Hello and welcome to Wasted Plotential, where we discuss
the wasted potential of our favourite plotlines.
No, this isn't a joke. The issue with Scrappy Doo really was not his writing. Sure, he was fairly
one-note and in a TV show where he has the same bit every episode, it can easily get repetitive,
but that alone didn't cause the fervour with which people despise this character.
It was the way he was pushed into the spotlight, ejecting mainstays Fred, Daphne and Velma,
and even trying to get rid of Shaggy and Scooby too. It was less an issue of a bad character
and more bad implementation. More giving him way more of a push than he deserved than of
a bad character at the core. He was more of a D'Vorah than a Kronika, for the MK guys.
Conceptually, Scrappy was a pretty solid idea: a kid raised on tales of his Uncle Scooby and
his friends, going around the country and solving mysteries, exposing criminals for the frauds they
are. He's so enamoured with Scooby, whom he's built up as this legendary hero in his mind,
that he doesn't realise that Scooby is actually a big coward at heart. He always find some way to
justify Scooby's cowardice as part of some ploy to beat the villain. But, what if he did realise it?
Imagine a new Scooby movie was released. The Scooby canon is so malleable that you could easily
make a direct-to-DVD movie that ignores Scrappy's prior appearances and references and has him make
his first appearance here. I mean, the gang have met at least four different versions of Batman,
so this is hardly unreasonable. Scrappy here is the same character at his core: idolising Scooby
because of all the stories he's heard about him. Scooby is asked to look after Scrappy for a week
or so. Maybe his parents are on a trip together, doesn't really matter. So, the gang decide to
go on their own holiday where there won't be a mystery to solve so that Scrappy will be safe and
Scooby won't need to worry about him. Of course, there does end up being a mystery to solve;
this is Scooby Doo, what you gonna do, not have a mystery for them to solve? What are you, dumb?
So, as the gang try to solve the mystery, Scrappy has absolutely no fear, 100% confident that Scooby
will take down the villain. This has the others concerned, since even the less cowardly members
of the group understand that even a guy in a costume can be dangerous. Scrappy, however,
is up to his usual "Puppy Power" / "Lemme at 'em" antics. He wants to impress his awesome
uncle by showing he can be a tough hero like him. At first, he thinks Scooby grabbing him
and running away is just Scooby trying to keep him safe, but he eventually cottons
on to the fact that his uncle really is not this brave adventurer he built up in his mind.
This comes to a boiling point when Scrappy, feeling absolutely betrayed by his uncle,
decides to catch the villain himself. This goes horribly and he ends up captured in time for the
climax. Scooby has to then fight through his cowardice to save his nephew from the villain
and knock them into Fred's trap, becoming the hero Scrappy always built him up to be.
Scrappy apologises for getting mad at Scooby for not living up to his grand expectations. Scooby
forgives him and all's good. Scrappy then gushes over how brave and cool Scooby was in the end,
inflating his ego for a minute, before he gets scared half to death by a sudden cat or something,
and Scrappy just light-heartedly sighs about how he's the same old Scooby, and the rest of
the gang have a good laugh. The movie ends with Scrappy returning home to his parents,
leaving the door open for future appearances by this altered take on the young pup,
but also having the option of just letting him lie with this little arc being the end of his story.
The reason people hate Scrappy nowadays really isn't his core concept. It's that it's popular
to hate on him. Yes, his implementation was flawed, but after almost thirty years
with only disparaging references, don't you think it's time to give him another shot?
If something doesn't work about him, change it up.
Ever since, probably, A Pup Named Scooby Doo, Daphne, often seen as the least interesting one
who coasts by on her looks, has been given all sorts of interests and hobbies to make her more
interesting. Sometimes, she's the pampered rich girl for comedy or drama. Other times, she's into
martial arts or puppetry. And sometimes, she's just really into hypnosis. Whatever the idea,
creative teams aren't afraid to try new ideas with Daphne to make her a
more appealing character. You could even say this happened with Fred, with his more recent
obsession with traps and his van. So, why isn't Scrappy offered the same opportunity?
I'm actually indifferent towards Scrappy. I don't mind if he never comes back. But
this obnoxious "haha remember scrappy what a mistake he was lol" attitude of these constant,
unwarranted jabs at the character is the most "How do you Scooby-dooby-do
fellow kids?" garbage ever. It comes off as a pathetic ploy to get fans to think these
creators are totally down with what the kids think of the show. Because these people are
in charge of Scooby shows and movies. They have the power to do something to fix him.
It always comes back to Mortal Kombat, but Scrappy's treatment is no different than
that of the 3D Era of MK. The developers put in all these jabs and disparaging references,
especially with Hsu Hao, and it's not funny. It's infuriating for people who liked that stuff.
Either do something new to try and make the character better, or shut the hell up about it.
I mean, come on. There's a new direct-to-DVD Scooby movie like every year and they can't
take this risk on just one of them? It's not going to tank the franchise by trying to bring
back Scrappy in one low budget movie that doesn't pan out. They made a sequel to 13
Ghosts and actively avoided including him, even in the recap of 13 Ghosts. They brought
back friggin' Flim-Flam, but there's no one over there interested in giving Scrappy another shot?
If you liked this video, why not subscribe and support me on Patreon like these fine people here?
If not, then make sure to share it with your enemies so they can suffer along with you.
I'm just gonna shill other good Scooby stuff this time. Inside A Mind made a
video about Scrappy that inspired this video way back when I first saw it.
B-Mask and NerdSync have some great analytical takes on the franchise as a whole. And Billiam's
retrospective is just clean nostalgic fun. Watch all of these videos. Now.