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Who sweeps her floors in a cake made of strawberry?
Plays outdoors of a cake made of strawberry?
Games and chores in a cake made of strawberry?
Strawberry Shortcake, wouldn't ya know?

Strawberry Shortcake was created by Those Characters From Cleveland and started life as a greeting card character in the early 1980s. She soon spawned a line of popular dolls and other merchandise, accompanied by six TV specials released annually from 1980 to 1985. In these specials, she and her friends lived in Strawberryland, raising berries and taking care of the occasional villainy concocted by The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak and his associate Sour Grapes. The first two specials are available on DVD.

In 2003, she came back again, this time with a series of Direct to Video specials, all of which were subsequently split up into a TV series. It also spawned two movies, regular soundtrack releases, and games. In this incarnation, she still lived in Strawberryland, but her friends lived in their own lands, and for a while, there were no villains, just life lessons to be learned. In 2007, the Purple Pieman and Sour Grapes were reintroduced as villains, and the character models were changed to make the characters look more like teenagers, but otherwise, the series still followed the same basic format. This series is currently being offered on-demand on some U.S. cable and satellite services through Kabillion, on sale on Leap Frog's AppCenter, and available to those subscribed to Hulu Plus.

The franchise got another reboot in 2009, with Strawberry living in Berry Bitty City, and no villains in sight until Sour Grapes returned in 2016. This franchise has spawned a 2010 TV series, Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures, three movies, an iPhone game that is only available in the US, and a 2018 web series on YouTube, which adapts several stories from the IDW comics. The 2009 series is on The Hub in the United States and Boomerang in some non-U.S. markets and is released on DVD. IDW Publishing also made a comic book miniseries based on this show.

In 2016, a fourth reboot was announced, bringing Strawberry Shortcake back to the world of TV in three seasons and 39 half-hour episodes. Initially going to be CGI, after years of Development Hell it was eventually cancelled.

In 2021, another Strawberry Shortcake series was announced, titled ''Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City", to come to YouTube in September of 2021 using 2D animation. The series would be set in Big Apple City, with Strawberry moving to the city to pursue a baking career and meet new friends. Unlike the previous generations, it largely drops the more fantastical elements in favor of a "realistic" modern day setting, and each episode consists of 4-minute shorts rather than a full-length runtime. On November of 2021, it was announced the series would also be aired on Netflix, and Paramount Plus on January 31st. In September of 2023, it was announced that the series would receive four 3D animated Netflix specials, with the first released on October 2nd, and another on November 1st. The official YouTube Channel would also begin posting original Shorts featuring the characters on January 15, 2024.


This franchise contains examples of:

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    Multiple series 
  • Adaptation Distillation: A number of the stories from the 2003 and 2009 series were released as picture books or chapter books. Other books with original stories have also been released.
  • All-CGI Cartoon: The Sweet Dreams Movie and the 2009 series are all-CGI. The 2021 series was originally planned to be this, but it reverted back to being a 2D cartoon.
  • Alternate Continuity: Every series has different designs, lore, and characters.
  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Pink cats, blue/green dogs, blue mice, purple and white lambs, and the list goes on and on.
  • Anti-Villain: The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peaknote  in the first '80s television special, Raisin Cane in the 1986 comic book, and every antagonist in the 2003 series. Sour Grapes is a prime example of this trope in the 2003 series, though this is subverted for her on some occasions.
  • Art Evolution: The characters have undergone five major design revisions since the franchise was launched in the early 80s.
  • Art-Shifted Sequel: The 2009 series used 3D animation for the main show, with the previous series being traditionally animated. 2021 would return to 2D but be digitally animated in a similar style to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted in the '80s series and the early seasons of the 2003 series, but started appearing after the 2007 redesign, and played straight in the 2009 series.
  • Bragging Theme Tune: The 2003 and 2009 series' theme songs talk about how sweet, lovable, and awesome Strawberry Shortcake is.
    • The extended theme for the 2021 version takes this to the next level by inserting a Boastful Rap in the middle.
  • Cheerful Child: Strawberry and her friends are generally this, though how much depends on the storyline.
  • Christmas Special:
    • 2003: Berry Merry Christmas.
    • 2009: The three TV episodes that make up The Glimmerberry Ball Movie.
    • 2021:
      • Lemon's Name in Lights.
      • Berry Berry Melody
      • Mission Unfrostable
      • The Magic Is You
      • Strawberry Shortcake’s Perfect Holiday, a 45-minute 3D special.
  • Continuity Reboot: Once in 2003, again in 2009, and again in 2021.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Often. There are plenty of exceptions, such as (most of) the villains and (most) side characters. Averted by many of the 2003 protagonists. Strawberry herself is a subversion: Strawberry wears red and pink clothes while her eyes are brown in the '80s and 2003, and green in 2009. Still, there are many cases of Curtains Match the Window in all versions.
  • Dastardly Whiplash: The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak. He even has a mustache much like the trope namers.
  • Disney Acid Sequence: The "Berry Talk" song in The World of Strawberry Shortcake. Also, many of the songs in the 2003/2007 continuity.
  • Edible Theme Naming: The Ur example, as everyone and everything is named after food.
  • Edutainment Show: Generally of the pro-social lessons variety, but occasionally covering other territory as well
  • Expanded Universe: All three incarnations have storybooks (including book and record sets) that tell original stories not based on any of the specials or TV episodes.note 
  • Free-Range Children: Possibly. The characters at least look like children.
  • Girliness Upgrade:
    • Inverted with the 2003 series. Strawberry looked more tomboyish than she did in her 1980s design. She was later given an older, girly design.
    • Comparing the 2009 series to earlier versions, Strawberry looks much more feminine and traditionally cute.
    • Inverted with the 2021 reboot making her more neutrally feminine looking.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: The Pieman and Sour Grapes both switch sides a couple of times depending on the continuity.
    • 1980s specials: The Pieman. He had a Heel–Face Turn at the end of The World of Strawberry Shortcake, but by the following year's Big Apple City, he reverted to his old ways due to his "evil conscience", as he explains to the frustrated Strawberry.
    • 2003/2007 series: Sour Grapes wavers in wanting to befriend the heroes and her loyalty to her brother, ultimately staying good at the end of Dancing in Disguise.
  • Licensed Games:
    • 1980s: Strawberry Shortcake's Musical Match-Ups for the Atari 2600
    • 2003/2007: Four titles (including one GBA Video cartridge and one Europe-exclusive title) for the Game Boy Advance, two titles for the Nintendo DS, and a title for the Playstation2, which was ported over to the PC and then not released outside Europe. And then there's the Plug-and-play dance mat. Also, three PC titles (including said Europe-only port of the PS2 Sweet Dreams Game).
    • Edutainment Games: Amazing Cookie Party and Berry Best Friends (two of the aforementioned PC titles) are this.
    • 2009: Games from two different companies, Budge Studios, and Cupcake Digital.
  • Lilliputians: The 1980s and 2009 Strawberry and friends are tiny people living in a berry patch. Implied in the former, played straight in the latter.
  • Limited Wardrobe:
    • Played straight in the 80s series.
    • Zigzagged in the 2003/2007 reboot. While in the cartoon the characters have a "default" outfit they wear most of the time, the books, toys, greeting cards, and other merchandise tend to vary their outfits, especially the Playmates-era dolls.
  • Meaningful Name: Everybody, and a lot of characters also have multiple meanings to their names.
  • Merchandise-Driven: The cartoons were made to help sell scented dolls.
  • Never Had Toys: Sour Grapes reveals that she never had a doll when she was little and says that her life would have been totally different if she had one.
  • New York Is Only Manhattan: The 80s version had "Big Apple City", a stand-in for Manhattan that ignored the rest of the city.note 
  • No Antagonist: Much of the 2003 episodes except The Festival of Fillies, up until the reintroduction of the Pie-Man and Sour Grapes.
    • Played straight again with the 2009 CGI series.
  • Not Allowed to Grow Up: Played with.
    • The 2003 series played it generally straight, but with some weirdness at times. For example, Apple Dumplin' was a toddler in this series, but the intro sequence depicted her as the same age as the other main characters. There was also an episode in which she was shown having a dream of being older. Despite all of this, the show went on for several seasons without any growing up, so it's fair to say it was almost entirely straight. The characters did eventually get older redesigns, but they didn't quite look like teens yet.
    • The 2009 series presents the characters as (slightly) older and more mature. In all three versions, the characters handle their own affairs, including getting ready for bed, harvesting food, and in the 2009 series having proper jobs. See There Are No Adults below.
  • The One Guy:
    • Huckleberry Pie, most of the time. The first two 1980s specials had another male character in Plum Puddin', but he didn't have a corresponding doll. The character was reintroduced as a female in 1984, and finally got represented as a toy this way.
    • The 1980s series also had Lem, half a set of twins with his sister Ada.
  • Painting the Frost on Windows:
    • In Strawberry Shortcake Meets The Berrykins, The Berry Princess and her Berrykins are in charge of giving the berries of Strawberryland their scent.
    • In Spring For Strawberry Shortcake, Old Man Winter and the young girl Spring are responsible for bringing their respective seasons to Strawberryland.
    • "When The Berry Fairy Came to Stay" reveals that the Berry Fairies are responsible for giving the Strawberryland berries their size and color.
  • Parental Bonus:
    • The 2003 version has a character named "Watermelon Kiss". A watermelon kiss is also an alcoholic drink.
    • Mint Tulip from the '80s series name was partially a pun on mint julep, another alcoholic drink.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: Much of The Merch during the 2000's series.
  • The Power of Friendship: Large portions of the series, particularly the 2003 one, pretty much operate on this. The ultimate expression of it is songs such as "Friendship Grows" from "Meet Strawberry Shortcake", "The Gift of Friendship" from Berry Merry Christmas and "Back Together" from "A Horse of a Different Color." Other candidates include "You're My Berry Best Friend" and "My Friend, Mon Ami."
  • Premiseville: Strawberryland, Berry Bitty City in 2009, and Big Apple City in 2021
  • Protagonist Title: The series is named after Strawberry Shortcake.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Sour Grapes' pet is a snake named Dregs; the turtle exception applies to the good guys.
  • Sailor Earth: Food-themed names, eh? That's limitless.
  • Something Person: The Pie Man/Pieman. (Official material has his name written both ways, so the way it is written out does not matter.)
  • Spinoff Babies: The "Berry Baby" merchandise in the 1980s version, and the "Strawberry Shortcake Baby" line of the 2003 version.
  • Spring Is Late: In a book from the 1980s, Strawberry Shortcake and the Winter That Would Not End, and the 2003 DVD Spring For Strawberry Shortcake.
  • Strawberry Shorthand: Do we even have to explain it?
  • Sugar Bowl: Strawberryland is generally a happy, sunny sweet place barring the occasional villain.
  • Sweet Sheep:
    • The original 1979/1980s incarnation has Melonie Belle, Peach Blush's pet lamb. Besides occasional illustrations and greeting cards, Melonie Belle only had brief appearances in the last two 80s specials.
    • The 2002 incarnation introduces Vanilla Icing, Angel Cake's pet lamb.
  • Talking Animal: A handful of animals talk in the 1980s specials and 2003 series.
  • That Reminds Me of a Song:
    • The theme song to the first 1980s special sort of qualifies.
    • Played straight twice an episode in every episode of the 2003 series, four times in every special.
  • Title Theme Tune: The 2003 and 2009 versions are straight examples. The 1980s version also qualifies, though that only happens in the first special.
  • True Meaning of Christmas:
  • Vague Age: There are no adults around. It's hard to tell if the characters are actually children or whether they're child-like adults. This is most obvious in the 2003 version due to the characters being Ambiguously Human.
  • Verbal Tic: Quite a few characters have a tic.
  • Video Game Delegation Penalty: In Strawberryland Games, when you buy desserts (which act as power-ups) from Angel Cake's bakery, you can choose between baking them yourself and having Angel bake them for you. The former choice gives you two desserts, while the latter only gets you one.
  • World of Technicolor Hair: Every generation features characters with unnatural hair colors like blue, green, and pink.
  • You Don't Look Like You: Every new generation will drastically alter the character designs, leaving little resemblance to past incarnations, sometimes to the point of making the characters In Name Only.

    1980s series 
  • Aren't You Forgetting Someone?: In Housewarming Surprise:
    Sour Grapes: With the world's greatest cookbook, I'll be famous! I can see it now, "Sour Grapes on the Merv Muffin Show!" Then, "Hollywood Pears..."
    The Peculiar Purple Pieman: Aren't you forgetting someone?
    Sour Grapes: Of course not, Purpy. I could never forget my purple partner in crime. My warm, wonderfully wicked, nasty but charming... pet snake, Dregs.
  • Big Applesauce: Big Apple City, the eponymous place in the second special, Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City, is a transparent N.Y.C. analog, complete with Big 5 Avenue (an obvious reference to 5th Avenue) Sentimental Park (based on Central Park), Spinach Village (Greenwich Village), and "the Little Theater off Times Pear (Times Square)". Moreover, on the album Strawberry Shortcake Live, she sings a cover version of "New York, New York". (As David Letterman joked years later in a "Dave's Record Collection" segment, "I think this is the real reason the city can't sleep.")
  • Boring, but Practical: When he finds the watering can going haywire, Plum decides to cap the spout. His plan goes horribly wrong.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Mr. Sun and the Pieman talk to the audience at some points.
  • Character Name and the Noun Phrase: "Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name."
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Plum Puddin' leaves the group with little to no explanation behind his disappearance. His presence's only remnant is his name, which a girl adopts. She becomes a permanent part of the cast, effectively stealing the original's place. It is possible that the male Plum Puddin' moved to Big Apple City, considering a greeting card shows him and T. N. Honey as a couple.
  • Clear My Name: Strawberry is framed for taking a bribe in Pets on Parade, leading to her fourth Heroic BSoD.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: Strawberry occasionally threatens the Peculiar Purple Pieman with "berry talk", which he can't stand (this was how she cleared her name in Pets on Parade). In fact, in Housewarming Surprise, Strawberry teaches his pet birds a song full of berry talk, knowing it would annoy him enough to make him return a bunch of recipes he stole from her.
  • Disney Death: The Berry Princess in Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak.
  • Eviler than Thou: When Sour Grapes first appears, she and the Pieman spend a minute trying to one-up each other with their respective evil deeds, with Sour Grapes having successfully committed crimes.
  • The Face of the Sun: Mr. Sun, who serves as the Narrator and interacts with Strawberry and the others. This is especially pronounced in the first special The World of Strawberry Shortcake, in which he provides a Deus ex machina "magic wish" when the kids need to rescue Apple Dumplin' from the Pieman's palace. It's worth noting that in the first three specials he was voiced by the scriptwriter, Romeo Muller, best known for his work with Rankin/Bass Productions.
  • Fooled By The Sun: In the Berry Bitty Adventures episode "Fish Out of Water", Plum Pudding hears a frog croaking and wonders if her stomach was growling.
  • A Friend in Need: The new friends Strawberry meets in Big Apple City bend over backward during the bake-off to counteract everything the Pieman does to sabotage her. T.N. Honey fixes her oven (which he had turned into a refrigerator), everyone makes a lightning-fast run to the supermarket to get the proper ingredients for her shortcake (he had replaced milk with chalk water, etc.), and finally they call the hypnotized judge out for announcing the Pieman had won when he hadn't tasted either of the finished products (especially notable as Strawberry was perfectly willing to accept defeat).
  • Forgotten Birthday: Strawberry's birthday undergoes the surprise party treatment in the first special, though it isn't the focus of the whole story, but an opportunity for the Pieman to hatch his plot.
  • Gender Flip: Plum Puddin' had his place taken by a girl of the same name after his Chuck Cunningham Syndrome. Said female Plum Puddin' continues to replace the original.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong:
    • Plum Puddin's attempt to stop the haywire watering can in the first episode ends up making it fire water out of where you should pour water IN.
    • The Peculiar Purple Pieman tries to secure his victory by sabotaging the traffic lights on one of the streets of Big Apple City... only to be blocked himself in the "Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City".
  • Heroic BSoD: Strawberry Shortcake encounters five of them during her journey through this series. Her first encounter with this is when she gets the impression that nobody likes her because her friends are busy. The Peculiar Purple Pieman puts her into a second one by ruining her birthday with a haywire watering can. The third one involves her being booted out of the hotel she made her reservations in under the pretense that she didn't. (Thanks, Peculiar Purple Pieman.) The fourth one occurs during the contest when the Peculiar Pieman sabotages her oven and ingredients and manages to get ahead with hypnosis. The fifth instance is where she gets framed for a false bribe, only to be snapped out of it when Soufflé the skunk reveals that he endured a similar situation in his childhood, but found that running away from his problems won't help him at all and that you have to deal with your problems to keep them from bothering you.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: The Peculiar Purple Pieman ends up getting himself put on both ends of this trope.
    • In "Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City", The Peculiar Purple Pieman ends up blocking his own path by sabotaging the traffic lights on one street of Big Apple City. Lampshaded seconds afterward.
    Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak: "Egads! I can't cross the street! Hoist by my own petard!"
    • He later tries to secure his victory with a claim about Strawberry Shortcake bribing him, putting his rival into a Heroic BSoD.
  • If I Were a Rich Man: Sour Grapes, especially in "Baby Without a Name".
  • Innocently Insensitive: Strawberry Shortcake's friends always mean well, but throughout the specials sometimes come off as unable to understand the consequences of their actions and not thinking them through first. In the first special, they have a wonderful plan to hold a surprise birthday party for Strawberry Shortcake. Instead of giving Strawberry something to do until party time, however, the manner they chose to keep the secret involves rebuffing and ignoring her when she offers to have lunch with them. This drives her to tears thinking no one loves her; she would miss the party completely if the friggin' Sun Narrator didn't get fed up and spill the beans that her friends didn't desert her and are in fact waiting for her right then!
    • Furthermore, Raspberry Tart's defining character trait in that first special is that she speaks before thinking, which causes her to come off as unintentionally insulting. Huckleberry Pie isn't all too pleased with that.
      Raspberry Tart: "Aren't you a little old for [watering cans], dearie?"
    • In "Pets on Parade", the Pieman rigs the contest in his favor... but as a twist, he accuses Strawberry (the contest judge) of helping him in exchange for a bribe. Strawberry's friends immediately jump to the conclusion that she did help him cheat, and they end up driving Strawberry away — she doesn't come back until a new skunk friendnote  convinces her to.
  • Long Hair Is Feminine: In Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins the Berry Princess rewards the main characters with longer hair.
  • Love Triangle: The Betty and Veronica version, except that the guy is a villain. Sour Grapes is exceptionally jealous of the Purple Pieman's affection for the Berry Princess.
  • Make a Wish: The climax of The World of Strawberry Shortcake hinges on The Face of the Sun granting her a "magic wish" as her birthday present.
  • Mickey Mousing: The intro to the 1982 special Pets on Parade, shows Strawberry riding with Custard on her way to the location where the Pete Parade is hosted. During the intro, both Strawberry and Custard are moving in sync to the theme song with Strawberry peddling in tune to the song.
  • Name of Cain: Raisin Cane, niece of Sour Grapes.
  • No Name Given: Twice.
    • The skunk in Pets on Parade — he thinks his name is Yowee A. Skunk based on what people say when they see him. When he is adopted by Angel Cake at the end, she gives him the name "Souffle" instead.
    • Baby Needs-a-Name in Baby Without a Name gets one, hence her "title". She doesn't get one on-screen, and this was deliberate, as the idea was that the toy version's owner could name her whatever they liked.
  • Or My Name Isn't...: In The World of Strawberry Shortcake, the Peculiar Purple Pieman's first attempt at stealing the strawberries fails, but he becomes more determined than ever to get them:
    The Peculiar Purple Pieman: I'll get those strawberries, or my name's not The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak!
  • Product-Promotion Parade: At least four times — and this isn't counting new outfits for the characters!
    • The trip to Spinach Village in Big Apple City.
    • The titular parade in Pets on Parade.
    • The slideshow in Housewarming Surprise.
    • The Berry Princess introducing the title characters in Meets the Berrykins.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Where did girl Plum Puddin' come from? (This may be In-Universe reason why Plum Puddin' was changed to a girl along with the original male's disappearance.)
  • Recycled Premise: Strawberry's toy company Kenner swapped out fruit/food for flowers to create the characters and setting of the similar (and scented) toy line Rose Petal Place in 1984, which spun off two animated specials.
  • Retcon: In Plum Puddin’s first appearance he was a male. He then disappeared until 1984, which reestablished Plum as a girl character.
  • The Smart Guy: Plum Puddin', his replacement, and T. N. Honey.
  • Smelly Skunk: The poor little skunk in Pets on Parade who's just arrived in Strawberryland doesn't have any friends, and it's implied that it's because of belief in this trope. But he isn't depicted as actually smelling bad, and at the end of the story, he is adopted without hesitation by Strawberry's new friend Angel Cake.
  • Sugar Apocalypse: The Pieman's magical watering can manage to completely flood Strawberryland in the first special, which leads to them giving him all their berries so he'll stop.
  • Take Our Word for It: Being Sour Grapes' debut, we have to take her at her word that she was a successful criminal.
  • Toyless Toyline Character:
    • The original male Plum Puddin', T.N. Honey, and some of the Berrykins never got toys.
    • Raisin Cane, though fans make customs of her with Almond Tea bases.
  • Villain Decay:
    • The Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak. In the first special, he's a legitimately treacherous villain who's capable of flooding Strawberryland to get what he wants—namely, all of the strawberries. In the other specials save the first, he stymies Strawberry to win a gazebo, a tricycle, and get rich quick. Which in a way is actually worse, because the Pieman has the mindset of a childish schoolyard bully, but with an adult's resources and physical power.
    • Sour Grapes is generally more competent than the Pieman, but she goes from threatening a baby to trying to make the world's best perfume.

     2003 series 
  • Adaptational Karma: Self-inflicted example. The Brambleberry Fairy is quite depressed seeing the results of her malevolent work and regrets what she did after she learns to take the time to listen to others.
  • Adaptation Name Change:
    • "Sleeping Beauty":
      • The Sleeping Beauty is called "Princess Strawberry Rose", probably because she and Strawberry Shortcake herself look similar.
      • The Prince is called "Prince Huckleberry".
      • Maleficent the fairy is called the "Brambleberry Fairy".
    • "Berry Brick Road": The Munchkins are renamed the "Berrykins", taking their new name from a combination of their old one and "berry". Quite humorously, spritelike creatures with the same name have appeared in the 1980s series.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Ginger Snap, Orange Blossom, and Blueberry Muffin accidentally apply this to Cinderella's wicked step-family, until Angel Cake defies it by telling them to stick to the story.
  • Adapted Out: In the book version of "Sleeping Beauty", the Berry Fairies consisted of Gingerberry Fairy (Ginger Snap), Angelberry Fairy (Angel Cake), Orangeberry Fairy (Orange Blossom), Rainbowberry Fairy (Rainbow Sherbert) and Appleberry Fairy (Apple Dumplin'). In the episode version, Angelberry Fairy was absent due to Angel portraying the Brambleberry Fairy instead of Blueberry Muffin like in the book; because of this, her role as a Berry Fairy was replaced with new character Tangerineberry Fairy (Tangerine Torta).
  • The Aloner: Coco Calypso and Banana Candy, at first.
  • Alpha Bitch: Peppermint Fizz tends to be the mean, bossy one in the first seasons, but she outgrows it. Angel Cake develops into this in the final season, and Lime Light is introduced as an egotistical movie star. In "Back in the Saddle", Lemon Meringue takes on the role as the snooty popular one at the dude ranch. She and Banana Candy give Plum Puddin' a hard time for her clumsiness and say rude things behind her back.
  • And I Must Scream: The Tin Woodsgirl, just like the original, gets immobilized. Fortunately, Strawberry Shortcake lubricates her joints with the can of oil that she found nearby, freeing her from her immobilized state.
  • Arc Words: The phrase, "Growing/Getting better everyday/all the time." could be seen as this.
  • Artistic License – Physics: Two instances in "Angel Cake in the Outfield":
    • Despite her apparent distance from them following her outburst, Angel Cake still hears her friends.
    • Afterwards, the kids somehow manage to send their ball bouncing into the river despite being far from it.
  • Ask a Stupid Question...: In "Horse of a Different Color," when Honey Pie Pony encounters the kids trapped in the middle of a river:
    Honey Pie: My word! What are you all doing out there?
    Huck: Not much.
    Honey Pie: Don't go anywhere!
    Huck: We weren't planning on it!
  • Attack Reflector: "Berry Brick Road" has this where the Wicked Witch of the West fires a spell at the heroes, but the Scarecrow gets an idea where the Tin Woodsman reflects the spell with his own body. It works, and Taken for Granite ensues where the Wicked Witch and her flying monkey get trapped in stone.
  • Bad Boss: The Wicked Witch of the Westnote  mistreats the Berrykins in her first appearance in Berry Brick Road.
  • Beach Episode: Beach DVD, rather: Seaberry Beach Party is two beach-themed episodes and a bonus video.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Happens in "Everybody Dance" to Sour Grapes. She disguises herself as a dance instructor to keep the kids busy so she and the Purple Pieman can take over Strawberry Land, but she enjoys teaching them so much and their dancing is so extraordinary she cannot bring herself to do it, and with Strawberry's encouragement, she begins a change of heart.
  • Becoming the Mask: Sour Grapes briefly in "Everybody Dance", when she enjoys Strawberry and her friends' dancing so much that she can't bring herself to betray them.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: Cola Chameleon to Peppermint Fizz, Sour Grapes to the Purple Pieman, and Raven to Licorice Whip. These put-upon sidekicks are more sensible than their bosses but are made to go along with their schemes. Custard tends to feel she is in this position for Strawberry Shortcake.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Sour Grapes wishes that the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak followed this trope for her. He does, to a small extent, but clearly not as much as she would like for him to.
  • Big "NO!": Followed by a Rapid-Fire "No!" when Huckleberry is offered to play Prince Charming in, "The Play's The Thing". He changed his mind when they offered to bake him some pies.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The episode "Strawberry's Big Journey", where the kids miss their chance to see a flower that blooms once every decade but does learn that all that matters is that they had fun.
  • Blush Sticker: The characters on the show have permanent blush stickers, except for the animals and villains.
  • Bowdlerise: In Strawberry's variation of "Sleeping Beauty", instead of the antagonist casting a spell where the princess pricks her finger and dies, she will just disappear forever.
  • Brother–Sister Team: The Pieman and Sour Grapes are a villainous version.
  • Cain and Abel: Purple Pieman and Sour Grapes, particularly highlighted in Dancin' in Disguise. Sour Grapes (as the Wicked Witch of the West) gets a temporary switch to Cain in the Berry Brick Road episodes with Plum Puddin' (as Glinda the Good Witch) as her Abel.
  • Canon Foreigner: Ginger Snap, Peppermint Fizz, Rainbow Sherbet, Coco Calypso, and many others are created specifically for this generation.
  • Cheaters Never Prosper:
    • Peppermint learns this in "Win Some, Lose Some" following her Pyrrhic Victory.
    • The earlier episode "Peppermint's Pet Peeve" has a moment where she is accused of cheating by some of the other kids, who chew Fizz out for it. This causes Fizz to lose.
  • Christmas Carolers: Strawberry runs into some while shopping for presents in "Berry Merry Christmas".
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Dregs, who was always with Sour Grapes in the '80s, appears in only one episode here never to be seen again.
  • Cinderella Plot: In "The Play's the Thing", everyone makes fun of Strawberry's raggedy raincoat. Then, they put on a Cinderella play and learn about how it's the inside that makes you beautiful, not what you wear. Strawberry plays Cinderella. Blueberry Muffin plays the stepmother. Orange Blossom and Ginger Snap play the stepsisters. Angel Cake plays the Fairy Godmother. Huckleberry Pie plays the Prince.
  • Demoted to Extra:
    • Honey Pie Pony's final appearance was among the audience in It Takes Talent / Playing To Beat The Band, with no lines and no plot.
    • While Apple Dumplin' doesn't get a lot of focus throughout the show, she appears in every episode of Season 1 and many appearances in Season 2 before appearing less in the other two seasons to the point she only makes two small appearances in the final season.
  • The Diaper Change: When Baby Ginger Snap needs hers changed in "Baby Takes the Cake" in Apple Dumplin's Imagine Spot, Apple first tells her to do it, then realizing it's not going to happen, does it herself.
    Apple: Please, Baby Ginger Snap, don't ever do that again.
  • Didn't Think This Through: The Brambleberry Fairy planted brambleberries around her house to protect her stuff. This also created a delivery dead-zone, so she couldn't get the invitation that the Page was trying to deliver her.
  • Dislikes the New Guy: Peppermint toward Rainbow in "The Costume Party" due to seeing her as "different" than everyone else.
  • Distant Duet: "The Best Pet Yet" from "Peppermint's Pet Peeve", as Strawberry and the gang are getting their pets ready for the pet show.
  • Easily Forgiven: In "Win Some, Lose Some," Peppermint Fizz is easily forgiven by Strawberry Shortcake for cheating in the games. Of course, it does help that Strawberry was never really mad at her, just sad at her failure to understand that the important part of playing games is having fun. Generally true for other cases where someone does something wrong as well.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Mostly if you're used to the later installments of this era.
    • Because most of the main voice actors started these roles as children and finished the roles as teens, the first season may sound a bit stilted and really high pitched.
    • The art style in the first season was a lot brighter and more neon, and the noses of the characters seemed more prominent. The colors, while still bright, were toned down a bit after the first season. Also, Orange Blossom didn't wear a hat in the first season, but she does in subsequent seasons.
    • The facial expressions made by the characters in the first season tend to be a lot cruder and rough compared to later seasons. Compare how Strawberry looked in season 1 to season 2/3 to season 4.
  • Expressive Ears: Honey Pie Pony has these, and the other fillies. Pupcake has them too.
  • Facepalm: Grown-up Apple Dumplin', after first seeing Strawberry as a baby and after the baby versions of Strawberry and her friends refuse to take a nap in "Baby Takes the Cake."
  • Feminist Fantasy: It's a show with a predominantly female cast occupying a wide range on the femininity and ethnicity spectrum, who have adventures and learn life lessons.
  • Five Stages of Grief: Peppermint hits all five beats throughout "The Costume Party" during Rainbow Sherbet's arrival: she's unwelcome over her because she's different (Denial), lashes out at Strawberry and her friends for such which hurts Rainbow's feelings (Anger), her actions eventually cause Rainbow to consider moving away (Bargaining), is upset when she doesn't get what she wants when the girls play a costume party prank where everything's the same (Depression), and finally accepts Rainbow for what she is and becomes a good friend (Acceptance).
  • Forced Sleep: The Brambleberry Fairy ends up putting Princess Strawberry Rose to sleep thanks to the Apple Fairy.
  • Four-Girl Ensemble: Ever noticed how many episodes star four of the girls? Who the four girls are varies, but Strawberry Shortcake herself is always among the group.
  • Framing Device: The DVD releases for Seasons 2 and 3 feature a secondary story where Strawberry reads her Rememberin' Book to recount two episodes together as a flashback. Season 4 drops the Rememberin' Book in favor of Strawberry just telling stories.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Ginger Snap is always working on some handy contraption.
  • Gender Flip: The Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, and Cowardly Lion have their roles filled by Ginger Snap, Peppermint Fizz, and Orange Blossom.
  • Girliness Upgrade:
    • Inverted with Strawberry and Raspberry. They were girlier in the '80s version but are more tomboyish here.
    • Played straight with the 2007 redesigns. Almost everyone has a more feminine-looking design. Overlaps with Used to Be a Tomboy, to a degree.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Ginger Snap has these. They grow longer in Season 4 as part of her redesign.
    • Angel Cake also has these even after her redesign.
  • Orange Blossom in the first 3 seasons.
  • Gone Horribly Right: See Didn't Think This Through.
  • Green Aesop: A line in the song "Friendship Grows" reminds us to "treat the good Earth with respect".
    • The entire plot of "Where the Gem-Berries Glow."
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Angel Cake and Lemon Meringue are both kind-hearted blondes, although Angel Cake takes a level in jerkass after Season 1. Peppermint Fizz evolves into one later.
  • Happy Birthday to You!: A Berry Happy Birthday, performed at the end of Meet Strawberry Shortcake. And then American Greetings monetized it by making and selling musical greeting cards that play the song.
  • Heel–Face Turn:
    • Licorice Whip's assistant, Raven, in The Festival Of The Fillies. Licorice Whip himself goes through one in the European-release-only Game Boy Advance game Ice Cream Island Riding Camp which seals his transformation.
    • Most villains in the series except the Pieman and Sour Grapes turn good. Those two turned good in the final episode of Season 4, wrapping up the 2003/2007 series on a high note.
  • Heroic BSoD:
    • Cinderella suffers this when her wicked stepmother tears the dress that Cinderella picked so she could go to the ball. Fortunately, the Fairy Godmother helps out.
    • Strawberry Shortcake gets one in "A Festival of Friends" when she concludes that the party is hopeless after Angel Cake ruins her cake (whose remains form a river that flows out of her factory) on accident.
    • Strawberry Shortcake has another one in The Sweet Dreams Movie after Sandman is captured by The Pieman.
  • "The Hero Sucks" Song: "Not Like Me" from "The Costume Party" is sung by Peppermint Fizz, dissing Rainbow Sherbet.
  • Ineffectual Loner:
    • Peppermint Fizz is mostly alone although she does try to work to change this in Season 4. Then there's Banana Candynote , although in actuality she dislikes being one and only does it to keep Strawberry and company stuck in her town so she's not alone. Then Raspberry Torte nearly turned into one in the episode "Mind Your Manners" before she learns her lesson.
    • Coco Calypso.
  • Incredible Shrinking Man: Strawberry and Ginger Snap have to shrink in order to get to the Berry Fairy Fields.
  • It's All About Me:
    • Angel has this on occasion, most notable in "Angel Cake in the Outfield". Sometimes she can be bossier than Peppermint.
    • Peppermint originally had this in her early appearances but outgrew them as of her redesign.
    • Lime Light. She even has a whole song about it.
  • Jabba Table Manners: Raspberry Torte has these in "Mind Your Manners" at first. Thanks to Strawberry Shortcake, she overcomes this flaw.
  • Jerkass Ball: Angel Cake ends up on both ends of this trope. The first episode where she had this, "Angel Cake in the Outfield", has her suffer bouts of It's All About Me and storm off when she fails. In "The Play's The Thing", she takes offense to how Blueberry Muffin, Ginger Snap, and Orange Blossom applied Adaptational Nice Guy to their characters and gives them this to get the story back on track. Season 4 also adds examples where she assumes Blueberry is jealous of her and acts overcompetitive with Strawberry, plus giving her the role of the main villain in their retelling of "Sleeping Beauty".
  • Knight Templar Parent: Professor Grapes is this for Rapunzel in A Princess Named Rap.
  • Live-Action Adaptation: Owing to the series' popularity in Latin America, Argentina made a live-action version called Frutillita. It also aired in some parts of Europe and Asia, but never aired in the US. In Greece and Croatia, this show is used as a Framing Device for the cartoon.
  • Looped Lyrics: "Call Me Santa" from the Christmas Episode "Berry Merry Christmas" is an example of the cumulative song variant. The song, performed by Strawberry herself, features the refrain of "Call me Santa, call me Claus. Candy cane with chocolate sauce. What should I get for my friends?" followed each time by her ever increasing list of gift ideas for her friends.
  • Minion with an F in Evil: In one episode, Strawberry Shortcake and her friends are putting on a play of Cinderella. Strawberry as Cinderella cries when the evil step-relatives say she can't go to the ball. Blueberry Muffin (the stepmother) and Ginger Snap and Orange Blossom (the stepsisters) feel bad and say she can go after all until Angel Cake (the fairy godmother) gets the story back on track.
  • Mirror Character: Raspberry Torte and Sour Grapes, particularly in The Sweet Dreams Movie. Both are pessimists by nature, both are quite loyal to one person (Lemon Meringue and Purple Pieman, respectively), and both had the same abandoned dream.
  • Motor Mouth: Ginger Snap has a penchant for fast-talking.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Peppermint Fizz at first celebrates her victory following the games in "Win Some, Lose Some", but it ends up a Pyrrhic Victory when she sees Strawberry Shortcake giving Apple Dumplin' a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech, which ends up making Peppermint Fizz come clean and call herself out.
  • New Jobs As The Plot Demands: This is used to great comic effect in "Strawberry's Big Journey." When the group meets Banana Candy, she is working as a mechanic. They ask if there's somewhere that they can get food and she directs them to a local cafe and offers them a taxi... which turns out to be driven by her. When they get to the cafe, Banana Candy is making the meal, leading them to wonder just how the car is going to get fixed.
    Banana Candy: Small towns like this, you need a few jobs to make ends meet.
  • Never My Fault: The Brambleberry Fairy blames her exclusion from the party on everyone else when it was really her own Idiot Ball (the Brambleberry fence and ignorance of the invitation) and overreaction that resulted in her exclusion. This gets toned down later on when she realizes what this made her become and starts to regret what she did. Prince Huckleberrynote  tells her that she needs to listen to get the full message, cementing her Heel–Face Turn.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Custard.
  • Non-Lethal Bottomless Pits: In the Sweet Dreams Game for the PS2, accidentally falling into a cliff or river will result in Strawberry saying "Oh, no!" while the screen goes through a wipe. The game then resumes with the player character standing just right next to the point the fall happened. (Or it could be Meaningless Lives at work.)
  • Not Now, Kiddo: Apple Dumplin' gets this sometimes, especially in "Baby Takes the Cake".
  • Ocular Gushers: In "Baby Takes the Cake," all of the babies in Apple Dumplin's Imagine Spot in which she's an adult wail and cry these when she gets angry and tells them that they can't help her. She then starts crying these herself and, seeing this, they stop and calm down.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Peppermint Fizz gets one when her competitors find that her lizard was just lip-syncing instead of singing much to their ire in "Peppermint's Pet Peeve".
    • The entire gang gets this when they get the idea that an abomination (which they call "the Blueberry Beast") is occupying a house. Turns out, it's just Blueberry Muffin doing her things at home, as Strawberry Shortcake finds out the next day.
    • Strawberry gets this in "Around The Berry Big World" when she realizes that the ship that two persons offered for her and Peppermint Fizz's trip back to Strawberry Land isn't going in the right direction. (Strawberry watched the stars at night.) Fizz doubts it... until Strawberry realizes that the land that they are approaching does not match Strawberry Land at all. Fortunately, one of their friendsnote  who lives there helps them get back.
    • The Wicked Witch of the West gets this when the Tin Woodsman reflects her spell back in her direction with his own body and she (along with the monkey who was flying her) turns to stone as a result.
  • Once per Episode: Two songs are sung every episode.
  • The One Guy: Huckleberry Pie is the only male human in the mostly female-populated Strawberryland.
  • One I Prepared Earlier: In "Piece of Cake," Strawberry and her friends star on a cooking show where they each demonstrate how to make their favorite dishes. Each time, they show one they already made earlier.
  • One, Two, Skip a Few: Not quite a straight example, but in the "Not Too Little" song from "Baby Takes the Cake," Apple Dumplin' sings that she can count to ten.
    Apple: 1, 5, 9, 6, 10!
  • Our Fairies Are Different: The Berry Fairies.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise:
    • "Everybody Dance" has Sour Grapes in disguise as a dance instructor named "Rita Rutabaga", which she uses to take advantage of Strawberry and her friends' love of dancing and distract them so the Purple Pieman can rob them behind their backs.
    • "Around the Berry Big World" has the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak in a paper-thin disguise as a ship captain, offering to take Strawberry Shortcake and Peppermint Fizz home to Strawberryland, but actually out to sabotage them.
    • Played with in "Down on the Farm." Strawberry Shortcake, Pupcake, and Custard disguise themselves as sheep and hide among the sheep of Caramel Corn's farm to discover who's been stealing her animals. Caramel Corn finds their disguises less than convincing, but Strawberry says that by the time it's dark they won't notice anything. When the Purple Pie Man and Sour Grapes come to take the sheep, Sour Grapes asks if they should take the "funny-looking" ones as well. Pie Man, being a jerk, says that he doesn't care what they look like.
  • The Perfectionist: Despite her original Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold personality, Angel Cake develops this flaw. She has a bad habit of calling out those who aren't perfect and bossing them around. Contrast Huckleberry Pie, who's a bit messy.
  • Playground Song: In "Strawberry's Big Journey," Orange Blossom leads several rounds of "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt." Angel is irritated by such.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Both the Framing Story for the "Happily Ever After" DVD and the episode "Sleeping Beauty" have this to set off the conflict of the story:
    • In the former, Strawberry Shortcake, Angel Cake, and Rainbow Sherbet are all having a sleepover and Rainbow is saying how she's happy to be spending time with them both, but then Pupcake interrupts her by jumping on her (she was intending to say that she was happy to be spending the night with her best friends Strawberry and Angel), causing Angel Cake to jump to the conclusion that Rainbow considers Strawberry her best friend and not her. She refuses to hear Rainbow out. Strawberry then tells the story of "Sleeping Beauty" which has Angel learn her lesson and let Rainbow explain what she was trying to say.
    • In the latter, Brambleberry Fairy (played by Angel Cake) assumes that she wasn't invited to Princess Strawberry Rose's birthday party to not receiving an invitation. The truth is that Brambleberry did get an invitation but the page had trouble delivering it because of the thorns on Brambleberry's bushes guarding her home. Despite this and everyone telling Brambleberry to just join in the party, she refuses to listen and puts the curse on the baby princess, refusing to take it back. In the end, she learns to take the time to listen to others and regrets what she has done.
  • Public Domain Soundtrack: Almost the music uses classical songs with a bit of "L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2: Farandole", "Night on Bald Mountain", "The Nutcracker Suite", "William Tell Overture", "Flight of the Bumblebee", "In the Hall of the Mountain King", "Ride of the Valkyries", "Ode to Joy", "Hungarian Dance No. 5", "Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64", "Swan Lake Suite", "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", "Sonata for Two Pianos K448", "New World Symphony", "The Rite of Spring", "Solveig's Song", "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2", and even "Korobeiniki".
  • Remember the New Guy?: Peppermint Fizz makes her first appearance in "Peppermint's Pet Peeve" (from the "Best Pets Yet" DVD) without any formal introduction, and the gang treats her as though she had always been one of Strawberry's friends.
  • Rich Bitch: The Sea Beast and Lime Light. Margalo borders this, but they all reform.
  • Road-Sign Reversal: In "Down on the Farm," the Purple Pie Man reverses the arrows on the signs that Strawberry Shortcake made the country fair to save Caramel Corn's farm. However, Huckleberry Pie spots it and they reverse the arrows in time to hold the fair.
  • Running Gag: Custard getting continually pounced and surprisingly uninjured by Pupcake throughout the 2003 series and in the movie.
  • Santa Claus: Strawberry Shortcake and Honey Pie Pony meet him and talk with him up at the North Pole in Berry, Merry Christmas.
  • Scare Dare: In "The Berry Beast," Huckleberry Pie issues a scare dare to go into some spooky woods. Strawberry replies that dares are silly, so he makes it a double dare, and Strawberry counters that double dares are double silly. He ups it to a Triple Scoop Dare with a strawberry on top and Strawberry says that he's on.
  • Selfless Wish: In Berry, Merry Christmas, when Santa Claus asks Strawberry what she wants for Christmas, she sobs because she's worried that she won't be able to find a gift for Huckleberry. After reassuring her that things will be alright with Huck, he asks her just what it is that she wants, but she can't come up with anything other than that she wants to make sure all of her friends get good gifts. To further drive home the point, most kids have a Christmas list of things they want for Christmas. What Strawberry calls her "Christmas list" is actually her list of things she plans to buy for her friends.
  • Series Continuity Error: The first episode has Pupcake already a member of Strawberry's household before she meets her friends, then Here Comes Pupcake has him first meeting her when she already knows all her friends. Since the latter episode is a memory recalled by Strawberry, she may be an Unreliable Narrator.
    • The first episode has Apple Dumplin' being tasked to help with cooking the cake by stirring the pot but in Baby Takes the Cake, Apple is told that she is too little to help the girls cook.
  • Shout-Out: To literature, film, theatre, and folklore.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: The original Maleficent died in the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty. The Brambleberry Fairy pulled a Heel–Face Turn, helping her friends revive Princess Strawberry Rose.
  • Slice of Life: The first three seasons and a few episodes of Season 4 that don't star the Pieman and Sour Grapes.
  • Stealth Pun: Cola Chameleon is a lizard who can sing in the style of lounge singers like Frank Sinatra; a real "lounge lizard". Or, at least, he's good at lip-syncing to it anyway.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Strawberry decides to get Huck snowballs for Christmas. As soon as she gets home, the snowballs melt, ruining every single gift she's bought up to that point.
  • Tagalong Kid: Apple Dumplin'. Even though everyone else is a kid, she is a lot younger than they are and often comes along on adventures.
  • Tagline: "Growing better all the time."
  • Taken for Granite: This is what happens when the good guys reflect the spell that the Wicked Witch of the West fired in their direction back at her, and she and her flying monkey minion get trapped in stone.
  • Timeskip: From 2007 on the characters were redesigned to look like teenagers while Apple Dumplin' is aged up to roughly the original age of the older kids.
  • There Are No Adults: While the occasional adult shows up, usually as a villain, none of the main characters have parents.
  • Tomboy: While there is a fair helping of tomboys, the athletic Raspberry Torte is the biggest example.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The close friendship between Raspberry Torte (Tomboy) and Lemon Meringue (Girly Girl).
  • Took a Level in Jerkass:
    • Angel Cake after Season 1 with her flaws making her more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold depending on the episode such as "Angel Cake on the Outfield", where she acts as a Sore Loser and moments throughout the seasons where she will boss the other kids around. Season 4 takes it to the point of even playing the villain in "Sleeping Beauty" as well playing an antagonist in other episodes such as "Lights... Camera... Action" where she assumes Blueberry Muffin is jealous of her and "Back on the Saddle" where she acts overcompetitive.
  • Took a Level in Kindness:
    • After being a Jerk With A Heartof Gold in Season 2, Peppermint Fizz returns in Season 4 with her jerk side being toned down in favor of a more mature and kinder side.
  • Train Problem: In "Queen For a Day", Sour Grapes and Strawberry are competing to be the Queen of the Berry Blossom Festival. As part of the competition, they are asked numerous questions by Purple Pieman, who is rigging the quiz. Pieman asks Strawberry a very difficult train question, which is so complicated that he eventually just skips it altogether.
    Pieman: If a train leaves the station at 3:48 in the afternoon, headed west, going 43 miles an hour for the first hour, 56 miles an hour for the second half hour, then stops at 5:11 to pick up 3 passengers, but 12 passengers get off, and one hour later 5 passengers get off and 5 get on, but not the same five, then stops three times in one hour and arrives at 9:78 PM [sic]?
  • Trivial Title: "The Costume Party". The title has almost nothing to do with the episode’s plot, as it revolves around Rainbow’s arrival and Peppermint dismissing her for being different, but it comes from the prank Strawberry and the gang pull on her in the climax to teach her a lesson.
  • Unexplained Recovery: In the Berry Brick Road special, Sour Grapes and her flying monkey assistant got turned into stone, but are back for part 2.
  • Wanting Is Better Than Having: The point of the "Waiting for the Fun to Start" song.
    My favorite part of ridin' ain't the sweet sensation / The exhilaration when you feel your beating heart
    My favorite part of ridin' is the preparation / While you're waitin' for the fun to start...
  • When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Changed to When the Clock Strikes Eight in "The Play's the Thing", as Strawberella has to be home by 8:00 instead of midnight, which is past her bedtime.
  • Whole-Plot Reference:
    • Around the Berry Big World is Around the World in 80 Days.
    • Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, and The Wizard of Oz all got entire episodes built around them.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: If "Ginger Snap's No-light Night of Fright" is anything to go boy, Ginger Snap has Nyctophobianote , which explains why she was willing to skip Strawberry Shortcake's campout and brought a bunch of lights upon being dragooned.
  • Wicked Witch: In the Wizard of Oz special Sour Grapes took this role, with Plum Puddin' as Glinda.
  • You, Get Me Coffee: In "Festival of the Fillies," Raven is eager to help Licorice Whip; Licorice orders him to get him lunch.
  • You No Take Candle: Apple Dumplin' speaks like this since she is so young.

     2009 series (Berry Bitty Adventures) 
  • Adaptational Jerkass: Raisin Cane in her original appearances genuinely wanted to be friends with Strawberry and the others, and was only stopped by her loyalty to her aunt Sour Grapes. In the IDW comics, however, Raisin is much more of a self-centered jerk and willingly helps Steve Piemanne in his schemes. She is nicer in the 2018 webseries, however.
  • Adaptational Name Change: In the IDW comics, The Peculiar Purple Pieman is instead Steve Piemanne.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy:
    • Steve Piemanne is a far cry from evil compared to his previous peculiar purple incarnations, though he does still stoop to cheating in contests just to get an upper hand.
    • Sour Grapes isn't outright villainous, but is still pretty standoffish and mean until she begins warming up to the others.
  • Adaptational Species Change: Marmalade, Orange Blossom's pet, was originally a butterfly. Here, she's a dachshund.
  • Allegedly Free Game: All SSC games by Budge Studios start you off with a basic set of one or two characters, then demand anywhere between US$5 and US$20 for the other characters and additional accessories.
  • Apathetic Pet: In the Berry Bitty Adventures series episode "Fish Out of Water", Tad the frog is implied to not care that much about Orange Blossom. When Orange decides to set him free, he immediately makes a beeline for the lake without even saying goodbye to her, something that she comments on. She decides not to get too upset about it because she just wants Tad to be happy.
  • Canon Foreigner:
    • Cherry Jam. Unlike the new characters created for the 2003/2007 version, she was created for the TV show first.
    • Sweet Grapes from Season 4, as well as Sour Grapes, since she's a completely different character from her previous versions.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Every character except Strawberry and eight others from the previous series.
    • Cinnapup and Bosley Bookworm disappear from the series in Season 4. Bosley does return in the IDW comics, however.
    • In the 2018 webseries, everyone except Strawberry, Orange, Sour and Sweet Grapes, Raisin Cane, and Purple Piemanne are nowhere to be seen.
  • Compilation Movie:
    • "The BerryFest Princess Movie", which comprises of three episodes linked together: "Berry Best BerryFest Princess", "Strawberry's Berry Big Parade", and "The Berry Best Choice"
    • There's also "The Glimmerberry Ball Movie", which is comprised of "Happy First Frost", "A Circle of Friends" and "Glimmerberry Ball".
  • Decided by One Vote: The results of the Berryfest Princess election.
  • Decomposite Character: Pupcake and Tom Tom. Tom Tom is Huckleberry Pie's dog in this series, with a similar color scheme to the original Pupcake, but Pupcake himself is Strawberry Shortcake's dog, similar to the 2003 series.
  • Demoted to Extra: All the puppies in Season 4, only appearing in a few episodes, just a few seconds, or completely disappearing altogether.
  • Everybody Cries: In "Strawberry's Berry Big Parade", we get plenty of tears from Strawberry's friends when they realize that they let her down with all of their bickering and arguing and making things difficult for her.
  • Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: Pupcake is wearing a helmet while riding in Strawberry's scooter.
  • Final Season Casting: The fourth and final season introduced Sweet and Sour Grapes and Apple Dumplin'.
  • Girliness Upgrade: Every single girl who returns from the 2003 series as part of the initial Berry Circle BUT Lemon Meringue, as she retains her personality from the 2003 series.
  • Glass-Shattering Sound: Katiebug and Sadiebug manage to break Lemon Meringue's mirror with their singing.
  • Gratuitous Ninja: Sour Grapes when at the top of Sweet and Sour's food truck, Sour doing the ninja-style pose.
  • Hair-Raising Hare: In "Sky's the Limit!", the girls are at one point threatened by a herd of stampeding bunnies.
  • The Hyena: Plum Pudding is prone to fits of laughter.
  • Hand-or-Object Underwear: In "The Berry Best Vacation", all of the Berry girls in their swimsuits.
  • Idiot Ball: When she meets Cherry Jam for the first time, Strawberry Shortcake apparently doesn't recognize Cherry. The problem is that Cherry was wearing the same outfit as she was in the "music video" seen earlier in the episode. Strawberry even remarks Cherry smells something that smells like cherries. One would think Strawberry would have recognized her "favorite singer" immediately...
  • Jerkass Ball: Katiebug and Sadiebug get this in Good Citizens Club. Plum Puddin' doesn't get her membership pin due to a mailing fault and starts to think that she has an inherent flaw as allegedly you need to be perfect to get the pin. Katiebug and Sadiebut use her as their personal slave.
  • Lilliputians: Played straight; the show is set in a strawberry patch with a miniature world.
  • Literal Bookworm: Bosley Bookworm is a bookworm and assistant of Blueberry Muffin at Blueberry Books, a book store and library located in Berry Bitty City. Whenever she needs advice, she knows to ask Bosley.
  • "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: In "The Berry Best You Can Bee," Sadiebug claims "Nice" is her middle name, but Katiebug interjects that it's really "Ladybird."
  • Minimalist Cast:
    • Early on there were only five main cast members.
    • The 2018 webseries follows suit, with only six characters total.
  • Mythology Gag: Tom Tom in the third season, whose color scheme strongly resembles the original Pupcake, who was Huckleberry Pie's dog from the 1980s version.
  • Pet Baby Wild Animal: Tad from "Fish Out of Water."
  • Pimped-Out Dress: In the episode "On Ice", one of the girls was making dresses for a spring Fashion Show. When there was a cold snap, she made the dresses fur-trimmed.
    • The girls seldomly (if not often) wear the Glimmerberry Ball gowns from the movie about the titular ball (or "Manners Meltdown"). Some episodes in which the girls are wearing the said gowns after season 1 are: "Practice Makes Perfect" (Plum only), "Berryella and Prince Charming" (Lemon and Blueberry only), and "All Dogs Allowed."
      • In the latter episode, Cherry Jam wears a ball gown that resembles Strawberry's dress from the Berryfest.
  • Public Domain Soundtrack: Most episodes in Berry Bitty Adventures use "Night on Bald Mountain", "Flight of the Bumblebee", "In the Hall of the Mountain King", "Waltz of the Flowers", "Hungarian Dance No. 5", and one during "The Berry Best Vacation" episode in the final scene with pouring rain at the beach is "Korobeiniki".
  • Related Differently in the Adaptation: Strawberry's little sister Apple Dumplin' becomes her cousin in this adaptation.
  • Road-Sign Reversal: A non-racing version occurs in one episode of Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures. While trying to deliver a package, Strawberry encounters a sign that tells her the way to go, only for a breeze to flip the markers, knocking off the one she needs.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Sweet and Sour Grapes from the final season. Each sister's personality is the same as their name.
  • Slice of Life: Until the reintroduction of Sour Grapes.
  • Sky Surfing: The girls ride the tops of daisies to fly in the air.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Tom Tom is one to Pupcake, as Huckleberry Pie's pet dog, even sharing the color scheme of the original Pupcake.
  • Sweet and Sour Grapes:
    • In "Berryfest Princess," Strawberry is rewarded for feeding the wanderberry that she was expected to bring back for the feast to a sick bird by finding a new one growing right outside her own house.
    • A literal case as well. Two of the three new Berry Girls introduced in Season 4 are a set of twins named Sweet Grapes, and Sour Grapes.
  • Time Travel: In the YouTube series Beyond the Box, Orange has a laboratory to summon 1980s dolls with a time machine.
  • Tomboyness Upgrade: Sour Grapes.
  • Wasn't That Fun?: In the movie "Sky's the Limit!", the girls survive a crazy ride down a hill on a leaf, whereupon Blueberry Muffin is the first to admit how much fun it was.
  • We Sell Everything: In "A Berry Grand Opening," the Berrykins ask for something "sparkling" and "orange," and Orange Blossom pulls out everything from a glittery vase to a tablecloth to Orange Brand laundry detergent (to get your clothes sparkly clean).
  • World Tour: The Budge game Strawberry Shortcake: Holiday Hair travels to New York City, Tokyo, Paris, Rio, and Ancient Egypt.
  • You Mean "Xmas": First Frost is their equivalent of Christmas/Winter Solstice.

     2021 Series (Berry in the Big City) 
  • Adaptational Gender Identity: Raisin Cane is non-binary, when all their previous versions were girls.
  • Adaptational Heroism/Adaptational Nice Guy:
    • Raisin Cane isn't villainous at all, and is rather friendly. They're supportive of Cherry Jam when she doubts her singing abilities, and instantly tells off Sherry when she's rude to the other band members.
    • Peppermint Fizz is likewise much nicer, and shows no signs of her arrogance and Jerkass tendencies from her previous incarnation.
    • Sour Grapes still filled a villain role in the first 2 seasons, but she's probably the nicest version from the start, harboring no ill will towards anyone, and mostly only going along with Raspberry and Purple Pieman's schemes because of her friendship/relation to them. In certain cases, she even helps Strawberry and friends behind Pieman's back. She fully drops her villain role and joins the Berry Besties by "Sweet and Sour".
  • Adaptational Mundanity: The Berry Fairies, rather than being actual faries, are instead a popular music band themed around fairies.
  • Adaptational Name Change:
    • Lime Chiffon's name is reverted, after her 2003 incarnation changed it to "Lime Light".
    • Raspberry's last name is once again "Tart" for the first time since the 1980s, as her 2003 and 2009 incarnations changed it to "Torte".
    • Peach Blush becomes "Peach Trifle".
    • Very downplayed with Crepes Suzette, who becomes "Crepe Suzette", dropping the "s" from her first name.
    • The Berry Fairies get an In-Universe name change to "The Cherry Jam Band" once Sherry Bobbleberry quits.
  • Adaptational Villainy/Adaptational Jerkass:
    • Raspberry Tart gets this big time. She is usually one of Strawberry's friends in previous incarnations, but became Strawberry's baking rival in Berry in the Big City, jealous of Strawberry's business and trying to force her out of the Berryworks. However, she (along with Sour Grapes and Bread Pudding) eventually become nicer by the last few episodes of the first season, to the point where they tag along with Strawberry and the gang on their misadventures.
    • Sherry Bobbleberry. Her original incarnation was a clumsy, socially awkward yet kind fairy who only wants to help others. Her Berry in the Big City incarnation, however, is a rude egotistical jerk who ditches her bandmates when they simply ask that she be more involved with their music rehersals.
  • Adapted Out:
    • All the Berry Fairies but Sherry Bobbleberry are removed, replaced with Cherry Jam, Peppermint Fizz, and Raisin Cane.
    • In "The Cricket", Aunt Praline refers to Strawberry as her only niece, meaning Apple Dumpling (who likewise is Adapted Out), doesn't exist as a sister/cousin to Strawberry.
  • Advanced Tech 2000: Lemon Meringue usually does this with her inventions, though if the number is relatively small, then that indicates it's the current version after the previous have exploded (ex: The Cakenator 6).
  • Affectionate Nickname:
    • Orange Blossom has one for Strawberry, usually referring to her as "Shortcakes".
      • In "Roller Skate Rivalry", Orange calls Strawberry "Skate-cakes".
    • Lemon Drop calls his daughter, Lemon Meringue, "Lemon Zest". She considers it an Embarrassing Nickname.
    • Dr. Lime Pops calls his daughter, Lime Chiffon, his "little Limestone" in "Any Way You Slice It".
  • Age Lift:
    • Strawberry and the gang are in their preteens/early teens in this adaptation.
    • Peach Trifle (the Berry in the Big City incanation of Peach Blush) is an adult rather than a child
    • Plum Pudding appears to be slightly younger than the main cast, when previous incarnations had them at the same age.
  • All in the Manual: The Amazon listing for the show state that the world is called “The Berrylands”
  • Always Someone Better:
    • Raspberry Tart views herself as the "queen bee" of the Berryworks and the best seller until Strawberry arrived and opened her stand which gained much more popularity, which angers Raspberry to the point she wants to kick her out of the Berryworks whatever it takes. After the Season 1 finale, Raspberry drops this attitude and becomes much nicer.
    • The primary reason Purple Pieman and Crabapple Jam antagonize Strawberry and try to sabotage her is solely to avoid this happening, viewing her baking talent as a threat to their businesses.
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parent: Lemon Meringue sees her dad as this, especially when he shows up to the berryverse's version of a Turkey Trot race in an actual turkey costume.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Bread Pudding is into fashion, speaks in a high-pitched voice, and is very flamboyant. He's formed a close Odd Friendship with Huckleberry Pie, and in "Fashion Forward", his attempt to impress Crepe Suzette leans very close to Changing Yourself for Love territory. Due to the show's acknowledgment of queer characters in general, his case might not be as ambiguous as most examples in kids' media.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: Blueberry Muffin's little brother is the only thing that can break her serene personality. His first line ever in "Berry Bounty Banquet" makes her lose it, shocking all her friends.
  • Ash Face: Characters usually get this whenever something explodes in their faces.
  • Beach Episode: A Splash of Fun.
  • Beta Bitch: Sour Grapes is Raspberry Tart's co-conspirator. Although she isn't actively mean, she bends to Raspberry Tart's more domineering personality and goes along with the nasty plots.
  • Big "NO!": Coming Soon
  • Birthday Episode:
    • Custard in "It's My Purr-ty".
    • Raspberry Tart in "Strawberry Surprise".
    • Banoffee in "Strawberry and the Gigantic Cake".
  • Black and Nerdy:
    • Orange Blossom, who turns out to be a huge fan of comic book hero Tangerine Smash, and will ocassionally dress up as her, like as a Fright-Fall costume or cosplay for the opening night of Tangerine Smash: Sweet Justice.
    • Plum Pudding becomes this due to his Race Lift.
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: According to the "Meet the Berries" character video, Lime Chiffon "loves books, and fashion, and books about fashion!"
  • Breaking Old Trends: Berry in the Big City features several firsts for the franchise.
    • It’s the first series to take place in a modern day setting, rather than a fantasy land.
    • Parents of the Strawberry Shortcake characters also regularly appear, when previous incarnations either never mentioned parents at all or had characters be related in a different way (ex: Sour Grapes being the aunt of Raisin Cane)
    • It’s the first series to feature LGBT characters at all, such as Lime Chiffon’s dads, the transgender Banoffee, and a nonbinary Raisin Cane.
      • By extension, this also marks the first time a previously existing Strawberry Shortcake character is LGBT.
    • With the inclusion of Bread Pudding, Berry in the Big City is the first series to have more than one boy in the main cast, as previous series only had Huckleberry Pie. The 1980s series did intend on having two male characters with Plum Pudding, but he was retconned into a girl.
    • With the episode “Aunt Praline’s Sweetie Pie”, this marks the first series where a main character is in a romantic relationship, with Aunt Praline dating Kiki KeyLime.
      • This also makes her the first main cast member to be LGBTQ+ as well.
  • Brick Joke:
    • In "Meet Huckleberry Pie", Strawberry mistakes Huckleberry's pet ferret, Red Hot, for a rat, to which he corrects her with "Ferret, actually". At the end of the episode, Lime Chiffon makes the same mistake, which Strawberry responds to with the same correction.
    • While listing off their New Years wishes in "New Year's Wish", Lemon Meringue sets off a party popper. At the end of the episode, the same popper goes off, waking everyone up.
    • In "A Berryworks Mystery", Blueberry says her pet mouse, Cheesecake, runs an underground poker game for the other Berryworks pets, but it's dismissed as Blueberry being her regular kooky self. At the end of the episode, it turns out to be true.
    • In “Blueberry Brainfreeze”, when Strawberry first asks the frozen Blueberry what unique ice cream flavor she should use in her vanilla butter caker, Blueberry responds with “Vanilla”, which Strawberry dismisses for being too obvious. At the end of the episode, Strawberry ends up going with vanilla on vanilla anyways when the flavor Blueberry came up with tasted terriblenote .
    • In "Go For The Goldenberry", Lemon Meringue's pet frog, Frappe, notices a fly and begins chasing it. At the end of the episode, he's revealed to be the winner of the competition, having been touching the Goldenberry the whole time while chasing the fly.
    • Lemon Meringue leaves to grab her "Inciner-Ray 500" at the start of "Mint-eresting" to deal with the mint overgrowth. She reappears at the end, scorching the pie slice Strawberry gave her.
    • In "Foam Alone", Strawberry picks up a banana peel the Purple Pieman threw on the ground to avoid someone slipping on it, to which he throws another one after she leaves. At the end, Pieman slips on the same banana peel.
    • In “All in the Palm”, Blueberry Muffin reads Orange Blossom’s palm and says “Gold”, which Orange assumes to mean her constant winning in competitions. At the end of the episode, a bucket of gold paint falls on Orange.
    • In "Berry Competitive", one of Orange's suggestions to Lemon for her next invention is a jetpack. At the end of the episode, Lemon and Orange end up building the jetpack to win the inventing competition.
    • In "Parking Problems", when setting up their juice cart, Lemon Tort activates a "turbo-boost" which activated several giant arrow signs pointing to them. She them immediately tries to activate the "turbo turbo-boost", to which Lime Tart argues with her that they agreed to only use one turbo boost. Near the end, Lemon and Lime show back up again to activate the "turbo turbo-boost".
    • In “The House on Scary Berry Lane”, Blueberry tells Strawberry and Raspberry a legend about a crazed baker who lived in the titular house, obsessed with making evil marzipan men. At the end of the episode, Mr. Mangosteen notices an evil-looking marzipan man and says he’s been finding them everywhere, which prompts the three girls to run out of the house.
  • Broken Pedestal:
    • Strawberry Shortcake idolized the Purple Pieman, but when she saw his true colors she now sees him as her mortal enemy. In fact, he's one of the berries that she has any animosity towards.
    • Happens again with Crabapple Jam. Strawberry idolized her because she was once a fellow country girl who built her way to success, but drops her Hero Worship upon seeing how ruthless and corrupt Crabapple became.
  • The Bus Came Back: For several Strawberry Shortcake characters from previous incarnations.
    • Plum Pudding's male incarnation, making his first reappearance since the original series in "All About Lemon".
    • Peach Blush (renamed Peach Trifle) reappears as a party planner for the first time since the 1980s, and becomes a reocurring background character.
    • Mr. Sun returns, though he is only an imaginary character in one episode.
    • Cheesecake, Frappe, and Parfait return as Blueberry, Lemon, and Lime's pets since the 1980s series (2003 for Cheesecake).
    • Lime Chiffon, Crepes Suzette, Peppermint Fizz, and Sherry Bobbleberry make their return after their last appearance in the 2003 series.
      • Downplayed with Ginger Snap. She technically also appears, but it's as a cameo in footage of the 2003 cartoon, which serves as an In-Universe tv show that Strawberry enjoys. But it is still her first onscreen appearance since the 2003 series concluded.
      • The Berry Fairies return as a famous band, but Sherry Bobbleberry is the only returning member. Fairy Queen, Margalo, and Periwinkle are nowhere in sight.
  • Call-Back:
    • In the first episode, Bread Pudding tells Strawberry that the Berryworks is "trendy and chic", and it's his job to keep it that way to get her to leave. In "Peculiar Purple Partner", Bread Pudding tells Strawberry the same thing, but to get her to stay in Big Apple City.
    • In "Bread Pudding's New BFF", Bread attempts to befriend Lime Chiffon to try and get a limited-edition waistcoat her father designed. In "Fashion Forward", the same waistcoat appears on a cover of "Vanity Pear", and as part of Crepe Suzette's outfit, which is what gets Lime and Bread to try and befriend her.
    • Strawberry lists off several of Lemon's inventions in "All About Lemon", and notes that all of them exploded.
    • "Trick and TREAT!" has some to the Season 1 Fright Fall episodes. Strawberry is seen singing "Fright Fall Night" to herself in the beginning, then they bring up the tale of J. Quincy Cupcake's ghost from "Ghosts of Cupcakes Past", with Raspberry doing her Totem Pole Trench disguise of J. Quincy Cupcake from the same episode to scare Cheese Strudel and Cherry Strussel.
  • Camping Episode: In Season 3, a story arc involving the Berry Besties going camping occurs in "Camping vs Glamping", "Turn Things Around", and "Lord of the S'mores".
  • Camp Gay: Fluffy Chiffon shows some signs, like his soft voice, fashion design as a career and being so dedicated to being "fabulous" he breaks down in tears when he steps in gum with his brand new shoes. Plus, actually being married to a man.
  • Canon Foreigner: Bread Pudding, Aunt Praline, and many other characters were created specifically for this show.
  • Caper Crew: The Berry Besties form one in “Mission Unfrostable”, when Strawberry and Raspberry overhear Purple Pieman plan on rigging his giveaway contest so no one can win it, they plan to steal the prize tokens to give them away.
    • Strawberry Shortcake and Raspberry Tart don't give themselves nicknames, but they fill the role of the Mastermind and Partner-In-Crime respectively.
    • Lime Chiffon - The Compass
    • Lemon Meringue - The Braniac
    • Orange Blossom - The Feather
    • Blueberry Muffin - The Eyes
    • Sour Grapes doesn't actively participate, but she acts as The Inside Man and secretly helps Strawberry complete the heist.
  • Cardiovascular Love: When she tests the new oven that Lemon built, Strawberry Shortcake is very happy. Strawberry Shortcake then displays hearts around her body. Cut to a Confession Cam message that shows how "Lemon really came through for her". This immediately goes away once the oven causes a pot to emit a column of fire.
Strawberry Shortcake: (in cutaway, annoyed) No, nevermind. There it is.
  • Caustic Critic:
    • Downplayed with Genoise La Creme, who's a famous food critic with a reputation for being harsh, but she's never actually shown giving a negative review.
    • Pineapple Clafoutis is an obnoxious online streamer/reviewer who declares the Tangerine Smash movie awful before it even premieres, though this is in part motivated by his displeasure at the titular hero being a woman.
  • Chekhov's Gun: In "Peculiar Purple Partner", Lemon Meringue mentions she puts microphones in all her inventions. She later uses it to do an Engineered Public Confession and drive the Purple Pieman out of the Berryworks.
  • Commonality Connection:
    • Strawberry and Raspberry realize this in "Bake-Off", which leads to them ending their rivalry with one-another and becoming friends.
      Strawberry Shortcake: Raspberry and I realized something. We both love baking. We're both really good at it.
      Raspberry Tart: Seems silly to be so mean to someberry you have so much in common with.
    • In "Bread Pudding's New BFF", Bread Pudding and Lime Chiffon become friends due to their mutual love of fashion.
    • How Lemon Meringue manages to get through to Sour Grapes in "Sweet and Sour", being able to relate to Sour due to them both being emotionally closed-off to others.
  • Confession Cam: The webisodes are interspersed with scenes of Strawberry (or someone else) talking to the viewer about what is going on at the moment.
  • Conflict Ball: Strawberry Shortcake and friends can get this from time to time, though they always make up at the end of the episode.
    • Strawberry Shortcake and Orange Blossom when they race for some Gooseberries, and when they attempt to one-up each other in rollerskating.
    • Lime Chiffon and Blueberry Muffin, due to Lime's belief in solid facts and Blueberry's spiritual mysticism, in "A Berryworks Mystery" and "Mint-teresting".
    • The group as a whole in "Purple Protege" fighting over who gets to become Purple Pieman's assistant, "Camping vs Glamping" over if roughing it or RV-camping is better, and "Lord of the S'mores" when they all (save for Strawberry and Huckleberry) fight over the last marshmallow.
    • In "Strawberry Shortcake's Perfect Holiday", Orange Blossom and Bread Pudding's subplot has the two fighting over how the Winterswirl tree should be decorated. Bread wants to do a traditional tree, while Orange wants to adorn it in Tangerine Smash collectible ornaments.
    • Aunt Praline and Fluffy Chiffon in "Berry Bounty Bust" over whether their families should eat Praline's home-cooked dishes or Fluffy's catered food.
    • Strawberry and Raspberry in “Sky High Pie”, when Cheese Strudel and Cherry Streusel spread rumors between them in an attempt to ruin their friendship.
  • Connected All Along: Purple Pieman is revealed to have a prior connection to two other villains in the series.
    • “Strawberry Shortcake’s Perfect Holiday” reveals him and Johnnycake Cobbler are brothers.
    • “Kiki KeyLime’s Favorite Things” reveals he used to be the young and idealistic apprentice of Crabapple Jam, before she corrupted him with her selfish ideals into the ruthless businessman we know today.
  • Continuity Nod: After "Will You Be My Lemontine?", when Lemon Meringue expressed a dislike of hugs and physical contact, future episodes where the Berry Besties do a group hug will have Lemon stand off to the side, rather than join in.
  • Cordon Bleugh Chef:
    • In "And the Smoothie Goes to...", Orange Blossom becomes this during a smoothie competiton when she tries to make a "creative" smoothie, which grants her the newly created "Worst Smoothie" award. Orange Blossom doesn't mind, because she still won something in the competition.
    • Huckleberry Pie has no cooking experience as revealed in "Turn Things Around", his attempt to make dinner ends up with horrible grey sludge because he used all the food available in an attempt to make it taste good.
  • Country Mouse: Downplayed with Strawberry Shortcake. She moves from the small town of Berryville to Big Apple City but lacks any of the country stereotypes apart from trying to get used to the city's hustle and bustle, which she eventually does after making friends with the other berries.
  • Covered in Gunge: Characters get splattered with confectionary goo for humor a lot.
  • Crippling Overspecialization:
    • Huckleberry Pie is good at music, but he’s pretty much only good at music. When he briefly worked at the girls’ carts after he was fired from the Berryworks for not having his own, he was unable to perform even something as simple as coming up with an ice cream flavor.
    • Spicy Crust the hot dog/pizza vendor only knew how to make spicy foods until “The Super Spicy Pizza”, when Strawberry and friends taught him how to make non-spicy stuff.
  • Crossover: Has had two with the Girl’s Tales podcast, with two exclusive stories taking place in the setting of Freshwater, where Strawberry and some of her friends team up with the local residents to solve a problem.
  • Denser and Wackier: Compared to past incarnations, this one has a more comedic edge to it, being set in modern times and the characters being more prone to blunt remarks and constantly getting into shenanigans.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: In early episodes, berries would use "O.M.Gumdrops" as an expression of surprise. Later episodes would drop this, instead using "Oh my guava".
  • Enemy Mine: In "Johnnycake Cobbler's Sensational Sweetening Spritz", Raspberry and Strawberry team up to investigate Johnnycake's Spritz and expose him as a scammer.
  • "Eureka!" Moment:
    • As a Running Gag, whenever a berry expresses a problem, Strawberry will immediately get an idea on how to solve it, indicated by her having a wide grin on her face and squealing.
    • Blueberry Muffin occasionally has "smell-spiration", where she smells something and is instantly inspired with a new ice cream flavor, such as "Camambert Campfire Crunch" upon smelling marshmallows and cheese on a fire, or her "Boiled Cabbage and Marshmallow" cone in "Parking Problems".
    • In "Ghosts of Cupcakes Past", Strawberry has trouble coming up with a new dish for Fright Fall. After being scared by Raspberry Tart, Bread Pudding, and Sour Grapes pretending to be a ghost, and discovering the ruse thanks to unintentional help by Blueberry Muffin, Strawberry comes up with a cupcake that contains raspberry, grape, and bread pudding filling.
    • In "Be Your Berry Best", after Lime Chiffon takes Strawberry to Bloomingberries to get an outfit for a fancy restauraunt called Garscone's, but her overly enthusiastic attitude and the fast paced Costume-Test Montage ends up overwhelming Strawberry and discourages her from it altogether. Upon sadly taking a bite of a jelly donut, Lime Chiffon immediately realizes Strawberry doesn't need to be all fancy, what matters is she wears something true to herself, comparing it to how the filling of a jelly donut is desired more than the outer design.
    • In "Who Stole the Pies?", after being unable to find whoever ate Strawberry's pies, Lime gives the last piece of her donut to Huck, who messily devours it. Upon seeing that and remembering the earlier mess from the eaten pies, she immediately pieces together that Huckleberry was the culprit.
    • In "Everyberry Needs Someberry Sometimes", a sick Strawberry asks the Berry Besties to bake the cupcakes for Sweetie Pie Preschool's annual bake sale while she rests, but her friends end up getting sidetracked and cause a mess. Strawberry's initially freaked out as they didn't bake all the cupcakes in time, she then gets the idea to do a "build your own cupcake" stand instead, citing the fact her friends did their own things as the inspiration.
    • In "Huck's New Job", when Huck is about to leave the Berryworks after Bread kicked him out due to not owning.a cart, he plays one last song thanking his friends for their help, as they love his music regardless of if he has a cart or not. Strawberry then realizes that they could just get Huck his own cart so he could stay at the Berryworks.
    • In "Dreamy Dessert", Strawberry has a dream where she creates a new cupcake recipe but wakes up before she can hear the last ingredient. Lemon tries to help with an invention that reads her mind, but it just electrocutes Strawberry. Throughout the episode, Strawberry keeps getting an electric shock, but then notices that she's only shocked whenever she says the word "jam", and realizes that jam is the last ingredient for the recipe.
    • In "Scaryoke", when berries flock to Purple Pieman's pieshop rather than the Berryworks' Fright Fall party, Huck remembers Strawberry telling him to focus on fun rather than frights, turning the party into a karaoke night which attracts everyberry back to the Berryworks.
    • In "Save The Pumpkins", upon Blueberry asking if they have to carve the pumpkins, Strawberry immediately comes up with a solution, having everyone decorate the pumpkins with paint and props rather than carving them.
    • In "Traffic Jam", Blueberry and Huck get stuck in traffic on their way to a food truck festival, which ends up preventing them from attending. Blueberry then notices Honeydew Sorbet in an adjacent car staring at her ice cream cart, giving her the idea to instead sell her ice cream to the other drivers.
    • In "LemonLime Back in Time", after Lime Tart and Lemon Tort quit the Berryworks and leave, Orange notes that Lemon Meringue and Lime Chiffon need a better business plan. Upon picking up a stray lime and Lemon Tort's leftover license plate, Blueberry gets the idea to have Meringue and Chiffon partner together.
    • In "Music in Our Hearts", Huck is discouraged from auditioning for Poachella after a broken guitar string and noting previous incidents preventing him from doing so. While coming up with a way to make him feel better, Strawberry notices the melodic sounds the other girls are making and immediately gets the idea to use things laying around the Berryworks as instruments instead, and perform alongside Huck in the Poachella auditions.
  • Expy:
    • Caramel Tartufo is one to Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather, being the mafia-like head of a shady business, including having a Mumbling Brando.
    • Lemon Tort is one to Doc Brown from Back to the Future, being a mad scientist inventor with a futuristic DeLorean-like vehicle. Her first appearance alone includes several references to the film.
    • Pineapple Clafoutis, an overweight and obnoxious superhero nerd is basically Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. He even uses the same catchphrase.
    Pineapple Clafoutis: Worst. Superberry. Ever!
  • Eyed Screen:
    • In "Legend of the Spoon, this happens when Strawberry asks Aunt Praline to teach her how to use the Lucky Spoon.
    Strawberry: Train me in your ways.
    Aunt Praline: Let's begin.
    • In "The Great Gooseberry Chase", when Strawberry and Orange Blossom prepare to race each other.
  • Fire-Breathing Diner:
  • Foil: The main antagonists of the series all compare/contrast with Strawberry in some way.
    • Raspberry Tart: Her and Strawberry come from different backgrounds, the former from a rich city life and the latter from the simple countryside, but the two share many similarities. Both are incredibly skilled bakers looking to make it big in the world, and eventually the two realize this, leading to them becoming friends rather than rivals. Even their outfits and trucks mirror each other in design.
    • Purple Pieman and Strawberry both want to become successful bakers in Big Apple City, and will do whatever it takes. However, Pieman stoops to underhanded tactics and sabotage to stay on top, while Strawberry wants to find success with honest work and compassion.
    • Crabapple Jam and Strawberry both come from the a similar background, being simple country berries who moved to Big Apple City to pursue a career. Crabapple’s become extremely successful, but is extremely corrupt and selfish, while Strawberry has a much more down-to-earth business, and is very nice and helpful.
  • Foreshadowing: In the "Bake-Off" 2-parter, Sour submits a pre-baked pie from The Purple Pieman's Purple Pieshop in her audition for Bite of The City. At first it appears to be a Mythology Gag to Sour's previous incarnations being associated with Pieman, but Season 2 reveals that she's actually the Pieman's niece.
  • Frame-Up: Purple Pieman attempts this in "Case of the Missing Spoon", by having a crow steal Strawberry's lucky spoon then place it near the other berries to make it look like they took it. Ultimately defied, as Strawberry doesn't believe any of her friends stole it for one second, and knows the Pieman is the culprit. The only part that trips her up is that she couldn't figure out how he was doing it.
  • The Friends Who Never Hang:
    • The Berry Besties, with the exception of Strawberry and Blueberry, rarely interact with Huckleberry outside of group activities.
    • Even after their integration into the Berry Besties, the Mean Berries generally only interact with the rest in a group.
      • Raspberry's mostly shown hanging out with Strawberry, Orange, Bread Pudding, and Sour Grapes.
      • Bread Pudding spends most of his time with Lime Chiffon, Huckleberry, and Strawberry.
      • Sour Grapes barely spends time with anyone outside of group stuff, due to her being Out of Focus.
    • Huckleberry Pie introduces Caramela Eclair as a friend/acquaintance in “Fruitleg Alley”, which remains the extent of their onscreen interaction.
    • In "Strawberry Shortcake's Perfect Holiday", the Peculiar Purple Pieman and Johnnycake Cobbler are revealed to be brothers, yet this is their first time interacting onscreen. It's implied in the special that this is because Pieman cannot stand Johnnycake's penchant for dramatics and showmanship, as it risks exposing their schemes to the public.
  • Girliness Upgrade: Blueberry Muffin, normally a tomboyish bookworm, is now a girly boho chic.
  • Gone Horribly Right: The Cakenator, one of Lemon Meringue's inventions, goes a bit too far with helping out when she's inducted into Strawberry Shortcake's business, ousting Strawberry Shortcake and putting her in a Heroic BSoD.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong:
    • Raspberry Tart's plan on impersonating the dead J. Quincy Cupcake with her fellow Mean Berries to scare Strawberry Shortcake when she finds out about the latter's phasmophobia. Things fall apart when Blueberry Muffin gives "J. Quincy" a hot cupcake. "J. Quincy" burns his hand, which unintentionally exposes the Totem Pole Trench that the Mean Berries set up for their prank when he falls apart.
    • The Cakenator in it's titular debut is built to always bake a perfect recipe, which means that it can't make alterations to suit the customer's needs, which also snaps Strawerry out of her Heroic BSoD.
      • When Strawberry Shortcake attempts to explain this to the Cakenator, it cannot comprehend the concept, causing her to explode.
  • Good Angel, Bad Angel: In “Following The Recipe”, Blueberry has shoulder angel and devil versions of her appear when she’s asked by Genoise La Creme to make a spumoni ice cream cake, the angel convincing her to follow the given recipe and do everything legitimately, while the devil tries to distract her or buy a spumoni cake and pass it off as her own.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Occasionally characters will use either "fiddle-faddle" or "fruitcake" as an expletive.
  • Granola Girl: Practically literally, with one episode introducing a crusading hippie girl named Granola Crunch who's trying to keep a community park from being bulldozed by the Purple Pieman.
  • Gross-Up Close-Up: There's one in "The Case of the Missing Spoon" with the Purple Pieman's stinky feet when Strawberry sees him cutting his just as grody toenails.
  • Girl's Night Out Episode: Gender-flipped variation. “Donuts and Drawbridges” focuses on the male characters in the series: Huckleberry Pie, Bread Pudding, and Plum Pudding as they LARP across the city pretending to be fantasy adventurers. It also might be the first episode to focus solely on the male characters in the franchise.
  • Heat Wave: Episodes "Ice Cream Trouble", "Beat the Heat", and "A Splash of Fun" center around this, with it getting so hot that umbrellas and lawn chairs spontaneously catch fire, and cookie dough immediately burning the second it touches the baking tray in the latter.
  • Here We Go Again!:
    • "The Great Gooseberry Chase", Strawberry and Orange race each other to Mrs. Crumbcake's house to try and get some gooseberries. After deciding to get some elderberries instead, they realize there's only one jar left at Mr. Mangosteen's fruit stand, and begin racng each other again.
    • Orange and Strawberry get stuck in traffic in "Traffic Jam". At the end, after realizing they could've sold their cupcakes to the trafficgoers, the two set out to purposefully get stuck in traffic again.
    • In "Lord of the S'mores", everyone (save for Strawberry and Huckleberry) fights over the last marshmallow after the rest were eaten by a goat. At the end of the episode, the same goat eats all the graham crackers save for one, which all the berries begin fighting over.
  • Heroic BSoD:
    • Strawberry Shortcake encounters this in "Mean Berries" when Raspberry makes her believe she'll fade into obscurity once her country aesthetic stops being popular. Fortunately, her friends snap her out of it.
    • This happens again in "The Cakenator" when the Cakenator's help goes too far. Again, Strawberry Shortcake is the target.
    • Strawberry suffers one in "Peculiar Purple Partner", when Purple Pieman tricks her into giving away her food truck. It's so bad that she nearly gives up and moves back to Berryville, until her friends help her get it back and expose the Purple Pieman's corrupt nature to the public.
    • Huckleberry goes through a brief one in "Music in Our Hearts" when he loses confidence in his music talents before an audition.
  • The Hero's Idol: Strawberry has/had three in baking icons Kiki KeyLime, The Peculiar Purple Pieman, and Crabapple Jam. Kiki ends up being the only one of her idols to not antagonize her in any way, while the other two became major enemies for the Berry Besties.
  • Hold Your Hippogriffs: Due to being a "berry-ized" version of the modern day, this comes up from time to time.
    • People are referred to as "berries", which leads to replacing words like "body" with "berry", such as "everyberry", "someberry", and "anyberry".
    • "O.M.Gumdrops" and "Oh my guava"note 
    • "Hold the scone!"note 
    • “Flan-tastic!”note 
    • “Abso-fruit-ly!”note 
  • Identical Stranger: Downplayed, a recurring extra has similar features to Strawberry, notably his long pink hair and strawberry beanie, but the two share little resemblance otherwise. It doesn't stop her friends from mistaking him for her when viewed from behind, though.
  • Iris Out: Each segment in the Netflix version ends with a strawberry-shaped iris-out.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
    • The opening song includes the lyrics "Get ready, 'cause she's back again", referencing the show's multiple previous incarnations.
    • In "Mission Unfrostable", Blueberry says she can see the past, present, and future, while holding up ice cream cones resembling the 1980s and 2021 Strawberry Shortcakes.
    Blueberry Muffin: (holding up 1980s Strawberry cone) I can see the past, (holding up 2021 Strawberry cone) the present, (smushing the cones together) and the future.
    • In "Hot, Fresh, and Trending", Bread Pudding's attempts to make the Berryworks "trendy" include evoking nostalgia.
    Bread Pudding: We're not hitting the nostalgia trend yet! STRAWBERRY!"
    (Strawberry Shortcake skates up to Bread Pudding)
    Bread Pudding: (plopping the 1980s Strawberry Shortcake hat on her head) Wear this!
    Strawberry Shortcake: Are you sure? I just think we need to focus on something fu-
    Bread Pudding: (shoves the rest of the outfit into Strawberry's hands, causing her to roll back from the force)
  • Loophole Abuse:
    • The “Peculiar Purple Partner” Two Parter is chock full of this:
      • After convincing Strawberry to partner with his business, Purple Pieman cites a dress code rule in the contract to fire her for having a stain on her sleeve, and because she signed over the Extraordinary Berry as part of the contract, she’s left without a truck and can’t work at the Berryworks anymore.
      • Bread Pudding counts a wagon with an oven as a cart, allowing Strawberry to stay at the Berryworks.
      • Pieman attempts to invoke this when Bread tells him that vendor disputes have to be settled with management, telling him that Strawberry doesn’t count as a vendor without a cart, until he notices the oven wagon and reluctantly relents.
      • When Purple Pieman is subjected to an Engineered Public Confession and chased out of the Berryworks, Bread Pudding terminates his contract and cites a rule that anything left behind by a fired vendor is seized by the Berryworks, which allows him to give the Extraordinary Berry back to Strawberry.
    • In “Berry Competitive”, Lemon and Orange compete in an inventing competition, where their invention has to help a baker in some way. The two build a jetpack, and reason that it can help bakers deliver their goods quicker. Plum Pudding, the event host, accepts it and declares the two winners.
    • In “Crabapple Jam”, when Crabapple becomes owner of the Berryworks and bans the Berry Besties from selling their products, they all decide to combine their goods into a single treat as it technically doesn’t count under Crabapple’s regulations.
    • In “Strawberry’s Shortcake”, when Crabapple asks the Berryworks vendors to make a sweet using their namesake, Strawberry is initially unable to because she can’t make strawberry shortcakes. Eventually, she decides on a “strawberry short cake”, which is a small strawberry cake.
  • Made of Explodium: All of Lemon Meringue's inventions are notorious for this.
    • The Cakenator is a reoccuring example. In fact, it's debut episode had it explode SIX TIMES.
    Strawberry Shortcake: Our treats don't have to be made perfect, Cakenator! They just need to be made with love! That's the Strawberry Shortcake touch!
    Cakenator: Strawberry Shortcake touch does not compute! (glitches and explodes)
  • Made of Incendium:
    • In "Lemon's Explosive Oven", when Lemon ignores Strawberry saying that the oven she built is too powerful, the latter proves her point by taking out a tray of cinnamon rolls that immediately combust.
    • In "Beat The Heat" and "A Splash of Fun", various objects spontaneously catch fire due to the extreme heat of summer.
  • Mad Scientist: Lemon Meringue's a benign version, but has moments where she fantasizes about being something closer to it. Like when the Cakenator blows up, her next idea leads to an Imagine Spot of her piloting a Humongous Mecha and destroying the city, complete with an Evil Laugh.
  • The Mafia: The people of Fruitleg Alley are this in all but name, with Caramel Tartufo acting as The Don.
  • Malicious Misnaming: The Purple Pieman does this to Strawberry Shortcake all the time. His favorite one to use is calling her "Snortflake".
  • Mental World: The Spiritual Swirliverse is an inner mindscape that every baker has, though we only see Strawberry’s.
  • Mouthscreen:
  • Musicalis Interruptus: A Running Gag in the series.
    • The first episode, Strawberry begins to sing “No Ordinary Berry” before she’s stopped by Aunt Praline, who tells her to save the song for later.
    • In “New Year’s Wish”, Raspberry sings a reprise of “No Ordinary Berry”, but stops once she realizes Strawberry was watching her.
    • “Sweet and Sour”, Sour Grapes was singing a song about her feeling distant and closed off from everyberry, but immediately stops and pretends she wasn’t doing anything upon Strawberry interrupting her.
  • Musical World Hypotheses: The series is generally an Alternate Universe or Diegetic flavor. Spontaneous singing and dancing isn’t treated as unusual, and even background extras can join in on occasion, while sometimes a song happens as a performance such as with Huckleberry Pie or the Berry Fairies. Some of the songs do include visuals that clearly aren’t meant to actually be happening, which implies some part of it is All In Their Head.
  • Mystery Episode: “Who Stole The Pies?”, “A Berryworks Mystery”, and the “Beast of Berry Bog” special.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • 1980s:
      • The first two legacy franchise characters Strawberry meets is Lemon Meringue and Orange Blossom, just like in the second 1980s special, "Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City", though there she met Orange first and then Lemon.
      • In “Berry Merry Melody”, Huckleberry is briefly seen holding a video game case with the original Strawberry on it
      • An outfit that Strawberry briefly wears in "Be Your Berry Best" and "Hot, Fresh, and Trending" is the same one as her original 1980s incarnation.
      • Strawberry's grandma, Grandberry Jam, looks like an elderly version of the 1980s Strawberry Shortcake.
      • In "Mission Unfrostable", Blueberry Muffin holds up an ice cream cone that looks like the head of the 1980s Strawberry Shortcake.
      • Lime Chiffon is dressed as a ballerina in "Scaryoke", referencing her original incarnation who was also a ballerina.
      • In "Any Way You Slice It", Lime Chiffon walks past a mannequin wearing her original 1980s outfit.
    • 2003/2007:
      • During the "Bad Day Blues" musical number, Strawberry and Praline watch the 2003 series on TV.
      • Strawberry’s food truck is called the “Extraordinary Berry”, referencing a line from the 2003 theme song: “She's so buh-buh-berry extraordi-di-dinary”.
    • Pupcake's design bears a strong resemblance to Marmalade in the 2009 series, who also happened to be Orange Blossom's pet dog.
    • Purple Pieman utilizes a crow in "Pets to the Rescue" in his attempt to frame Strawberry's friends, similarly to his Berry Birds from the original 1980s and 2003 series.
  • No Communities Were Harmed: Big Apple City acts as a stand-in for New York City.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Strawberry Shortcake is outright frightened in "The Ghosts of Cupcakes Past" when she spots Jay Quincy Cupcake headed towards her. Fortunately, it's just a Totem Pole Trench.
    • In "Oven Trouble", Lemon Meringue has this reaction when she realizes the oven she built is about to explode.
    • Strawberry Shortcake gets this when she realizes that her attempt to reason with the Cakenator causes the Cakenator to experience a Blue Screen Of Death and explode.
    • Purple Pieman recieves one when Lemon uses the microphone she installed in Strawberry's oven to do an Engineered Public Confession, revealing his corrupt nature to the public.
  • Origins Episode: "Lemon-Lime Back in Time" acts as one for Lemon Meringue and Lime Chiffon, and how they became business partners for their juice cart.
  • The Perfectionist:
    • The Cakenator 6 is this, baking recipes perfectly to the letter, but her perfectionism is also her Fatal Flaw, as she doesn't understand that she'll need to make alterations based on customer needs, such as adding berries that Huckleberry Pie didn't want on his pie, not adding the touch of cinnamon that Honeydew Sorbet wanted on her fritter, and not putting on extra sugar that another customer wanted on her own food. Basically the Cake-inator is perfect at following recipes, but Strawberry's customers are loyal to her because of the personal touches she puts on the treats they buy from her.
    • Lime Chiffon's former business partner, Lime Tart, was this to an extreme level, micro-managing everything Lime Chiffon did to an unreasonable level. Even something as simple as stacking limes in a pyramid display was enough to make her mad, because Chiffon didn't organize them by size and ripeness first. She appears to have cooled off on this once she became partners with Lemon Tort, though.
    • The founder of the Berryworks, J. Quincy Cupcake, was legendary for this. He painstakingly checked every single cupcake he made for even the tiniest blemish until it drove him mad, which is implied to have led to his death.
    • Granola Crunch is this to a lesser extent, doing all the upkeep for her garden by herself as she's worried other berries will mess it up, but it takes little convincing from Strawberry to allow others to help, and by the end of the episode she's pretty much dropped this trait.
  • Piss-Take Rap: At the end of "Hot, Fresh, and Trending", Purple Pieman tries to perform a rap in a desperate attempt to regain his customers. It's very bad.
  • Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title:
  • Power Source: In Berry in the Big City, small orbs of energy called "sparkberries" are used to fuel machinery, though its usually seen to power vehicles such as Strawberry's "Extraordinary Berry" food truck. The first episode mentions that a factory is used to produce these.
  • Pun-Based Title:
    • It's My Purr-ty, a pun on "It's my party" and "Purr", due to the episode focusing on Custard's birthday.
    • The Great Gooseberry Chase is a pun on "goose chase", as Strawberry and Orange are chasing down Mr. Mangosteen's delivery boy to try and get gooseberries, but it could also be one on "The Great Chase", which is the name of a restaurant located in London.
    • Berry Merry Melody = "very merry melody" but with "berry" in place of "very"
    • Will You Be My Lemontine! = "Will you be my valentine?", being about Strawberry trying to give a valentine to Lemon Meringue.
    • Be Your Berry Best = "Be your very best"
    • Go for the Goldenberry = "Go for the gold" as it's about the Berry Besties competing to win a prize in the titular goldenberry.
    • And The Smoothie Goes To... = "And the award goes to..." as it's about Orange trying to win an award in a smoothie making competition
    • Mint-eresting = Mint + Interesting
    • A Berry Perfect Kind Of Day = "A very perfect kind of day"
    • Fruitleg Alley isn't a full title pun, but "Fruitleg" is a pun on "fruit" and "bootleg", referencing the titular location's shady nature and the patrons selling fake food products.
    • Scaryoke = Scary + Karaoke
    • Snow-Aisis = Snow + Oasis
    • The Mint Gala = The Met Gala + Mint
    • Strawberry Bake Fail is a pun on "bake sale", with the title referencing Strawberry's failure to make macarons.
    • Berry Competitive = Very competitive
    • Let The Good Times Roll is about the Berry Besties helping Strawberry learn to rollerskate, while also giving a message that it's okay to face difficulty in life, you just need to go at your own pace and remember to still have fun.
    • A Splash of Fun is about the Berry Besties going to a pool (hence "splash"), but the title is a reference to a term used for measuring liquid, "a splash of".
    • Trick AND TREAT! is a pun on "trick or treat". The episode is about Cheese Strudel and Cherry Strussel playing tricks on the Berry Besties, which they consider a treat to themselves.
    • Strawberry's Shortcake is a pun on the title character's name, and the pastry she's named after. The episode is also about Strawberry Shortcake struggling to make strawberry shortcake, and references the cake she gives to Crabapple Jam: A strawberry short cake, which is a strawberry-flavored cake that's small in size, aka short.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Sour Grapes acted as this, barely invested in antagonizing Strawberry, she only really went along with it for Raspberry Tart because she was her friend, and the Purple Pieman because he was her uncle. Once the former undergoes a Heel–Face Turn and she's convinced to quit working for the latter, she stops being an antagonist period.
  • Punny Name:
    • The tech website Fusionberry is potentially a pun on Fusionworksnote  and "berry".
    • The rollerskating rink, Starfruit Express = Starlight Express + Starfruit
    • Fruitleg Alley = "Bootleg" + "Fruit"
    • Berry-oke = "Karaoke" + "Berry"
    • Mint Gala = "Met Gala" + "Mint"
    • Poachella = "Coachella" + "Poach"
    • David Attenberry = David Attenborough + "Berry"
    • Egg Sheeran = Egg + Ed Sheeran
    • TikTaco = TikTok + "Taco"
    • Vanity Pear = "Vanity Fair" + "Pear"
    • Cocoa Lachelle = Coco Chanel
    • Berry Brothers Smash = Super Smash Bros. + "Berry"
    • Anna Cake-renina = Anna Karenina + "Cake"
    • Bloomingberries = Bloomingdale's + "Berries"
    • Jack Kirberry = Jack Kirby + “Berry”
  • Puppy-Dog Eyes: Honeydew Sorbet does this a lot due to her Adorably Precocious Child status.
  • Race Lift: Many returning characters are of a different ethnicity in Berry in the Big City.
    • Lime Chiffon is Afro-Latina, when her previous versions were white.
    • Peach Blush (renamed Peach Trifle), Plum Pudding, Crepe Suzette, and Peppermint Fizz are now black.
    • Raisin Cane and Blueberry Muffin are Asian.
    • Cherry Jam and Huckleberry Pie are Ambiguously Brown, but the former appears to still be Asian.
  • Rage Breaking Point: Lime Chiffon blows her top when Blueberry Muffin tells too many "legends" in "A Berryworks Mystery". Fortunately, Strawberry Shortcake stops the argument before it goes too far.
    Blueberry Muffin: Legend... says—!
    Lime Chiffon: History says!
  • Recursive Canon: In “Bad Day Blues”, Strawberry and Aunt Praline are briefly seen watching the 2003 series on television.
  • Related Differently in the Adaptation:
    • Pupcake, who is Strawberry's pet in most incarnations (and started as Huckleberry Pie's), is now Orange's pet.
    • In "Purple Protege", it is revealed that Sour Grapes is the Purple Pieman's niece in this incarnation, instead of his sister like the 2003 series.
  • Robot Me: The Cakenator, a robot built by Lemon Meringue, was designed to resemble Strawberry Shortcake.
  • Running Gag:
    • Things that shouldn't explode randomly exploding anyway, e.g. a bowl of batter that the Cakenator 2 stirred (before exploding itself), a cupcake that Strawberry put a candle on, and a macaron that Strawberry baked.
    • At the end of "The Cakenator", the Cakenator 4's legless torso can be seen flying in the background and shows up again in later episodes. In Season 3, the gag has been retired, and the Cakenator begins to make regular appearances.
    • Whenever a berry has a problem and they claim that there’s no way to solve it, Strawberry will immediately get an idea, shown by her smiling, at which the berry will usually say:
      Berry: Why are you making that fsce?
  • Sanity Slippage: Despite her upbeat and perky additude, Strawberry Shortcake can very easily lose her cool when stressed out, to the point of craziness.
  • Sequel Episode: “The Swirliverse Strikes Back!” serves as one for “Strawberry Bake Fail”, with Strawberry revisiting her Spiritual Swirliverse for guidance and having to fend off a mold infestation.
  • Shout-Out:
    • In “The Great Gooseberry Chase”, Orange begins running in a similar way to Sonic the Hedgehog, complete with Wheel o' Feet.
    • In “Fashion Forward”, Bread Pudding reads a magazine with a model dressed like Carmen Sandiego.
    • Tangerine Smash-related episodes have several to Marvel and DC:
      • In “Dreamy Dessert” and “Lucky Berry”, Orange Blossom and Strawberry Shortcake respectively hold up a comic book that bears a similar cover to Action Comics #1.
      • In "SuperBerry", another Tangerine Smash comic cover homages The Dark Knight Returns.
      • In “Crushing The Cosplay”, Strawberry mentions the creator of Tangerine Smash is Jack Kirberry
      • Orange and Strawberry (dressed as Tangerine Smash and Guava Girl respectively) climb up the side of a building in a similar manner as Batman and Robin in the Adam West Batman series.
      • Strawberry namedrops a Crisis Crossover called ''Crisis on Infinite Crisps''.
      • At the end of the episode, Orange swings around similar to Spider-Man’s webslinging.
    • Lord of the S'mores is a Whole-Plot Reference to Lord of the Rings
      • A marshmallow takes the place of the One Ring, the Berry Besties splitting into factions to fight over it.
      • Blueberry begins acting like Gollum, including adopting his speech mannerisms and obsession over the One Ring (in Blueberry's case, a marshmallow).
      • Strawberry climbs a tall rock to toss the marshmallow into the fire, similar to the destruction of the One Ring in Mount Doom.
      • “Donuts and Drawbridges” has another reference, when the Hippy Berry (holding a wooden stick) yells “You shall not pass!” to Plum Pudding, Huck, and Bread in a similar manner to Gandalf, before calmly explaining that their path is blocked by construction work.
    • Lemon Meringue's former business partner, Lemon Tort, is a walking Back to the Future reference.
      • Her design is similar to Doc Brown.
      • She drives the Lemonade Parade juice cart, which has a very similar appearance to the Delorean, including having a hover mode.
      • When she quits the Berryworks, she drives away, leaving a fiery trail and a spinning license plate behind.
      • Her catchphrase is "Great butterscotch!", similar to Doc Brown's "Great scott!"
      • Lemon Meringue herself had an outfit similar to Marty McFly's in the episode.
    • Mission Unfrostable is one to several action and heist movies.
      • The title is a Pun-Based Title on Mission: Impossible
      • Strawberry and Raspberry form a Caper Crew to steal the Purple Pieman's prize tokens to foil his Rigged Contest, similar to Ocean's Eleven. Strawberry even refers to the crew as the "Strawberry Six" but corrects it to the "Shortcake Seven" when they realize Sour Grapes helped them in their plan.
      • Lemon Meringue and Orange use an Air-Vent Passageway to infiltrate the Purple Pieshop, referencing Die Hard, complete with Lemon spouting a version of John McClane's catchphrase:
        Lemon Meringue: (crawling through the air vent) Yippie pie-yay, Berries.
    • In "Hot, Fresh, and Trending, Purple Pieman attempts to act hip while dressed in a near-identical outfit to Steve Buscemi's character from 30 Rock, referencing the "How do you do, fellow kids?" meme.
    • “Camping vs Glamping” has Blueberry Muffin utter “I sense a disturbance in the forest”.
      • Immediately afterward, Raspberry’s RV comes barreling into the campsite, blaring the General Lee’s iconic dixie horn from The Dukes of Hazzard.
    • For The Simpsons:
      • In "Foam Alone", Lemon Meringue calls her newest invention the "embiggening ray".
      • In "Strawberry Bake Fail", Strawberry’s "spiritual swirlyverse" mental headspace distinctly resembles the "Land of Chocolate" from "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk", even featuring a very similar musical score.
      • In "Crabapple Jam - Part 2", Cheese Strudel walks backward and disappears into the bushes in an allusion to a memetic scene from "Homer Loves Flanders".
      • Pineapple Clafoutis is an Expy of Comic Book Guy, including a Ralph Bakshi-inspired voice and quoting CBG's catchphrase.
        Pineapple Clafoutis: Worst. Superberry. Ever!
    • In "Peculiar Purple Partner", the Purple Pie Man proposes calling his and Strawberry's partnership "Purpleberry Industries", a potential reference to the Futurama episode "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" and its Strawberry Shortcake parody Purpleberry Pond (which features a Purple Pie Man Expy who "must get [his] hands on those healthy purpleberries!").
    • A brief scene in "A Holiday Your Way" has the Berry Besties appear in a 9-square grid, similar to the title grid from The Brady Bunch.
  • Slumber Party: "Slumber Party", "Slumber Party at Lemon's", "The Battle of Blueberry's Slumber Party", and “Orange’s Slumber Party” have the girls gather for a sleepover, though Raspberry doesn't participate in Lemon's and Orange’s.
  • Snake Oil Salesman: One of the recurring antagonists is Johnnycake Cobbler, a scam artist who sells fake products while disguising the shoddiness with his flashy showmanship.
  • Straight Gay: Mr. Mangosteen the fruit stand owner is this, with the only indication he's gay is when he's around his fiancee, Bobby Bananabeannote 
  • Suddenly Shouting: Coming Soon
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Despite being billed as an antagonist, Sour Grapes is polite and can think nice things about others, but it's hard to see under such an apathetic disposition.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
    • In “Everyberry Needs Someberry Sometimes”, Orange Blossom is taken aback at the sugar content of a cupcake recipe, and tries to substitute veggie powder to make it healthier. Predictably, it tasted awful.
    • In "Snow-Aisis", Purple Pieman utilizes a drone system to deliver his purple pies to customers after heavy snowfall. At the end of the episode, Lemon notes that Pieman didn't winterproof his drones, and as a result the batteries freeze from the extreme cold and they all break down.
    • In "Figgy Pudding", Figgy's pet dog, Creampuff is used to test the Berryworks vendors' food, who rejects all of them save for Strawberry's. While Figgy is surprised, and notes that Bread did meet one of her standards, it still isn't enough to justify her keeping him employed there, as the rest of the Berryworks neglected to meet her expectations.
    • In "Camping vs Glamping", Raspberry, Lime, Bread, and Sour get into an argument with Orange, Lemon, Huckleberry, and Blueberry over if traditional camping or RV camping is better, and decide to have a competition to decide. Near the end, when it appears the "Glampers" won, the RV runs out of power, as they kept it running the entire day without pause.
  • Story Arc:
    • Season 1 has a season-long arc focusing on Strawberry and Raspberry's rivalry.
      • The first six episodes form one, showing Strawberry getting used to city life and acclimating to the Berryworks.
    • Season 2 has an arc centered around the music festival Poachella, consisting of "Music in Our Hearts", "Parking Problems", and "Find Your Voice".
    • Season 3 has two arcs. The first is one about the Berry Besties going camping in "Camping vs Glamping", "Lord of The S'Mores", and "Turn Things Around". The second is focused on Strawberry, Orange, and Blueberry as they prepare for a rollerskating competition, so far consisting of "The Super Spicy Pizza", "Roller Skate Rivalry", "Go With The Flow", and "The Big Apple City All-Skate Competition".
  • Sweetheart Sipping: A platonic example between Orange and Strawberry occurs in the theme song, when a scene briefly shows the two sharing a smoothie.
  • Take a Third Option:
    • In “Lemon’s Name in Lights”, Lemon Meringue is asked to decorate the Winterswirl tree, but whoever does so has to give a speech during the tree lighting. Lemon doesn’t like public speaking, so Strawberry decides that the speech rule should be abolished, allowing Lemon to decorate the tree while also avoiding giving a speech.
    • In “Save The Pumpkins”, Blueberry refuses to let the girls carve pumpkins, as she thinks the pumpkins don’t want to be carved. Strawberry and friends do want to carve the pumpkins, but don’t want to hurt Blueberry’s feelings. Eventually they agree to simply decorate the pumpkins without carving them.
    • In “Any Way You Slice It”, Lime Chiffon is asked by her dads to attend an event with them, Lime Pops to a historical exhibit on rock candy, and Fluffy Chiffon to Cocoa Lachelle’s dress showcase. Lime can’t attend both events, but doesn’t want to let either of her dads down. In the end, she decides to bring both to an exhibit on the history of fashion in Big Apple City, allowing all three to attend an event they all enjoy.
  • Terrible Trio:
    • Raspberry Tart, Sour Grapes, and Bread Pudding are antagonists for most of the first season.
    • Crabapple Jam, Cheese Strudel, and Cherry Strussel take this role in Season 3.
  • That Poor Cat: Custard is often subjected to mishaps and slapstick.
  • There Are No Adults: Averted.
    • Plenty of adult characters are seen in the background of the first episode alone.
    • Strawberry's Aunt Praline is a main character, and the Berry Besties' parents regularly appear as supporting characters.
  • Tomboyness Upgrade:
    • Lemon Meringue gets one in this series. She used to be one of the girliest characters but is a tomboyish inventor in this incarnation.
    • Orange Blossom is an athletic sports enthusiast, when her previous incarnation was incredibly girly.
  • The '80s: "LemonLime Back In Time" shows that the Berryworks had an 80s theme before Strawberry began working there.
  • Too Dumb to Live:
    • Fruitleg Alley reveals that Strawberry Shortcake can be too trusting and naive, and is an easy target for the con artists that hang out there.
    • Huckleberry Pie falls into this a lot. The YouTube-exclusive short "Meet the Berries!!" reveals he doesn't understand what money is when he attempts to pay Strawberry with pocket trash, since he assumed it counted as currency solely due to someone tossing it into his money bowl back when he was still a Street Musician.
  • Totally Radical: In "Hot, Fresh, and Trending", the Purple Pieman pretends to be hip and trendy to attract customers to his newly opened Pieworks, which happened to open directly across from the Berryworks.
  • Totem Pole Trench: Raspberry Tart occasionally pulls this with two other berries.
    • She first does it in "Ghosts of Cupcakes Past" with Bread Pudding and Sour Grapes, pretending to be the ghost of Berryworks founder J. Quincy Cupcake in an attempt to scare Strawberry.
    • In "The Super Spicy Pizza" with Orange Blossom and Lemon Meringue, pretending to be Strawberry's uncle Beef Wellington to try and get a pizza vendor to give Strawberry a non-spicy pizza slice
    • Her most recent attempt was in "Trick AND TREAT!", once again pretending to be J. Quincy to scare Cheese Strudel and Cherry Strussel. Notably, this is the first time it's done successfully.
  • Truncated Theme Tune: The Netflix version of the show only features the first verse of the theme song. The full theme song is available on YouTube.
  • 20 Minutes into the Future: The 2021 reboot takes place in a semi-futuristic modern day, where robots and sci-fi tech are seen as impressive but are treated like everyday occurences.
  • Unrelated in the Adaptation: Raisin Cane has no connection to Sour Grapes whatsoever, when in previous incarnations they were her niece (1980s) or cousin (2018).
  • Villain with Good Publicity:
    • The Purple Pieman is a highly successful businessman, with Purple Pieshops located everywhere throughout the city. But he's also a corrupt and sneaky individual, going out of his way to antagonize Strawberry Shortcake and sabotaging her business. After the end of Season 2, this becomes downplayed, as his Engineered Public Confession leads to him gaining a 0% Approval Rating and having to resort to cheap tactics to gain customers.
    • Crabapple Jam puts on a "sweet grandma" act to the public, but is secretly just as corrupt as the Purple Pieman.
  • We Are Not Going Through That Again: In "Oven Trouble", Lemon Meringue offers to build Strawberry a new oven, which she agrees to, resulting in the oven exploding. The end of the episode has Lemon offer to fix Strawberry's malfunctioning stand mixer, to which she throws it out her truck and decides to stir everything by hand.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
    • In "Ghost of Cupcakes Past", Strawberry Shortcake has Phasmophobia, a fear of ghosts, which the Mean Berries use to their advantage. It returns in "The House on Scary Berry Lane" when she has to deliver to a haunted house, but this time Raspberry is helping her through it. It's a major subplot in "The Beast of Berry Bog", where she's hesitant to confront the titular monster, and has to learn to overcome her fear.
    • Downplayed with Lemon, who hates the color pink but doesn't bring it up much. Lemon does have a much bigger fear of public speaking.
    • Huckleberry Pie has Samhainophobia, and can barely function during Fright-Fall. In "The Beast of Berry Bog", it gets to the point where simply wearing a "costume" (literally just fake eyebrows) causes him to fear he'll suffer a Death of Personality.
    • Blueberry Muffin has Dontineraiphobia, aka the fear of the Sweet Tooth Fairy.
    • Downplayed with Lime Chiffon. She has ornithophobia, a fear of birds, but she's specifically scared of pigeons. She's fine with other birds, like her pet parrot Parfait.
  • Wrench Wench: Lemon Meringue is now a Gadgeteer Genius.
  • You Mean "Xmas": Uses slight reskins of real holidays in multiple episodes.
    • Sweetie Pie's Day for Valentine's Day.
    • Fright-Fall for Halloween.
    • Berry Bounty Banquet for Thanksgiving.
    • Winter Swirl for Christmas. It even has its own versions of Santa Claus and Christmas Elves (Cinnamon Swirl and the Berrykins, respectively).

"Smile a Sunny Morning"

 
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John Jacob Jingleheimer

In "Strawberry's Big Journey" from "Strawberry Shortcake," Orange Blossom leads the group in rounds of "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" until Angel Cake loses it and demands that she stop.

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4.12 (8 votes)

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