The last scoop of banana split.

The last slice of banana bread.

The last little bit of banana that gets caught in the peel’s dry and strand-filled corner. You know, the kinda gross bit you only eat out of pity.

Yes this last scoop of banana pudding will end the Great Banana Cereal Bonanza of Summer 2018—unless Curious George rises up Planet of the Apes-style to storm the breakfast aisle. And while Kellogg’s Raisin Bran with Bananas is the still the reigning chimp-snack champ, Post’s Banana Pudding Nilla Wafer cereal is by far the one I remain most optimistic about.

See, I relate a lot to the humble Nilla Wafer’s “underrated weirdo” approach to the cookie aisle, as it stoically endures what must be countless jeers, wedgies, and “your mom” jokes from the looming shadows of bigger cookies like Oreo or Chips Ahoy.

Heck, I think even Fig Newton once stole a Nilla Wafer’s lunch money.

So because I’ve had a strange flavor obsession with Nabisco’s divinely golden-buttery discs, I’ve long wished for a Nilla Wafer. And now it’s come true—I can only assume that Post added the nostalgic dessert flavor of banana pudding after smartly observed that Nilla flavor alone couldn’t sell a cereal outside of a niche audience of dudes wiling to pour their hearts out online for a half dollar-sized vanilla biscuit.

So like Dave Coulier into a box of long-lost Vanilla Weasels (hey, that’s two Full House references this week: no mercy to be had!), let’s dive in, with emphasis!

From the first bite, I knew this Banana Pudding cereal would do Nilla Wafers great justice. Why? Because the first bite was a little disappointing: the texture of the pale goldenrod pucks is pretty aggressively and jaggedly aerated—much like the cookie cereals they resemble—giving the low-density bits a less-than-ideal mealy chewiness.

But just like how a Nilla Wafer cookie is unassuming and not nearly-as tongue-hugging as an Oreo, after threeish bites/cookies, ribbons of sticky-sweet, golden-buttery vanilla sugar and lightly browned, definitely brown-sugared shortbread emerge, building up with every spoonful like a twinkling sea of liquefied sunrise (or like Birthday Cake Cookie Crisp, perfected).

Both Nilla cereal and cookie have a highly cumulative flavor. At least that’s what I tell people when I only eat a whole box in one sitting.

Oh, and did I mention the authentic(ally fake) banana flavor that’s infused into every mini-Nilla and marshmallow? Yes, I say authentically fake because, while this definitely isn’t a real banana taste, it’s by far the best fake one I’ve had in a while, with its modest candy fruitiness swelling like a tidal wave, ready to be stopped whenever you choose to put the spoon down, unlike the similarly great Banana Raisin Bran, which started sweeter and eventually got cloying.

Like drinking a melted banana split through a crazy straw.

And honestly, the marshmallows aren’t terribly noteworthy: there aren’t enough to give the cereal anything more than a circumstantial burst of more concentrated vanilla sugar, so while Nilla cereal has the flavorful spirit of real banana pudding, it lacks the creamy essence that only comes from a corner store-tub of Jell-O pudding precariously procured and prepared just hours before your family’s Easter brunch.

That is, unless you add milk.

Milk’s not a perfect substitute for pudding, but it does recontextualize the hitherto sentimentally accurate Nilla Wafer flavor into something that moves the baked-in golden vanilla overtones to the back, in favor of something that’s more vanilla bean than biscuit. Plus the marshmallows get to swell into little powdered sugar balloons, releasing their bounty like squid’s ink into the delicious, soon-to-be ochre-tinged endmilk.

But through it all, little can remedy the sub-par texture of the cereal circles, making Nilla Wafer Banana Pudding cereal a near-iconic, though slow starting, summer gem of a cereal that has me hoping for sequels, since Banana Pudding is stylized as just one flavor of a wider Nilla Wafer Cereal brand.

All I’m saying is if we get an oddly specific Strawberry Creme Nilla Cakesters Cereal, the inner child who lives somewhere near my hippocampus may seize control, rendering this blog practically extinct as my youthful self plays through Ocarina of Time again.

That’s all I’m saying.

The Bowl: Banana Pudding Vanilla Wafer Cereal

The Breakdown: Iffy texture and backseat ‘mallowing can’t stop this nostalgically innovative cereal from creeping up on you with vanilla-glazed banana fun that’s sure to be a cult classic.

The Bottom Line: 9.5 pudding-clogged straws out of 10

***Quick Nutrition Facts: 130 calories, 0 grams of fiber, 14 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein per 1 cup serving***