Brennan, my almost five year old son, for whatever reason has discovered and fallen in love with Strawberry Shortcake. Watching him enjoying movies and TV shows that I loved as a child has been so much fun, however, I have a big bone to pick with all of these updated characters.

Let's look at the Strawberry Shortcake that I knew and loved. I loved her so much that I bought my mom a Strawberry Shortcake video tape for her birthday when I was four years old. (Okay when I say, "I bought" I meant my dad bought.) Now, she's "updated" and, well, really pretty! What about the younger looking Strawberry who was more like me as I was a child? I don't have any qualms with bringing back classic TV characters but why do we have to update them?

Then, I found My Little Pony on our Netflix queue. I loved My Little Pony so much! The fun hair, that pony smell the toys had when you opened their package; ah I loved everything about them. The updated version looks so different! I'm not even sure what the premise is for the show now and to be honest I didn't really know what the original My Little Pony story was because I was more into the toys than the TV show. We have everything from Littlest Pet Shop (one of my sister's favorites) to the ever changing and popular Barbie. These characters are brilliant but in order for them to sustain popularity with today's kids perhaps they need a new look? Or maybe the new look is geared towards us, the parents, the keepers of those dollars? Whatever the case, there's one character that hasn't seemed to make a comeback in a new updated version and I have to admit that I'm happy about that. Who is it? It's my favorite, Rainbow Brite. She hasn't seemed to attract the attention of modern day toy makers and I'm more than okay with that. Look at her? She's so sweet! I've seen some "updated" versions of her and I don't know, she's way too grown up for my taste. Oh and don't even get me started on the horror that is Pluto, the star, not the planet. 

Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids, in the "Brand New Day" song from the Star Stealer movie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption] What characters were your favorite from your childhood? Have they come back and if so are they updated? What do you think?