| “ | Aw, what's the matter, kiddies? Did your can spring a leak!? (pulls off his disguise and giggles) | „ |
| ~ The Peculiar Purple Pieman reveals that he tricked the kids into flooding the valley where they live in The World of Strawberry Shortcake. |
The Peculiar Purple Pieman, better known as The Purple Pieman, or simply The Pieman, is the main antagonist of the Strawberry Shortcake franchise. He is a mischievous, greedy baker who often seeks to undermine Strawberry Shortcake and her friends.
General Information[]
1980s series[]
In the 1980s series, the Peculiar Purple Pieman is shown living in a ramshackle tower of cookware dubbed The Pie Tin Palace, situated high atop Strawberryland on a cursed, abandoned, drought-stricken land known as Porcupine Peak. In his tower, the Pieman had a wealth of baking supplies, such as ovens, pans, and dough. The Pieman also possessed a magic pie tin, which he sometimes used to spy on the residents of Strawberryland. While he was a clever liar and cheat, and a convincing master of disguise, he was an admittedly poor baker in the '80s specials. The Purple Pieman frequently referred to himself in the third person and always performed a quick jig after doing so. Mr. Sun describes him as a "misanthropic fathead with a skinny physique" in Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City.
From Strawberry Shortcake: Pets on Parade onwards, he and Sour Grapes would show up together as a villainous duo.
He dislikes snakes and Sour Grapes' singing, and especially hates Strawberry Shortcake's 'Berry Talk' (that is, to substitute "berry" for any word that rhymes) above all else, and Strawberry Shortcake weaponized the latter after she was driven from her home by one of his scams and came back to get back at him.
2003 series[]
The Peculiar Purple Pieman returned in the 2006 film Strawberry Shortcake: The Sweet Dreams Movie and in the tie-in game based on the film, wherein he plotted to take over Strawberryland, or to steal Strawberry's berry garden. Unlike his prior incarnation, he was actually a good baker. He could occasionally be convinced to be good, with encouragement from his more positive sister. Strawberry Shortcake, Angel Cake, Orange Blossom and Blueberry Muffin managed to reform him in the last episode. He now has a steady job baking pies for the movie theater's concession stand.
Berry Bitty Adventures[]
The Peculiar Purple Pieman did not appear at all in Strawberry Shortcake’s Berry Bitty Adventures, as that series featured no major antagonists. Instead, he would debut in the 2016 IDW Comics, which serves as a continuation of the cartoon, though Pieman would be incredibly different from what came before.
Steve Piemanne is an up-and-coming baker and YooToobz personality who prides himself in organic, locally-sourced vegan food, making him popular among hipsters. He participated in the Rail Days Baking Competition for publicity so he could open his own café, rather than rely on an online store. Upon meeting Strawberry Shortcake, he claimed he was a fan of her and the Berry Bitty Café, which confused her as she was relatively unknown. His overconfidence and badmouthing of the competition immediately drew Strawberry's suspicion, which was proven right when she and her friends found out he had been sabotaging the other competitors. Steve begged Strawberry not to tell anyone, as his being exposed as a cheater could ruin his career. Strawberry showed little sympathy, as he had just crushed the dreams of two other bakers, but agreed not to report him as long as he participated in the final round fairly, and turned down the grand prize if he did win the competition. Steve agreed, and completed the final round legitimately without cheating. His and Strawberry's baking ended up being so delicious that the host, DJ Pill, decided to declare a tie, sending both bakers to Big Apple City. Steve exploited this to wriggle out of his agreement with Strawberry, as he technically didn't win the competition. When DJ Pill complimented his purple clothing, it inspired Steve, and he announced on YouToobz that he would be participating in the Big Apple Rail Days competition under a new brand: The Purple Pieman.
Throughout the comics, Steve and Strawberry would regularly come into conflict with one another due to their mutual rivalry. Whether it was in a baking competition or running their cafés, Steve would always try to sabotage Strawberry in some way to keep her from becoming more famous than him, and Strawberry would have to try and foil his schemes. Occasionally, Steve Piemanne would end up way over his head, and have to beg Strawberry to help him out, which she would agree to due to her kind nature, albeit begrudgingly. It has been noted that the two do work well as baking partners, but both of them agree that it's for the best they remain rivals.
In the final issue, Steve challenged Strawberry to a grudge match to prove once and for all who was the best baker in the area. The two signed up for the Grubby Grub Race, where they and several teams competed against one another in a cross-country road trip. While Piemanne (presumably) played fair in the first match, the second round had him send his Berry Birds to wreck the squashes needed for the competition so none of the other contestants could use them, though Berrykin Bloom's cousin, Berrykin Patch, helped Strawberry out by putting up scarecrows to drive the Berry Birds away. In the third round, he sent a false report against Strawberry's team by claiming they used a banned ingredient so they would lose time, but they still managed to catch up to him by enticing his customers with Strawberry's baking. In the final round, Piemanne decided to play fair, but Strawberry's detour to cater a fundraiser for a school ended up drawing lots of attention, and she ended up winning the Grubby Grub Race. Afterward, Lemon and Blueberry asked Strawberry if Steve finally admitted defeat. She confirmed it, but mentioned that she cares more about running her own business and spending time with her friends than engaging in constant competition with Piemanne. Lemon pondered if Steve realized this too, and would finally learn from his mistakes, focus on his own business, and maybe eventually become friends with them. After a brief pause, Lemon admitted it sounded less ridiculous in her head.
Berry in the Big City[]
The Peculiar Purple Pieman is one of the biggest names in baking, up there with Kiki KeyLime and Crabapple Jam. In his youth, he started off as a young, idealistic berry who moved to Big Apple City to find success. He came under the tutelage of Crabapple Jam, who corrupted him with her selfish ideals, leading to him growing up to become a sneaky and corrupt man. His Purple Pieshops proved to be immensely successful, and his frozen pies incredibly popular, enough for his franchise to spread all across Big Apple City. Though behind the scenes, Pieman built his success off the exploitation of others, targeting potential competition by stealing ideas, betraying others, and crushing their spirits.
Pieman eventually noticed a talented baker from an episode of Bite of the City: Strawberry Shortcake and immediately began plotting to take her down, viewing her as a potential threat to his business.
The Peculiar Purple Pieman moved into the Berryworks, announcing he would run his flagship Purple Pieshop at the location, much to the shock of the other vendors. Throughout Season 2, Purple Pieman would scheme, lie, and sabotage Strawberry and her Berry Besties to try and stay on top. From attempting to gaslight Strawberry into believing her friends were jealous of her success, to stealing a recipe card cherished by Strawberry. He also revealed himself to be the uncle of Berryworks employee Sour Grapes, making her believe that her friends didn't care about her after befriending Strawberry, and emotionally manipulating her into helping with his schemes under the guise of being the only berry who truly appreciates her. Eventually, Sour Grapes learns the truth, repairing her friendships with the Berry Besties and turning against Pieman, who promptly abandons her.
In one last attempt to ruin Strawberry's life, Pieman convinced Strawberry to work for him and tricked her into signing a contract that he then exploited to immediately fire her and seize her truck as company property. His plan nearly succeeded, with Strawberry nearly moving back to Berryville in disgrace, until the Berry Besties figured out what happened and managed to convince her to stay, even putting together a small cart so she'd still qualify as a Berryworks vendor. Pieman was unamused, confident he could ruin her life again. When Strawberry confronted Pieman over his constant antagonism, Pieman openly admitted that he did it all to avoid her becoming competition and that he'll gladly keep doing it, as customers will buy anything from him no matter how bland, as long as there are no better options. Unfortunately for him, Lemon Meringue overheard the entire conversation through the microphone she put in Strawberry's oven and played it over the Berryworks loudspeakers. The customers immediately turned on Pieman, driving him out of the Berryworks. Bread Pudding canceled Pieman's contract, and exploited a loophole to reclaim Strawberry's food truck.
In Season 3, Purple Pieman's popularity has clearly tanked, even if his career wasn't outright ruined, and he has to resort to cheap tactics to gain customers. He still continues his antagonism against Strawberry, though it happens much less frequently due to them no longer working at the same location, and his schemes all still get foiled by the Berry Besties in the end.
Appearance[]
The Peculiar Purple Pieman tends to have many consistent elements in his design. He's always tall and thin, has a long handlebar mustache, a pronouned chin, a big nose, and always wears a chef toque, apron, and some sort of purple clothing.
1980s and 2003 Series[]
In the first two generations, the Pieman had a blue shirt, a long purple trousers that blended well with his shoes, and an apron. His mustache is drawn as a black line in the 1980's generation and is outright shown to be purple in the 2003 generation. His chin is also pointed. A chef's hat surmounts his head, being white with a blue band around it in the 1980's and purple with a dark purple band around it in the 2003 version. The 1980's series depicted him at around 3 or four times Strawberry Shortcake's height and the 2003 series depicted him at around double Strawberry Shortcake's height.
Berry Bitty Adventures[]
Steve Piemanne is much younger, around middle-aged rather than being an elderly man. He has blue hair tied in a manbun, and his mustache is much thicker and shorter than his prior incarnations. Steve wears a purple chef hat, muted red shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a purple apron with a crow graphic, blue pants with the legs rolled up slightly, purple socks, and brown shoes. Amy Mebberson's art of him portrays him in a cartoonish style with a wider face, closer to his previous incarnations. Tina Franscisco's art gives him much lankier proportions, with a thinner face.
Berry in the Big City[]
The Peculiar Purple Pieman has a long thin mustache, and his chin is much pointier like his first two incarnations. His head is thin, like Tina Franscisco's rendition of The Pieman from Berry Bitty Adventures. He has purple hair in a buzzcut, bushy eyebrows, blue eyes, and a noticeably reddened nose. Atop his head is a white toque, He wears a white chef shirt, black pants, white socks, pointy black shoes, and a purple apron.
In winter episodes, Pieman wears a large thick purple fur coat with a white collar.
Personality[]
In all generations, The Peculiar Purple Pieman is incredibly petty, vindictive, and greedy. He'll go out of his way to form elaborate schemes for the sole purpose of ruining Strawberry's life, or to gain something that he wants. He rarely, if ever, shows any genuine love or care for anyone, including his own family. It is mentioned in the 1980s specials that he has an "evil conscience" which is why he's so mean, but he doesn't really seem to care all that much. He also has a rather inflated ego, believing himself to be the best baker in the world, but most of the time it is shown he is a horrible cook.
Sometimes he is willing to put his differences with Strawberry aside and work together, for either friendship or just to bail himself out of a sticky situation, but so far it has only happened around three times in the entire franchise (four if you count the 2018 webseries episode that adapts The Cane Critique from the Berry Bitty IDW comics).
Relationships[]
Strawberry Shortcake (and her friends)[]
Peculiar Purple Pieman always antagonizes Strawberry, not just for his irritation at her kind and friendly personality, but because he knows she's the better baker. In every generation he'll scheme against her, though never succeeds.
On very rare occasions, he has proven he can be friendly to her. In The World of Strawberry Shortcake of the 1980s, he and Strawberry actually became friends, but his evil conscious pushed him towards villainy and their friendship crumbled by the time of Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City. In the 2003 Series finale, Lights... Camera..., he and Strawberry manage to sort out their differences and he drops his evil plans to help Strawberry restore the Strawberryland movie theater, even getting to sell his pies at the concession stand.
In Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures, Steve Piemanne is much less evil, at worst being a nuisance, but is still fairly antagonistic. His antagonism is more out of rivalry than being corrupt, and his schemes are much less bombastic. However, whenever his plans inevitably blow up in his face, Steve knows the best thing to do is just swallow his pride and ask Strawberry for help.
Sour Grapes[]
In the 1980s, the Purple Pieman and Sour Grapes are introduced as partners in crime. It is unknown whether they are a romantic couple, siblings, or strictly platonic partners in buisness. They seem to live together as shown in the 1980s comics. However, Sour Grapes often claims that the Peculiar Purple Pieman is at fault (regardless his role in the downfall) when their plans go south.
In 2003, they are reintroduced as siblings, but Sour Grapes has shown more of a moral compass than the Pieman has, and she once helped foil his plans and other times has tried to shoot down his plans.
In 2009, Sour Grapes has no association with him aside from her cousin working for him, and the two never really interact.
In 2021, he is Sour Grapes’ uncle. He proves to be incredibly emotionally manipulative of her, convincing her that her friends don't care about her, and mistreats her at work, leaving her to do chores by herself while he does nothing. When Sour decides to stand up for herself and stick with her friends, Pieman outright abandons her, and the two remain on bad terms, to the point where neither mentions their relation anymore.
Raisin Cane[]
Raisin Cane works for Pieman as either an evil minion (1980s) or as his marketing expert (BBA). The two are on somewhat good terms in both series.
In Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, Raisin Cane is completely unconnected to Pieman, and the two never interact.
Johnnycake Cobbler[]
Johnnycake Cobbler is his brother, as revealed in Strawberry Shortcake’s Perfect Holiday, however the two never acknowledge each other until the special, when they team up for a scheme. It is implied Pieman avoids working with Johnnycake due to his dramatics and excessive showmanship annoying him greatly. It gets to the point where he forces Johnnycake to stop rhyming, much to the latter's ire.
Trivia[]
General[]
- He is known for his catchphrase "I am the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak, ya ta ta ta ta ta!," often with accompanying dance.
- The Peculiar Purple Pieman's character is based on the cartoonishly evil archetypes used for many villainous characters, known as the Dastardly Whiplash. This archetype of villain is known for their hammy personality, long handlebar mustache, exaggerated nose and chins, and tendency for elaborate schemes to foil the heroes. Other well-known villains of this archetype include Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races, Snidely Whiplash from Dudley Do-Right, and Waluigi from Super Mario.
- In most versions of the franchise, the Purple Pieman is related to Sour Grapes in some way. In the 1980s, their relationship was ambiguous but they always worked together as partners-in-crime. She was officially his sister in the 2003 series, in the Berry Bitty era Sour Grapes doesn't work for him, but her cousin Raisin Cane does, and in Berry in the Big City Sour Grapes is his niece.
1980s[]
- For a brief while he was infatuated with The Berry Princess, making heart eyes over her and forgetting his evil plans, but since she is pure good she isn't interested in him at all.
- He is shown to have a Neverending supply of stale pies in the 1980s comics
- He is also shown to have a variety of magical objects other than his pie tin, most notably, a wishing rock before it got traded to Strawberry by Sour Grapes.
- In Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City, he bakes "kohlrabi cookies" for the baking competition, which are so awful that it snapped judge Coco Nutwork out of being hypnotized by the Pieman. Kohlrabi is a type of cabbage that tastes like a broccoli stem and is typically used in salads or soup, not cookies.
2003[]
- In The Sweet Dreams Movie he says he never had dreams as a child.
- He is the only incarnation to genuinely redeem himself and become a good guy without it being reversed.
- The Peculiar Purple Pieman and Sour Grapes are the only two characters who carry over their designs from the 1980s, with everyone else getting a drastic redesign.
Berry Bitty Adventures[]
- According to the Berry Bitty Adventure comics his name is Steve Piemanne, making him the first incarnation of the character to have an actual name rather than just his usual moniker.
- In the Berry Bitty Adventures comics, he described himself as a "Yootoobz Personality", which totally isn't a reference to YouTubers.
- He is the only version of the character to never do the signature Pieman dance.
- He is the first incarnation of the character whose genuinely talented at baking, even being considered equal to Strawberry in that regard.
- After Tina Franscisco took over as comic artist from Amy Mebberson for the IDW comics, Steve underwent a design overhaul. Franscisco's depiction of Piemanne gives him a lankier physique and semi-realistic face, which is very different from his original cartoony design Mebberson had in her art. This would lead to a noticeable dissonance between his design and that of Strawberry and friends, who retained their cartoony designs. It is unclear why this design change was made.
Berry in the Big City[]
- He has a confirmed grandfather named "Grandpa Piecrust", who would always impart advice on him, such as "If you can't win fair-and-square, CHEAT!"
- As Sour Grapes is his niece and she doesn't seem to regard Johnnycake Cobbler as her father, he might also have another unknown sibling, though it hasn't been confirmed.
- His mother is also briefly mentioned in Strawberry Shortcake’s Perfect Holiday, after he and Johnnycake are subdued by the Berry Besties.
- According to him, his frozen pie filling is so artificial, that one could mix it with anything and it would create a bigger batch of the anything in question, which he demonstrated by mixing it with Plum Pudding's plant growth formula.
- Despite being a baker, he is never actually shown baking anything onscreen, as all of his products are mass-produced rather than handmade. This serves to further contrast him with Strawberry, who always bakes everything by hand.
- He is the first incarnation to not have an association with Porcupine Peak, as he operates out of Big Apple City.
- He is the first character in Berry in the Big City to have a true solo song, Everything You've Ever Wanted, with him remaining the lone singer the entire song. It's also the only song that Strawberry doesn't have a singing part in.
Gallery[]
