“This feels like stolen valor.”

That was my first thought upon trying Post’s new Fruity Pebbles Waffles! (a cereal that must be spoken about with eternal enthusiasm, because the exclamation point is very much a part of its name).

See, Fruity Pebbles Waffles! (:D) has the exact same existential issue that CinnaGraham Toast Crunch does. They’re both fantastic cereals, but they’re fronted by the wrong brand. Just as CinnaGraham Toast Crunch was defined by, well, its graham, and should thusly/justly have been branded as “Cinnamon Golden Grahams,” Fruity Pebbles Waffles! (yippee!) should really be called Fruity Waffle Crisp! (it can keep the exclamation point), because this stuff is carried by sweet, sweet maple syrup.

Yeah, yeah, I get it: Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Fruity Pebbles are way more recognizable IPs and will sell way better this way, but c’mon, can’t we hand the underdogs a win once in a while? Golden Grahams never gets spinoffs, and Waffle Crisp hasn’t had one since 2000’s arcane Halloween Brew Waffle Crisp—a cereal that came with a pouch of “Spooky Sprinkles” and whose existence was a miracle in its own right.

All I’m saying is they should’ve at least had Fred and Barney high-fiving Waffle Boy on the box.

Meandering misgivings aside, let’s talk about how Fruity Pebbles Waffles! (wahoo!) actually tastes.

The direct inverse of General Mills’ new Cinnamon Toast Crunch Waffle, which was basically just waffle-shaped Cinnamon Toast Crunch with the scarcest spectral kiss of maple, FPW! (ftw!) wears its delightful, buttery golden maple flavor on its sleeve—not unlike a lumberjack lacking paper towel (he must hate the Brawny guy).

It’s an extremely artificial maple, sure, but it’s also bright, whimsical, and strong enough to leave your mouth watering right into your bowl (I prefer using milk, but you do you).

So if you like Waffle Crisp, you’re likely gonna love this, too, because the same base flavor is still there. As is the impeccable waffled and crispy texture, which delivers a hearty crunch while still retaining soft, rounded edges that won’t shred your palate.

It’s taken me a while to mention it, but the namesake Fruity Pebbles element is well implemented, too. I’ll go on record as saying that, as I get older, normal ol’ Fruity Pebbles lose a bit of their appeal for me. Sure, their flavor is iconically delicious, but it comes at you so potently that it can border on overwhelming. Pair that with the way that the Pebbles get soggy super fast, and you’re incentivized to blaze through a bowl at a nauseating interval.

In Fruity Pebbles Waffles! (yabba-dabba-doo!), on the other hand, that famous Fruity Pebbles flavor is necessarily toned down, acting as an accenting backup dancer for the maple, rather than competing with it for top billing. This is smart, as it allows me to appreciate and savor the Fruity Pebbles flavor at my own pace, rather than having it blasted at me through a firehose, so to speak. And all while enjoying the taste of Waffle Crisp, to boot!

Just as Waffle Crisp performs masterfully in milk, so too does Fruity Pebbles Waffles! (uh…milk-nificent?). The waffle pieces are thick enough that they can sop up a lot of milk without getting soggy, so when you bite through their crispy exoskeleton, they release a burst of fruity-mapled-milky goodness. Sounds gross, but also highly recommended!

Overall, Fruity Pebbles Waffles! (* ੈ♡‧₊˚✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡♡˚) is a darn good cereal. Unlike a lot of the lazily formulated Fruity Pebbles spinoffs out there (including those literal, unexclaimable Fruity Pebbles Waffles), this cereal strategically uses the Fruity Pebbles flavor as a complement to a bigger-picture taste, rather than a smothering blanket. Whether you’re a fan of Fruity Pebbles, Waffle Crisp, or just a good bowl of breakfast fun, you can’t go wrong with Fruity Pebbles Waffles! (*I proceed to get so excited that I start vibrating with joy, feverishly wriggling over the edge of a towering bluff, never to be seen again*).

The Bowl: Fruity Pebbles Waffles!

The Breakdown: By marrying the best of two cereal worlds, Fruity Pebbles Waffles! thoughtfully implements its namesake cereal in a delicious way that countless other heavy-handed tie-ins have failed to do.

The Bottom Line: 9 unicode copy-paste jobs out of 10