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Lucky Charms new unicorn marshmallow is a Twitter hit

The swirly, psychedelic new cereal piece is replacing the hourglass. In other news, Lucky Charms had an hourglass marshmallow?

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read

Remember last year's bizarre drink hit, Starbucks' Unicorn Frappuccino? Yet another unicorn has been let loose to run free. General Mills on Monday announced it's replacing the hourglass marshmallow in its Lucky Charms cereal with a unicorn. In other news, Lucky Charms had an hourglass marshmallow?

Earlier this month, the company asked Twitter users to send an emoji suggesting their choice for the new marshmallow. Sorry, ear of corn, peace sign and butterfly, all of which also garnered at least one vote. 

The new marshmallow is shaped like a unicorn's head and neck and is mostly white, with blue and purple swirls depicting its mane and horn. (Blue and purple are apparently established unicorn colors, as the Twitter unicorn emoji is blue and purple, and so was the Starbucks drink.)

For those who follow those things, you should know it's the first new permanent Lucky Charms marshmallow in a decade. Some of us Gen X kids still remember what a big deal it was when blue diamonds were introduced in 1975. The last permanent new marshmallow, introduced in 2008, was the yellow and orange hourglass the unicorn will now replace. The remaining lucky-charm marshmallows are hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers, blue moons, rainbows and red balloons.

Twitter fans seem excited about the new addition to the sugary herd.

Boxes of Lucky Charms cereals with the new unicorn marshmallow are already starting to appear on store shelves and should be widely available by mid-March, a General Mills spokesman said.

First published Feb. 19, 10 a.m. PT. 
Update, 10:39 a.m. PT: Adds comment from General Mills.