Ninja Turtles cereal bowl

That’s right, we’re about to see a brand new TMNT Cereal hitting store shelves. Heck, some of you may have already seen it in grocery stores around the United States! If you’ve been a fan since the 80’s, chances are that this won’t be the first time you’ve seen our heroes in a half shell on the cover of a cereal box. This time around, Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be gracing the cover of the box, although there do appear to be quite a few startling similarities between this product and previous Ninja Turtles cereals. Don’t believe me? Well, let’s compare what we are seeing here with what we have seen in the past.

As you can see from the artwork of General Mills’ TMNT Cereal, they’ve chosen to go with a design that looks like little turtle heads. Nevermind the fact that it’s kind of disturbing to consider eating a bowl of turtle heads, at least they are color-coded. Based on what we are seeing, chances are that each color will represent a different fruity flavor, so we can probably expect something that tastes like Fruit Loops. Unfortunately, we won’t know for sure what this cereal is actually like until we get our hands on it, but we can definitely see how at least a few things have changed since we were kids.

Or have they?

Let’s take a look at the original TMNT Cereal released in US markets back in the late 80’s. The artwork is definitely different, and so is the cereal. Instead of something that resembles Fruit Loops, we have something that looks like a combination of Chex and Lucky Charms. If you were a fan back in the day, chances are that you enjoyed this breakfast treat more than once and probably even got some of the freebies they often included with each box. Some of you may remember these silly little TMNT cereal bowls that once came with every purchase of the product!

In this case, I don’t see how a product could get more different than these two examples. However, this wasn’t the only TMNT Cereal on the market back then, and it’s important to note the similarities between the new product from General Mills and a product that was once sold in Canada. That’s right, the Canadian variant of TMNT Cereal was actually very different from what we saw in the states.

In the case of this product, they decided to ditch the Chex and marshmallows in favor of – you guessed it – little green turtle heads. One quick look at this product will tell quite an interesting story.

Is it possible that General Mills is simply reviving an old concept and potentially making it better? Well, that’s definitely what it looks like. Either way, it’s nice to see the Ninja Turtles hitting the cereal isle once again. Who knows? We might even see a return of those funky TMNT cereal bowls!

If you want to learn more about these old school TMNT cereals, do yourself a favor and check out Dinosaur Dracula‘s review of each product. This guy has a passion for anything retro, and he frequently focuses on cool and weird TMNT products from the past. Be sure to show some love for his efforts by following the blog and keeping track of all the awesome retro products he discovers.

Are you going to be picking up this new TMNT Cereal when you see it in stores? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or on facebook/twitter.