Yesterday, Mckenna Grace was interviewed by TMZ about playing Daphne in the Netflix live-action series. No new info about the show was revealed, but Mckenna did share a few interesting tidbits. In the interview, she shared that she has been talking with Shaggy's voice actor, Matthew Lillard, since getting the role.

Mckenna has also been watching the Scooby-Doo direct to video films as research for her role. She's been reviewing the films on the film tracking site Letterboxd. You can check out her reviews here. In the interview, she shared that Zombie Island and Music of the Vampire are her favorites that she's watched so far. She mentioned that she grew up with the franchise, and that she plans to keep watching direct-to-video films as research.

I love that Mckenna has been doing such in-depth research for her role! It's cool to see how excited she is to play Daphne. I love that she's even started checking out Scooby films that Daphne isn't in, including Ghoul School yesterday. Her clear passion about the role makes me feel like she was the perfect choice for Daphne!

You can watch Mckenna's TMZ interview on X. Thank you to Scoobylover for sharing this video!

Universal Hollywood is launching their annual Fan Fest Nights next week. The special event is a continuation of the Scooby-Doo x Universal Monsters collaboration. Fan Fest Nights include immersive in-world experiences, exclusive merch, and rides/attractions. Universal's Fan Fest Nights for this year are April 23-25, May 1-3, May 7-9, and May 14-16. As a part of this special event, an exclusive Scooby-Doo menu will be offered to eventgoers.

The Scooby-Doo menu includes extravagant food you've seen Shaggy and Scooby eat in the series and movies. This includes:

• Universal Monster 22" Hot Dog - A shareable 22-inch-long hot dog topped with pulled pork, kale cabbage slaw, fried garlic chips, spicy pickles, and white barbecue sauce
• Super Shaggy Sandwich - a club sandwich with a large selection of meats, cheese, potato chips, tomatoes, lettuce, and an olive on top. The design appears to be specifically inspired by the sandwich we see him eat in "Hassle in the Castle."
• Mystery Machine Donut - donut with lemon filling with green, orange and blue frosting
• Scooby Snack Donut - a bone-shaped donut with peanut butter flavored Bavarian cream, dipped in your choice of maple or vanilla. Topped with a peanut butter cookie. A cinnamon version is available as an alternative nut-free option.
• Scooby Snacks - Honey cinnamon graham dog-tag and chocolate paw print cookies

According to Wdwnt.com, the menu will be available for a limited time during Universal Fan Fest Nights. You can check out a clip of some of the fun immersive in-world experiences here!

"Hassle in the Castle" bears striking similarity to the plot of a 1941 horror film, Horror Island. The film involves a group of people who visit an island to find a pirate's treasure. They take a boat to the island, and investigate an old castle to find clues leading them to the treasure. They soon discover a phantom, who wants the treasure for himself. The significant plot similarities may mean that the plot of "Hassle in the Castle" was inspired by this film.

Thank you to Alexandra Rutt for suggesting this week's fun fact!

We've got a ton of poll results to reveal this week! Starting off with the Yogi Yahooeys poll, Yogi pulled off the win very easily! Quick Draw McGraw also put up a fair fight for second place.

Who is your favorite member of the Yogi Yahooeys?
Yogi Bear - 17
Quick Draw McGraw - 7
Huckleberry Hound - 4
Grape Ape - 4
Mr. Jinks - 3
Yakky Doodle - 2
Snooper - 2
Wally Gator - 2
Hokey Wolf - 2
Boo Boo - 1
Augie Doggie - 1
Doggie Daddy - 1
0 votes: Cindy Bear, Blabber, Pixie and Dixie

Moving to the Guess Who poll next. When tallying the results, I accidentally typed "Big Bod McAllister" at first, which honestly sounds like a more amusing character than any of the options here lol.

Who is your favorite recurring character from Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?
Simone - 28
Big Bob McAllister - 5
Chad and Thad - 5

Unsurprisingly, Yabba-Doo won the Puppy Hour poll with ease. But how in the world did the mayor get more votes than Deputy Dusty? lol

Who is your favorite recurring character from The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour?
Yabba-Doo - 35
Tumbleweed Mayor - 5
Deputy Dusty - 4

On Thursday, TheWrap hosted a Creators x Hollywood talk titled How Creators Are Building Multimedia Universes. The talk featured Sam Register, the current president of Warner Brothers Animation. During the talk, Sam shared some exciting news about an upcoming series!

From 21:25-23:49 in the video, Sam discusses how he's adapted Scooby-Doo throughout different iterations. He shares that he is currently producing and developing a Scooby-Doo anime. Presumably, he's referring to Go-Go Mystery Machine, but he does not directly confirm if he's referring to this series or Scooby-Doo! Gokko. In January, it was confirmed that Go-Go Mystery Machine is still moving ahead, despite no further info from Warner Brothers now that we're approaching two years since the original announcement.

A big thank you to Scoobs for the detective work of finding this video!

This is the twelfth day in a row I've posted! It's been quite a streak, but unless there's news, this will be the last daily post. Results for this poll will be revealed on Sunday. Also, as mentioned before, Scrappy doesn't count here, as he is a member of the gang.

The descriptions on the back covers of numerous Scooby-Doo VHS tapes released in the 1980s strangely reveal the culprit and motive. A listing of all of these spoiler-heavy descriptions are below (obviously read at your own discretion if you haven't seen these episodes):

Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Volume 2:
The Scarab Lives: Watch out villains! Scooby is on your trail again! And he'll catch you too, because he's the dog-gonedest canine sleuth around! With the help of his feisty little nephew, Scrappy-Doo, and his four mystery-mad teenage pals, Freddy, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy, Scooby is able to sniff out the solution to even the most baffling crimes. In The Scarab Lives, the Scooby-Doo gang's favorite comic-book hero, The Scarab, comes to life as a villain! But the gang discovers that a rival comic book artist is behind it all.

Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Volume 3:
Twenty Thousand Screams under the Sea: When the Sea Beast of the Aztecs surfaces, scaring the divers away from the cliffs of Acapulco, the Scooby Doo gang becomes suspicious. Discovering that the creature is a fake designed to keep the divers away from a sunken Spanish galleon full of treasure, the gang catches the villain and turns the treasure over to the local museum.

I Left My Neck in San Francisco: While the gang is on a visit to San Francisco, a hideous Lady Vampire appears. Velma follows a hunch that leads her to the recovery of jewels stolen years ago by the notorious Lefty Callahan, and discovers that the Lady Vampire is a cover-up for the thief!

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Volume 1 (Kids Klassics)
The Hairy Scare of the Devil Bear: The Scooby-Doo gang, visiting the Grand Canyon, discover the area is haunted by an old Indian legend - the Devil Bear. The group's investigation discloses that an assistant to the archaeologist team had discovered the treasure of the ancient Indians and used the ruse of the Devil Bear to frighten people away. Thrills and chills in a scenic wonderland await you as the Scooby-Doo gang uncovers another startling mystery and save the day.

Scooby-Doo Volume 3 VHS:
The Headless Horseman of Halloween: A Halloween costume party at the Crane Manor in Sleepy Hollow begins a mysterious adventure for Scooby-Doo, Scooby Dum and the gang, when the legendary Headless Horseman shows up as an uninvited guest. A newspaper clipping and a photograph lead the sleuths to the airport, where the Horseman tries to make his getaway in an antique biplane. A midair caper, with Scooby, Shaggy and the villain aboard, results in the zany solution of the mystery. Cousin Elwood Crane has gone bankrupt and tried to steal Aunt Gertrude's diamond necklace, blaming the crime on the legendary Headless Horseman. With Elwood safely locked up, Scooby Dum continues to look for clues, turning up an angry goldfish in the pond.

Scooby-Doo Volume 2 VHS:
High Rise Hair Raiser - Scooby and his friends have a high time trying to trap a group of safe crackers who use high rise haunted building site as a vantage point for their operation.

The No-Faced Zombie Chase Case
After Scooby-Doo witnesses the theft of the valuable “Golden Galleon” from a coin shop the gang becomes entangled in the attempt to catch the thief. The culprit is a faceless zombie who leads them to the Dilly Dally Dolly Co. where some wild chase scenes result, involving a mechanical forklift and a gorilla. Scooby falls into a toy duplicating machine and is transformed into a thousand Scoobies. The captured zombie turns out to be a robot and the gorilla is really Mr. Dilly, co-owner of the factory. Mr. Dally invites the gang for a snack in the employee cafeteria but the 1,000 Scoobies have devoured all the hamburgers.

The Fiesta Host Is an Aztec Ghost
A Mexican vacation becomes a search for missing Aztec treasure for Scooby-Doo and the gang. The town of Cinco, supposed site of a gala fiesta, is deserted. The residents are terrorized by a stone monster and the ghost of Aztec god Cotazuma. Searching an ancient pyramid nearby, the gang find clues that lead them to a mysterious river barge and a treasure cave. Ghost and monster lose their disguises, are revealed and caught. With law and order restored the fiesta begins. Shaggy and Scooby build a giant burrito in celebration.

The "law and order restored" bit really amused me. Glad the riots in the streets were able to be stopped after Katazuma's ghost was in custody lol.

This last one isn't a spoiler, but I wanted to spotlight its incredibly elaborate use of alliteration. This description is some next-level stuff haha.

Scooby-Doo: A Dog in the Ruff
Scooby-Doo is the canine Sherlock Holmes with the courage of a chicken. He's a giant Great Dane who jitters like jelly at the gasp of a ghost, but sooner or later he shakes off his cowardice to solve the supernatural shenanigans. Scooby and his four teenage chums combine their cunning to crack crooks ciphers and bring cases to a comic close.

Happy Easter to all who are celebrating today! I hope you have a wonderful day however and with whomever you're spending the holiday.

We've got three polls from last week to reveal the results from. We'll start with the Scooby Doobies poll. Scooby-Dum wins in a landslide!

Who is your favorite member of the Scooby Doobies?
Scooby-Dum - 21
Dynomutt - 5
Blue Falcon - 5
Hong Kong Phooey - 5
Captain Caveman - 3
Brenda Chance - 3
Speed Buggy - 2
Babu - 2
Dee Dee Skyes - 1
Tinker - 1
Taffy Dare - 0

Next, let's move to our other poll from this recurring characters series. Before this poll started, I was pretty certain Rose would be the one to advance. However, she's not our winner! Captain Cutler beats her by just a few votes.

Who is your favorite recurring character in Be Cool, Scooby-Doo?
Captain Cutler - 17
Rose - 13
Scotty McDoon - 8

Now it's time to reveal the poll everybody's been waiting to the answer for...let's see who came out ahead as the favorite person on Shaggy and the dogs lengthy list of personal slights in the Scrappy shorts. It was very close, but it looks like Moose finally gets absolved of his villain status lol.

Who is your favorite person that Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy angered during the Scrappy shorts?
Moose - 4
Bulldog (Strongman Scooby) - 3
Director - 3
Ship Captain - 2
Doctor - 2
Bulldog (Scooby's Swiss Miss) - 2
Chef - 2
Bandit and Wilbur - 2
Buster and Bull - 2
Army General - 2
Taj Mahal Guard - 2
Baron Valoofnoggin - 2
Monrovia Monsters - 1
McGurk Brothers - 1

0 votes: Carnival Owner, Magician, Strongman, Motorcycle Gang, RB, Muscles Malone and Brutus

In the past two months, I've published articles about topics that center around my hopes for Scooby-Doo! Gokko and the Netflix live-action series. Given that, I also wanted to do an article loosely inspired by our other upcoming series, Go-Go Mystery Machine. This one was a bit tougher, because there isn't too much to share about my hopes for the show. We've only gotten a very loose premise thus far, and have almost no info about the show beyond this. The info that's been announced gives 13 Ghosts vibes imo. I'm excited to see another series with an overarching plot like this! However, I remain open-minded to whatever format and tone they decide to explore for the series.

My other biggest hope is that I hope they follow "The Curse of Kaniaku" (from Be Cool, Scooby-Doo)'s lead of developing proper representation, given the full show takes place in Japan. I was impressed with how "The Curse of Kaniaku" used accurate Japanese dialogue instead of random gibberish, as we sometimes saw in the classic era with other cultures. I also liked how they developed the Japanese characters to be fully-formed people instead of just stereotypes, like we would also unfortunately see in certain episodes of the classic era. Thankfully, this isn't something I'm significantly worried about. Given it is a full-on anime series, I think it would be very bad press for them if they chose to not do those two things.

Since this is our first anime Scooby series, the related topic that immediately came to mind is animation styles. I was surprised to realize I'd never done an article on this before, but now seems like a great time to share my thoughts and rankings! After sharing my thoughts on each animation style, I'll provide my individual rankings of each gang member's design from least favorite to favorite.

We've gotten twelve distinct animation styles over the years. The classic era had a singular animation style up until 1988. Beginning with A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, every series had its own animation style. The DTV eras also had distinct animation styles, with the exception of the What's New Scooby-Doo? era films. There are some subtle differences within different eras, but I'm keeping it to the 12 styles that had significant differences from each other.

12. LEGO Animation (2015-2017)
From a purely corporate perspective, the purpose of the two LEGO films and special was to promote the Scooby-Doo LEGO sets. In that sense, these designs are probably about as good as they could be. However, when compared to the other animation styles, this is a pretty easy last place. The designs look bulky and aren't particularly attractive to me. Obviously, this was an intentional decision to fit with the typical LEGO brand designs. They don't look very good to me, though.

Note that I guess there is technically also the Playmobil shorts. Given there's only two of them, I won't be including them in my rankings. If I did, I'd easily put them last. I like the bulkiness of the facial features even less than these.

Individual Rankings:
5. Velma
4. Shaggy
3. Fred
2. Scooby
1. Daphne

11. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! (2006-2008)
I'm usually one of the biggest defenders of this series, but the designs don't do it for me. I feel like cleaner, more realistic designs are a much better fit for the franchise. These designs look a bit rough to me. The facial features are really off for Fred and Velma in particular imo. I'm also not a big fan of how Shaggy's hair looks...well...for lack of a better word, too shaggy lol. Scooby and Daphne are probably my faves of the designs. Neither are my preferred designs, but they look a bit nicer and cleaner-cut than the rest of the gang to me. The settings are fine I guess; the backgrounds just seem kinda generic and don't stand out in any way.

​Individual Rankings:
5. Fred
4. Velma
3. Scooby
2. Shaggy
​1. Daphne

10. Velma (2023-2024)
I'm not usually quick to rank things automatically last as a punishment. I'm sure Velma would be last place for most people, but I didn't want to put this last just because it's Velma. The only factor I'm considering in these rankings is how much I like the animation style. Objectively, I do think the Velma designs are a step up from the LEGO and Get a Clue designs, but I still don't particularly like them. The character design features are pretty basic, and the drawings are a bit more crude. The animation style feels very Family Guy-ish in nature, which isn't a fit for Scooby imo.

If I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably go with Daphne! It feels the most similar to the usual designs for me. There are also aspects of Shaggy's that I like. His clothes are decently well-designed, and I like his hairstyle. Fred and Velma's designs don't do it for me at all, though.

Individual Rankings:
4. Velma
3. Fred
2. Shaggy
​1. Daphne

9. SCOOB! (2020)
SCOOB! is the only animation style that's been used in just a single movie. CGI is hit or miss for me, but it's usually a harder sell for me. Of the five designs, I think Shaggy is the best, and stays most true to his typical design. Fred is pretty good too. I like his hairstyle, and the white-to-blue ratio of his shirt! Scooby's somewhere in the middle for me. I have to say, I'm not usually the biggest fan of CGI animals, and Scooby doesn't work too well for me. As an animation fan, there's a certain appeal for having the designs stay a little cartoonish. CGI animal designs often feel realistic in an odd way for me, and Scooby's design here falls into that box for me. I don't really like Daphne or Velma's designs here. The proportions look off to me, especially Velma's facial features. Although I'm not a fan of the characters, I think they did a great job with the setting and visual design of the locations!

Individual Rankings:
5. Velma
4. Daphne
3. Scooby
2. Fred
1. Shaggy

8. Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (2015-2017)
These rankings have been really fun to do, because it mixes up the usual order I'd put these series. Unless you just started reading the blog, you probably know by now that I'm a big defender of Be Cool. I don't think any of the hate towards the show because of the animation style was warranted at all. I found it all to be extremely overblown, and the Family Guy comparison is far more applicable to Velma than it is here. That all said...I'm not opposed to this animation style, but I don't love it compared to the others. I think it comes down to me preferring more refined, down-to-Earth designs. These lean a bit too cartoony for me, particularly with the exaggerated features like Shaggy's nose and Scooby's snout. I'm not really a fan of most of the gang's designs, with the exception of Daphne. I actually think her design is really cute! The proportions aren't as off for her compared to the others. The backgrounds are quite nice, but I'll admit they don't stand out to me a ton compared to other shows.

Individual Rankings:
5. Shaggy
4. Fred
3. Scooby
2. Velma
1. Daphne

7. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988-1991)
From this point on, we're getting to the ones that I have nothing but good things to say about. This doesn't hold up to the more standard animation to me, but this works so well for the vibe of this series. The exaggerated reactions work really well to create a goofy, kiddy-feeling vibe for the show. I particularly like Fred, Shaggy and Scooby's designs here. All three of them feel like natural fits with their adult designs, where it feels realistic that they'd grow up to look like their standard designs. Velma and Daphne do to an extent as well! I don't like their designs quite as much as the guys, but I still think they look quite good. The only one I think could have been improved is Daphne's. It looks a bit off, and the comparison between her young and adult self isn't quite as strong imo. The series does a great job with backgrounds as well; they have that same overly cartoonish vibe that works so well to create a zany aesthetic for the show.

​Individual Rankings:
5. Daphne
4. Velma
3. Fred
2. Shaggy
1. Scooby

6. Guess Who (2019-2022)
While Guess Who as a series can be on the blander side at times, these designs are great! They did an awesome job updating the classic designs. While they are quite similar, they feel like just enough of an evolution to have a slightly different feel. These designs were used in both Guess Who and the 2022 DTV Trick or Treat. Honestly, the gang's designs are all pretty even for me here, but if I had to rank them, this is what it would like:

​​Individual Rankings:
5. Velma
4. Daphne
3. Fred
2. Scooby
1. Shaggy

5. Mystery Incorporated (2010-2013)
Mystery Incorporated did an awesome job with redesigning the characters! The style is quite different from the original, but they still look great. I think my favorite part of them is that the gang is wearing the same outfits as they are in most of the classic era. The updated style does a great job balancing difference with familiarity, and I feel like that's what makes it work so well. I really like the detail put into the backgrounds as well! The settings are generally pretty gorgeous here, and you can tell a lot of thought and effort went into the designs.

Individual Rankings:
5. Shaggy
4. Fred
3. Scooby
2. Daphne
1. Velma

4. Current DTV Era (2010-present)
Like the Guess Who designs, the recent DTV era has done a great job of adapting the classic style. It struck the perfect balance between keeping a classic feeling, but having it be ever so slightly different in a way that is appealing. My thoughts on these are pretty much the exact same as the Guess Who ones, but these are two spots up because I like that the designs feel cleaner and more refined.

Individual Rankings:
5. Velma
4. Shaggy
3. Fred
2. Scooby
1. Daphne

3. What's New Scooby-Doo? (2002-2009)
​This animation style was used both in What's New Scooby-Doo? and the 2004-2009 DTVs. Given this was the first series with the gang as adults following a big classic era reboot, What's New absolutely killed it with these designs. They do a great job channeling the vibes of the original, while changing it up enough to create something different. Velma, Daphne and Scooby's designs work so well for me here; they all feel like such natural changes that feel right at home with the characters. All of the characters are great though, and there isn't anything I would change about any of the designs. I really like Daphne and Fred's new outfits! They did a good job picking something close enough to the original that it didn't feel jarring. I feel the same way about the backgrounds here. Everything is designed so well, and the settings create such a cool updated feel that quintessentially channels a 2000s vibe that encapsulates the optimism and wonder people felt towards technology at the time. I found it really cool that they used the same animation style for both the series and the films in that era. I'd love to see them streamline the animation style for both the series and DTVs again.

Individual Rankings:
5. Shaggy
4. Fred
3. Scooby
2. Velma
1. Daphne

2. Classic Era (1969-1988)
I really debated about putting this #1, but ultimately there's one design I think I like better. Don't get me wrong though, these are absolute classics (no pun intended). Because we had them in all media for nearly 20 years (and the fact that they were the originals), these are the go-to designs that I think of when I think of Scooby. The animation style feels very realistic and balanced, and the vibe of them feels very down-to-Earth.I'm including Scrappy in my character rankings below, since he was a part of the gang for nearly half of the classic era.

Individual Rankings:
6. Scrappy
5. Velma
4. Shaggy
3. Fred
2. Daphne
​1. Scooby

1. Mook Films (1998-2001)
​More often than not, the Scooby franchise has done a great job with animation. There have been a couple misses like Get a Clue and Velma, or the couple one-off movies they tried something different, but there are aspects of pretty much all the designs I like. They absolutely hit it out of the park with this re-imagining, though. The animators did a perfect job giving the gang a more mature look.

I assume it wasn't intentional, but the way the characters are standing in the above Zombie Island poster showcases a big part of the reason why they work. Shaggy and Velma's designs lean towards feeling pretty much the same as their classic designs, while Fred and Daphne's designs are significantly changed. However, the changes all feel very tasteful, and like a natural maturation of the characters. Their outfits are a big part of this, arguably. They just feel a bit more adult and formal than their past designs, but in a way that doesn't feel like it would be out of place in the classic era. Scooby's design is somewhere in the middle. His design is definitely a bit different than in the classic era, but he also feels much the same in any way.

Besides just the gang, the amount of detail put into everything is incredible! It's arguably the best animation the franchise has ever seen. The settings are all immaculate in how they create a scenic, peaceful feel for each of the films. I really hope they use this animation style again someday, because I adore this style!

Individual Rankings:
5. Scooby
4. Shaggy
3. Velma
2. Fred
1. Daphne

If I were forced to rank the Go-Go Mystery Machine​ designs right now, I'd probably put them between Velma and SCOOB!. However, I feel like the reactions to the Be Cool designs taught us not to judge a design too quick based on concept art. In my opinion, the Be Cool designs ended up being much better than the concept art showed, even if they still aren't a favorite of mine. 

That wraps up my rankings! I thought I would have done an article like this long ago, so it was fun to finally write this up and share my thoughts. It's interesting to look back at my rankings and discover that Fred's design is never my favorite in any series. It's not something I ever consciously realized before, so it's funny that it comes out that way.

If you'd like to share your rankings of the animation styles, I'd love to read them in the comments!