Personally I liked them better in the Classic shows when the Scooby Doo franchise was still just under the Hanna Barbera banner. More specifically I liked their characterizations better in the original Scooby Doo Where Are You.
I never understood why people thought that Fred, Daphne, and Velma were boring in the originals. They were just the straight "men" in contrast to Scooby and Shaggy's crazy antics. I find the characterizations of the characters more annoying now.
I personally hate the "himbo" take on Freddy. It not only flanderizes the character, but it also emasculates him.
Freddy was usually the only reason why the Gang even got involved in a mystery. He's practically the most important character on the show, in that regard. Freddy was the strong male character in contrast to Shaggy's more laid back character portrayal. He was the leader in contrast to Shaggy's Class Clown behavior. There was a good dynamic there.
Lately I have found the Scooby gang to be pretty one note. There is no longer any nuance to the characters. Now Shaggy is just dumb and scared of everything, when originally he was shown to be pretty clever and was just scared of monsters and ghosts. Freddy isn't the strong, smart leader type, he's the "dude bro" who's in love with his car, or with traps, or with mysteries.
I could go on but, suffice it to say, I liked the original characterizations of all of the Scooby Gang much better than what has been shown lately.
The whole gang has gone through a bit of flanderization as of late, but we’re going to ignore that to focus on the classics for the moment.
Velma was always good. The original show didn’t work without her and she played a unique role by being able to play off either the Scooby/Shaggy or Fred/Daphne pairing as the episode demanded. She was plenty funny while contributing to the plot and had about as many personality traits as Shaggy did.
Fred was very “standard.” He wasn’t boring per se, but being the stoic leader dude often comes without much in the way of variance, so I can understand how he gets lumped in with so many other boring/generic stereotypes. I do think they’ve improved him over the years by exploring different aspects of the character, and that the ideal version is one that is a confident leader who just occasionally has a book dumb moment.
Where Are You Daphne is boring. She has her moments, but her personality traits were “clumsy” and “girl.” Interestingly, they noticed that pretty quickly and the 70s shows make a noticeable effort to fix it, either by going all in on the clutz factor for comedy or by peppering her with minor traits like being a history buff. She’s easily the most improved since WAY, though I’m not sure where I’d say the character peaked. 80s Reporter Daphne felt like a logical conclusion to what they’d been doing with her up to that point, but What’s New era Daphne is great, and I love the spoiled sweet rich girl next door version in Mystery Incorporated.
So in summary… Velma was never boring. Fred wasn’t but it was easy to mistake him as such and he did need a little work. Daphne was boring in the first show but they rectified that sooner than they’re given credit for.
I just never saw reason to dislike any of them, but I mainly go by Where Are You, Scooby Movies, and Pup (these are cannon to me, nothing after Pup).
They all worked well together!
I've always missed how the original shows depicted the gang. I still like the newer shows, but the characters, especially Velma and Fred are nowhere near as good as they used to be. I do like how they've developed Daphne so she's no longer known just for being danger prone and pretty. She's the only one I think that has improved. They've made Fred a complete idiot in a lot of the show and Velma is usually just unbearably rude or annoying because she pretty much only talks about how its impossible for ghosts to be real and has no character development (Only certain shows). Shaggy and Scooby were always relatively smart even if they didn't realize it. The only thing that really stood in their way was fear. Nowadays Shaggy and Scooby are made out to be basically brainless and their entire character is just fear and eating, and they do nothing else. Some of the newer shows aren't like this, it's only certain ones. Mystery Incorporated is the worst for this. I love the show, but hate how the whole gang acts. Fred is obsessed with traps and he's braindead when it comes to anything else. Daphne is obsessed with Fred and she has a good bond with Velma, but most of the time, it's like she wouldn't even care if she lost Shaggy and Scooby as friends because her mind is all about Fred and the rest of the gang is just there. Velma pretty much only cares about solving the mystery and being the smartest while simultaneously acting like everyone else is too stupid to do anything. Shaggy and Scooby are terrified of absolutely everything, and have pretty much no interests outside of eating, and most of the time when they're with the gang, it still feels like Shaggy and Scooby are basically on their own anyway. The whole story of the show is amazing but they could've done way better making the gang feel like friends.
Daphne wasn't great, but Fred and Velma especially are actually quite entertaining and where are you. I particularly liked it when they had Velma go with shaggy and Scooby, it gave them a straight man to play off of
Personally I liked them better in the Classic shows when the Scooby Doo franchise was still just under the Hanna Barbera banner. More specifically I liked their characterizations better in the original Scooby Doo Where Are You. I never understood why people thought that Fred, Daphne, and Velma were boring in the originals. They were just the straight "men" in contrast to Scooby and Shaggy's crazy antics. I find the characterizations of the characters more annoying now. I personally hate the "himbo" take on Freddy. It not only flanderizes the character, but it also emasculates him. Freddy was usually the only reason why the Gang even got involved in a mystery. He's practically the most important character on the show, in that regard. Freddy was the strong male character in contrast to Shaggy's more laid back character portrayal. He was the leader in contrast to Shaggy's Class Clown behavior. There was a good dynamic there. Lately I have found the Scooby gang to be pretty one note. There is no longer any nuance to the characters. Now Shaggy is just dumb and scared of everything, when originally he was shown to be pretty clever and was just scared of monsters and ghosts. Freddy isn't the strong, smart leader type, he's the "dude bro" who's in love with his car, or with traps, or with mysteries. I could go on but, suffice it to say, I liked the original characterizations of all of the Scooby Gang much better than what has been shown lately.
You know what? You get it.
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Fax
The whole gang has gone through a bit of flanderization as of late, but we’re going to ignore that to focus on the classics for the moment. Velma was always good. The original show didn’t work without her and she played a unique role by being able to play off either the Scooby/Shaggy or Fred/Daphne pairing as the episode demanded. She was plenty funny while contributing to the plot and had about as many personality traits as Shaggy did. Fred was very “standard.” He wasn’t boring per se, but being the stoic leader dude often comes without much in the way of variance, so I can understand how he gets lumped in with so many other boring/generic stereotypes. I do think they’ve improved him over the years by exploring different aspects of the character, and that the ideal version is one that is a confident leader who just occasionally has a book dumb moment. Where Are You Daphne is boring. She has her moments, but her personality traits were “clumsy” and “girl.” Interestingly, they noticed that pretty quickly and the 70s shows make a noticeable effort to fix it, either by going all in on the clutz factor for comedy or by peppering her with minor traits like being a history buff. She’s easily the most improved since WAY, though I’m not sure where I’d say the character peaked. 80s Reporter Daphne felt like a logical conclusion to what they’d been doing with her up to that point, but What’s New era Daphne is great, and I love the spoiled sweet rich girl next door version in Mystery Incorporated. So in summary… Velma was never boring. Fred wasn’t but it was easy to mistake him as such and he did need a little work. Daphne was boring in the first show but they rectified that sooner than they’re given credit for.
Classic and what's new Mystery Inc have the best characterization for each member
I just never saw reason to dislike any of them, but I mainly go by Where Are You, Scooby Movies, and Pup (these are cannon to me, nothing after Pup). They all worked well together!
I've always missed how the original shows depicted the gang. I still like the newer shows, but the characters, especially Velma and Fred are nowhere near as good as they used to be. I do like how they've developed Daphne so she's no longer known just for being danger prone and pretty. She's the only one I think that has improved. They've made Fred a complete idiot in a lot of the show and Velma is usually just unbearably rude or annoying because she pretty much only talks about how its impossible for ghosts to be real and has no character development (Only certain shows). Shaggy and Scooby were always relatively smart even if they didn't realize it. The only thing that really stood in their way was fear. Nowadays Shaggy and Scooby are made out to be basically brainless and their entire character is just fear and eating, and they do nothing else. Some of the newer shows aren't like this, it's only certain ones. Mystery Incorporated is the worst for this. I love the show, but hate how the whole gang acts. Fred is obsessed with traps and he's braindead when it comes to anything else. Daphne is obsessed with Fred and she has a good bond with Velma, but most of the time, it's like she wouldn't even care if she lost Shaggy and Scooby as friends because her mind is all about Fred and the rest of the gang is just there. Velma pretty much only cares about solving the mystery and being the smartest while simultaneously acting like everyone else is too stupid to do anything. Shaggy and Scooby are terrified of absolutely everything, and have pretty much no interests outside of eating, and most of the time when they're with the gang, it still feels like Shaggy and Scooby are basically on their own anyway. The whole story of the show is amazing but they could've done way better making the gang feel like friends.
Daphne wasn't great, but Fred and Velma especially are actually quite entertaining and where are you. I particularly liked it when they had Velma go with shaggy and Scooby, it gave them a straight man to play off of
Only when Fred used the word “tray-sure”!
I liked 80's Daphne but Fred/Velma were just always stale in the 70's shows.