You may remember that in January, it was announced that a Hex Girls novel titled A Rogue Thorn​ would be releasing on July 1. Based on the Random House official website, it appears the date for the book has been pushed back one month. Random House's listing for the book now shows that it will be released on August 26, 2025. In addition, the length of the book has changed. Instead of the 320 pages it was listed as when it was first announced, the Random House listing now shows it is 256 pages. All other sites, including Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and other retailers also have updated their listings to the reflect the new date and length. In addition, Amazon and Barnes & Noble's sites now show that the novel will be released in both hardcover and eBook format. The hardcover will be $18.99, and the eBook is $10.99. The cover art for the book still has not been released, but stay tuned for more details! Thanks to Ed for the heads up on the release date switch.

Unlike the television series, the Laff-a-Lympics comics featured the competitions happening while the contestants had larger adventures. A few examples of the different adventures include the contestants getting abducted by aliens, Snagglepuss and Mildew being fired, Hokey Wolf going to jail, Babu facing the wrath of a vengeful genie, a crossover with The Jetsons, and even the appearance of Fred, Velma and Daphne. In addition, the series also would occasionally show the contestants' lives outside of the competitions.

Besides the 13 issues of this comic series, there's also a bonus issue that's a part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera comic series. The comic is a full-fledged crossover between Laff-a-Lympics, The Flintstones and The Jetsons based around the premise of a villain going back in time to erase Thursdays. I can honestly say it pulled off the concept of an Hanna-Barbera cinematic universe a hundred times better than Arabian Nights, and I would love to see it adapted into a special or film someday!

Thanks so much to Scoobyfan4ever for encouraging me to read this comic series! There's a lot more diversity within the storylines than the television series, and I'd definitely recommend checking these comics out for those who enjoyed the show.

Happy Easter to everybody celebrating this weekend! Since it's a holiday weekend and I know many people are traveling, I'm going to wait on doing the final round for the globetrotting poll series until next Sunday. This week, we're going to do a poll idea suggested by Zoinksman a couple months ago. 

In the meantime, the results are in for the Europe semi-finals round! Looks like Scooby-Doo and Loch Ness Monster takes the last spot in the final round next week! Here are the full results from last week's poll:

What is your favorite Scooby episode in Europe?
Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster - 23
​The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld - 11
​Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf - 11
It's All Greek to Scooby - 6
Pompeii and Circumstance - 3
Ready to Scare - 3
Giant Problems - 3
Diamonds Are a Ghoul's Best Friend - 1

A couple weeks ago, I shared that it had been rumored via a Reddit thread that Max would be gradually purging all Scooby-Doo series from their service throughout the summer. This morning, while working on updating the site's Streaming Guide, I unfortunately stumbled upon official confirmation that Max is going to be removing three more Scooby-Doo series from their service on May 1. On the Amazon series pages for Scooby and Scrappy-Doo, Be Cool Scooby-Doo, and Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, there is a message at the top of the page stating that all of those series will be removed from Max in 14 days.

According to the Reddit thread, which has been spot-on in predicting when content will be removed, Max's long-term plan is to gradually remove all Scooby-Doo series from the service throughout this summer. The next series expected to go will be Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, The New Scooby-Doo Movies and A Pup Named Scooby-Doo season 2 on June 1. On August 1, Max will remove What's New, Scooby-Doo?. On September 1, Max will complete their purge of all Scooby series by removing Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and The Scooby-Doo Show. The Reddit thread does not list information on when Scoob! and Trick or Treat, Scooby-Doo  (the only two Scooby-Doo films left on Max) will be removed. All of the dates in this paragraph are just speculation at this time and have not been officially confirmed, but the Reddit thread has been 100% accurate thus far in predicting removal dates.

If all Scooby series end up being removed from Max, there are a select few that are still currently available via Tubi, and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is currently available to stream on Netflix. Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango also have most series available for digital purchase individiually, but if the current offerings from other streaming services stay the same, the majority of series will no longer be available to stream for free with a subscription after they are removed from Max.

While this isn't directly related to Max's removal of Scooby content, another interesting tidbit I noticed this morning is that A Pup Named Scooby-Doo season 3 has been removed from all streaming services, including Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango. Seasons 1 and 2 are still available, and there doesn't seem to be any reason evident for why just that season was removed.

About a month ago, you may remember that Scott Neely mentioned in his interview that some new Scooby-Doo Fleer trading cards from Upper Deck would be coming out soon! Unfortunately, there's still no official news on why they were pushed back from their original March release date, but several sites, including Steel City Collectibles, The Awesome Card Shop, and Da Card World are all in alignment now in listing Wednesday, April 30 as the release date.

In the meantime, for those who are waiting for the cards, Scott has made a really cool blog post sharing a ton of sketches of what the cards will look like, as well as a bunch of behind-the-scenes info on the process of creating the cards. You can check out his post here.

In addition, Scott has announced that there will be a special surprise in 15 of the packs of cards at random. 15 lucky fans will get a card with Scott's original sketch. In addition, when the cards are released, Scott will be also be selling two Artist Proof cards from his design process on eBay for fans to purchase.

From Scott's blog, here is an image of what the 15 card variants will look like.

The janitor who wanted to be America's next dancing star in The Mystery Begins was portrayed by C. Ernst Harth, the same person who played the Miner 49er in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

After voting on your favorite options from each European country, it's time for one last semi-finals round of all the winning Europe episodes and films from these past six weeks! We'd already done polls for two of the countries last year, Ireland and Scotland, before starting this poll series. Since those polls were pretty recent, the winners of those two polls are included here as well. The winning option of this poll will move on to the final round, featuring the winning option from each continent (plus the winner of the "favorite episode not on a continent" round).

Since next weekend is Easter, and I know many of those who are celebrating may be traveling, I'm going to save the final round of this poll series for April 27. Next week, we'll do another poll that I've had saved in the drafts for a few months now.

It was a close one between "A Menace in Venice" and "Pompeii and Circumstance," but the What's New episode pulled ahead at the last minute to earn its place in today's poll!

What is your favorite Scooby episode in Italy?
Pompeii and Circumstance - 22
A Menace in Venice - 19
Fear of the Fire Beast! - 6
Italy and Kitty Hawk - 3
Et Tu, Scoob? - 1

Hallmark has just announced their annual Scooby-Doo collectible ornaments for 2025! This year, there will be two Scooby different ornaments. A listing has popped up on Hallmark's site for a Mystery Machine Funko Pop ornament, featuring Scooby driving the van. The ornament will be $34.99. There will also be a second "Decorating Dog" ornament, featuring Scooby holding a stocking and miniature tree. The ornament is priced at $20.99 according to the listing. The Decorating Dog ornament was designed by Anitta Marra Rogers and Gregor Benedetti (an artist is not listed for the second ornament). Both ornaments will be released on October 11, 2025, following the annual Hallmark Ornament Debut Event. It's also worth noting that according to Hallmark magazine, which was shared by ScoobyAddict on the ScoobyAddicts forum, has the ornaments listed for a lesser price. The Mystery Machine Funko Pop is listed at $32.99 and the Decorating Dog Ornament is listed at $19.99 in the magazine.

In an AWN interview with the creator of Jellystone!, C.H. Greenblatt shared an unused episode idea he had involving having all the Scooby cousins and Scooby knock-offs in a dog show. The show has not yet been renewed for season 4, but C.H. confirmed that the show also hadn't been officially cancelled yet, so it is possible that this idea may still happen. Credit goes to Hippyboy86 on ScoobyAddicts for finding this interview!

Speaking of Scooby's relatives, besides Scrappy's cameo in "Jelly Robo Battle Royale," he and Scooby-Dum also make a brief cameo together in the new Jellystone! two-part crossover "Crisis on Infinite Mirths." They appear as part of an alternate universe of forgotten Cartoon Network characters when a portal is opened. He had previously been referenced in the episode "Epic Rager," when Huckleberry mentioned that Scooby-Dum was the third mayor of Jellystone, but was impeached for an unknown reason.

We've been doing these since November, but this is our final country poll for the globetrotting poll series! Next week, we'll move on to the Winner's Circle round for Europe, and then we'll be doing the final round featuring all of the winners from each country!

It was a close race between "The Vampire Strikes Back" and Reluctant Werewolf, but the latter narrowly pulled off the win! It advances to the final round for Europe on April 13. The results are also in for the previous week's England poll! "The Night Ghoul of Wonderworld" still pulled off the win, and nothing changed significantly from adding those two options. You can check out the final results here.

What is your favorite Scooby episode/film in Romania?
Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf - 21
The Vampire Strikes Back - 16
SCOOB! - 5
South America and Transylvania - 4
Who's Minding the Monster? - 3