The sugar coating is very important. You're absolutely right. Spice drops are icky. Hey, spice drops are good. I bet you hate ju-ju fish, too.
Swedish fish are the haddock of candy fish.
Ju-ju fish are those spongy slime growths that show up in tanks you don't clean. Gummy bears rule, too. No, they're better without the sugar coating. They don't assail you with entirely too much sweet right off. But we've already established your candy tastes are so fragile and delicate, you can't take the goodness of actual good candy lest you suffer some kind of system overload.