drove me to start eating healthier cereals although I don’t understand why Marshmallow Krispies didn’t last because they were awesome. They attempted to bring marshmallows in Rice Krispies but it was those godawful Fruity Marshmallow Krispies which tasted like ass. I believe Marshallow Krispies existed along with Frosted Rice Krispies. If we could only go back to the mid-eighties…..

"Swedish Chef Cereal" ruled. And it stayed on the market longer than you’d think a cereal based on an obscure Muppet character who spoke no English did.

Ahhhhhhhh yes, you are talking about Croonchy Stars. That cereal was the shit but then again most cereals with cinnamon are really good. One cereal that freaked me out was King Vitamin. The king on the front of the boz looked like he wanted to molest me. scary stuff……

word, i only saw the episode where the monster took away the froot loops, so i didnt know wtf was going on, thanks for clearing up the story matt

Matt, while I generally shy away from the blog here, I’ve been reading X-E since early ‘01, and my primary thought is: I want to have sex with you very, very badly. And while I understand, tragically, your probable revulsion at the end of steamy passion with a skinny gutterpunk, you cannot stop me from boffing you in my mind. That is all.

Why, why can’t they just stop putting marshmallows in Fruit Loops. Like The Dude said, it’s like peanut butter and ham, EXACTLY like peanut butter and ham.

Matt, please please please change the main picture on the front page to anything else!! That troll’s eyes are freaking me out.

Fruitloops are cool, but the fruit milk at the end is pretty vile. My rents wouldn’t let us waste milk so if we had candy cereal we had to make another bowl or drink it straight up. Nerds cereal milk was the worst. Guh!

Not only do I remember a planet without blue Froot Loops, but also without blue M&Ms.

"Send in three proofs-of-purchase and 3.95 shipping and handling, and get this great MARE-A-PULT in time for Advent. Only from X-E cereal, a Bang-Droppin’ part of this spooky breakfast."

I actually prefer cereal without marshmellows cause I’m non conformist like that heh. But i had to buy these to get the wrist activated spidey signal.

Speaking of the Trix Rabbit, have anyone notice the lastest Trix commerical with the Trix Rabbit, as usually, stealing the children’s Trix cereal and yogart, and eventually catching the rabbit in his evil scheme. But, right when the rabbit was going to mention the location of the cereal/yogart, he got bump on the head and speaking in tongues to the location of Trix cereal/yogart.

General Mills must be sick and tired of the Tocan Sam of getting all the attention with the children that they hatch this scheme.

For those who want to help the darn children back from the Trix Rabbit, here a link: http://www.sillyrabbit.com/

(Yes, the page has a monkey, which is odd for last three days, I been posting links to pages that was monkey related. Werid)

Let’s face it, who wouldn’t have sex with T. Sam. The Trix rabbit can film it. He’s a dirty rabbit.

I can’t stand those Trolls and those kids singing, they really fu….oh wait a minute. This is the wrong comments page. Sorry

Information request: don’t ask why, but does anyone know the basic quotes spoken in Dance Dance Revolution? Like all the motivational/directorial shit those dancing fool players get thrown at ‘em?

if anyone feels like putting together a list and e-mailing it to me, that’d be neato. (matt@x-entertainment.com)

How odd, my favorite snack is a ham sandwich with peanut butter. Truly. And I’m not even pregnant or anything! I’ve just been eating it for ages.

Mind you, I also prefer the Special K with strawberries. I have a craving for Fruit Loops once in a while, or Corn Pops. No milk, straight out of the box.

When I was in single digits, Little Brother was very Lactose Intolerant, so we (me and he) used to eat cereal with soy milk, usually something like ProSoBee or Enfamil. Remarkably, that stuff tasted great on Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles. Go figure.

Dance Dance Revolution, sorry Matt, I don’t the quotes spoken in the game. Why did you ask anyway? I’m just curious, if lyrics from the songs happen to be the next article.

Alittle off subject but i found some new TMNT figures at Target the other day. I bought Multi arm Shredder,Triceraton Warrior and Fugitoid. Matt, you should get the new Fugitoid a do a review on it.The Fugitoid kicks major ass, but the original is still the best.

Matt, I e-mailed you all the quotes from ddr, if you need anything more on the subject (I play the game ;x) lmk

Damn the toucan! That Sam is so annoying - follow my nose, what is he, a coke addict?! Anywho, what I do remember about kids’ cereal - when I was very young, I remember a contest where kids could chose if the Trix rabbit could win his cereal. I actually remember him getting the votes and being able to finally taste the shiznit!

~I got an idea, an idea so smart my head would explode if I even began to know what I was talking about.

XE-cereal would of course, be shaped like X’s and E’s. The marshmellows would be little 1-up mushrooms and tri-forces and stuff. I’d buy it.

I’d have to say my favorite marshmallowy cereal was the pac-man(or was it Super Pac-Man) cereal.

Check out all of the subtext in this -
Notice the hidden attack on single parent families in the first panel. They even put an exclamation mark when they mention Skip lives with his mom. And isn’t Skip looking a little old to be living with mom?

The funniest thing is that it says Peter was too frightened to leave — which means he stayed… Eeeep! Spiderman caught it!

Me too, I actually posted an idea for X-E cereal a while back and that is a odd comic.

My boyfriend and I snagged a box with the bendie offer at a Superfresh tonight, only to find Cinnamon Toast Crunch for $2.50 a box–BUNDLED WITH A FREE SUPER MARIO BROTHERS/HEATHCLIFF CARTOON DVD! I’m going to be eating nothing but cereal for awhile!

On the topic of favorite cereals…Does anyone remember ‘Hidden Treasures’? I remember it was little squares filled with either orange, strawberry, or nothing at all. It was always a mystery which flavor paste was inside each square. But now that I think about it…I can’t even classify it as a paste. It wasn’t a marshmallow, thats for sure. It wasn’t like the inside of an oreo, I can’t even define it. If anyone remembers what the stuff was like, I’d like a memory jog.

When the alien takes the fruit loops the nehphews say "where did go?!? what will we do!??! And im like go to the fucking store and buy an other box! Gezz

The old school Super Mario Bros/ Legend of Zelda cereal was the shit! It was a box, split in 2 with BOTH types of cereal in the SAME BOX! Each side of the box showed a different pic- one with Link, one with Mario. Talk about awesome. I only got to eat it when I visited my cousins, who live in another province since my hometown NEVER had it….we never had Cookie Crisp either….or Frankenberry…..we had Pac Man though! :) Mmmmmboy!

am i the only kid who absolutely couldn’t stand the taste of those marshmallows? i had a sad childhood.

i got the bendies but warning!bend them to much they split so dont bended the alien fruit monster to much

I must say, as a small child I LIVED on Cookie Crisp. My Mother absolutely hated the stuff, but let me eat it anyway. SHe is just nice like that.

I’ve spent a whole day in the sun swimming in a river, so I think I’ll give this a go.
Doesn’t the fruit loops monster look like a sea monster?

I’m becoming increasingly afraid that the Alien Fruit Monster is going to stay in Froot Loops lore forever now. By the way, my brother and I agree that Toucan Sam’s "Not the FROOT LOOPS!!!" has to be the most terror-stricken, horrendous shriek we’ve ever heard in a commercial. Heck, it even rivals half the stuff in the most hardcore slasher films!

I actually did editing work with that whole series of Froot Loops commercials. Did Frosted Flakes and Apple Jacks as well.

Some trivia: Both Toucan Sam and Tony the Tiger have paintings of themselves as Rembrandt hanging in their homes.

bondo, thanks for posting. Maybe you could contact Matt with some more information about future work that might be of X-E interest.

i don’t know how you overlooked it, but the Froot Loops for the movie tie-in for "the Cat in the Hat" had marshmellows, and they still sell the shit at the ghetto mart at the end of my particular block.

imagine a goth cereal…it turns your milk black…can have a special promo from Soft Cell and Depeche Mode….little blue tear drops and red lipstick marshmallows…comes with a free box of eyeliner,lipstick and eyeshadow…mascot is Crimson The Gothic Cloud….OH YEAH..what ever happend to the crazy peacock(?)that stole all of the color??

Slightly back on topic…here’s the complete list of the "Alien Froot Monster" saga for Froot Loops:

1) AFM arrives on earth. Sam goes to investigate, AFM abducts him…announcer says kids should vote on website if AFM should get Froot Loops.

2) AFM gets the Froot Loops, Sam gets away, the Toucan Sam Bendie offer is mentioned. AFM wants more Froot Loops.

3) Sam and kids get into their house. AFM uses a tentacle to steal a box of Froot Loops, causing Sam to scream in horror. Announcer says check the website.

4) Sam confronts the AFM, AFM changes color, starts sprouting weird Froot Loops on his arms. Hence the birth of their new offer, Alien Berry Froot Loops. AFM, now good, says he’s going to share the Froot Loops he’s sprouting with the world.

So, looks like the AFM saga is over now. At least it seemed to have a better ending than the "Jack Shapes in Apple Jacks" saga.

Toys that you have to mail out for are always cooler but not as convenient as the toys in the box, theres nothing better then cracking open a fresh box of "Lucky Charms" and chocking on a 20 cent plastic piece of somthing while I’m mowing down marshmellows, it’s great, O Yeah!.

Anyone know what’s going on with monster cereals? The only brand I ever see in stores anymore is Count Chocula; do Franken Berry and Boo Berry exist anymore? And were there ever any others besides the ill-fated Yummy Mummy and the legendary Fruit Brute (a werewolf-themed cereal discontinued in 1974 that we all only know about because Eric Stoltz is eating some in Pulp Fiction)?

…And how many different kinds of Cap’n Crunch can you name? By my count, there have been six.

In the next Fruit Loop story arc..They should get the Alien Cap’n Crunch guy to team up with Quisp and fight the Alien Fruit Monsters, but due to religious issues, the Toucans go to war with everyone. A three-pronged war is begun. The battlefield is populated. A stray shot is fired: The signal is forgone. One of the nephews rushes forward and steps on a land mine set by the Vietcong…guts rain down on the combatants, the tension snaps, and they all rush forward, guns blazing. The AFM’s seem to have the upperhand, until Alien Cap’n’s reinforcements come: Cap’n Crunch sails in on his ship, and hundreds of rabid Crunchetized children rush overboard, swords drawn. Suddenly, a dark shadow drops over the battlefield. They stop rending the flesh from each other long enough to see the milk jug pouring down. All is swept up in a sea of mammarial excretion. The Cap’n’s ship capsizes. Quisp’s ship shorts out and detonates. No survivors are left. Except for, of course, the Fruit Brute. Cause you don’t f*ck with a fruit-eating Werewolf.

Plus, Enfamil and Prosobee aren’t soymilks, they’re soy formulas…same stuff, but hella more expensive, since baby formula has much more rigorous testing than milk.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 27th, 2004 at 9:24 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.