First off, most of the people responding either forgot or are unaware of the 2002 revamp. So, um, keep it in mind. There are gripes about the look, how they think she looks sexualized now and how she apparently lost weight, but what I really want to talk about are the complaints based on the article in the Times. Mostly, in how the article states that she's traded in Custard for a cellphone and is no longer going for gumdrops, among other things.
Now, a lot of people are freaking out about this, but I'm not really worried, mostly because I don't really put a lot of stock in what the article says. Basically, I take any kind of article like this with a grain of salt because one thing I've gleaned from reading promo articles over the years is that what a promo says and what actually happens are often two very different things. PR pushers will say what they have to in order to make their product sound good and not have any vocal minorities rising up against them. So all the comments about "fruit forward" and "no gumdrops" (when was she ever into gumdrops to begin with? No one's mentioned that in their irate comments) is just legalese, really. As for the cellphone, that's just them trying to make her seem trendy and relevant.
Furthermore, the article claims that the Care Bears "are getting" revamped, and people are complaining "Oh, what will happen?!" when, as we already know, the revamp happened last year. Just another reason I'm not too worried about anything the article says.
Personally, I like the way she looks. Yes, she looks different from the original, but even the original Strawberry Shortcake got long hair towards the end of her run, so I don't see what the problem is there. She actually reminds me a lot of Giselle from the animated portion of Enchanted. And I like the little nods to the original, like the diamond pattern on her shirt and her green striped socks. And that huge strawberry hat! And I especially like that there's not going to be all the rampant blushed cheeks of the 2002 version.
But as I've had a documented love/hate relationship with the 2002 revamp, I'm trying to withhold my judgment until I see more of this revamp. After all, I liked the look of the 2002 version (still do, really), but the animated stories and lackluster voice acting left me in despair (although they got a little(!) better as the series went on). I have no clue how the stories will play out, but if Hasbro uses the same voice actors that they've used, or managed to sneak a few from DIC's storehouse, then I at least have hopes for that. Seriously, I can forgive almost anything if the voice acting is good enough.
I do have one thing I'd love to see happen. Plum Puddin' needs to be a boy again. With glasses, please.
On another note, I found an article that mentions a bit about the new SSC mythos. Going back to the original series roots, Strawberry now lives in Berry Bitty City, in the berry patch. Sounds cute, but we'll see.
