Which Scooby-Doo Character is the Best? 

I... I remember flimflam

The only reason Scooby can get away with all of his antics is because dogs can’t be tried for acts of domestic terrorism

"I don't think Fred knows what s*x is. I think Fred imagines you throw a net up in the air and hope you catch a stork." "Fred is a lawless god in a forsaken land!" "There's not a malicious bone in his perfect Tonka-truck body." This. This is Fred and it's why we love him so.

I think the "Fred has a Netflix account" is a funny way of saying he's the one thing that's keeping them all together and is the reason they keep coming back, cause at the end of the day, they can all come together and watch some Netflix together

a grown man in his thirties in a Daphne cosplay nitpicking the lack of heathy couples in media inside a nearly hour long scooby-doo video essay is a strange thing to behold but now I feel complete

Fred’s catchphrase is “Alright Gang!” Because the gang, and his friends, are what is truly important to him.

“He’s not capable of wrong… only of oops” is such a powerful line

As far as Velma’s sexuality. I just want Bi Velma. It makes all of it work canonically. Also it means she tends to like her girls smart and her boys dumb as bricks and I find that hilarious

"A bad Velma is the worst thing that happened to Scooby-doo" aged like fine wine

"And a bad Velma is a BAD Velma" Aged well, huh?

I actually like the idea of Daphne not knowing the difference between spiders and scorpions. Like she's still a hypercompetent badass with a minor psychotic edge, but she doesn't care what bug it is because she already knows she hates it anyway.

Funnily enough, "A Pup Named Scooby Doo" actually has similar traits to what JelloApocalypse wants in a likeable Velma. In that show, she had practically no social skills and was super eager to solve mysteries with her friends and was so involved in the mystery she wasn't afraid of anything. Her only real drawback was that she barely spoke at all.

"Velma's the smart one, Daphne is the people person, and Fred has a Netflix account." Is probably the best description I've heard of the Mystery Inc ever.

I like the idea that Fred is both a genius and an idiot. He's really good at puzzles and probably even math and equations, but nothing else.

Daphne and Fred being a stable couple has so much more room for comedy, like how their friends are always there when they're trying fo be romantic, even if they're on a romantic holiday. And Fred doesn't understand what Daphne wants for her birthday but she ends up liking his weird wacky contraption because it's cute that he tried. Fred gets captured and is being lowered over a lava pit but hes completely unconcerned because his girlfriend is batman and it starts to scare the villain.

When Scooby Doo one day hits the public domain, I really hope you'll write a Scooby Doo story

"-Shaggy goes along with Mystery Inc. because he genuinely loves mysteries, and Scooby goes along with Shaggy because he loves Shaggy." That's actually moving.

"Velma is the smart one, Daphne is the people person, and Fred has a netflix account" that line killed me

You can't spell "friend" without "in Fred" because we've all got a friend in Fred

At the VERY VERY end of Mystery Inc. when everyone else is shocked about the final reveal and saying their catchphrases, Fred says "Hold the phone!" I kid you not, this happens RIGHT after everyone else says their iconic lines in sequence. That's it. Mystery solved. Fred's catchphrase is "Hold the phone!" He's just too much of a himbo to remember to say it

"Fred is NOTHING...and that means Fred can be ANYTHING." This may be the most Unraveled thing you've ever said, Jello

Fred should love the most random things and should always “know a guy”

I am dying for Lethal Daphne that chills out as soon as Golden Retriever Fred is on screen, and he’s like her little sunshine that she must protect at all costs

If I were to make a "perfect" Velma it would be as "the believer"; she's the kid (people forget that Velma is a few years younger than the rest of the gang) that actually believes in things like cryptids and ghosts and stuff and she would contribute by actually knowing the folklore of the local ghost legend or monster or whatever. Sure she would be disappointed when it is proven to be a hoax but she'd always be excited for the next mystery.

"He is not capable of wrong, only of oops" is SUCH a gold line, I want to embrace whoever wrote that.

...Who's here after Velma and wished they listened to this golden maniac?

And then they gather around it like "WORM WORM WORM WORM" Perfect. So perfect.

Shaggy being into mystery solving and/or the horror genre, in general, is a character trait that is not utilized in nearly enough. He can still be an anxious mess while there is a threat lurking around, but when he is comfortable and in a safe location, he should be the one throwing out Reddit conspiracy theories and horror B-movie trivia that make him sound insane, but actually turn out to aid in solving the case.

My favorite obscure skill of Shaggy's is from "What's New Scooby-Doo" when he's an absolute mini-golf champion

Shaggy as the skill monkey is so true. Like the amount of times they'll be chasing something like a yeti at a skii resort and Shaggy will end up blundering into competing in the global skii jumping grand finals only to then be used as bait is staggering.

I love how both Fred and Shaggy are the “who gives a shit do whatever they’re a cowboy now” characters and it always makes sense

“And a bad Velma is like, a BAD Velma” *Foreshadowing*

"WhY wOuLd We LoOk FoR gHoStS wHeN wE cAn LoOk FoR fReNcH tOaSt?" had me reeling. Not only is that exactly something they would say in that exact style, but the uncanny voice of a 30 year old male impersonating a hippie and his dog chuckling about french toast had me dying.

Disagree on making Daphne as into booby traps as Fred. Okay so hear me out, they're a booby trapping couple, but Fred's the one who's really into it while Daphne is there because she likes sharing Fred's passion and doing something together. She DOESN'T secretly hate trapping, she's legitimately having a fun time, but the fun is from spending time with her significant other, not the traps, that's actual healthy couple energy. If Daphne is alone, she'll skip the traps and go for a straight up garrotte or something suitably casually Murder-Daphne with an air of casualness about it that both makes it clear she's not "just putting up with" the traps, but also is a little bit of a psychopath.

I think the most important thing you need to do with the Mystery Inc. characters is to make them all like each other. These guys are a group of very weird teenagers with a niche interest that nobody else has who also are absolutely insane and go digging into capitalist hoaxes with their big cute talking dog because they're obsessed. They like each other more than anybody else because they get each other. Everybody else puts up with Shaggy being a stoner or Fred being a himbo or Daphne being a bloodthirsty girlboss or Velma having no social awareness or Scooby being a DOG THAT FREAKING TALKS because they like each other and they understand each other in a way nobody else does. Any Mystery Inc. that doesn't feel like friends is not a real Mystery Inc. in my brain. Another great reason to watch Mystery Incorporated. Nobody else in this town likes them. Okay, maybe like four other weirdly mystery obsessed people like them, but for the most part everybody else is weirded out at best and actively malicious at worst. They are friends.

“How does one describe Fred? Human?” Velma writers: No “Ascot?” Velma writers: No “White?” Velma writers: WRITE THAT DOWN! WRITE THAT SHIT DOWN RIGHT NOW!

The scientists all chanting "worm, worm, worm!" is the most accurate description I've ever heard

“What does Fred say?” “Fred says ‘traësure’” “HE DOES!”

hands down one of my favorite video essays; the costumes, the multi cam shots, the script, the passion it’s all there i watch this video at least once a week and i never get tired of it! absolutely amazing

"brain of a tadpole and the body of a fridge" i died.

“The post posits that Fred says fuck” singlehandedly absolutely murdered me

"What is Shaggy there for?" According to many of the series' lore, Shaggy's there cuz he owns the Mystery Machine.

I love the fact that the described "perfect" Velma is basically just Entrapta from She-Ra 2020, like the similarities are definately there just based on the concepts raised

The writers of the Show That Shall Not Be Named basically just watched this video, saw all the things he said were bad, and said "yeah, that."

For me, Fred's catchphrase is "c'mon, gang." He's the glue in the group, the popular kid in school that had friends in every clique. I think a good portrayal of Fred shouldn't be unintelligent, just straightforward and friendly, which enables him to mediate between the quirkier personalities in the cast and help them work together as a team.

You know, I would like a Velma who dedicated her life to proving ghosts are real, but has become so disillusioned by the constant fake ghost reveals that she stops getting her hopes up, but you can tell that deep down she still believes in ghosts and wants so hard to prove their existence. You could also use that as a plot point.

13:11 also Shaggy being a line cook would fit the best out of any job they could give him. I have met so many shaggy-esque line cooks

I'm all for Fred saying treasure as a catchphrase, but I'd also like to propose whenever fred is truly caught off guard, he should say the quietest, politest, with a slight beginning pause "goodness gracious!"

"his hollow skull is filled with naught but sunshine" and "he is not capable of wrong, only of oops" just broke me broke me in half

I want a Velma who gets disappointed that the ghost ended up being old Mr. Hinkle. Like she's happy they solved the mystery but she REALLY wanted it to be a real ghost and the rest of the gang have to cheer her up like "Don't give up, Velma. Maybe the next one will be a real ghost." "You think so?" "Hey, stranger things have happened."

“…Fred, Shaggy, Daphne, Velma, Dog…” he didn’t have to do my man Scoob like that

Honestly, homie could convert to only Scooby content So long as he does it in this format, I'd watch the shit out of it Specially since I've already watched this one 8 times

A man that looks suspiciously like Shaggy extoling the virtues of Fred makes far too much sense. That's his best friend besides Scoob, man

"He is not capable of wrong. Only oops." I have not laughed so hard in a good long while.

I think one of my favorite takes on the Scooby Gang is actually in the Supernatural crossover episode, funny enough... Seeing the characters slowly break down as they come to terms with actual monsters is so good, especially the way the writers turn their characteristics (ie, Velma being a nerd or Fred liking traps) into them spiraling, which is actually showcased the best with Fred, where he starts out with his normal booby traps but as he learns more and more from Sam and Dean, he ends up spiraling down a rabbit hole of more and more complex traps involving the Supernatural show's gimmicks until he's just completely lost it, because nothing is working like he expects

A trait of Daphne that appeared a couple of times only to be mostly forgotten is that she believes in the supernatural. This happened a couple of times but is more prominent in the _Zombie Island_ movie, where Daphne gets.the gang back together for her trip trying to find a real haunted house or cryptid or curse; in that movie Daphne is kind of the leader and Fred is her lancer, the Scully of her Mulder. The dynamic of the group there is: *- Daphne believes in the supernatural and wants to know more about it* *- Shaggy believes in the supernatural but is affraid of it so he doesn't want nothing to do with it* *- Velma doesn't believe in the supernatural but is open to consider it* *- Fred doesn't believe in the supernatural and its very stubborn about denying it* *- Scooby-doo is a dog*

"A bad Velma is a BAD Velma." This man is a prophet.

One thing about Daphne that I always thought could be utilised more is her interest in fashion. A hobby like that implies knowledge on fabrics and measurements. While Fred makes the traps and Velma is looking to establish a motive, Daphne could be the one who figures out how the monster costume operates and who could be wearing it. Thus proving that girly things can be useful, which is an overdone message, but still effective.

Fred reminds me of how I once heard Gomez from Addams family described. He's madly in love with his wife, his family, his normie neighbors, his brother, he's just in love with life. Earnest and happy.

Get yourself a partner that talks about you the way Jello talks about Fred: Tenderly and full of affection, passion and awe

I feel like more than anything else, Fred is the one who actually gets the group involved with the mystery solving. Most of the mysteries happen as a result of Fred leading them to a person or location he knows. And when there's a mystery in that area, Fred is immediately like "Alright everybody, it's go time."

I say Fred should be the guy who’s obsessed with building stuff. He’s the mechanic. He likes the mystery machine because he’s the one who repairs it, he likes traps because he can build them in whatever convoluted way he wants, he he increasingly confusing costumes because he like the convoluted construction of them, it’s perfect

A scooby doo fanfiction made by you would be the best thing to ever exist

Gotta love how jello talked for 1 hour about how to do Scooby Doo characters right and HBO decided to do the polar opposite. Like, so completely polar opposite that it almost seems like they watched his video and took notes just to make sure they do the EXACT opposite of what he said a good Scooby Doo character is

Scooby: "Ru oh" Shaggy: "Zoinks" Velma: "Jinkies" Daphne: "Jeepers" Fred: "Traps"

I think that shaggys showdown is a hidden gem in the franchise, it may not be the best but scooby is such a loving dog in that movie and he’s very sweet and funny, like how he sings by howling instead of singing by just using words. It’s also really clear that shaggy is happy to help out in some sense

I'd kinda love it if the next new Scooby-Doo series had an episode where there's a hot vampire lady and Velma is immediately smitten with her and the rest of the gang think she's been hit with vampire hypnosis, only to capture the vampire at the end and have it turn out not to be a real vampire and Velma was just being _extremely_ gay lol

“Fred Jones: Human Golden Retriever” The best description of Fred

i kinda wish they did girly girl daphne like an elle woods: almost encyclopedic knowledge of fashion that kinda bleeds into the ventriloquist shaggy where seemingly useless talents help solve the mystery, if that makes sense. Like she will see footprints and be like “that’s the 1995 prada wedge but the toe box on the left shoe is slightly less defined in the print so they REALLY can’t walk in heels” *cue hair flip*

i just saw a video that used lines from this video as backing for a dance number. It was a Drag King performance (The opposite of a Drag Queen for those unaware), and it went pretty hard

Fred is the mom of the group...which explains why I like him completley, he is caring to the others and the guy who holds your hand on the escalator, the guy who always has snacks in his bag, and the one who takes care of everyones stuff whilst they go on the rollercoasters. He cares for his friends and his catchphrase is literally ''Alright gang!'' (amongst other iconic ones) hes just a cheery mum of the group, the careful planner, the unofficial yet official leader if you will, yet he does not boss around his friends hes just the 'leader', not even the mascot or the decision maker. Hes awesome to put in bluntly.

Give Fred ADHD, that would explain how he knows so much about random shit as there were once a hyper fixation he had, traps are just the current hyperfixation but it’s lasting a little longer than expected

"he is not capable of wrong, only of oops." THAT IS THE BEST LINE IMO HJJFGSKFDG GOD I LOVE FRED

Mystery Incorporated is THE BEST Scooby Doo Show!! As a fellow Scooby Stan, that is the only series I have re-watched multiple times.

My Dream Team Mystery Incorporated, based on your observations here and my own old headcanons- Scooby - big dog who is afraid of his own bork, asked Gawd to trade some brains for more heart and so loves food and his family (Mystery Inc) and would do ANYTHING for them including braving the things he finds terrifying. Quirk is watching scary movies with Shaggy and being super confident and not scared while watching movies only to be 1000% convinced and terrified by actually encountering such movie villians IRL. Shaggy - the oddball jack-of-all-trades with a passion for food and trying to overcome his fears, hence mystery solving with the gang. He joins mystery solving excursions to prove to himself every time that the scary thing can't POSSIBLY be real, right? RIGHT? ZOINKS. Quirk is same as Scooby's. Velma - resident nerd who is is very X-Files "I want to believe" and so joins mystery solving excursions trying to prove the existence of these ghosts and monsters through the a scientific process-of-elimination approach. (I'm thinking like the early Ghost Hunters TV show guys who were like, "hey we're getting high EMF readings, let's make sure there aren't any loose or uncovered electrical sources nearby" and "You say you see orbs at night but our cameras revealed it's actually just dust motes catching light/the headlights of passing cars" sort of idea.) I'm also partial to the idea of her Quirk being that she's WILDLY attractive and deliberately wears glasses, the goofy haircut, oversized orange sweater to make herself get taken seriously. It's cliche but I love it. (I'd like to note that I started writting this comment at 19:48 and the excitement I experienced when you ALSO said you wanted "I want to believe" Velma made me SO HAPPY.) Daphne - My dream Daphne is actually filling the role as our "straight man." She's looking around at the absolutely madness and the wild friends she has and she's just... keeping everyone together and on track. She's definitely our connector and translator for the secondary characters of the week, talking the team's way in to the places they need to go. She's often joining the mission with the goal of meeting a celebrity or getting into an event, but she also deeply loves her friends so she's happy to join even without bait (though she should still be a BIT vain and will likely make a comment about how there's nothing else happening on her social calendar that weekend.) Quirk is Legally Blonde-esque "Any Cosmo Girl would have known" method solving and I think we do see this on (rare) occasion. She's able to point out fine details that indicate designers, fabrics, historical costume inaccuracies, etc. Fred - I want 95% clever Fred. I want Fred who's talking through the issues and the plot holes of the villains and getting us RIGHT UP TO THE EDGE of the answer before he's like, floundering on who it could be. He narrows the suspect pool down to 1 or 2 potential people under the mask and that's when he decides to stop thinking about it and his quirk takes over. Quirk is traps man. Our boy loves traps. He makes them FAR more often than he needs to. I need Fred to have, like, traps to open his bedroom door and his friends are both impressed by the Rube Goldberg nature of his house and also FULLY EXASPERATED BY IT.

Jello: “You guys won’t click on more than one Scooby Doo video essay” Me: *panhandling on the street for a hours-long Scooby Doo Mystery Inc. full series review and breakdown*

Lot of people tend to forget that Shaggy acts as the gang's mechanic when the Mystery Machine needs repairs, most prevalent in What's New and Mystery Incorporated. It's actually really neat. Plus the dynamic of how flustered he gets when he gets called Norville for any reason. There's a lot to play with there.

I would actually say Fred has had the most consistent personality of the gang. He's the leader with the heart of gold that just wants everyone to be included. (If you're into personality psychology, he's basically always been an ENFJ. Except when he doesn't feel like Fred. Then he's not. Really. That's how you get Fred right. It's about the personality and not the character quirks.)

I think that Shaggy not liking mysteries and voicing his complaints about it can be fine IF it's just for the first few episodes of the first seasons. have it be like a character growth thing for him to go from not liking mysteries and not wanting to be there to either having some interest to be there and may not want to be there if things get really scary or be a bit like your pitch for Scooby where even if he doesn't want to go into a haunted house, he'll still go with barely any hesitation if he knows that someone dear to him could be in trouble in there. maybe having him wanting to go on mysteries start from a dangerously close call happening to one of the members of mystery inc gang with him just barely able to save them that makes him realize that if he truly cares about his friends like he says he does, he needs to actually be there to be ready to save them despite his fears and yet he still needs his dog to be there with him to truly be able to face his fears without clamming up or running away in pure terror

It’s hilarious to make Daphne the girly-girl also be the most intense member of the group. She’s got batman money and training, and splurges it on dresses, ghost tours, and high heels that work in combat. You could also have Daphne and Fred in the beginning stages of that loving relationship, where they are clearly meant for each other but are still working out the boundaries. Get that whole “Will he still love me if I break a man’s leg?” Kind of thing.

“FRED IS A LAWLESS GOD IN A FORSAKEN LAND” Had me crying LOL

"And Fred has a Netflix account, so what is shaggy there for..... *SEX APPEAL* " I died 🤣🤣

33:55 Lumity all the way!(They just have a really solid relationship and I love them😂😊)

I think a better Velma would go from "are ghosts real?" to "which ghosts are real and which are people causing problems?"

One of the things I like the most about _Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated_ is that they don't make Fred egotistical. The Fred from the James Gunn movies is the most narcissitic version but in a lot of media (like _A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island_ and _What's New Scooby-Doo?)_ Fred's main character flaw is that he overestimates too much how capable he is and ends up screwing things. But _Mystery Inc.'s_ Freddie doesn't have ennough self-awarness on his brain to think he's better than anybody, his mind is just an endless pile of trap eschematics and a locket with a photo of Daphne on one side and a photo of the Mystery Machine on the other... in short, he's great

"These characters have been around for 50 years, so they have some pretty set in stone personality traits" Mindy Kaling: "I'm about to do what's called a pro gamer move" *just says the n word in the recording booth*

I like the idea of shaggy being the kind of person that, as a kid, bounced around from random interest to random interest, and now as an adult, he has a crap ton of really obscure and useless skills. Velma being the woman of science who's so obsessed with finding actual proof of the supernatural, but is repeatedly disappointed by the "monster" just being some guy with a costume. Daphne being well adjusted "people person" of the group that will actually kill you. Fred, being the pure hearted man with the body of a Greek god and a brain made of mashed potatoes, Who's solving mysteries because it makes him happy, and that makes everyone else happy. And Scooby, the emotional core of the group. The glue that holds them all together

The worm chant with the scientists was so accurate its painful. We literally do experiments and people will gather around to see the results and we’ll say dumb stuff like that. It’s great.

This video is truly a traysure

One thing I have to say about the relationship thing. As someone who as been in an abusive relationship, I support the healthy relationship dynamic, but I also support the idea of seeing someone grow and heal after leaving a bad relationship. THAT is something that is truly NEVER shown. Its ignored or at best a montage. HEALTHY Relationship in the Mystery and Crime Genre: BOOTH AND BONES FROM BONES!

i can imagine velma trying to come up with theories as to how ghosts and spooky things could work scientifically.

Fun Fact: Fred actually doesn’t own the Mystery Machine, Shaggy does. We know this because every time the gang has broken up, Shaggy keeps the Mystery Machine. Also, it does make a lot of sense, given Shaggy’s parents are absolutely loaded, while Fred’s family are of average wealth.

The weirdest thing about Fred and the Mystery Machine is from my understanding it's Shaggy's.

How amazing. That's why I loved Mystery Inc. I had actually never watched anything Scooby BUT MI until a few years back so I thought the franchise was better. So cool this video. Gives insight. Also that Velma foreshadowing was insane 25:09 Yoooo that's so cool! Have her get a camera and flutter all around the ghost bombarding him in pictures and having him run into a wall from flashes! Very good idea 29:45 I'm stealing those examples, even if I watched only one of them 33:52 JelloApocalypse invents The Addams Family (1964, Colorized) 34:15 I swear, watch the original, it's the healthiest family around. 48:54 That is the best line so far I think I'm gonna like this channel

"Fred is a lawless god in a forsaken land!" - poetry perfection.

For Fred, I'd officially like to suggest that he just has an obsessive personality. Like, every episode or so he just gets into a new 'phase' that he's fully into, and then at the end of the episode he just goes 'well x was lame anyway". That was his chaotic energy can be preserved.

How the HECK have I ignored this video for two years? It’s AMAZING! I don’t actually know how many times I’ve seen this go past whatever recommendation algorithm RU-vid has pointed at me, but I KNOW that I’ve seen this video’s thumbnail and title. There’s just so much on this video that just made me laugh out loud. Everything that was said just fits there Scooby Doo franchise. And I LOVE it. I want to complain that the section dedicated to Fred wasn’t very long. But he is the leader of Mystery Inc. so his personality should be intertwined with everyone else’s. And yeah, as soon as Fred was given a personality, they kinda nailed it, didn’t they. A Himbo who love the thrill of solving a mystery via throwing a net over a costumed person. He honestly doesn’t need to be much more than that.

I watch this video many times and the "Ah! Spiders!" delivery gets me every time

When you said "you could do anything with Fred" I bet you didn't expect the new writers to take that in literally the worst way possible.

For Daphne just combine all three. She's a clumsy girly badass. Can even have a lazy running gag where she falls into a trap but gets out on her own before anyone can even find her or realize she's gone.