Line #72 Main/FreePrizeAtTheBottom


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[Website/CollegeHumor https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/all_prizes_cereal1.png]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:[[StealthInsult At least as much nutritional value as actual cereal!]]]]
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9
10	->''"What you ''do'' want to look for are cereals with sound effects in the name--"Smacks", "Pops", "Puffs", "Blasts", and, um... "Gunshots in a Crowded Mall". You know, the kind with the squarish sugared pieces of styrofoam they claim are marshmallows. These are guaranteed to have a nice big reach-your-nasty-unwashed-hand-straight-to-the-bottom-of-the-box toy in it."''
11	-->-- '''[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Strong Bad]]''', ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'' #194 [[Recap/StrongBadEmailE194SpeciallyMarked "specially marked"]]
12
13	A once-standard marketing strategy for breakfast cereals and other products meant for children was to put some sort of "prize" at the bottom of the package--typically something plastic and useless, but still [[RuleOfCool pretty cool]] to the target audience. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_Jack Cracker Jack,]] having started this practice in 1912, was likely [[UrExample the first to do so]]. Unfortunately, repeated instances of children simply disregarding the notice of a prize contained inside and scarfing down the contents and choking on the toys led to the widespread abolition of this practice, in some cases by legislation, in others on the initiative of the companies manufacturing the product for the sake of avoiding lawsuits. Cracker Jack "Prizes" are now just little paper squares that have little puzzles and stickers on them that even little kids realize are lame, and just end up being thrown away. As a result, the term is nowadays used as an analogy for something ''very'' cheap.
14
15	Modern examples would involve the prize being packaged outside the cereal box's bag, where the actual cereal is stored, in order to prevent choking hazards and preserve said cereal prize.
16
17	In fiction, when characters notice the free prize at the bottom label on their box of cereal (or other package), they will attempt to cash in immediately. This means employing a method of getting past the actual product, such as sticking one's entire arm into the box and digging around while pieces of food fall out. More innovative characters will come up with a less messy method such as opening the product from the bottom. In some cases, they find that the prize is missing and may have already been taken. Sometimes in animation, a character, particularly a BigEater, ''will'' scarf down the prize.
18
19	Since this strategy is specifically used to sell to kids (or, more accurately, their parents), it is most often seen referenced in cartoons, comic strips or other media that are considered as being meant for children, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids although that's not always the case]].
20
21	For decades, in the United States DUZ detergent was sold with a piece of glassware in the box.
22
23	Shokugan is an inversion that exists in Japan. The main product being sold is a good quality toy, packaged with a pitifully small amount of cheap candy or snacks.
24
25	The UrExample, dating back to the middle ages is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake#French-speaking_countries_and_regions Three Kings Cake,]] a cake with a small figurine or other trinket, traditionally meant to represent the Christ Child, hidden inside. Modern King Cakes may include licensed figurines of more contemporary characters.
26
27	CompetitionCouponMadness is a variant. While that trope deals with the collection of box tops or some other part of a product package and sending away for the prize via mail, this trope is for situations where the prize is immediately available in the package itself.
28
29	----
30	!!Examples:
31
32	[[foldercontrol]]
33
34	[[folder:ComicBooks]]
35	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan1963'' #182, the first time Peter Parker proposes to Mary Jane (she wouldn't say yes ''this'' time) he does so by giving her a box of Cracker Jacks, with the regular prize inside replaced by an engagement ring.
36	* In ''[[ComicBook/SunnySeries Sunny Side Up]]'', Sunny takes down a box of Corn Flakes that says there's a toy inside while at her Gramps. She dumps the whole box only to find a pack of cigarettes and no toy; Gramps is hiding them all around the house, as he's been told to stop smoking ([[MustHaveNicotine but hasn't quit yet]]).
37	* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': When Matrix is dealing with becoming an Earth Angel, she discusses her situation with [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Clark]] over a box of Cracker Jack. He mentions that he and Pete Ross used to guess what the prize was, until x-ray vision took the fun out of it, but swears he hasn't x-rayed this box. After he's gone, she finds that the prize just happens to be a pendant shaped like an angel.
38	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': In ''ComicBook/Superman1939'' #226, the Man of Steel is exposed to [[KryptoniteIsEverywhere red Kryptonite]] found as the prize in Jimmy Olsen's cereal box, which turned him into King Kong.
39	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': The only completed and published part of ''ComicBook/WonderWomanAndTheStarRiders,'' which was intended to be an animated show and toy line, was a promotional comic included for free in boxes of Kellogg's cereal.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
43	* Happens frequently with Jason in ''ComicStrip/{{FoxTrot}}''.
44	** In one Sunday strip, Peter is seen wolfing down bowl after bowl of cereal until the box is empty. He sheepishly turns to Jason and asks "Did you ''really'' want that decoder ring?" Jason's reaction shows that [[NoodleIncident this isn't the first time this has happened]].
45	* A StoryArc in ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' concerned getting one free marble in a box of Snicker-Snacks cereal. In one strip Charlie Brown told Shermy that the packing center made an error - there were 400 marbles and one Snicker-Snack.
46	* In one SundayStrip, ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' dove into a bag of cat food after Jon told him about the prizes at the bottom. Garfield surfaced with a whistle and Groucho Marx glasses.
47	** Cereal boxes with prizes in them have appeared more than once. [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1988/11/28 One strip]] has Garfield throw the cereal all over the table (and Jon) to get the toy ring inside, [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1990/08/04 another]] features a box that ''has no cereal in it'', only a large toy robot (which smashes the bowl), and [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1997/11/19 a third one]] where Garfield accidentally ate not only the cereal but also the prize.
48	* In ''Do They Ever Grow Up?'', a book of one-panel comics by [[ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse Lynn Johnston]], a boy, who has dumped three boxes of cereal on the floor, tells his disapproving mother, "I couldn't 'member which one had the free helicopter."
49	* Parodied in one ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' cartoon where a family of dinosaurs is having breakfast, the son digging through a box of cereal that advertises "Free Kid Inside!" on the box. His mother sternly tells him to eat his breakfast and look for it later.
50	* One ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' arc has Calvin get excited when his favorite cereal has a promotional giveaway for a beanie hat with a battery-powered propeller on top. HilarityEnsues as Calvin endeavors to eat enough cereal to get all the box tops needed. And then he's disappointed when it finally arrives and he discovers that no, it doesn't enable him to fly.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Fan Works]]
54	* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': When Bolt loses the title objects in "The Rings," he and Mittens improvise using Cracker Jacks decoder ring prizes as replacements, tearing open several boxes in the process.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
58	* ''Film/OurMissBrooks'': In this film, the cinematic grand finale to the series of the same name, Mr. Boynton finds [[spoiler:an engagement ring]] in the bottom of a box of Cracker Jack. [[spoiler:[[WithThisRing However, before he can place the ring on Miss Brooks' finger, it's stolen by a female chimpanzee named Chiquita]]. No matter, now engaged, Mr. Boynton and Miss Brooks walk out of the zoo arm in arm.]]
59	* ''Film/{{UHF}}'' has a scene where [[ManChild Stanley]] [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Spadowski]] notices — while on air — that the box of cereal he's hawking comes with a free toy. Saying, "Don't let your parents know you do this," he then disassembles the box to get at the toy, making a mess of the cereal.
60	** Earlier, George mentions that there's a neat prize inside each box of Mrs. Hockenberger's Butter Cookies, though we never learn or hear any more about it once we find out what box he's actually holding.
61	* In ''Film/WhileYouWereSleeping'', young Mary Callahan doesn't want her older brother, Jack, to eat her favorite breakfast cereal. When he protests that it's very special cereal, she complains that "last time [he] took the toy surprise."
62	* After the opening sequence of ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'', Jesse's little sister digs through a box of cereal for the free prize, a set of small, plastic finger blades. The cereal, incidentally, is called "Fu Man Chews".
63	* ''Film/TheDictator'' has a scene of [[ManChild Aladeen]] having cereal with one of his generals. As the general pours his cereal, the prize inside lands right in his bowl. Aladeen tells him to enjoy it, then [[DisproportionateRetribution immediately orders the general's execution]].
64	* At the climax of ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', Yogurt tells Lone Starr that the Ring of the Schwartz - which he formerly claimed was enchanted - [[MagicFeather is cheap junk]], that he got it from a box of Crackerjacks.
65	* In ''Film/BreakfastAtTiffanys'', Paul takes the ring from a Cracker Jack box to Tiffany's to be engraved as a present for Holly.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Literature]]
69	* In ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', the five Golden Tickets are placed inside candy bar wrappers. There are reports of [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney rich people]] buying bulk orders of Wonka Bars and tearing through their wrappers in hopes of finding a ticket, presumably discarding the chocolate. In fact, this is how Veruca Salt's father got her a ticket -- he bought up all the Wonka Bars he could and gave them to the workers in his nut factory to "shell" until the ticket was found.
70	* This is referenced by Zaphod Beeblebrox in ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse'' when a receptionist tells him that the executive he wishes to see is on an intergalactic cruise... in his office.
71	-->'''Zaphod''': Listen, three eyes, don't you try to outweird me. I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal.
72	-->'''Receptionist''': Well, just who do you think you are, honey? Zaphod Beeblebrox or something?
73	-->'''Zaphod''': Count the heads.
74	* ''[[Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy Only You Can Save Mankind]]'' has a RunningGag of characters finding plastic alien action figures in their cereal. One of them is noted to look a bit like a [=ScreeWee=].
75	* ''Literature/TheSerialGarden'' by Creator/JoanAiken: On a packet of Brekkfast Brikks cereal, there is a beautiful model garden which can be cut out and assembled. Mark discovers that if he sings a verse printed on the side of the cereal packet, the garden grows to an enormous size, and he can enter it. When he finds out that there are six sections to the garden altogether, he offers to do extra housework, to earn enough pocket money to buy the remaining five packets.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
79	* The short-lived television series ''Series/TheWizard'' had an episode in which the title character had invented a little robotic beetle-like thing that was specifically designed to dig through boxes of cereal and retrieve the prize at the bottom.
80	* In ''Series/NightCourt'', Judge Harry Stone ends up in the hospital because of abdominal pain. He thinks it could be his appendix, the head of a local GreasySpoon thinks he poisoned Harry. When he takes a turn for the worse, the rest of the cast is [[{{pun}} worried sick]]. Turns out his box of ChocolateFrostedSugarBombs had a toy whistle at the bottom and Harry ''ate it'' by accident.
81	-->'''Judge Stone''': ''You know 'Zippy Bits,' that breakfast cereal that promises a free circus whistle in each box? Well, I bought a box, polished off the whole thing. No whistle. I even called them. They said there was a whistle in every box. Guess they were right.''
82	* One of the spoof ads on ''Series/TheGoodies'' was for Goodies Plastic Spacemen, which came in a cereal box with a free corn flake.
83	* In ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', JD has a flashback where he had a box of cereal that ended up having, not one, but ''two'' secret spy decoder ring prizes, he gives one to Turk and they both claim it's the best day of their lives (even above Turk proposing to Carla).
84	* One episode of ''Series/{{Psych}}'' begins with young Shawn trying to get the prize from a box of cereal, and then his dad shows him that the most efficient way to accomplish this is to just open the box from the bottom, teaching him about flipping perspectives. Shawn uses this to help solve the case and later get the prize when Gus attempted to claim the toy for himself by dividing the cereal a certain way.
85	** Gets called back to in a later episode when [[spoiler:Shawn attempts to confess to Juliet for the first time.]] He mentions the kids who would flip the box to get it immediately or the ones who went through bowl after bowl until it happened on its own (along with a humorous third one of a kid who would eat anything, including the prize.)
86	* One incident in the ''Series/{{Monk}}'' novel ''Mr. Monk on the Road'' has Monk figure out that a salmonella poisoning victim was murdered because the box with the contaminated cereal had a toy that wasn't in the boxes that were on the recall list.
87	* In a [[StylisticSuck fake commercial]] from ''Series/TheAmandaShow'', some kids eating the new cereal Music/{{Meatloaf}} Crunch ("It's turning the milk chocolatey!"-"That ain't chocolate--that's gravy!") get lotion and a mousetrap in the box. Another fake commercial for Mammal O's Cereal featured LIVE ANIMALS in the bottom of the box!
88	* An ''Series/AllThat'' sketch had a family taking free prizes out of all the grocery items, even the mayonnaise.
89	* On ''Series/TheCosbyShow'', Rudy and Theo dig through (and ruin) a box of cereal to get the pack of 5 candies enclosed inside. Cliff asks them how much they were if bought at the store. "Two for a penny," Theo responds. (The box of cereal cost them a couple of dollars.)
90	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In one episode Dawn is seen pouring out multiple bowls of cereal just so she can get the prize at the bottom. She then admits she doesn't intend to eat any of it and wants eggs for breakfast instead.
91	* In one episode of ''Series/{{Reba}},'' Van mentions that he jokingly slipped a request for a red convertible into a prayer for something important. Later in the episode, he finds a toy car in his cereal-a red convertible. He takes it as a good omen.
92	* In "The Breakfast and the Furious" from ''Series/CutthroatKitchen'', all of the challenges were breakfast-themed, and the finally challenge was to make cereal (with milk, though they didn't have to make the milk.) The first sabotage of the round was to make your opponent forfeit all their tools and vessels and use only what they could find at the bottom of cereal boxes provided by Alton Brown, such as toy dinosaurs, a toy truck, and, yes, a little toy pan.
93	* In one episode of ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch,'' Salem and Aunt Hilda are buying (and eating) lots of frozen waffles because the company is running a promotion where one box will contain a solid gold waffle. Aunt Zelda points out that the gold waffle is "probably in the ''really heavy box.''"
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder:Music]]
97	* The music video "I'm on a Boat" involves Andy Samberg discovering a coupon for a free boat trip for three in his cereal.
98	* Referenced in "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" by Music/MeatLoaf:
99	-->I know you're looking for a ruby in a mountain of rocks
100	-->But there ain't no Coup de Ville
101	-->Hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box
102	* Appears in Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "She Drives Like Crazy," a parody of "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals
103	-->''When you drive, I can't relax / Got your license from Cracker Jacks''
104	** Also referenced in "It's All About the Pentiums", which parodies "It's All About the Benjamins" by Music/TheNotoriousBIG
105	-->Where'd you get your CPU, in a box of Cracker Jacks?
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
109	* The first edition ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' RPG adventure module "Ghost Toasties" was about an ancient gem linking to the demon lord of sugar, Hagost, being given away as a prize at the bottom of the cereal box.
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Video Games]]
113	* At one point in ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'', Guybrush finds a box of his favorite breakfast cereal. The prize at the bottom turns out to be necessary to progress.
114	* ''Word Krispies'' involves eating box after box of alphabet cereal to discover an important item dropped by the main character while touring a cereal factory. Finishing the last bowlful in a box reveals the usual cheap toy surprise.
115	* ''Videogame/ChexQuest'' is a game that was given out in Chex cereal boxes in 1996. It's a ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' reskin with more family friendly action and custom levels. It has since gained quite a [[CultClassic cult following]] and has received multiple sequels.
116	* A Franchise/SuperMario cereal was made as a tie-in to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey''. Rather than having a prize included in the box, the box itself is the prize -- it includes an embedded chip that lets it act as an Toys/{{amiibo}}, which Nintendo's game systems can scan to unlock various small bonuses in multiple games.
117	[[/folder]]
118
119	[[folder:Web Animation]]
120	* The WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail194.html "specially marked"]] is all about Strong Bad providing his thoughts on breakfast cereal and breakfast cereal prizes. For the record, Strong Bad's cereal prize of choice is anything that can cause lasting damage to Homestar's face.
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Webcomics]]
124	* Layla in ''Webcomic/EerieCuties'' won a [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/d/20110207.html random prize]] with CD (see the next page) and [[MoodSwinger one extra mood swing]] of her new good friend as a bonus in bonus. Yes, "she leads a charmed life".
125	* Fighter in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' has mentioned that [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/03/15/episode-527-imprisoned-with-the-fools/ he has sometimes dug his arm into a cereal box in the urge to get the prize inside, resulting in quite a mess.]] Black Mage soon becomes horrified when he finds out that Fighter only washes his hands once a week.
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Web Original]]
129	* In WebVideo/{{Caddicarus}}'s video "''[[https://youtu.be/rjG_vErbAJM The Ripoof World of Crash Bandicoot Merchandise]]''", he covers a couple of cereal box toys featuring Crash himself. He also laments that most cereals don't do this anymore.
130	-->'''Caddy:''' The toy was the tastiest bit! [Caddy eats a spoonful of cereal with a [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Squirtle]] toy on top]
131	* Website/CollegeHumor: Why settle for one prize when you can get a cereal box made entirely of prizes? "All Prizes Cereal" has all the toys you crave without all that boring cereal. It's the best thing to happen to breakfast since marshmallows!
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder:Western Animation]]
135	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'': The episode "[[Recap/TheAngryBeaversE7BoxtopBeavers Boxtop Beavers]]" featured Norb and Dag competing over a variant: the boxtop prizes. Dag would reach in and grab the prize at the bottom, but Norb would clip boxtops and mail them back (and receive a much better prize in return).
136	* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'': In the episode "[[Recap/Ben10S1E2WashingtonBC Washington B.C.]]", Ben uses Grey Matter for the first time to go digging through boxes of Sumo Smacks cereal to try and get a rare gold Sumo Slammers trading card.
137	* In "No Tradebacks!" in the fifth season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}}'', Caillou gets a small toy shovel as a prize in a cereal box, but is upset because it's not the stickers that he wanted-- ones like those that Rosie got when it was her turn to get the free prize. He trades it with his friend Jay for a set of the stickers and they agree to "[[TitleDrop no tradebacks]]," but then Caillou is upset that he traded it away when he sees that Jay attached it to his dump truck, this being a feature of the shovel. He cajoles Jay so much that Jay finally agrees to a tradeback anyway, but when Caillou sees how upset Jay gets, he finally honors the original agreement.
138	* In "I Am Collecting a Collection" from ''Literature/CharlieAndLola'', Charlie pours all the cereal out of a box and gets the second-to-last dinosaur he needs for his collection of plastic dinosaur figures.
139	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' is about Chicken finding a ''[[CreditCardPlot credit card]]'' in a cereal box (which only has a limit of 25 cents). Also, in the episode where he gets insomnia after eating coffee-flavored cereal, he finds a pair of underpants for a prize.
140	* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': In the episode "Decode of Honor" Dexter and DeeDee each get a decoder ring for their respective favorite medias (Loose parodies of G.I Joe and My Little Pony) that they have to use to fulfil a list of tasks to join the fanclub. Due to a mix up, they grab the wrong code sheets.
141	* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': In a flashback to Donald's childhood growing up with his lucky cousin Gladstone Gander, Gladstone finds $20 in the bottom of a cereal box. His luck can even spontaneously generate $20 bills within a reality entirely controlled by a villain, so it's a safe bet that the manufacturer didn't intentionally put that in the box.
142	* The episode "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS1E14TagYerEd Tag Yer Ed]]" from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' begins with the Eds obtaining a box of Chunky Puffs, which Eddy points out has a prize inside (a giant marshmallow). Ed, being Ed, reads the "Low in Fat" label and assumes the fat is the prize.
143	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', this trope is {{exploited\|trope}} by a race of super-cute aliens, who use their charm to take over other planets by making the inhabitants of said planets want to [[GottaCatchEmAll buy more]] Giggle-Pie "merchandise".
144	* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Creator/JeremyIrons is adamant to point out there is no prize at the bottom of his cereal.
145	* In "Franklin's Fossil" on ''Literature/{{Franklin}}'', the title character and his best friend Bear have been collecting a series of colored spinning tops that they're using as models of the solar system. The last one that they need is a purple one that's supposed to represent Pluto (this being back when it was still a planet) and when Mr. Mole sees them playing with them, he mentions having found the purple one in his cereal box. Later, when Mr. Mole gives it to them, Bear is thrilled that they can finally start eating some different cereal.
146	* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': The episode "[[Recap/HeyArnoldS1E15OlgaComesHomeSallysComet Sally’s Comet]]" has a variant of this where Arnold and Gerald need to collect box tops in order to win a telescope before Sally's Comet passes by. They end up getting their friends and various boarders to help, during which Harold accidentally eats a prize from one of the boxes.
147	* In "The Masked Mouse Rides Again" from ''Literature/IfYouGiveAMouseACookie'', Oliver and Mouse find a tiny toy telescope at the bottom of their cereal box. Oliver gives it to Mouse, who is inspired to create a pretend galaxy.
148	* The ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' episode "Johnny-O's" is centered around this. Johnny is sick about all the lame laser guns that come with cereal boxes, so he decides to create his own cereal--with a working laser gun as a prize inside. It comes back to bite him when Porkbelly goes crazy with the guns.
149	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'' has Stumpy buy a cereal box for the sake of a free hat, and then rip the box to shreds and let all the cereal fall on the ground, taking only the hat.
150	* In "Super Trolley" from ''WesternAnimation/MrBeanTheAnimatedSeries'', Bean gets an action toy prize from his POP cereals. However, when he's ran out of cereals, he goes to shopping to purchase Mrs. Wicket's needs especially cat litter and the POP cereals. After Bean goes back to his house, he got lots of action toys thanks to his POP cereals he brought.
151	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePatrickStarShow'': Exaggerated in "[[Recap/ThePatrickStarShowS2E1ThePatrickShowCashesInStarGames The Patrick Show Cashes In]]". Patrick makes a cereal that only consists of toys. Of course, this means you can't actually eat it because there's no actual food.
152	* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "[[Recap/PhineasAndFerbNoMoreBunnyBusiness No More Bunny Business]]" the boys make working X-ray specs and use them to look into cereal boxes to figure out which boxes contain the good prizes.
153	* In the ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' episode, "[[Recap/RegularShowS06E27LunchBreak Lunch Break]]", a flashback is shown where Mordecai and Rigby, who were pre-teens at the time, are trying to find an action figure of [=RGB2=], one of their favorite TV show characters, inside a box of "[=RGB2iOs=]". Unlike other examples, there is not a prize in every box; only 1 in 5 boxes. Mordecai and Rigby buy 5 boxes of the cereal, but Rigby's father catches them sifting through one of the boxes just to get the toy, and forces them to eat the entire box of cereal before opening another box. Mordecai and Rigby DO end up eating each box of cereal they open but end up not finding the action figure in either of the boxes and get food poisoning from eating too much cereal after eating four of the five boxes. Mordecai and Rigby are sent to a hospital, where they are given the action figure by two representatives of "[=RGB2iOs=]". Turns out the action figure was defective.
154	* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': "Stimpy's Breakfast Tips" showed Stimpy's preferred method for getting at a Muddy Mudskipper cereal bowl caddy: He just gets a very big bowl and pours all of the cereal into it. After he claims his prize, he stuffs the cereal back into the box.
155	* ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991'': In "[[Recap/RugratsS3E14PrincessAngelicaTheOddCouple The Odd Couple]]", when Tommy stays at Chuckie's house for the weekend, he and Chuckie are served Dummi Bear Sugar Lumps for breakfast. As Tommy tells Chuckie that in his house, he has Reptar Cereal for breakfast, Chuckie tells him that Dummi Bear Sugar Lumps are the cereal brand that his dad buys. He also shows Tommy the Dummi Bear whistle he got in his box of Dummi Bear Sugar Lumps, to which Tommy tells him that he gets a free dinosaur in Reptar Cereal. An annoyed Chuckie blows his whistle at Tommy.
156	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
157	** An early episode had Bart trying to find a police badge at the bottom of his cereal. It turns out Homer got to it first.
158	** Another episode features a box of Krusty-O's brand cereal that comes with a free jagged metal O at the bottom. Bart accidentally eats it and wins a court settlement of $100,000 from the company (of which Lionel Hutz takes all but $500 as his "legal fees"), which he then spends [[spoiler:on something for Lisa, [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe because she was the only one who believed he was sick]].]] He plans to get another settlement from the new Krusty-O's prize - flesh-eating bacteria.
159	* At the start of the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Shanghaied", [=SpongeBob=] is shaking his cereal box to find the toy inside. Just then, a giant anchor crashes into his house, leading to the line: "Squidward! The sky had a baby from my cereal box!"
160	** Also, in the episode "Waiting", [=SpongeBob=] misreads a "Free Prize Inside" message by ignoring the small print advertising a "free prize offer inside". After sending in the offer, the titular wait is [=SpongeBob=]'s wait at the mailbox for the prize to arrive.
161	* ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'' once had a bit where Taz went to insane lengths to get the prize from a box of cereal...which turned out to be one of those baking-powder propelled submarines.
162	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TimothyGoesToSchool'', Nora decided to forego her normal breakfast cereal in favor of something called "Weeds and Seeds" so that she could get the prize of emerald slippers at the bottom as a birthday present for Yoko. And she was such a good little girl that she actually ''ate'' the stuff, only to find that to her disappointment, there was only one slipper, and it was some dinky little thing. Her mother suggested making a necklace out of it and she did but thought her gift was lame and didn't want to give it to Yoko at first. When she finally did, Yoko was delighted, as the slipper was the mate to one that she already had. In the book version of the story, "Buried Treasure" from the anthology ''Timothy's Tales from Hilltop School," Yoko says that she ate 49 boxes of the same cereal trying to find the other slipper.
163	[[/folder]]
164	----
165	->So what's the free prize at the bottom here? A [[TheStinger Stinger]]? Aww... I already got one of those :(

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