Brazilian Strawberry Shortcake Characters

In the 1980s, the original run of Strawberry Shortcake was a global phenomenon. Toys and other merchandise of the charming greeting card character were marketed around the world, licensed by American Greetings to many companies worldwide. In many countries, products were fairly similar to, or at least recognizable as coming from the same inspiration as, the versions seen commonly in American markets.

In Brazil, a Sáo Paulo-based company called Estrela received the license to tap the demand for "Pink Gold" (an industry catch-phrase for the international Strawberry Shortcake craze) dolls and toys. Estrela's offerings, the Moranguinho ("Little Strawberry" in Portuguese) toy line, began in 1982, and started out as fairly close approximations of dolls available in other countries, but quickly showed signs of not being too concerned about adhering to the source material.

In 2020 and 2021, 12 of these exclusive characters were reproduced by French company Altaya, along with some new characters

Miscellaneous/Altaya

Mon Anniversaire

This doll is part of Altaya's rerelease. She actually isn't based on a Brazilian doll, but one from Argentina. Possibly name translations could be "Birthday Cake". (Though direct translation is "My Birthday")

Raisin Cane

Raisin was a comic exclusive character and never got a proper toy release and for some reason Altaya created one for their rerelease series.

Series 1 (1982)

Moranguinho (Strawberry Shortcake; translated as "Little Strawberry")

Limaozinho

• A doll which looked very much like Huckleberry Pie, but his name translates to "Little Lemon".

Uvinha ("Little Grape")

• She similarly resembled Blueberry Muffin. Huckleberries and blueberries aren't common in South America, so Estrela altered the characters to make them relevant to the Brazilian climate.
• Later in 2021, the Estrela brand relaunched the character in a Berrykin outfit.

Laranjinha ("Little Orange")

• She was a totally new original character. Her costume vaguely resembled that of Orange Blossom, but the doll was light-skinned, with sandy or sometimes curly bright orange hair.

Party Strawberry Shortcake, in a dress and hat very similar to the ones worn by "Party Pleaser" Strawberry Shortcake elsewhere

Macazinha ("Little Apple")

• In the U.S., the apple-scented doll, Apple Dumplin', was a smaller-sized baby. Estrela did not feature any baby-sized characters in their line. They did produce versions of the larger "blow-kiss" baby dolls, and the differently scaled "drink and wet" babies, but Macazinha was the same size as her friend Moranguinho.

Goiabinha ("Little Guava")

• Goiabinha was the first doll in the Brazilian line to feature a fruit and fragrance which was not echoed in the United States market. She would by no means be the last.

Cafezinho ("Little Coffee")

• Has a masculine name, but it is unknown if that was intended. She looks a lot like Strawberry.

Pesseguinho ("Little Peach")

Mentazinha ("Little Mint")

• One of the dolls reproduced by Altaya, in which her name is Sorbet à la menthe (Mint Sorbet) in French. Her Spanish name is Tarta de Menta, following the same naming conventions as many of the other Brazilian dolls reproduced by Altaya.

Cerejinha ("Little Cherry")

• Again, Cerejinha ("Little Cherry") is not baby sized, like the American Cherry Cuddler, although her hat and dress are very similar to those of Cherry Cuddler, perhaps too similar to be a coincidence.

"Knot of Ribbon" Series 2 (1984)

Moranguinho ("Little Strawberry")

Uvinha ("Little Grape")

Laranjinha ("Little Orange")

Macazinha ("Little Apple")

• One of the dolls reproduced by Altaya, in which her name is Tarte aux pommes in French and Tarta de Manzana in Spanish.

Pesseguinho ("Little Peach")

Bananinha ("Little Banana")

• She greatly resembles the American Berrykin Banana Twirl doll.

Noivinha ("Little Bride"), the first in a sub-series of dolls in wedding dresses.

• One of the dolls reproduced by Altaya, in which her name is Petite fiancée in French and Novia in Spanish.

"New Wave" Series 3 (1986)

The "New Wave" line was released in 1986, when Strawberry Shortcake was no longer being produced by Kenner. The line again featured dolls with lots and lots of hair, usually with a giant bow in it:

Moranguinho ("Little Strawberry")

Cafezinho ("Little Coffee")

• She was evidently a different character than the Cafezinho released in 1983. The 1986 version was the only dark-skinned doll in the entire series, and while the 1983 version used the Huckleberry Pie/Limaozinho facial template, in 1986 Cafezinho used the Strawberry Shortcake/Moranguinho face, with brown eyes.
• She is also one of the dolls reproduced by Altaya, being named Tarta de Café in Spanish and Éclair au café (Coffee Eclair) in French. Her illustration has a noticably lighter complexion than the actual doll.

Cerejinha ("Little Cherry")

• One of the dolls reproduced by Altaya, in which her name is Tarte aux cerise in French and Tarta de Cereza in Spanish.

Abacaxizinho ("Little Pineapple")

• Another doll that has been reproduced by Altaya, named Tarte à l'ananas in French and Tarta de Piña in Spanish.
• Nearly 40 years later, and there still has never been a pineapple-scented Strawberry Shortcake doll in America.

Cocadinha ("Little Coconut")

• Yet another doll reproduced by Altaya, named Tarte à la noix de coco in French and Tarta de Coco in Spanish.

Rosinha ("Little Rose")

• Named Tarte à la rose in French and Tarta de Rosa in Spanish for the Altaya reproduction. Both names can be roughly translated to Rose Pie in English.

Violetinha ("Little Violet")

• Named Tarte à la violette in French and Tarta de Violeta in Spanish for the reproduction. Both names can be roughly translated to Violet Pie in English. (Both tarte and tarta can be translated to pie, tart, or cake in English, and these translations can apply to just about any of the reproduction dolls.)

Noivinha ("Little Bride")

• This version is blonde.

"Fruit and Floral" Series 4 (1987)

In 1987, the "Fruit and Floral" Series was released: another year's worth of "Berrykin" style dolls, with enormous hair, enormous hair-bows (often two to a girl in this case), and another interesting sampling of fragrances that America missed out on after passing on the Strawberry Shortcake craze during the second half of the 1980s.

Moranguinho ("Little Strawberry")

and several new friends, both fruity:

Melanciazinha ("Little Watermelon")

• Reproduced by Altaya as Tarte à la pastèque (French) and Tarta de Sandía (Spanish)

Cajuzinho ("Little Cashew")

• The cashew nut grows in tandem with the cashew apple, an accessory fruit.

and floral:

Noivinha ("Little Bride")

• This one has silvery-blonde hair, and is referred to as the "Rose Bride".

"Party" Series 5 (1988)

The "Party" Series in 1988 just took things up several notches. Huge curly clouds of beautiful hair, coupled with floor-length ruffly party gowns made for Estrela's most ornate wave of dolls of all.

Moranguinho ("Little Strawberry") was front and center, of course, at the absolute height of her glamour. With ringlet curls in both a bouffant and pigtails, she was all dolled up for a party. Moranguinho's friends in this series seemed to be all-new, although many of them revisited past fruit themes and accompanying fragrances.

Sorvetinho de Limão ("Lemon/Lime Sorbet")

• Her French Altaya name is Tarte au citron, rather than Sorbet au citron. Her Spanish name (Sorbete de Limón) keeps the sorbet theme.
• While her name is often translated as "Lemon Sorbet", her color scheme (and, at least in the case of her reproduction doll, her scent) is more reminiscent of a lime. "Limão" can mean both lemon and lime.

Sorvetinho de Uva ("Grape Sorbet")

Sorvetinho de Maracuja ("Passion Fruit Sorbet")

• Her French Altaya name, as shown on the illustration, is Sorbet passion, and her Spanish name is Sorbete de Maracuyá.

Quindizinho ("Coconut Custard")

• Based on Quindim, a coconut egg custard.

Balinha ("Candy")

• Her hair looks like cotton candy and her box features jelly beans.

"Jelly" Series 6 (1989)

In 1989, the Jelly Series was released. These dolls were fairly similar to last year's Party Series, but their hairstyles weren't quite as "over-the-top" as their predecessors. They each came with a butterfly-shaped barrette with an added lock of hair to look like a hair streak. The name was given because most of the dolls' names translate to "Little [fruit] Jelly", but "butterfly series" would be more fitting.

Gelatina Moranguinho ("Little Strawberry Jelly")

• The typical "Strawberry Shortcake" character was not in this line, being replaced by Strawberry Jelly.

Choclatinho ("Little Chocolate")

• Her dress features an illustration of brigadeiro, a traditional Brazilian chocolate dessert.

New releases of

Rosinha ("Little Rose")

Noivinha ("Little Bride")

"Typical Clothing" Series 7 (1991)

The Trajes Tipicos ("Typical Clothing") wave of 1991 seems to echo the American collection of "Around-The-World" foreign characters that Strawberry Shortcake had befriended seven years earlier, only again, through an extra-opulent Estrela filter. Interestingly, only one country was duplicated between the two wildly divergent locale itineraries of all-new friends:

Moranguinho, the only named character in this wave, represented "Terra da Moranguinho" ("Strawberryland"). The line also featured lovely and elaborately costumed dolls from:

Holanda (Holland)

Each doll came with a picture postcard of their homeland to color. It is not evident from these doll's packagings what their fragrances were.

"Rainbow Ribbon" Series 8

There are six dolls in this series. They featured a rainbow ribbon hair clip with an emblem on it to represent each of the dolls. The hair clip was designed so little girls could wear them in their hair.

"Vintage" Series 9 "1992"

The final Vintage Estrela Series, released in 1992, was a "back-to-basics" line, seeing Moranguinho accompanied by a small group of new editions of earlier 1980s friends. Each of these friends wore a uniquely re-colored version of the molded vinyl hats sported by the earliest dolls in the line.

Melanciazinha ("Little Watermelon")

All in all, more than 60 dolls, most of them unique in style and often also in scent, were released by Estrela during this original generation, lasting nearly twice as long as the American 1980s Strawberry Shortcake iteration. But it didn't end there. In the early 2000s, during Strawbery Shortcake's second re-launch by the Bandai company, Estrela returned to the fore. They produced a whole new line of character-accurate Moranguinho dolls for the new generation, but in the Kenner-sized scale of the original 1980s toys. This run lasted well through the Bandai era, and into the PlayMates "World of Friends" wave.

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