Trashcanland: Ralston/Purina Cereals

I have a special place in my flavor-heart for the various Ralston/Purina brand cereals from throughout the 80s. It also didn't hurt that almost all of their cereal line were tie-ins with intellectual properties that I was quite fond of as a kid. But they had an extra-mealy, corny flavor, that I really dug. And most importantly, the marshmallows softened up really fast, actually becoming 'mallowlike. The hardness of the marshmallows in more famous cereals can really detract from the experience, often giving the impression of sweetened styrofoam in yer mouth. R/P also has the gen-x nostalgia cred (oh wait, they don't have cred anymore) of producing Freakies. If you didn't know, Freakies (along with Quisp and Boo Berry) are the beginnings of cult interest in cereals. You can see the connection with Freakies being the tree dwelling hippies, Boo Berry being a stoned ghost who talks like Peter Lorre, and Quisp being a space alien with some whacked-out-drug-use-related-if-you-use-drugs-also-behavior.
Of course, I was born in 78, so I missed the Freakies as it ceased production in 76. A short lived remake never made it to my consciousness until seeing it on Topher's Cereal Guide. This is a great internet resource and helped me jog my memory or blow my mind on numerous occasions: http://www.lavasurfer.com/cereal-guide.html.
Here's a commercial for Freakies:

R/P is also the producers of Cookie Crisp, which I've never been that into taste-wise, though I do appreciates it's place in our culture. I also find it funny that CC mascot went from wizard (Cookie Jarvis) to Cookie Crook.
The first R/P cereal I remember really digging was Ghostbusters Cereal, which featured those smooshy marshmallows in ghost form. I think it's interesting that the song incorporates the suggestion for completing the "nutritional breakfast" instead of just giving the standard "part of this complete breakfast" line.

Donkey Kong cereal came a little earlier, and I enjoyed it, but more for my videogame obsession. If I remember right, it was a slightly less mouth-shredding version of Cap'n Crunch.