These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Strawberry Shortcake
The franchise in general
Broken Base/They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Did the series break when A.) They started making material past the 1980s stuff. B.) They introduced villains and generally re-tooled the 2003 series. C.) They made the new show in CGI and did a general ReBoot, or did it never break?
Germans Love David Hasselhoff - It had and has a strong following in Mexico among both first-generation fans and girls who watch the remake, where it is called "Rosita Fresita". It may have even contributed to the slang "fresa" [strawberry] being synonymous with posh and over cute, or "Valley Girl.". It also has a berry, berry strong following in South East Asia, particularly in India, Malaysia, Singapore and The Philippines.
Periphery Demographic - It's not just kids who watch the TV series and specials, and collect the toys. However, special mention go out to the early episodes of the 2003 continuity for not only attracting the adult collectors but educational programming connoisseurs as well.
Tastes Like Diabetes - One could say the 2003 reincarnation, up until the reintroduction of villains, was this. As is the 2009 franchise.
Coupled with Does This Remind You of Anything? for Plum Puddin' in the '80s. Plum is a boy in the first episodes. Plum is missing in the middle episodes. Plum returns to Strawberryland as a girl for the final episodes.
Almond Tea, although unlike Plum Puddin', she had always been a girl.
Also in the '80s, Souffle the Skunk is called by both male and female pronouns. Souffle's voice actress often played male characters, to further the confusion.
In the 2003 remake, possibly as a homage to the '80s Plum, Plum Puddin' is assigned to a horse who is referred to by male and female pronouns.
The 1980s series
Awesome Music - The World of Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City and Strawberry Shortcake: Pets on Parade feature music by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. You might know them better as Flo (Volman) and Eddie (Kaylan), of The Turtles, The Mothers Of Invention and Down And Dirty Duck fame.
Genius Bonus - The Purple Pieman's competing recipe in the Big Apple City bake-off is one for "kohlrabi cookies" — kohlrabi is a variety of cabbage. No wonder the results are bad!
Paranoia Fuel and Adult Fear: The first special will get children to think twice when strangers come up to them and try to sell them anything. Not that it's a bad thing of course.
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.
What an Idiot: Arguably, Strawberry Shortcake's friends in the third special. Let's review the situation: Strawberry is prone to bursting into tears at the mere thought that someone might not like her or think badly of her. Also, most of her behavior is motivated by a desire to constantly make others smile and be happy, and she's perpetually friendly and loving. Meanwhile, the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak previously attempted to flood the land and later attempt to cheat someone out of a gazebo, and every time he ever appears he's always up to no good. But when the Pieman claims that Strawberry helped him rig a pets on parade contest in his favor, Strawberry's friends jump to the conclusion that Strawberry's a cheater because THE PIEMAN SAID SO?!
The 2003 series
Awesome Music - To the point that there are soundtrack releases.
Actually played straight without being a video game, although there is a video game based off the film that the goddamned bats were in. And you can turn them into butterflies using the magic wand.
In Legend of the Lost Treasure, the Sea Beast makes a heel face turn and narrowly escapes death. The adventure ends with a song about treasuring friends. A few months after said episode was made, the character's voice actress died. (The Sweet Dreams Movie was dedicated with love to Pam Carter's memory, as mentioned in the closing credits.)
The death of James Street ventures into this territory. His character, Huckleberry Pie, often used a skateboard to get around Strawberryland. Riding without a helmet, Street was in a fatal skateboarding crash. (Daniel Canfield voiced Huck for the remaining seasons.)
Painful Rhyme: "The right ingredients, the right ingredients! If you've got them, you'll make friends with super-speedients!"
The 2009 series
Mondegreen - Happened to some during the Berrykins' song in "Sky's the Limit!". The fast, pitch shifted voices singing sounded incoherent to some viewers, and resulted in strange lines like "Do we have a very nice butt?". It didn't help that the closed captioning was flashing by at too fast a rate to be comprehensible without pausing, either.
