When I was a little girl, I loved dolls and stuffed animals. Among my favorite characters was the cute, sweet little Strawberry Shortcake. You remember her?
She was the picture of childhood innocence, was she not? I even collected little dolls of her and her friends. Remember these?
So imagine my surprise and disappointment to see what they have done to her! I recently came across these “new and improved” Strawberry Shortcake dolls:
At least they didn’t give her cleavage. 
Does anyone else think it should be a crime to mess with my childhood icons like this? I mean, come on! This obviously isn’t the same person! Can’t they just call her something else? Strawberry Shortcake’s niece, Jessica Shortcake, or something?
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Editing to add:
Joan reminded me about Rainbow Brite. Remember her?
She’s all grown up now:
(Okay, this one was just a costume, but still!)
i had the cinnamon spice doll, i forget her name.
My favorite doll was Holly Hobby. i had several dolls, some purses, curtains and bed linens…
Anyway, to answer your question, no. Nothing is sacred, however, everything is marketed. And i’d hate to see Strawberry Shortcake fifteen years from now. That’s where the cleavage will come.
You’re right! In fifteen years we’ll probably have anorexic Cabbage Patch Kids too.
That’s horrifying to me. Can’t they let little girls be little girls. If I had a little girl and someone gave that to her I would throw it in the swamp. My daughter liked My Little Ponys. She still has her whole collection. She also loved Rainbow Brite.
Oh, I forgot about Rainbow Brite! I just added to my post so you can see her now!
Oh boy, do I remember! You were the Queen of Shortcake….and Care Bears, and Munchichies, and Barbies, and I don’t know what all! I will probably find some in the attic as I declutter.
How dare they mess with an icon like that?
Don’t forget to look for that painting! It just might be in the attic somewhere.
You are soooo right and I was thinking the same thing the other day. Why do they insist on “bringing things back,” but changing them to something totally different than what they were? I don’t get it. If you are going to change it so much then give it a new name and make it a new product altogether. I like to remember those childhood things the way they truly were. I feel the same when I see cartoons on that are based on the originals but are now totally different. Like Scooby Doo now has Scrappy Doo. Muppets, Looney Toons and Disney characters now exists as babies too. And WTF? Barbie’s little sister, Skipper (http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1366/649418055_28fbfa57bc.jpg?v=0) went from being a pre-teen to being some kind of hybrid, bug-eyed, giant headed alien/human doll thing with goiter to hold her giant head on her neck (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c8/Skipper3.jpg/180px-Skipper3.jpg). Thanks, I feel better now.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who is disappointed in these things! Yeah, why can’t they just get new things and let us keep ours? Or if they are going to bring them back, don’t change them. Even the new Care Bears are not the same. They are thinner or something.
I hate when they do that.
I had a Strawberry Shortcake doll that came with a tin of muffins. If you scratched the muffins, they smelled like strawberries (mixed with plastic). I also had her friend, Blueberry somebodyoranother….who came with her own tray of blueberry scented muffins.
I don’t know WHO that second doll is, but I can guarantee you that it is not Strawberry Shortcake. She’s a little wannabe fashion plate with anorexic stick legs.
Harumph, I say!
I remember those scratch-and-sniff things! I had all my dolls in a box and when I opened it you could smell a mixture of all those scents. I have since smelled things that reminded me of them and it brings back memories!
Ha! Ha! Funny girl! I have all the original Strawberrry Shortcakes
MOST OF THEM, probably 40-50 dollies…. Plus Purple Pie man, the Ferris Wheel, and my favorite of all time, the flying caterpillar with built in strawberry seats. A co-worker recently gave me TWO in their original box (she use to work for american greetings, orig. manufacturer) and had them in her storage.
The new ones aren’t nearly as cute. Why do they do that? They did the same thing with LITTLEST PET SHOP. I have a major collection of the originals. My daughter has the new ones and they are just not nearly as creative or cute! WHAT THE HECK.
They were big sellers back then for a reason, they were awesome, why can’t they just make little improvements? and OMG, no I didn’t know about Rainbow Bright, she surely filled out! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Love this post! Do you still have any strawberry short cakes? I did not. They got lost in the shuffle of growing up. I bought them all in a huge lot on ebay- paid a ton of money and they were worth every penny! I want my grandbabies to play with them…. some day…..
That’s awesome that you have all the originals! No, the new ones are NOT as cute, you’re right. They should not have messed with them at all, not even “little improvements” I don’t think!
If I still have any of them they will be in my mom’s attic, which she has yet to sort through! I hope she finds them and sends them to me. They are probably hidden away up there with my Monchichi’s! I was very young when I played with them, so I don’t even remember what ones I had, just that I had them and played with them and loved them.
Oh. My. Word.
Rainbow Brite grew up and became a strip-o-gram.
It appears so!
HAHAHA@all the comments above.
And of course nothing is. We live in the age where everything has to be extra small….people….food portions…dolls?! OH MAI GAWD
That is so sad.
Strawberry Slim Skank!
Not cute, not wholesome, NOT Strawberry Shortcake. My nieces used to be big fans, watching the shows, having the dolls… They can never leave well enough alone.
Nice nickname!
[...] This post over at birdpress got me thinking about the toys, cartoons and stuff i loved growing up. i mentioned over there how i loved Holly Hobby. i had dolls and curtains and bed linens. i drew a billion pictures of her and colored more than my share of Holly Hobby pictures. She’s been updated, too. [...]
so now sweetstrawberry shortcake looks like a HOOKER???
Oh my gosh I can’t even begin to tell you how upset I am. I remember strawberry just being a nice little chunky doll now a strawberry scented hookerized barbie?? YUCK! Although I find some of the Bratz dolls kind of “fun”..they too are not “dolls”. What is wrong with the world?
Now instead of Strawberry saying..”Have a berry nice day.”
she’s saying..”that’ll be $300 mista!”
This is my 2nd attempt to leave a comment, so feel free to delete if it’s a duplicate.
I have seen the horror that is modern Strawberry Shortcake and I thoroughly agree with your assessment. I have given my young daughter my old Strawberry doll to play with, in hopes that she never discovers new Strawberry.
It’s nearly blasphemous.
I don’t see anything strange about the new Rainbow Brite doll though.