Dear Readers,
Have you seen the new Strawberry Shortcake Dolls? I saw a few pictures of them from the New York Toy Fair held on February 2014. You can see their pictures from Idlehands1 Blog (click HERE).
As soon as I saw them, I knew they were from another company. Sure enough, Bridge Direct will now produce them instead of Hasbro. Not that I am surprised because Hasbro has not released many new items lately and I was wondering what was happening.
But I am sad because I did like the Hasbro Strawberry Shortcake dolls very much. They did well with the mini dolls and the 5 inches dolls. They could have created so much more dollhouses, vehicles (Cherry Jam's bus, all the mini scooters, the hot air balloon!) and characters (Hello Huckleberry Pie!!!) but they slowed down production of new items so drastically last year that I was fearing the worst.
Well it's not really the worst now since a new company is taking over and there will be more minis and cute dollies but it's still a little upsetting to see them change the Strawberry Shortcake doll's look yet again. After the initial Kenner dolls, there has been Bandai, Playmates, Hasbro and now Bridge Direct.
I am not really crazy about the new dolls but I do like the concept of featuring them in a band. My daughter likes to watch the cartoon precisely because of the songs and seeing the dolls with musical instruments is a great addition to the toy collection.
The photos from the fair belongs to Idlehands1 blog so I am only showing one picture here. It's my favorite one because its' showing a chair from Lemon Meringue's hair salon! I hope there will be more dollhouses as well. I don't know about you guys but I have seen enough of Strawberry Shortcake's house, market, café, clubhouse, etc. How about houses for the other dolls for a change?
The dolls are.. well, cute enough but I miss the Habro's sweet faces. Oh I hope the new dolls will be the same size too so they can share clothes with the Hasbro dolls.
I have not seen any pictures of the actual mini dolls yet. I am glad they will still produce the mini dolls because they are by far my favorite items but I hope they will be just as cute as the previous ones. They will be apparently available in the fall of this year.
Do you like the new Strawberry Shortcake look?
Hello from Spain: I see that these dolls have different face. For years I have a doll Strawberry with pink hair. She smells great. Keep in touch
ReplyDeleteTheir face is indeed very different from the previous version. I like the first issue by Kenner the best!
DeleteGreat post, Jane. It looks like they have "modernized" the dolls quite a bit. I guess this is great for the next generation of collectors and little girls, but being an older...ah hem....more mature collector, I like the original ones better. But they are still cute and I love the instruments too.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend,
Lisa
Hi Lisa, I agree! The new generation will be glad there will be more dolls available soon and I am glad they have plans to continue making these dolls. I prefer the original too :D
DeleteHi Jane Cherie, I like the look of these new dolls. I adore lemon meringue's salon chair too! Co Jennifer
ReplyDeleteI think I might be tempted to buy many of these chairs if the price is right :D
DeleteI like the salon chair. Sadly almost all toy brand will change their manufacturing line/factory as time goes by. But yes let's hope the new products will be the same quality and cute design as well.
ReplyDeleteI really hope the quality will be good. Hasbro made very good dolls. They sustained many years of play and they had fantastic hair!
DeleteI think the doll looks cute, I really like the salon chair and the accessories. But it's always kind of risky, when there's a new company :(.
ReplyDeleteMany greetings,
Kyra
I am just hoping the new company will make good quality dolls! The looks can win over my daughter but if the doll is cheaply made, I won't buy.
Deletec'est très, très mignon !
ReplyDeleteCette poupée a t'elle un rapport avec *Charlotte aux fraises* ?
Si oui, j'ai une petite préférence pour les anciennes, après des années (beaucoup) les poupées de cette collection sentent encore très bon !
Bisous. rosethé
Bonjour Rosethé! Oui c'est en effet Charlotte aux fraises. Elle s'appelle "Fraisinette" au Canada. C'est vrai que les poupées sentent bons même après des décennies passées!
DeleteI love your presentations of different dolls and how you compare them to each other =) I have a hard time with changes, over all, but change can be good. Hope this one will turn out to be a great change. And that you can still get hold on the older version online somehow, if that is what you want =)
ReplyDeleteHannah
Hi Hannah, I have almost all the dolls from the Hasbro line so I won't have to look for them on Ebay but I was hoping Hasbro would continue with this brand. I'll just have to see what the new collection will be like once it hits the shelf. I also hope it won't be more expensive!
DeleteAww! They are cute in their own way, but they're not the way I think of Strawberry Shortcake and her friends. These ones are more "real little girl" looking; the old ones had that sweet ragdoll quality :)
ReplyDeleteI have begun collecting ssc items again and i agree completely. The new dolls are cute, but I feel like Hasbro was much sweeter and softer looking. One thing I do like is that this line now has pets like the original Kenner line. I deginitely wish they would carry more accesories and not just repackage the dolls with different outfits. Also some of these dolls have the painted on tights, not feeling that too much.
ReplyDelete