Hershey's Heroes

When it comes to qualifying Super Hero Food, I tend to stick to my arbitrary rules ("Iron Man Cereal" vs. Cap'n Crunch with a picture of Iron Man on the box) but just as often I break my arbitrary rules when something catches my eye.  And the new Hershey's DC Super Hero Bars did just that.

They're being marketing along with the "Back to School" products which you can see by Superman and Wonder Woman chaperoning the school bus.  They're obviously keeping an eye on any potential trouble makers trying to hide out in the back.  As you can probably guess, these a Hershey bars that are branded with DC Comics characters.

They're miniature size and, as such, would fit just fine in a lunch box.  I guess that's why they're in with the "Back to School" themed stuff.  Although I think they would have done just fine if they were released a month later for Halloween.  I know a few little superheroes who would love to get these in their Tricks-Or-Treats plastic pumpkin.  Let's crack open that bag:

No big surprises in the lineup.  We've got Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and, once again, Cyborg has kicked Martian Manhunter right out of the picture.  I'm starting to think this replacement Leaguer is gonna stick around.  I hold out hope that maybe it will lead to some Doom Patrol candy or whatnot. 

With the wrapper off, we see the traditional, sectioned-off Hershey's bar with each section containing a character's logo.  But there's more than just the Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Superman and Batman symbols that you see here.  So far, I've only opened a few but I've also seen the Batmobile, a "BAM!" sound effect, and some stars that have a Wonder Woman vibe.

Not sure if these are mostly going to end up in lunchboxes, Halloween bags or just in a lot of folk's quarantine candy pile but it's always good to see the League make a prominant appearance in the grocery aisles.

Fruit Troop

Previously:

DC Superhero Girls Fruit Snacks  - -  Batman v Superman Fruit Snacks

Amazing Spider-Man 2 Fruit Snacks  - -  Iron Man 3 Fruit Snacks

Captain America Fruit Snacks  - -  Superman Fruit Snacks  - -  Super Hero Squad Fruit Snacks

Amazing Spider-Man Fruit Snacks  - - Batman Fruit Snacks  - -  Avengers Fruit Snacks

Remember when summer was when the big super hero movies flooded the cinemas?  I guess that still happens but now the fall is a contender too.  While the Hulk and Thor are bro-ing out in the MCU, the DCEU is still gasping along with their latest "this is a movie" movie: Justice League!

While the reviews aren't great, the film does have one thing that Thor: Ragnarok doesn't have:  Fruit Snacks!

Spoiler Warning: Superman is in the movie...but we all pretty much knew that already so this isn't a case of Kellogg's going "broken arrow" on the candy loving movie audience.  In a way, you have to admire the lack of any effort to conceal the Man of Steel's presence in the the film because even when you crack the box open, guess who's front and center:

I also can't help but notice who's not there.  It looks like Cyborg has taken over for Martian Manhunter in every way since J'onn usually got shafted on these type of endeavors as well.  But at least he gets his own gummy.  Let's see the chewy goodness:

Seven for seven, not bad.  They went the symbol route with everybody which is probably for the best.  I also appreciate that they didn't include a "Batman head" shape along with a "Batman symbol" shape at the expense of another character.  Very balanced...just the way a breakfast should be.

So when things look dark, overly bleak and with excessive amounts of CGI, just remember you can always find sweet relief in the grocery aisles. 

Sweet & Power

Previously:

 Batman v Superman Fruit Snacks - - Amazing Spider-Man 2 Fruit Snacks

Iron Man 3 Fruit Snacks - - Captain America Fruit Snacks - - Superman Fruit Snacks

Super Hero Squad Fruit Snacks - - Amazing Spider-Man Fruit Snacks - - Batman Fruit Snacks

Avengers Fruit Snacks

 The DC Super Hero Girls franchise has released plenty of merchandise.  In fact, Santa brought a ton of it to my daughter this past December.  But among the dolls, costumes and play sets there was a serious lacking of any food products.  I don't know what caused the delay but I'm glad it's over because I'm pleased to announce that we now live in a world with Super Hero Girls Fruit Snacks!

DCSHG has a huge cast of characters.  At one point or other, a big chunk of the DC Universe has ended up in the web series or at least in the background of the first movie.  But the main group usually consists of Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Bumblebee and Katana with some occasional assists (for some reason) by Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn.

And it's that Fab Five that made the cover of the box and who also got bios on the back:

Each one is written in first person and does a pretty good job of introducing character traits and super powers while being personable.    Of course, they include the tried and true dotted lines for cutting out your favorite characters and staging battle scenes while snacking...this kind of thing is not done NEARLY enough.

Let's crack open a box and take a gander at the goodies:

Now I've been documenting novelty fruit snacks for a while now and it seems like lately they're making them harder to photograph/scan.  When I have time, I'll get my conspiracy theory thoughts organized.

Until then we've got the faces of Supergirl, Wonder Woman and Batgirl as well as the logos of Supergirl, Bumblebee and, I believe, Katana.  Not bad but, once again, we run into my pet peeve of doubling up on a character instead of including an additional one.  Sure, it would have been great to see Star Sapphire or Starfire or Fire but for now these will do fine.

You may also want to check out: 

Super Hero Girls Cupcake Wars!

Pasta la Vista

You'll never believe what I saw as I strolled down the Walmart aisles recently.  Well, I guess you don't have to guess since it's the subject of this blog entry.  Now that the dramatic tension is out of the way, here's what I saw:

It feels nice to put aside superhero shaped gummy snacks in favor of a big bowl of superhero shaped pasta in a can!  It's been awhile.  So much so, that I'm worried I might have lost my taste for what used to be a regular lunchtime treat in my younger days.  It doesn't help that these don't have meatballs.  So only one of them made it into my shopping cart and, later, my Super Friends bowl:

The taste was fairly reminiscent of the Spaghetti-O's of my youth and the little logo shapes are much larger than the old school pasta rings I'm used to.  That makes for interesting chewing.  The shapes represent the "Big 3" at DC:

Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman...no surprises here.  Seems like a Green Lantern logo might have been possible in the pasta medium but it looks like it just wasn't meant to be.  Well now isn't the time to get greedy, now is the time to fill up our Super Friends bowls with our Chef Boyardee bounty.

 

Commercial Break: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese DC Superheroes

Previously: X-Men Pasta

Word on the street is that today is National Macaroni Day.  So let's celebrate with this commercial from the 90's featuring Kraft Macaroni & Cheese DC Superheroes Dinner!

Food Fight

Anytime you get a group of super powered individuals together there is bound to be conflict.  This summer, the movie theaters were lousy with hero on hero violence.  Punches were thrown, kicks were kicked and we all ducked and dodged our way around various batarangs and repulsor blasts.

But there was another fight that landed on the small screen.  It starred DC's newest all star team and their unlikely allies.  Four groups of competitors entered the battlefield of baked goods to team up with the DC Super Hero Girls and that can only mean one thing:  WAR!

You may recall when we covered the 50th Anniversary of the Fantastic Four on Last Cake Standing.  This time we have a new super hero team on a new show.  Let's meet our contestants:

As you can guess from the title "Cupcake Wars: Kids vs. Adults," half the competitors are kids and half are adults. They are tasked with creating cupcakes that have the look and flavors that incorporate the themes and characters of the DC Super Hero Girls.

If you are not familiar with the team, they are an all-ages, all star lineup of some of the best DC Comics female heroes (and, for some reason, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy) that are meant to be inspiring and empowering to kids.

As these reality type competition shows tend to do, there is a panel of judges.  Two of which are regulars but the other two have definite comic book credibility when it comes to this team of heroines:

                     

Shea Fontana is the writer of the Super Hero Girls (which covers a ton of different different mediums from comics to animated shorts to an upcoming movie) and Ashley Eckstein is a prolific actress and voice performer who does the voice of Cheetah in the DC Super Hero Girls productions (she also voiced Dagger from Ultimate Spider-Man unlimited and Ahsoka in Star Wars Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels).  

And then we have the host:

  

I believe his name is Screamy McScreamerton.  Coincidentally, instead of talking he screams EVERY SINGLE WORD!!!

Clearly a protege of the Garrett Morris School of Inflection, Screamy instructs the competitors  through three challenges: Taste, Taste & Presentation and Display Presentation.  Unfortunately, unlike the fondant heavy Fantastic Four cakes we previously saw, cupcakes don't really lend themselves to sculpting specific, large scale images.  So the bakers had to try to convey characters through an overall theme of the cupcakes.  Let's see a few of the better ones:

We've got Poison Ivy on the left, Harley Quinn on the right and Batgirl behind them.

Here's a Katana cupcake...

...and a Wonder Woman...

And the winners had their cupcakes served at a DC Super Hero Girls themed party where the young attendees presumably became lifelong fans of both super heroes and free cupcakes.

Cotton Club

I like to make my rounds to grocery stores, drug stores, dollar stores and the like to keep an eye on what's happening in the Super Hero Food world.  You never know what you'll find and you never know where you'll find it.  To that end, I like to swing by Toys 'R' Us every now and then.  They have a small little candy section that delivers from time to time.  In fact, it's where I found our latest bag of super hero cotton candy:

Among the team's other accomplishments, the Justice League has now successfully broken into the world of spun sugar.  Justice League Cotton Candy is here and we're going to have to get used to it.

It looks like we're also going to have to get used to Martian Manhunter being scrubbed from JL history.  While it was rare for him to show up on various food products from the beginning, it is now a given that Cyborg will be in his place for now and...forever?  At least Aquaman made the cut.

Looks like the flavor breakdown includes pink vanilla and blue raspberry.  While blue raspberries don't occur in nature, they have been a part of kids kids' candy and drinks for many years now.  So there's no surprise there.  Pink Vanilla, though?  That seems to be something that only happens in the Cotton Candy World.  Which is weird because "cotton candy" has been a flavor in and of itself for a good long while.  So it's weird that vanilla got an invitation to this party.

And it looks like this.  It's fairly similar to the Batman Cotton Candy from awhile back.  Two flavors for the price of one!  So if you want to add a little carnival flair to your day-to-day life you need only to head to Toys 'R' Us (while supplies last).

Justice Desserts

I'm pretty sure there is a Cold Stone Creamery near me but I don't think I've ever been to one.  Which is a shame because I totally missed out on the recent Batman v Superman promotion.  Just like similar past promotions from Baskin-Robbins, these guys were way too subtle with their marketing and it was totally off my radar.  That being said, let's take a quick look at the gloomy trinity's sweet treats:

Each one of the big three got their own themed sundae.  I still haven't seen this movie but I can't imagine anyone associated with it would enjoy ice cream.  Even if they had their own sundae designed for them.  It would get in the way of the brooding.  Of course I am more than happy to dive into them.  Let's take a closer look:

Here's the breakdown:

• "Batman's Chocolate Cookie Crusade" - Yeah, Batman always gets chocolate as a flavor.  That's a no-brainer.
• "Superman's Kryptonian Cake Sensation" - A lot of times you get the whole "Green Kryptonite" theme but they went with the yellow, blue and red sprinkles instead.  And cake!
• "Wonder Woman's Strawberry Warrior" - I'll be honest, those look like raspberries to me.  Also, the strawberry option always seem to be the "girly" option and I don't think that's particularly necessary.  I see here as more of a peanut butter cookie flavor, maybe?

Need to feed a group?  Let them eat cake:

They went with the "Superman Punching the Batmobile" theme.  Seems like they could have done a little bit more with this one but we get what we get...with ice cream and with movies.

Pop Stars

Your new breakfast of champions comes in the form of Justice League Pop Tarts.  While there is currently a deluge of Batman v Superman stuff out there right now, these guys are specifically branded as "Justice League."

Sure it has the "Big 3" plastered on the front, who happen to also share screen time in the movie but plenty of their team mates also show up to tell you the good news about this year's most exciting breakfast treat:

        

 And the entire roster shows up on the back of the box doing their patented "Justice League Lineup Pose" including some First Appearance info, and of course secret identity info:

 And everybody gets a short bio underneath the posing.  Except for Cyborg for some reason.  I'm not too inclined to play the race card but this certainly raises few eyebrows (at least two).  While they may be stingy with the bios, they definitely went all out when it comes to the actual food:

 If you want to get technical, then sure, Catwoman was technically a part of the Justice League line up during the Grant Morrison years but I've never bought into the idea of Robin being in the League.  Sure, maybe Batman let him tag along to one or two of the meetings but he never got his membership card.

To put this into a historical perspective (which I know you were begging for), superheroes are no stranger to the toaster pastry genre.  Back in the Spider-Man movie heyday we got two different versions:

In This Corner...

(Previously):

Amazing Spider-Man 2 Fruit Snacks - - Iron Man 3 Fruit Snacks  

Captain America Fruit Snacks - - Superman Fruit Snacks

Super Hero Squad Fruit Snacks - - Amazing Spider-Man Fruit Snacks - - Batman Fruit Snacks

Avengers Fruit Snacks

 
I don't have any predictions about this movie but I do have some fruit snack related predictions.  Primarily, I predict that in the not too distant future I will find the Superman equivalent of these fruit snacks (because, of course, there is one) and I'll be so irritated at myself for prematurely blowing my bat-wad and doing a standalone blog entry instead of being patient and doing the combo.  It'll be the Punisher/Daredevil Energy Shot debacle all over again.

I also lied about not having any predictions about the movie.  It will be horrible.  Hopefully my pissy attitude about it won't effect my enjoyment of the gummies.  And with that, here are YOUR Batman v Superman Fruit Snacks!

As you can see that this (presumably variant) Batman box is very Batman-heavy.  You get a good look at O'Battion and the new costume on the front.  And on the back you can have your fandom questioned by way of a Batman quiz.  But once you get done proving your Bat-cred you can kick back and relax with a sweet maze and then proceed to ignore the "Super Hero Scramble" - that's just work.

Let's take a look at the breakdown.  Looks like we get a rare example of equal character distribution in the shapes.  A logo and head for Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman respectively.  I was wondering if this is the first ever Wonder Woman Fruit Snack but surely she was represented in the Cartoon Network Justice League Fruit Snacks of days past.

Regardless of her previously gummified nature (if any) it's still good to see her rperesented.  I would not have been surprised if the box had only contained something like: "Batman," "Batman Logo," "Batmobile," "Batman's Boot," "Batman's Rare Collection of Bat Themed Erotica" and "Superman."  And speaking of Supes, he's here too!

And this is really the reason why I think there's a Superman version of the box.  Half of the little baggies are Batman and half are Superman.  So at some point I'll be in a store that's not my usual store and I'll see that horrible Superman staring at me from his box of fruit snacks and I'll clench my fists and just start screaming.  So if you see that particular scenario in your favorite grocery store just take a breath and move on.  That's probably what I'll end up doing.

UPDATE:  Ugh, yeah I found them