Western Animation / Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City

"Get ready to bake, there's adventure to make / No one else out there like Strawberry Shortcake!"

A fresh new day,
Sweet dreams to chase
This berry's on a mission:
To bake her world a better place
She'll make a difference, see it through
Show the world what she can do!

— The series' theme song

Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City is a Canadian animated web series that was released on September 18, 2021 on YouTube. It marks the beginning of a new era for the Strawberry Shortcake franchise.

Standing out from its previous installments, the show largely drops the more fantastical elements in favor of a "realistic" modern day setting, and every episode consists of a 4-minute runtime.

The series follows the Slice of Life adventures of titular newcoming baker Strawberry Shortcake, who's just moved to the Big Apple City with her Aunt Praline. There, she finds her new "berry besties" (Orange Blossom, Lemon Meringue, Lime Chiffon, and Blueberry Muffin), and together the entrepreneurial girls run their food trucks, make new friends along the way, and strive to "bake the world a better place".

In September of 2023, it was announced that the series would receive four 3D animated Netflix specials, the first of which being released on October 2nd.

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This work contains examples of:

• Adaptational Diversity: The series introduces a much more diverse cast of characters than prior series in terms of race, gender, and sexuality. Even some legacy franchise characters get a Race Lift.
• Adaptational Gender Identity: Raisin Cane is non-binary, when all their previous versions were girls.
• 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.
• 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".
  • 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 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".
• 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 states that the country Big Apple City is located in 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” and “Relaxing by the Pool”.
• 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.
• 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.
  • It is the first Strawberry Shortcake generation to not have an accompanying toyline, consisting only of animated media.
  • 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, a nonbinary Raisin Cane, and the sapphic Aunt Praline and Kiki KeyLime.
    • By extension, this also marks the first time a legacy franchise 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.
• 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 terrible^note the flavor was marshmallow, cheese, and smoke..
  • 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".
  • 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.
• Bubble Gun: Lemon Meringue invents the "Bubble Pod 4500." A cannon that encases the target in a soundproof plastic bubble.
• Call-Back:
  • 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.
  • As established in “Huck’s New Job”, all Berryworks vendors need to have a cart to remain employed. Pieman exploits this in “Peculiar Purple Partner”, when Pieman convinces Strawberry to work for him, part of the contract states she has to surrender the Extraordinary Berry to his company. The day after she signs on, he fires her and keeps the truck, effectively ending Strawberry’s career in one fell swoop had it not been for her friends’ interference.
  • "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, being the ones to coordinate the heist.
  • Lime Chiffon: The Compass - Has access to Berryworks blueprints, identifying an entry point for the Purple Pieshop in an air vent.
  • Lemon Meringue: The Braniac - She provides the crew with an automatic licorice rope dispenser, allowing Orange to "Mission: Impossible" Cable Drop into the Purple Pieshop
  • Orange Blossom: The Feather - She's the one who infiltrates the Purple Pieshop, her quick instincts and agility letting her avoid the security lasers.
  • Blueberry Muffin: The Eyes - Keeps a lookout at the Purple Pieshop, telling Orange when the area is clear, and informing her where Sour placed the tokens.
  • Sour Grapes doesn't actively participate, but she acts as The Inside Man and secretly helps Strawberry complete the heist by deliberately leaving the tokens on the counter rather than in the register like Pieman told her to.
• 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.
  • Raspberry Tart uses her experience as a former mean berry to befriend Cheese Strudel and Cherry Streusel, and convincing them to not be so blindly obedient of Crabapple Jam.
• Confession Cam: The episodes are interspersed with scenes of Strawberry (or someone else) talking to the viewer about what is going on at the moment.
  • In one version of the first episodes, the cutaway scenes have an edit with a camera frame around them, as if Strawberry was actually recording them as part of a vlog.
• 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.
• Creator Cameo: Michael Vogel and Jennifer Korba-Gill make a cameo as background characters in the Season 3 finale “Bake The World A Better Place”.
• 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.
• 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!
  • Tangerine Smash is one to Superman. She's a superhero with flight, super strength, and a mild-mannered reporter Secret Identity.
• 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:
  • In "The Super Spicy Pizza", when Strawberry decides to try some of Spicy Crust's signature spicy pizza, as she heads back to her friends, her mouth erupts in a breath of fire before passing out on the table from the extreme heat.
  • In "Trick AND TREAT", Cheese Strudel and Cherry Streusel place hot sauce at Blueberry Muffin's cart, causing her to use it on an ice cream, which leads to the customer experiencing this trope after taking a bite.
• 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, portrayed as a tomboyish bookworm in the prior two series, 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” and “Deliveryberries” focus primarily on the male characters in the series: Huckleberry Pie, Bread Pudding, (and Plum Pudding in the former episode). They are also the first instances of this happening in the franchise, as Huck would usually be the only guy and primarily share the spotlight with the other girls in prior series.
• 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 ends up overtaking Strawberry and doing all the work perfectly, making Strawberry feel obsolete.
  • 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 "O.M.G" and "Oh my god"
  • "Hold the scone!"^note "Hold the phone"
  • “Flan-tastic!”^note ”Fantastic”
  • “Abso-fruit-ly!”^note “Absolutely”
• 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 and the individual YouTube episode edits end 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.
  • Strawberry is mentioned to come from a long family lineage of bakers, a meta joke about Strawberry's past incarnations always being talented bakers. Her grandmother even looks like the original Strawberry Shortcake.
  • 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".
• Meaningful Echo: 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, believing she doesn’t belong there. In "Peculiar Purple Partner", Bread Pudding tells Strawberry the same thing, but admits she does belong at the Berryworks and bends the rules so she can stay.
• Mental World: The Spiritual Swirliverse is an inner mindscape that every baker has, though we only see Strawberry’s.
• 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:
  • General:
    • Purple Pieman utilizes a crow in "Pets to the Rescue" in his attempt to frame Strawberry's friends, similarly to his Berry Birds from prior continuities.
    • The series premise has Strawberry travel to Big Apple City to make it big in the world of baking, like her 1980s and Berry Bitty incarnations. Though this time Strawberry is permanently living in the city to accomplish her dreams. At one point she even gets in a baking competition, though with Raspberry Tart rather than the Peculiar Purple Pieman.
    • Berrykins are namedropped by Lemon in "The Magic is You", established in this continuity as being the equivalent to Christmas Elves.
  • 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 Shortcake design 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.
    • Purple Pieman's first onscreen appearance is in The Stinger of "Bake Off", watching Strawberry Shortcake on a screen and declaring that he'll ruin her life, like how Pieman first appeared in the original Strawberry Shortcake special.
    • Plum Pudding's characterization as a nerdy scientist boy harkens back to his very first appearance, where he had a similar characterization before his retcon into a girl.
    • 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 "LemonLime Back in Time", Blueberry Muffin's retro outfit is loosely based on her original 1980s outfit.
    • In "Any Way You Slice It", Lime Chiffon walks past a mannequin wearing her original 1980s outfit.
    • In the "Spring Spectacular" special, the Peculiar Purple Pieman does his signature "ya-ta-ta-ta" dance from the original 1980s specials.
  • Classic Series:
    • During the "Bad Day Blues" musical number, Strawberry and Praline watch the 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”.
    • The song "No Ordinary Berry" is likewise a nod to the 2003 theme song, saying she's not an ordinary berry, like how the theme song says she's "Berry Extraordinary".
    • In the YouTube exclusive short "Meet the Pets", Pupcake tackles Custard, much to her chagrin, which was a Running Gag in the Classic series.
    • Orange has twin afro hairbuns, like her Classic incarnation.
    • Cheesecake’s design harkens back to her Classic design.
  • Berry Bitty Adventures:
    • Pupcake's design bears a strong resemblance to Marmalade, who also happened to be Orange Blossom's pet dog.
• 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:
  • The Ghosts of Cupcakes Past might be one to The Ghost of Christmas Past, as the episode is about Strawberry getting scared by the legend of Berryworks founder J. Quincy Cupcake's ghost.
  • Waiting for Genoise = "Waiting for Godot", a 1953 play by Samuel Beckett.
  • Foam Alone = Home Alone + Foam
  • Mission Unfrostable is a pun on Mission: Impossible, referencing the fact the berries are performing a heist, though the plot itself is homaging Ocean's Eleven.
  • Adventures in Berrysitting references Adventures in Babysitting, as Strawberry and Lime are babysitting Honeydew Sorbet, whose hyperactive nature gives them a lot of trouble.
  • The Legend of Crystal Cupcake is a pun on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
  • Lord of the S'mores is a Whole-Plot Reference to Lord of the Rings.
• 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 Fusionworks^note a real-life technology and innovation company 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.
  • 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.
    • The scene where Orange drops down from the ceiling using a licorice cable is a direct reference to Mission: Impossible’s Signature Scene, where Ethan Hunt does a similar technique during a mission.
  • 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.
  • “Donuts and Drawbridges” serves as one to Dungeons and Dragons, at one point Plum, Bread, and Huck are even seen playing the In-Universe version of the game.
  • “The Berryville Trail” is a huge one to The Oregon Trail, with references to several game mechanics such as buying supplies, traversing across land in wagons, and various conditions that afflict the players throughout the journey.
  • 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.
• Sphere Factor: In "Relaxing by the Pool': Berry and her friends get into a splash fight over whether they should chill beside the pool or play around in it. Lemon Meringue deescalates the conflict by putting everyone in their own personal plastic bubbles.
• 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 Bananabean^note He's a background character, specifically the black male jogger wearing green
• 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 performs a surprise inspection on the Berryworks. After inspecting the vendors’ goods she decides that Bread did meet one of her standards, but immediately follows that up by pointing out 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 a season-long arc focused on the Berry Besties dealing with Purple Pieman, who set up shop at the Berryworks. There’s also a smaller arc centered around the music festival Poachella, consisting of "Music in Our Hearts", "Parking Problems", and "Find Your Voice".
  • Season 3 has four 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, consisting of "The Super Spicy Pizza", "Roller Skate Rivalry", "Go With The Flow", and "The Big Apple City All-Skate Competition''. The third is about the Berry Besties having a sleepover at each of their houses. The fourth is the season-long arc centered around the Berry Besties dealing with the new owner of the Berryworks, Crabapple Jam, and her two assistants.
• 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 Recruitment Song: "Everything You’ve Ever Wanted" from "Pecular Purple Partner", as the Purple Pieman entices Strawberry into signing the contract to becoming his baking partner.
• 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).

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