Strawberry Shortcake
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An original Strawberry Shortcake poster |
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Strawberry Shortcake is a
licensed character owned by American Greetings, originally used in greeting cards and expanded to include dolls, posters, and other products. The Strawberry Shortcake properties also include a toy line of the character's friends and pets.
History
The original design of Strawberry Shortcake and her
cat, Custard was done in 1977 by Muriel Fahrion during her time as a greeting card illustrator at American Greetings' Juvenile & Humorous card department.[1] After the idea was presented to Bernie Loomis of General Mills and became a licensing entity,[citation needed]
Fahrion designed a subsequent the 32 characters for Those Characters
From Cleveland (American Greetings' toy & licensing design
division).[1]
Cindy Mayer Patton and Janet Jones designed the other later
characters of the classic Strawberry Shortcake line. Lynn Edwards was
the editor of the line and developed the personality profiles and the
story line and philosophy. The first doll was a rag doll designed by
Muriel Fahrion and created by Susan Trentel, Fahrion's sister.
The Strawberry Shortcake line of characters each had their own fruit or
dessert-themed name with clothing to match, and they each had a dessert-
or fruit-named pet. Like the Strawberry Shortcake doll, all the other
characters' dolls had hair scented to match their dessert theme. The
characters lived and played in a magical world known as Strawberryland.
During the 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake became a huge
fad for young girls throughout the United States. At the time, there were many related products, such as
sticker albums, clothing, a
video game by
Parker Bros. entitled
Strawberry Shortcake Musical Match-Ups for the
Atari 2600 [1],
and numerous other products. Several TV specials were made featuring
the characters, one each year between 1980 and 1985, when the fad had
waned.
Kenner produced no new dolls or toys thereafter.
In 1991,
THQ
tried reviving 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. However, the line enjoyed at
best a modest success, lasting just the one year.
In 2002, the franchise was revived again, this time with a revamped
look by a different designer. Many strong licensing deals were made. A
television series with new
DVD and
VHS (and in certain markets [particularly in Asia],
Video CD) releases was made, with soundtracks for the episodes being put out on CDs at certain intervals.
DiC Entertainment was granted rights in producing the TV series, who sub-licensed the production of videos,
DVDs and Video CDs of the series to
20th Century Fox Home Videos (who subsequently licenses the production of the video outside the US to various other licensees).
Bandai
(along with KellyToy) was granted the rights to manufacturing the dolls
and toys. For the first time in almost two decades, new videogames were
launched, produced by
The Game Factory for the Nintendo
Game Boy Advance and
Nintendo DS. Educational
CD-ROMs for the
PC were also produced.
In 2006,
Playmates Toys
picked up the rights to make Strawberry Shortcake figures. The line is
named "A World of Friends". The doll Frosty Puff was new to this line,
but, although a good deal of shuffling and re-distribution was made
concerning the pets of the re-launched characters, very few of the new
dolls were actually merchandised with pets. A full-length feature film,
Strawberry Shortcake: The Sweet Dreams Movie, premiered in 2006 and released to videos in February 2007.
The Playmates' line was received with mixed reactions (see Criticisms
section below) from the series' fans. However, overall reaction towards
Playmates' line was negative. As a result, Playmates Toys lost the
rights to Hasbro, who will be putting out new toys beginning fall 2009,
after American Greetings reboots the franchise again.
[2]
1980s
Friends
There is a bit of "wiggle room" in a few cases, between the introduction
of a character, and their release as a toy. For instance, Raspberry
Tart (the character) was introduced in 1980, with the first Strawberry
Shortcake TV Special, alongside Huckleberry Pie, Apple Dumplin', etc.,
but was not released as a Doll until the next year. The same is true of
Strawberry Shortcake's nemesis,
The Peculiar Purple Pie Man.
Plum Puddin' also debuted in 1980, but would not get a doll until 1984,
by which time the character had switched genders, and was now a girl.
Moreover, with the exception of Apple Dumplin', Apricot, and The Purple
Pie Man, none of the other characters would come packaged with pets (nor
would most of them even be known to have pets) until the 1982 releases,
when all the earlier-released characters were re-issued with their
animal friends. A couple of the characters weren't produced as dolls at
all, namely T.N. Honey, Raisin Cane, and Baby Needs-a-Name, who was only
made as a larger-sized "Blow-Kiss" baby doll. Raisin Cane was
introduced as the niece of villainess Sour Grapes in Issue #1 of
Star Comics' (an imprint of
Marvel Comics)
short-lived Strawberry Shortcake Comic Book, and, as far as is known,
was never considered for any kind of commercial merchandising.
1980s toys
- Berry Bake Shoppe
- Snail Cart (with Escargot The Snail)
- Carrousel
- Berry-Shaped Carry Case
- Flitter-Bit the Butterfly
- Garden House (Gazebo)
- Big Berry Trolley
- Berry Merry Worm (Philbert Wormly III)
- Berry Happy Home
- Maple Stirrup and the Oatsmobile
1980s television specials
From 1980 through 1985, annual specials featuring Strawberry
Shortcake were produced. Like many other cartoons produced in the 1980s
that were based on characters from toy lines, they were produced
primarily to sell toys.
The 1980 and 1982 specials were animated by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and
Toei Doga, while the 1983 special through the final special 1985 were
animated by Nelvana, The 1981 special was a unique case, animated by
Perpetual Motion Pictures of New York.
2003 relaunch
A 2003 Strawberry Shortcake poster called "Berry Best Friends" featuring
Strawberry with Angel Cake (left) and Ginger Snap (right)
Characters with their pets and homes
A little revamping took place at the characters' relaunch. Both
Pupcake and Custard now belong to Strawberry Shortcake. In Pupcake's
place, a new pet, Shoofly Frog, was introduced as Huckleberry Pie's pet,
and Apple Dumplin' was relaunched as Strawberry Shortcake's sister.
Also, Strawberryland is now divided into "districts" like Cakewalk,
Orange Blossom Acres, Huckleberry Briar and Cookie Corners.
Strawberryland Fillies
The 2003 revival of the franchise introduced fillies to the
franchise. Each of the fillies are tied down to a character, with the
main filly, Honey Pie Pony, being the only one able to talk and have a
pet. However, when Playmates took over the dolls rights from Bandai,
they decided to scrap the existing fillies and introduce new ones.
However, the removal has not spread beyond the scope of the toy line.
2003 TV series
In 2003, the Strawberry Shortcake franchise was revived, and with it,
a Strawberry Shortcake TV series was finally produced, 19 years after
the last special. The series reflected the changes in the direction of
the franchise, and has the primary focus on being an educational
program.
The series is produced by DiC Entertainment and 20th Century Fox.
Theatrically released feature film
In October 2006, the first Strawberry Shortcake film,
The Sweet Dreams Movie,
was released in select cities by Kidtoon Films. The Peculiar Purple
Pie-Man of Porcupine Peak and Sour Grapes, which were notably absent
from the TV series, are re-introduced in the movie. However, Sour Grapes
is re-introduced as Purple Pieman's sister in materials related to the
Sweet Dreams Movie. The movie was released on DVD on February 6, 2007,
and has also been aired on networks and released on DVD and VideoCDs
worldwide.
Soundtracks
To date, 8 CDs have been released by Koch records since the
franchise's revival in 2003. These CDs are soundtrack CDs containing
music from the TV series and DVDs, as well as one for the movie.
Additionally, a CD was released along with a piano book.
2009 relaunch
In June 2008, American Greetings announced that Hasbro has won the
license from Playmates, and with it they will relaunch the series again.
The extensive relaunch involves numerous large redesigns and a reboot
of the franchise's universe. The relaunch began in Summer 2009
(originally planned for Fall 2009, but pushed forward in a recent
announcement), with the release of a CGI movie,
The Sky's the Limit, with
Anna Cummer
voicing Strawberry Shortcake. This will be followed by a 26 episode TV
series. However, the announcement has gained some criticism (see
Criticisms section below).
Merchandise of the 2009 relaunch began appearing in mid-2009.
As of December 2009, the main 6 characters of the show are Strawberry
Shortcake, Lemon Meringue, Orange Blossom, Raspberry Torte, Plum
Pudding and Blueberry Muffin. Recently, a 7th girl was added: Cherry
Jam.
According to American Greetings, the 2003 franchise' run will end in
spring 2009 where toys are concerned, but DVDs containing the older
designs will continue to be released until late 2010/early 2011.
Video games
The first Strawberry Shortcake videogame was produced in 1983. It was
designed for children, and thus the software was kept as simple as
possible, with very simple graphics and sounds (the abilities of the
Atari 2600 console were very limited). No further games based upon the
franchise were produced until 20 years later, in 2003, with Strawberry
Shortcake: Amazing Cookie Party, for the PC. Since then, games have been
published for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance, Sony PlayStation 2,
PCs and Apple Macintoshes, and even a standalone game console based on
Konami's Dance Dance Revolution franchise.
Criticisms
General inconsistencies
Over time, several characters' names and relationships were changed.
Raspberry Tart's name was changed to Raspberry Torte, for instance, and
Pupcake became Strawberry's pet instead of Huck's.
[3]
Playmates' acquisition of the licenses
In 2006, Bandai lost the rights of the franchise to Playmates. Upon
acquiring the license, Playmates started making changes to the
directions of the franchise.
Availability - Fans have noticed that since Playmates'
acquisition of license to the franchise, merchandise has become scarce,
especially in regions outside North America.
Scents - Playmates' introduction of the 2006 toy line is very
loose with the linked scents that have been traditional in this
franchise. Examples include cherry used for Crepes Suzette and Grape
used for Tea Blossom.
Fillies/Ponies - In early 2007, Playmates introduced three new
ponies, but these are different from the previous Strawberryland
Fillies. The ponies belong to Strawberry Shortcake, Angel Cake, and
Crepes Suzette, and are aligned with the Berries to Blossoms doll line.
The Honey Pie Pony and Milkshake names are not used and neither pony
looks like the fillies previously linked to Strawberry and Angel. The
new ponies are not given names of their own.
The TV show and the movie
There is a continuity error between
Meet Strawberry Shortcake and
Here Comes Pupcake,
with the former indicating that Strawberry Shortcake had not met the
other residents of Strawberryland when she already had Pupcake for a
while, while the latter indicates that she has known the other residents
of Strawberryland even before she acquired Pupcake.
[4]
Also, the versions of the first four episodes broadcast on North
American TV were edited down to 22 minutes in length. This resulted in
the removal of certain subplots and songs from the broadcast edition of
these episodes. This edited version was also used in the Game Boy
Advance Video release of the episodes. However, the DVD and VHS releases
contain the original 44-minute versions of the episodes. In other
markets these first four episodes were aired as two-parters, adding an
extra four episodes to the episode count.
[5]
Some episodes were also released under different names in different
regions. For example, "A Trip to Pearis, France" was released under the
title "The Friendship Club" on Disney Channel Asia and on Video CDs and
DVDs released in Asia. This was repeated for "The Great Friendship
Festival", "Dancing in Disguise", and "Meet Apricot", which was released
as "A Festival of Friends", "Everybody Dance" and "Let's Dance"
respectively in the Asian region.
[6]
2003 episodes Series 4 changes
With the transition to the new design for Series 4 of the show
beginning in 2008 with Big Country Fun, new criticisms arose about
various aspects and changes made upon transition from 2003 Season 1-3 to
2003 Series 4.
American Greetings' design team changed Blueberry Muffin's hair color
from blue to brown for the 2000s series, but reinstated her blue hair
in phases beginning in 2006 (starting with the Playmates dolls, followed
by books, and finally on to various media in 2008).
Also, beginning with
It Takes Talent and
Playing to Beat the Band, the characters now have an "all new look" which is more consistent with the current official artwork and toyline.
The continuity of "Everybody Dance aka Dancin' In Disguise" in "Let's
Dance" was discarded in Big Country Fun as Sour Grapes will be reverted
back into a villain.
[7]
Finally, there recently arose reports (as of February 2008) that
Honey Pie and the other fillies have been scrapped and will no longer be
featured in the fourth season of the 2000s TV series, probably a move
to synchronize the show with the Playmates dolls (which does not
associate Honey Pie or any of the current fillies with the dolls or
franchise, but instead a new generic, nameless set of fillies).
The 2009 Relaunch
Ever since June 2008, Hasbro has been named the new Master Toy
Licensee for Strawberry Shortcake. Credible sources state that American
Greetings plans to end the current franchise in Spring 2009, and wait
six months before relaunching the series in Fall 2009. However, it has
plans to stretch the current DVD releases until late 2010/early 2011,
allowing the current DVD franchise to run along DVDs featuring the new
redesigned characters (a similar tactic is also currently being employed
by American Greetings to market Care Bears DVDs containing the older
Nelvana/DiC animation series).
Undergoing another continuity reboot, the 2009 Hasbro-era Strawberry
Shortcake re-visits some elements of the classic '80s/'90s lines, but
combine them in all-new ways for the 21st century. The cast list has
been streamlined to include Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry's cat
Custard, and her friends Blueberry Muffin, Raspberry Torte, Plum
Pudding, Orange Blossom and Lemon Meringue, all characters from the
themes first two years. The girls have been reduced in size (again
evoking an '80s sensibility in regard to scale) to the point where they
can ride on the back of a bluebird, and balance on the tops of daisies.
Instead of Strawberryland, the girls live and work in Berry Bitty City, a
tiny village located in a berry patch, where they are aided in their
daily tasks by helpful little beings called Berrykins (which bear no
resemblance to the mid-'80s Berrykins).
Controversy
American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake
In
2003, webcomic
Penny Arcade posted an "advertisement" for an imaginary computer game,
American McGee's Strawberry Shortcake, in reference to
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
[8] - but not without making their indignation very clear.
[9]
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;
[10] they claim that fair use only protects the unauthorized use of copyrighted characters in
parodies
of the original material, and that satire and parody are totally
different concepts. Others, however, take the view that parody and
satire are equally protected by law.
[11]
Ironically, Penny Arcade did not intend to offend American Greetings in the comic, but instead intended to mock
American McGee and
Mcfarlane Toys, who collaborated to create a toy line based on a twisted version of
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The poster also mocked American McGee's game,
American McGee's Alice, a game with a dark and twisted take on Lewis Carroll's books,
Alice In Wonderland and
Through the Looking Glass.
Various other TV shows, including
Drawn Together,
[12] Robot Chicken,
[13][14][15] and
South Park[16]
have since also parodied or satirized Strawberry Shortcake in various
ways but at this time have met no reported retaliation from American
Greetings.
Cookie Jar's acquisition
On June 20, 2008, Cookie Jar Entertainment announced its intention to merge with DiC Entertainment,
[17] who holds the rights to the Strawberry Shortcake animated series. The merger was completed on July 23, 2008.
[18]
On the same day as the finalization of the merger, Cookie Jar
Entertainment announced further intentions to acquire the Strawberry
Shortcake and Care Bears franchise from American Greetings itself.
[19]
The deal was expected to finalize on September 30, 2008. However, up
until April 2009, there was no further word on the status of the
acquisition.
In March 2009, it was announced that Cookie Jar delayed the
acquisition back in December 2008 due to difficulty in financing the
acquisition. It was also revealed that Cookie Jar offered US$195 million
for the franchise. And due to the situation, American Greetings has put
the franchise back on sale. It was also announced that a French company
called MoonScoop has expressed interest and offered US$95 million for
the franchise, US$100 million less than what was offered by Cookie Jar.
Cookie Jar has announced intentions to compete against MoonScoop's bid,
however. Cookie Jar had until end of April 2009 to counter MoonScoop's
bid.
[20].
This has led to various currently ongoing lawsuits between Cookie Jar, American Grreetings and MoonScoop. However, MoonScoop is given ownership of the franchise while the lawsuits proceed.
