Flavor: I've got to give it to Stride, they are good at marketing. In this case, it feels like a flavor was developed, this sort of tropical flavor, and nobody in the tasting room could really figure out what it was supposed to taste like. It is, indeed, fruity, but I can't detect one individual fruit flavor in there. One food scientist must have said to the other, "It tastes... tropically?" And the other food scientist suggested they just shoot it up to marketing to work with that. So that's what you have. "Tropical Trance," a vague, nutra-sweet, fruity-esque flavor, that errs on the side of the tropical spectrum of fruitiness. That apparently puts you in some kind of meditative state because of its hypnotic packaging.
Texture: It's all right, a good chew, as most Stride gum is. Not much to report here.
Presentation: Ok, so in my imaginary Stride Tropical Trance development model, the marketing people received this sweet, nondescript gum and were charged with coming up with something that might entice a consumer to purchase it. Somebody in that office flipped through their backlog of ideas that don't pertain to any flavor in particular, and found this one, which seemed to everybody to be a pretty cool idea. Thus, Tropical Trance was born. Whether or not anybody researched the hypnotic nature of the swirly design on the package is yet to be determined, so let me know if you start acting out of the ordinary and doing something really strange like buying this gum more than once.
Overall: You're getting sleepy... yes... yes... you're getting sleeeeepy. Now spit out the gum... yes, that's right... and move on to another flavor. This one's gross.
Rating: o (one gumball)