Bingo! I don’t drink much soda, but if I do, it is a Zero version of Coke. My wife, who has drank (drunk?) Diet Pepsi forever, still prefers Diet Pepsi. There is no accounting for taste. She does admit that Coke Zero tastes close to regular Coke.
I do like the extra toasted. They’re a touch crunchier and have an elevated Maillard flavor.
This past week I picked up a Coke on my way through the checkout and was so disappointed when I got home and realized it was a Coke Zero. I could taste a difference immediately. Enough to say, “Shit, this is diet, isn’t it?” And check the label. Sure enough.
It wasn’t the most terrible taste, probably one of the better iterations of zero calorie soda, but it was missing something.
Also the name I picked was “Aiden.” I don’t know why this is a thing either, but I find it amusing. It doesn’t make me any more or less likely to buy a Coke, though.
I’m kinda hoping for Muscovy flavor.
< ducks and runs >
I know what Maillard is, don’t spoil the joke. 
I’ve seen Ripple but not Silk Next. Ripple is milk made from pea protein, and Silk Next was unsweetened coconut milk.
I started a thread here recently about milk made from watermelon seeds! I haven’t seen it in my local stores, but a favorite YouTuber talked about it.
I was skeptical, but I looked it up and orange came out in 1969 as the second Gatorade flavor. The first was lemon-lime and it came out in 1965. I would have put both of those events as five to ten years later. I grew up on the west coast though and in those days products took longer to spread across the country.
Even the thought of most of the things on your list makes me queasy. 
Why would you name your vegetable milk after a well known wino hooch???
Silk Next wasn’t just coconut milk. IIRC it was a blend of two or three different milks. My wife liked it because it wasn’t as watery as a lot of other plant milks.
But yeah, “Ripple”? WTF? At least they didn’t call it Mad Dog or Night Train.
AFIK, Coke collects data from those Coke Freestyle machines to determine which flavor combinations are the most popular, which gives them an idea as to which ones will sell well in cans.
Specifically, Coke Zero is regular Coke with artificial sweetener. Diet Coke is New Coke with artificial sweetener. Or technically New Coke was Diet Coke with real sugar, since Diet Coke came first. IIRC when they developed Diet Coke in the early 1980s they specifically gave it a flavor profile more like Pepsi, to try to get Pepsi drinkers who wanted a diet soda to switch to Diet Coke.
However, I have no idea what, if anything, is the difference between Diet Dr. Pepper and Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar.
FWIW, there’s a nuclear power plant in the region called Exelon, and that’s also the brand name of a drug that helps some people with Alzheimer’s.
I just finished reading this book, which is about the development of leaded gasoline and, concurrently, industrial hygiene. When Ethyl, the tetra-ethyl lead additive, started to be phased out, the corporation started to diversify, and for a while, they were selling LIFE INSURANCE!
The most significant differences between Coke Zero and Diet Coke are in the taste and ingredients. They both contain aspartame, but Coke Zero also uses the sweetener acesulfame potassium and has less caffeine.
That article doesn’t explain about the taste issues involving Dr. Pepper, though. Just about the whole “diet” vs “zero” thing.
Yes, I already knew Diet Coke and Coke Zero tasted different. But that doesn’t answer the question about the two forms of Dr. Pepper. Diet Dr. Pepper and Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar both taste the same to me.
I like the Italian Four Cheese version but they’re kind of hard to find. Menard’s of all places usually has them.
In the run-up to Easter, our local Kroger was stocking Reese’s peanut butter chocolate eggs, which were so good we developed a mild addiction.
The eggs were discontinued after Easter, but were still available for online ordering, including as a box of 48 peanut butter eggs, which of course we would never consider getting. 
That never made sense to me either.
I was a huge Dr Pepper fan back in the day. I remember that they used to say it was a proprietary blend of 23 flavors. I could never imagine 23 flavors but to me cherry always dominated.
These days I rarely drink carbonated beverages. More importantly I am caffeine-free. It is easy to find caffeine-free Coke. Several brands of root beer are caffeine-free. But it is very difficult to find caffeine-free Dr Pepper. If I could find it I would buy it.
To me Diet Dr Pepper tasted closer to the “regular” stuff than any other soda.
And it’s really hard to find a regular-sized box of original Cheez-Its, too. Seems like every time I go to get one there’s only a huge Family Sized Original box available, or no original at all. My grocery store has started carrying single serve bags in a cardboard display at the end of the cracker aisle. I pick up one or two (even though they’re mostly crushed) because that’s about all the Cheez-Its I need.
As for extensions that are awesome - I think Double Stuffed Oreos are vastly superior to the original. AND the Triple Stuffed are much worse! Double is just perfect.
I feel the same way about Pepperidge Farm Double Chocolate Milanos vs. original Milanos. (But the chocolate-dipped “Enrobed” Milanos were overkill.)