Cm: Happy Birthday Scrappy Doo by RetroUniverseArt by SilverZeo on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

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Yup.

This month is FULL of milestone anniversaries.

Sonic Adventure had it international release 20 years ago

THe first episode of G1 Transformers cartoon aired about 35 years ago

It is also the year that marks 80 for both Marvel and DC Comics (namely Batman)

It is also the 50th Anniversary of Scooby Doo.

For 5 decades, a group of meddling kids and their dog roamed around the country, solving mysteries that just happened wherever they go. As the years went on, they went from handling crooks in costumes to deal with real supernatural stuff in more ways than one, such as dealing with were-cats and zombies in one adventure, while teaching the daughters of famous monsters volleyball.

And today marks the 40th of one their... "controversial" additions to the franchise: Scrappy Doo.

About a decade since it's original airing, Scooby Doo has ran it normal course and started to lose ratings, risking it to be cancels. So the crew introduced a new younger character to the show, Scooby's tough and go-get-em puppy nephew Scrappy.

At first, Scrappy was a big hit. He got the ratings up, and even shared the title with his famous Uncle, as well as a series of spin-off shorts, toys, and games. But, shorter than a decade than his premier... he was dropped from the franchise. No longer in newer shows or movies around the 90s, save for a few comics and a video game... Scrappy was pretty much just in reruns...

And all those "fans" he attracted grew up and lost his appeal to them, either hating him for loud and "obnoxious" personality while stepping on the roles of the original gang, being a cliche/trope for ratings, or just being labeled as the front-runner of the "dark" days of the franchise when they kept changing everything to the point it wasn't the same show anymore. Overall, he has been and still is considered to be one of the worst cartoon characters in the history of animation.

And thanks to the internet, all these people express their disdain for Scrappy... which someone at WB thought to cash in on, as the orginal Cartoon Network website and few TV bumpers took shot at Scrappy for being so unpopular.. to the point that in the live action movie, they had Scrappy turned out to be the bad guy of the film.. and any mention or depiction of him was met with disdain... even in theme parks...

That was pretty much the abridged version, for a more detailed insight to Scrappy's life, take a look at this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fdQS-…

With it being the 50th anniversary of the overall franchise, we've have seen tributes done to the Mystery Inc. in various ways, be it new movies and show, comics, art, and social media... sadly, even though it is also the 40th anniversary of Scrappy Doo, the little powerhouse puppy was not in most of them. One movie, "Curse of the 13th Ghost" followed up in a show he was prominent in... only to be left on the cutting room floor due to executive orders (the director WANTED to use him).

But it wasn't a total lost for him: As for "international dog day", Funko Pop actually had a legit Scrappy Doo figure for limited release. But thanks to for the heads of letting me know this was legit. I was surprise they went ahead with this take of Scrappy, and not starting out with the movie version of himself. Heck, Scooby DUM had a figure before him.

ANd come Wendesday: The last issue of Scooby Doo Team Up will come out, and in the solicitation for the issue, they mention Scrappy Doo being part of it: What is means, who knows. I do know that the first half of the issue is out digitally, and it ends with Bat-Mite and Scoob-Mite bring (most of) the past incarnations of the Scooby Doo Gang, including Apocalypse and the live action movie.... not sure if they include their versions of Scrappy too (They also have 13 Ghost Shaggy and Daphne, but not Scooby with them).

But... considering how little love Scrappy has gotten from the general Scooby Doo fans, let alone the actual franchise/WB... I had do this for me to help make this statement:

No matter how the fans see him, let alone how they call him in "cannon" Scooby Doo material: Scrappy Doo was part of Mystery Incorporated. He was part of that gang of friends. He was part of the family. And they love him. No matter what.

It really isn't in the Gang's nature to just hate people, let alone a fellow meddling kid who just wants to help them, let alone stick around to fight a threat than run around aimlessly. And with the very slim chance of Scrappy being seen in a positive light ever agin... might was well try to believe that the Gang does love him.

Everything here is owned by Warner Bros. Studios