Think back, if you can, to this time last year, when Wicked-brand products lined shelves near and far. There were Wicked car commercials, makeup collections, and Starbucks drinks. Now? We have Wicked cereal ahead of Wicked: For Good’s November 21 release. Not unlike the text of Wicked itself, the flavors demand comparison: Which is better? Which is more, uh, popular? When combined, do they form an unlikely but sweet relationship or are they dreaded enemies?

We have to start with the visual appeal of each option. The Elphaba Caramel Apple cereal is bright green and looks, frankly, like a wasabi pea. The Glinda Good Berry cereal is cotton-candy pink. Both are Kix-like in appearance and texture. It is clearly a puffed corn, giving both flavors a naturally crunchy bite that absorbs milk readily but slowly. (We tried the cereal with 2 percent milk … Maybe alternative dairies function a little differently.) Neither appear to turn the milk a distinctive color when consumed separately or together, which is a shame. The bowls should look like Lush bath bombs went off in them.

What became most immediately interesting about the Wicked cereals is that just about everyone who tried them had a singular favorite. I personally have a fondness and nostalgia for Apple Jacks, the Elphaba Caramel Apple is the superior option — neither too sugary or too fake apple, just the right amount of cinnamon and bite to the flavoring. The Glinda Good Berry, on the other hand, is sweet without much of a distinctive flavor, though there’s maybe a twinkle of strawberry in the aftertaste. When consumed together in the same bowl, both cereals melt into a kind of vague fruitiness. Still, everyone in arm’s reach came back for more to consume dry by the fistful or with a bowl of milk.

“I wish there was a game* in the back of the box for me to eat while I eat my bowl! I grew up eating cereal (Trix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Frosted Flakes), and the berry one could be in my cereal rotation.” — Britina Cheng, editorial producer, Cinematrix (*Author note: Maybe that game could be … Cinematrix? General Mills, call us!)

“Elphaba is the clear winner here, mainly because the Glinda one tastes like nothing. When I first read the words ‘caramel apple’ to describe a cereal flavor, I was greatly disturbed, but the caramel is subtle enough not to be sickly sweet. It’s kind of like if Kix and Applejacks had a cereal baby. It’s certainly … defying … my expectations.” — Rebecca Jennings, features writer

“I’m not convinced either flavor is better than the other; whichever flavor you try first will always taste better than the one you follow it with. Yesterday I started with green and found the pink lacking, yet the pink far surpassed the green when I started with it today. Maybe your mood determines which flavor is better: Do you want your cereal to taste like a generic fruity cereal (pink) or something you’ve never quite tasted before (green)?” — Julie Kosin, senior editor, TV

“Glinda Good Berry really is tart. Glinda should be like cotton-candy flavored. Elphaba Caramel Apple is completely disgustifying and hideodius. It’s so wrong to try and liken Elphaba to candied-apple witches; she is not that girl. That’s not her thing at all. Elphaba’s cereal should be, like, steak flavored.” — Zach Schiffman, senior social-media editor

“My issues with the Wicked cereals aren’t with the cereals themselves but with everything they are not. This is a lazy product and missing all the fun of a good cereal tie-in. The balls are pink and green, but they do not turn the milk pink or green upon stirring. They are uniform and plain, without any themed and flavorful bits — no magical marshmallow broomsticks or berry bubble clusters. There is no trading card, or Yellow Brick Road maze on the back, or QR code that when you scan it leads to an exclusive trailer clip. What are we doing? As for the taste, Elphaba is like a Bath & Body Works candle, Glinda like a generic berry cereal. I tapped out after a bite of each.” — Rebecca Alter, staff writer

“These taste literally the same. If you’re colorblind, I’m sorry.” — Wolfgang Ruth, head of social

Related

• The Wicked: For Good Trailer Has a New Riff
• Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande Should Host the Oscars
• Every Tiny Speck of Wicked: For Good Crumbs

 Spoiler: The milk bowls do not look like Lush bath bombs went off in them.