Lemon Meringue is one of the original and earliest Strawberry Shortcake characters, and has been a major character in most generations since her debut. Despite her name, however, Lemon is not really sour; in fact, she's a real sweetheart.
General Information
1980s
Lemon was first introduced in the second Strawberry Shortcake special of the original 1980s series, Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City, where she was a "famous" model with a bit of an ego, but a berry big heart.
2003
In the 2003 Series, Lemon makes her debut in the episodes of Berry Blossom Festival from Season 3 alongside her best friend Raspberry Torte, and is much more of a prim and proper fashionista, who gives the best advice on how to present yourself. She's current with all the latest trends. Her unseen home in the 2003 series is also said to be a hair salon, though we never see it. She loves to spend time and chat with her berry gal pals, so when she can work on them she is at her happiest.
Berry Bitty Adventures
Lemon became a main character in the 2009 series, Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures. Lemon retains much of her personality and character from the previous series, still a kind hairdresser with an impressive sense of fashion, and close friends with Raspberry Torte. Lemon Meringue runs the Lemon Salon, where she frequently does hair and manicures with those who visit her.
Berry in the Big City
In Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, Lemon appears drastically different to her prior incarnations. She is now an energetic, tomboyish mechanic and inventor at the Berryworks in Big Apple City. Lemon co-owns the LemonLime Time juice cart with her best friend and business partner, Lime Chiffon. She's much more closed-off compared to prior incarnations, often saying little and having difficulty expressing her feelings. Despite this, she always tries to come through for her friends when they need her help. Lemon often builds impressive and useful gadgets at the Berryworks to help her and her friends run their businesses, though they have an odd tendency to explode.
Appearance
1980
Lemon has a blonde perm. She wears daisy hair clips on both sides. She wears a whipped cream or cupcake-looking pastel yellow hat with a green band underneath it. a long-sleeved yellow dress with a white collar and yellow polka dots. She wears green and white striped stockings. Her shoes are yellow with ribbons.
2003
Lemon has baby blue eyes. She has long wavy platinum blonde hair. Her hair is worn in bubble ponytails with light orange flowers in it. She wears almost entirely yellow ensembles, but accents with spring green. She wears a yellow crop tank top, yellow capri pants, and yellow flats with small light green ribbons. Her hat is a yellow cloche hat (which was a very popular women's hat style from the 1920s) with a spring green ribbon and a daisy on the bow.
Berry Bitty Adventures
Lemon in Berry Bitty Adventures looks very similar to the previous animated series. Lemon has fair skin and bright blue eyes. She has long, waist-length blonde hair with her bangs mostly swept to the left. She dons braids on both sides of her head, held by two green ribbons. A lemon slice hairclip goes on the left side of her head. Her lips appear pastel tea-rose. Her hair is very similar to her 2003 hair, except it is yellow instead of white and has green ribbons instead of light orange flowers.
Lemon wears a yellow sweater with elbow-length sleeves held up by white ruffled cuffs, alongside a green ribbon belt. On each side of the pocket is a lemon slice design, while her skirt is a pastel blue pleat with a lemon design on the right. She also wears yellow flats with three small markings on her feet to resemble a slice of lemon. Her leggings are yellow and white.
Berry in the Big City
Lemon is a girl with fair skin, short wavy platinum blonde hair and light green eyes. She wears orange inventor goggles, a white and light green raglan shirt, orangish-yellow overalls with the legs rolled up above the knees and a lemon wedge picture on the chest pocket, white half-length socks, light yellow boots with dark brown soles and gray-green tied laces. When she wears her goggles, her eyes appear larger and take up the full lenses.
In summer episodes, Lemon still wears her inventor goggles, but now wears a oversized white T-shirt with a green collar and cuffs and a picture of a sunglasses-wearing sun on the front, yellow-ish orange cargo shorts with the legs rolled above her knees, and yellow slip-on shoes.
In winter episodes, Lemon still wears her inventor goggles, but wears a green puffy jacket with off-white stripes across and a lemon symbol on her shoulders, a grey belt with a lemon buckle, yellowish-orange snow pants, and yellow winter boots with laces.
Personality
1980s
In her debut in "Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City", she is shown to be a bit full of herself, as her first appearance has her praising her appearance in a mirror (which has no glass, by the way), before walking around to the other side to pretend to be the reflection complimenting her back. It is likely her claims of being famous also extend from her narcissism, as she doesn't appear to be that well-known. She is a diva, but very generous and always ready to help. Despite her ego and sour name, Lemon is still very sweet, quickly befriending Strawberry and helping her throughout her stay in Big Apple City.
2003
"Lemon Meringue just might grow up to be Strawberryland’s most acclaimed fashion model someday! She’s a real genius at looking good, and all the Strawberryland friends know that for a glamorous makeover or a brand new do, the place to go is Lemon’s beauty shop on Lemon Lane. She’s a lighthearted, sweeter-than-lemonade girl with a zesty attitude and a heart of platinum!" - From the official 2003 series website
When Lemon was first introduced, she comes off as sweet and innocent, but a bit of a diva. She is kind and caring to her friends and she always tries to work as hard as she can to make others happy with her stylish techniques. She always has fun when doing anything related to styling. She likes to chat and knows a bit of gossip, but she does never usually trifle with anything that could hurt the feelings of someone else. She's very into celebrities. She is also portrayed as a bit of a dumb blonde, especially in the Sweet Dreams movie. In that movie, she doesn't like getting dirty, and her wish is to be a fairy princess who grants wishes and happiness to all. She lets Raspberry boss her around but they are truly friends and want to stick together, Raspberry tries to protect Lemon.
Berry Bitty Adventures
"Lemon Meringue owns the Lemon Salon. Lemon Meringue is very pretty and loves to fix people's hair and nails. Her salon is always busy and filled with laughter. Maybe that's why Lemon Meringue is always the first to know about anything that happens in town." - From her Hub profile.
She is usually very happy, but she does bother over her place in Berry Bitty City for some reason. She often shows concern about being refused and can be sensitive or self-conscious. She gets embarrassed easily and will hold up in her Salon until she can remove any disasters she may have brought upon herself. She is the kind of girl to easily cry or get upset if offended, and because of how serious she takes her work, she can get neatly angry if someone offends her; though she will try to be open-minded to hear others out.
Lemon can also be a bit ditzy in some ways. She is highly determined when it comes to doing things though, giving her a somewhat stubborn and competitive streak. She is rather feminine but is always up for some fun, whether it be going on an exploration or playing sports. She sometimes has odd and quirky ideas. She is rather giggly, which plays more into the dumb blonde trope given to her in the 2003 version
Berry in the Big City
"Lemon Meringue is a super, skilled engineer and once she sets her mind to it, is ready to fix anything! Paired with her pet frog, Frappe they make a great a team!" - From the Berry in the Big City website
Lemon has a very different personality compared to her previous incarnations, as she is now very tomboyish and is a mechanic. She has been described by Strawberry as a girl of few words and is very stoic. Lemon does have a ton of enthusiasm about inventing and loves to show off her machines to her friends, and tries to help them out whenever she can by building new inventions, though they tend to explode without warning, which everyberry has gotten used to.
She hates the color pink, but this is rarely brought up.
Lemon has been shown to have social anxiety throughout the series. In Lemon's Name in Lights she has a fear of public speaking. "Will You Be My Lemontine" establishes that Lemon dislikes acts of affection, as it makes her feel awkward and she cannot properly express her feelings, and prefers avoiding it altogether. She also doesn't like it when other berries touch or hug her, as she will rarely join in group hugs with her friends. In "All About Lemon", Lemon is terrified at the idea of having to talk about herself or her inventions, especially to a stranger.
Despite her aversion to talking about feelings, she demonstrates a great awareness of emotions, such as in "A Berry Perfect Kind of Day, when she tells a sad Strawberry her emotional wellbeing shouldn't be dependent on the opinion of Purple Pieman, and is able to reach out to Sour Grapes and understand her actions in Sweet and Sour.
Pets
1980s
Lemon Meringue has a frog named Frappe. He appeared as a cartoony frog with a yellow polka-dotted body, and white-and-green striped limbs.
Classic
In the 2003 series, Lemon Meringue's pet was changed to a yellow skunk named Sourball.
Berry Bitty Adventures
Lemon Meringue initially didn't have a pet in the series until Season 3, in the episode "A Boy and his Dogs". She initially adopted a pink dalmatian named Cinnapup, however the two were incompatible as Cinnapup didn't like being groomed or pampered, while Lemon didn't like that Cinnapup had short fur that couldn't be groomed at all. Lemon decided to give Cinnapup to Cherry Jam, while she got Henna the cocker spaniel from Blueberry Muffin. Lemon and Henna got along a lot better, as Henna enjoys being pampered and getting lots of attention, and Henna remained Lemon's pet dog for the rest of the series.
Berry in the Big City
Frappe is once again Lemon Meringue's pet frog. Frappe now looks much more like a "realistic" frog, with yellow skin and tiny inventor goggles to match his owner. Frappe is fairly passive, and appears to be the least sapient of the Berryworks pets, mostly laying around and doing nothing, though there have been rare occasions where he seems to be self-aware. According to Lemon, he'll leave if she gets too "chatty", but the two seem to enjoy each others company a lot. Frappe can use his tounge to reach far-away objects or stick onto surfaces.
Relationships
Lemon Meringue debuted with Raspberry Torte in The Sweet Dreams movie and they are best friends. They used to live somewhere else until they moved to Strawberryland. They are often seen sitting together, or walking together and holding hands. Raspberry often makes decisions and speaks for Lemon in the 2003 series. Angel Cake almost made the two of them leave by being very mean and saying they were new so they weren't completely invested in the town and didn't deserve to eat from their community Strawberry Garden.
Lemon is friends with Banana Candy.
Lemon Meringue thinks Lime Light is very cool and becomes friends with her.
Once more, Raspberry and Lemon have paired together again in the 2009 series. Being a hairdresser while Raspberry is a Fashion Designer and Lemon is a hair stylist, their work is intertwined, hairstyling is just as important as a pretty new dress; so they often work together whether they planned it or not. They are close friends in this generation too. They used to have opposites-attract type friendships but now they are like-minded fashion-obsessed girls, and their daily jobs and preferred activities go hand in hand.
In 2021, Lemon runs a stand with Lime Chiffon. They are the only girls that share their food truck. They seem to be pretty close friends, always hanging out together. Lemon also really likes Orange, because of their shared enthusiasm over Lemon's inventions.
Trivia
1980s
- In the 1980s specials she is noted as a popular model, though can't afford a proper mirror.
- In the 1980s episode Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City, she says she has a brother, aunt and mother, however none of them are actually seen.
Classic
- Lemon Meringue is a rare occasion of a character technically having more than one theme, as she is based on both her namesake dessert and daisies, making her a flower and fruit themed character simultaneously.
Berry Bitty Adventures
- In 2009 it was said she likes watercolor.
- She can play the bass guitar.
- Lemon plays the bass with her left hand, however she is shown to be right-handed in other episodes.
Berry in the Big City
- This Lemon is the only incarnation of the character to not be feminine or into being fashionable, instead being a tomboyish mechanic.
- Lemon Meringue is the first character in Strawberry Shortcake to have a prior voice actor reprise their role for the succeeding series, as Andrea Libman voiced her in Berry Bitty Adventures, and returned for Berry in the Big City.
- This also means Andrea Libman holds the current record for the longest period of voicing a Strawberry Shortcake character, at nearly 15 years.
- Lemon is the first legacy franchise character that Strawberry Shortcake meets in the series, followed by Orange Blossom. It's possible this was a reference to Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City, as Strawberry first met Orange and Lemon there too, though Orange was the first and Lemon the second.
- After Will You Be My Lemontine established Lemon's discomfort with affectionate physical contact, future episodes where the Berry Besties hug will occasionally have Lemon Meringue not join in the hug. Episodes like Jam Session and The Magic is You also have small moments where Strawberry puts her arm around Lemon, with Lemon quickly brushing away Strawberry's hand.
- Lemon is the first of the Berry Besties to get a cutaway segment, in the third episode, Oven Trouble.
- Lemon Meringue's appearance in LemonLime Back in Time is a reference to Marty McFly's outfit from Back to the Future, to go with her ex-business partner, Lemon Tort, being based on Doc Brown.
- Lemon Meringue is the first character in the franchise to wield guns, though they are fictional sci-fi laser blasters rather than real world firearms, and she never uses them as weapons.
Gallery
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