Strawberry Shortcake & Care Bears Unite in Animated Special

A 44-minute animated preschool special called The Care Berry Switch (w.t.), uniting the Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears brands, is in development.

Described as a “retro-forward” special with 1980s-inspired character designs, it will follow as Strawberry Shortcake and Cheer Bear each wish upon the same star for a new adventure and open a magical portal that allows them to switch places and explore one another’s worlds.

With Strawberry is in Care-A-Lot and Cheer Bear with the Berries in Strawberryland, fun friendships develop. Trouble looms, however, as the Strawberry foe Purple Pie Man and the Care Bears’ longtime nemesis No Heart conspire to cause chaos. The Care Bears and The Berries team up to save their worlds and preserve their new friendships.

The special pays homage to the full 40-plus-year history of each brand. With 1980s-inspired character designs and iconic memes such as “The Care Bear Stare,” the special seeks to combine nostalgic elements and contemporary production.

WildBrain, which handles the Strawberry Shortcake brand, and Cloudco Entertainment, owner of Care Bears, are co-developing the new special and will be bringing it to the upcoming MIPCOM.

“Bringing these two much-loved and instantly recognizable brands together for the first time was an opportunity too good to miss, with their shared ethos of sweetness and friendship perfect for crossover adventures and fun,” said Steph Betts, executive VP of content creation at WildBrain. “It’s exciting to collaborate with our colleagues at Cloudco to bring this shared vision to life and deliver something extra special to the millions of Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears fans around the world.”

Ian Lambur, executive VP of content strategy at Cloudco, added, “It’s not often when one can deliver something that is unprecedented, fun and surprising, so it’s particularly satisfying to be able to do that here with two iconic brands at once. Both brands are inherently magical and charming in their own right, so we cannot wait to show off all the exponential wonder and fun that results when these two worlds crossover.”