Strawberry Shortcake is a media franchise that originated from a series of greeting cards published by American Greetings bearing the image of the titular character. The line was later expanded to include dolls, clothing, posters, and other products featuring the character, as well as an extended cast of friends and pets. In addition, the franchise has spawned television specials, animated television series and films. The franchise is currently owned by the Canadian children's television company WildBrain[1][2] through the holding company Shortcake IP Holdings LLC.
History
Conception and creation
The character of Strawberry Shortcake was originally created by Barbi Sargent, who was then working as a freelance artist for American Greetings. The character first appeared on a Laurel Valentine's Day greeting card in 1972–1973. At the time, the character was simply called Girl with a Daisy or Strawberry Girl and was depicted holding a daisy while wearing an orange bonnet with a strawberry print on it. Rex Conners, American Greetings' staff art director, knew this card was very popular and determined that this was due to the strawberry motif.[3] He requested Sargent to create four cards with a "strawberryish" outfit for the Mega Test Market. Sargent completed the assignment in early July 1977, sending American Greetings four full-color leader cards depicting the Strawberry Shortcake character in full color ("Leader cards" are used by American Greetings for consumer test purposes). These tests marked the first time that the public saw Strawberry Shortcake in her new design, which received a positive reception.
In the late 1970s, further Strawberry Shortcake concept art was drawn by Muriel Fahrion, an illustrator working in American Greetings' Juvenile & Humorous card department.[3] Fahrion then designed a subsequent 32 characters for Those Characters From Cleveland (American Greetings' toy and licensing design division). Later characters that were added to the line were designed by Cindy Mayer Patton and Janet Jones. Artwork for the series was done by a number of different freelancers, though the majority was painted by artist Frances Kariotakis. Lynn Edwards served as the editor of the line, helping to develop the characters and storyline.
The Strawberry Shortcake line of characters each had their own fruit with clothing to match, and they each had a fruit or dessert-named pet. Like the Strawberry Shortcake doll, all the other characters' dolls had hair scented to match their theme. The characters lived and played in a magical world known as Strawberryland.
Merchandise
In 1979, toy manufacturer Kenner licensed the character and released the first Strawberry Shortcake doll.[4] At the time, Strawberry Shortcake resembled a typical rag doll, complete with freckles, a mop of red yarn curls, and dressed in a red dress with a white apron, green and white striped socks and a pink bonnet with strawberry print. To reflect this, the first toy was constructed to be a rag doll, designed by Muriel Fahrion and made by Susan Trentel, Fahrion's sister.
In May 1983, following a court case, copyrights to Strawberry Shortcake were granted to Barbi Sargent from American Greetings Corporation.[5] Later on, Sargent returned the copyrights to American Greetings so that they could continue with the success of the Strawberry Shortcake franchise.
During the 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake became popular with children throughout the United States. At the time, there were many related products, such as children's books, sticker albums, clothing, bedding, a video game by Parker Brothers entitled Strawberry Shortcake Musical Match-Ups for the Atari 2600,[6]
Television specials
The first animated television special featuring Strawberry Shortcake and related characters, The World of Strawberry Shortcake, aired on syndicated television stations in the United States on March 28, 1980.[9][10] After the success of the special, a second special was produced, Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City[9] which aired on April 10, 1981, of which both were syndicated through the Lexington Broadcast Services Company.[11] A third special Strawberry Shortcake: Pets on Parade[9] was later produced, and aired on April 9, 1982. The specials were written and produced by Robert L. Rosen and Romeo Muller, with animation provided by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson
1991 relaunch
In 1991, THQ relaunched the franchise by producing an updated line of Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Strawberry and five of her classic friends each got a makeover with new clothes, hair, and eyes, but the line saw only modest success and was very short-lived, lasting only a year. American Greetings' VP of licensing, Michael Brown, said in 2002 that the THQ relaunch failed due to being around at the wrong time, with the audience who enjoyed the franchise in the 1980s only being in their teenage years at the time.[17]
2003 relaunch
In 2001, American Greetings appointed DIC Entertainment as the exclusive licensing agent for the franchise. DIC and American Greetings officially revealed their plans in March 2002 to relaunch the franchise for a new generation with a series of four specials released direct-to-video through 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment beginning in 2003 and later air on television, alongside various merchandise deals including a major toy licensing deal with Bandai. Merchandising would initially focus on the classic designs, which would be released in the second half of 2002, while merchandise featuring the new look would be released in 2003 to coincide with the specials.[17]
The relaunch focused on a main core cast of characters - Strawberry Shortcake, Custard the cat, Pupcake the dog, Angel Cake, Orange Blossom, Huckleberry Pie, Apple Dumplin' and new character Ginger Snap. The existing characters were redesigned to look more like actual children than dolls. Custard and Pupcake also had major redesigns to look more like actual animals than stuffed toys, of which Pupcake now belongs to Strawberry Shortcake. Apple Dumplin' would also become Strawberry Shortcake's sister. Additionally, Strawberryland was divided into "districts", such as Cakewalk, Orange Blossom Acres, Huckleberry Briar and Cookie Corners. The relaunch also introduced fillies to the series, with Honey Pie Pony being the main filly, and the only one who could talk and have a pet of her own.
For the second year of the relaunch, the characters each gained their own fillies and pets, and several additional characters were added.
2009 relaunch
In 2008, Hasbro acquired the rights to produce a new line of Strawberry Shortcake toys.[23] The extensive relaunch involved numerous large redesigns and a reboot of the franchise's universe.
The relaunch began in the Summer of 2009, with the release of a CGI film, The Strawberry Shortcake Movie: Sky's the Limit, with Anna Cummer voicing Strawberry Shortcake. A TV series, Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures, debuted in October 2010 on The Hub.
The characters of the show are reduced to an initial lineup of six main characters: Strawberry Shortcake, Lemon Meringue, Orange Blossom, Raspberry Torte, Plum Pudding, and Blueberry Muffin. Cherry Jam, a new character made for the series, is introduced in the second season. Huckleberry Pie was reintroduced in the third season as a recurring character, while Sweet and Sour Grapes (no relation to the villainess character) debuted in Series 4, alongside the return of Apple Dumplin'.
In 2014, The Bridge Direct became the new master toy partner for the franchise. The products shown appeared to retain the designs of the 2009 Strawberry Shortcake relaunch and included several dolls, pets, doll furniture, and musical instruments.
In February 2015, Iconix Brand Group
Cancelled 2018 relaunch
In 2016, Iconix Brand Group and DHX Media (now WildBrain) began to develop a new Strawberry Shortcake animated series.[28] The series was scheduled to run for three seasons, totaling 39 episodes, although no cast, crew, or release date were revealed at the time, and would have used 3D computer animation similar to the 2009 series.[29] The only known elements of this show was Strawberry possessing a magical power, and there were berrykins.
In 2017, DHX Media acquired Iconix's entertainment brands, including Strawberry Shortcake, for $345 million, allowing DHX to fully take over production of the planned revival.[1][2] This deal was finalized at the end of June.[1] This respective reboot was soon revealed to have been an early concept of the current series: Berry in the Big City.[30]
2021 relaunch
A new relaunch of the franchise began with 2D-animated web series from WildBrain Studios, titled Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, which aired on YouTube in September, and later on Family Jr. in October 2021.[31][32][33]
The central cast of this adaptation features Strawberry Shortcake, Custard, Orange Blossom, Lemon Meringue, Blueberry Muffin, and returning character Lime Chiffon. Raspberry Torte, who is renamed back to Raspberry Tart, is featured as Strawberry's arch-rival and is accompanied by Sour Grapes and new character Bread Pudding as the three antagonists of Season 1, with the Purple Pieman as the antagonist of Season 2.[34]
A series of four holiday-themed CGI specials were also produced and premiered in Canada on Family Jr. in 2023 and 2024, and premiered globally on
2026 relaunch
Another relaunch of the property, this time utilizing the original 1980s appearance of the character, is in development since early 2026. This relaunch will heavily focus on material produced for digital media platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.[37][38]
List of characters
Introduced in the 1980s
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Custard, Strawberry's pet cat (1980s, 2003, 2009, 2021)
- Pupcake, Strawberry's pet dog (2003, 2009)
- Honey Pie Pony, Strawberry's friend, a talking filly (2003)
- Huckleberry Pie
- Pupcake, Huckleberry's pet dog (1980s)
- Shoofly, Huckleberry's pet frog (2003)
- Huckleberry Hash, Huckleberry's filly friend (2003)
- Tom-Tom, Huckleberry's pet coonhound (2013)
- Red Hot, Huckleberry's pet ferret (2021)
- Blueberry Muffin
- Cheesecake, Blueberry's pet mouse (1980s, 2003, 2021)
- Blueberry Sundae, Blueberry's filly friend (2003)
List of relaunches
Media
Albums & soundtracks
Kid Stuff Records released albums based on Strawberry Shortcake in the early 1980s. After the 2003 revival, Koch Records issued soundtrack CDs containing music from the TV series and DVDs, as well as one for the film. A CD was also released along with a piano book.
Video games
The first Strawberry Shortcake video game was produced in 1983 for the Atari 2600. No further games based upon the franchise were produced until 20 years later, in 2003, with Strawberry Shortcake: Amazing Cookie Party for PC. Since then, games have been published for the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, PC, and Mac. A standalone plug-and-play game based on Konami's Dance Dance Revolution franchise was also produced. In addition, mobile apps for the iOS[39]
Controversies
Penny Arcade
In 2003, the webcomic Penny Arcade posted an "advertisement" for a fictional computer game, American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake, a parody of the actual computer game American McGee's Alice, a twisted and violent take on Lewis Carroll's works. American Greetings took offense to the parody and issued a cease-and-desist letter, to which the authors begrudgingly complied[41] (but not without making their indignation very clear).[42] A follow-up strip cites bad timing as a contributing factor to the situation;[43] according to the strip, Holkins and Krahulik were not aware that American Greetings was about to relaunch the Strawberry Shortcake line at that time.
Some argue that Penny Arcade's case was not covered under the fair use doctrine because the use of the characters, in this case, was for satire;
External links
- Strawberry Shortcake on the Internet Archive
- Strawberry Shortcake at Don Markstein's Toonopedia (Archived from the original on December 7, 2017).
- Strawberry Shortcake Revival in 2009 at AnimationInsider.net
References
- Charlie Brown and Strawberry Shortcake sold for $345M US to Halifax company CBC News, 10 May 2017, retrieved 11 May 2017^
- DHX Media Acquires 'Peanuts' in $345 Million Purchase of Iconix Variety, 10 May 2017, retrieved 10 May 2017^
- Tony Chiu, Joyce Wansley. Who's Red and Sweet and Filthy Rich? Strawberry Shortcake, Toyland's Newest Tyke-Coon