Is Scrappy-Doo Evil? Scooby-Doo’s Sidekick Running Joke Explained

Warning: Spoilers for Velma season 2!

Now that Velma season 2’s ending made Scrappy-Doo a bigger villain than ever before, it is time to look back on how this Scooby-Doo sidekick became so infamous. Scrappy-Doo has been around for decades, but the character wasn’t a member of the original Scooby-Doo gang. When Scooby-Doo first appeared in 1969’s cult classic cartoon Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? his volatile nephew was nowhere to be seen. Despite this, Velma season 2’s big twist ending centers on the supporting character, and numerous incarnations of the long-running cartoon franchise have made a running joke out of his existence.

Whether or not Velma season 3 happens, the Scooby-Doo spinoff has already turned Scrappy into the worst antagonist in the series. This seems like a pretty significant departure from his original incarnation in Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, a spinoff that aimed to bolster the franchise’s ailing ratings with a new lead character. Scrappy was undeniably always annoying, but his irritating demeanor took on a significantly more sinister side as his reputation soured. Looking back on Scrappy-Doo’s screen history reveals a character so hated that they were turned into a villain by the same franchise that once hoped to make them its new hero.

Scrappy-Doo’s Origins In Scooby-Doo Explained

Scrappy-Doo Was Originally Intended To Be Scooby’s Sidekick

Although Scrappy’s role in Velma season 2 is outright antagonistic, with the character successfully killing the show’s titular heroine in the finale, Scooby’s nephew wasn’t always so unpleasant. In Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour, The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show, and The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Scrappy was pretty consistently utilized as a foil for Scooby. Where Scooby was cowardly, his little nephew was feisty. Where Scooby was comically oversized, Scrappy was laughably puny. However, these projects weren’t among the franchise’s most loved outings, and Scrappy’s characterization began to grate on viewers before long.

Scrappy killing Velma in Velma season 2 is just one of many jokes that have come out of the public’s hate for Scrappy. As the franchise attempted to rebrand with a more sophisticated sense of humor, numerous shows omitted any mention of Scrappy-Doo entirely. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo, and What’s New Scooby-Doo all kept Scrappy far from their roster of main characters and, not coincidentally, all updated the visual style, pacing, and humor of the original shows. Looking back on every Scooby-Doo TV show proves that dropping Scrappy was central to the tone of the series maturing.

Why Scrappy’s Character Didn’t Work In The Long Term

Scrappy-Doo’s Increasingly Major Role Sidelined Better Characters

Scrappy-Doo was originally created to boost ratings, but the character never shook this status. On the popular forum TV Tropes, the term “The Scrappy” came to stand in for any character who was hated by even the die-hard fans of a given series. As Scooby-Doo’s nephew took on a larger role in later spinoffs, Scrappy started to replace human characters as a more childish, one-note sidekick. The shortest-lived TV show in the franchise, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, dropped Velma entirely to provide Scrappy more screen time. Similarly, The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show cut both Fred and Velma.

Although Velma’s disastrous critical reception might obscure this fact, Velma, Fred, and Daphne are popular characters for a reason. They offer a wide variety of audience insertion personae, giving young viewers a group of different main characters with divergent character archetypes to root for. In contrast, Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, and Shaggy’s adventures were painfully one-note since two of the trio were defined by their cowardice and the third member was famous for his fearlessness. Since they boasted a compelling mix of personalities, the Scooby-Doo gang’s antics were guaranteed to be more popular with audiences than Scrappy-Doo’s more predictable, repetitive storylines.

Scooby-Doo’s 2002 Movie Made Scrappy Officially Into A Villain

Scooby-Doo’s Live-Action Spinoff Mocked Scrappy’s Unpopularity

Long before the R-rated Scooby-Doo spinoff Velma turned Scrappy’s unpopularity among the fan base into a meta-joke, the franchise had already repeatedly addressed the character’s status as persona non grata in new adaptations. Most notably, 2002’s live-action Scooby-Doo movie revealed that Scrappy was its main villain in an ending that relied on viewers finding him inherently irritating. Scrappy-Doo’s appearance earlier in the movie treats him as an insufferable addition to the main cast, and the ending sees Scrappy say that the gang’s decision to fire him was what led to his villainous plan to take control of Spooky Island’s inhabitants.

2002’s Scooby-Doo transformed many of the complaints that viewers already had about Scrappy into the villain’s arc, with his increasing screen time in later shows manifesting as a power-hungry desire to take over the gang. Although Scooby-Doo’s live-action adaptation did cut some grown-up jokes before its release, the finished movie maintained a cynical, self-aware outlook on the franchise. The gang themselves were shown getting sick of Scrappy’s controlling attempts to run their lives, which mirrors how the Scooby-Doo spinoffs of the ‘80s gave Scrappy increasing story focus and screen time at the expense of the show’s original stars Fred, Daphne, and Velma.

Other Scooby-Doo Media Has Joked About Scrappy (Including Velma)

Velma Season 2 Turned Scrappy Into A Major Villain Again

Later, 2011’s darker Scooby-Doo spinoff Mystery Incorporated featured a brief scene where Freddie simply said “We don’t talk about that” upon seeing a picture of Scrappy-Doo. Within this context, it is no surprise that Max’s divisive Scooby-Doo spinoff Velma made Scrappy-Doo into a straight-up villain again in its second season. Thanks to its adults-only rating, Velma was able to take Scrappy’s villainy further than ever before and reinvented the dog as a failed experiment by the S.C.O.O.B. program. Voiced by comedy veteran Jason Mantzoukas, Velma’s Scrappy is even more dangerous and evil than his 2002 movie incarnation.

In a genuinely surprising twist, Scrappy succeeded in killing Velma during the show’s season 2 finale. The finale did strongly imply that this death will be reversed when supporting characters note that Velma could be brought back to life on Halloween night, but the death still stood out as Scrappy’s nastiest act in any of his canon appearances so far. As such, it would be tough to imagine any subsequent reinvention of the Scooby-Doo franchise making Scooby’s nephew a heroic presence again. After twenty years of mockery and a villainous role in Velma, this Scooby-Doo mainstay is permanently in the doghouse.

Source: TV Tropes