Characters / Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: The Gang

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The Gang

As a whole

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: And how! Many of their prior (and subsequent) incarnations tended to never really focus too much on their characters as a whole in regards to how they'd be affected by their mystery-solving, aside from characterization needed to keep the group dynamic interesting and fresh, and they usually tended to be seen as cool people who had fantastic connections and relations to fuel their globetrotting escapades. In here however, everyone has incredibly dysfunctional relationships with their families, effectively being the town outcasts and all of the emotional baggage and trauma associated with it, highlighting how only such a dysfunctional group could be so fixated on mystery solving.
• Adaptational Badass: Due to the Darker and Edgier nature of the show, the gang's competence levels are much higher than previous incarnations to compensate.
• Adaptational Jerkass: While they are all still the kind and likable group they have always been, everyone but Shaggy will occasionally put their own self-interests before others. Velma and Daphne have shown All Women Are Lustful. Velma is much more sexually aggressive in her relationship with Shaggy and Daphne often wants Fred to pay all his attention on her other than his traps.
• Amateur Sleuth: They solve mysteries purely for the fun of it.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's unknown how long they've been at their antics, but Velma implies that they've known each other since at least middle school (specifically 8th-grade).
• Breaking the Fellowship: The events of the first season finale lead to this: Fred leaves town to find his real parents, declaring that "Mystery Incorporated is dead", Daphne is left devastated, Shaggy is sent to military school and Scooby to a farm, and everyone blames Velma for the breakup because she didn't tell them the truth about Angel Dynamite. Scooby, however, vows to bring them back together and stop Professor Pericles' Evil Plan, and come Season 2, he succeeds with the help of the new mayor Janet Nettles (though Daphne initially refuses to return).
• Color-Coded Characters: In the intro, each of the members of the gang are represented by a different, distinct color.
  • Fred - Blue.
  • Daphne - Purple.
  • Velma - Reddish-orange.
  • Shaggy - Swamp green.
  • Scooby Doo - Mustard yellow.
• Didn't Think This Through: In "The Horrible Herd", the gang hatches a plan to dispose of the titular herd by luring them into the ocean. The plan succeeds, but the gang forgot that Professor Pericles used piranha DNA in the herd's creation, and thus, the creatures can swim. The episode ends with the gang dreading the long-term consequences.
  • Then again, piranhas are freshwater fish so it isn't much of an issue (it's surprising that Velma doesn't mention this.)
• Hero with Bad Publicity: During the first season, most of the adults don't appreciate the gang busting the various crooks in town, as the various Scooby-Doo Hoaxes are a big part of the tourist industry. This changes after they expose Mayor Fred Jones, Sr. as the Freak of Crystal Cove, and after they capture the truly destructive Crybaby Clown.
• Kid Hero: They're all still in high school.
• The Power of Friendship: What enables them to destroy the Nibiru Entity in the Grand Finale.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: After the Nibiru Entity is destroyed, they're the only ones, aside from Harlan Ellison, who remember the original timeline.
• True Companions: What sets them apart from all the previous mystery solving groups. The Evil Entity may have manipulated them into coming together to set itself free, but their friendship and bonds are real and entirely their own.
• Vague Age: The original series’ show bible stated that the entire gang is made of high school juniors, and Fred and Shaggy are seventeen, Daphne is sixteen, Velma is fifteen, and Scooby is seven (being a dog and all). Here, Fred and Daphne are explicitly stated to be seniors, Fred is stated to be eighteen years old (give or take at least a couple of months, since Mayor Jones doesn’t know his exact birth date), though Velma and Shaggy’s statuses are unknown. It's also stated in one episode that the kids are not upperclassmen.
• Victory Is Boring: After defeating the Nibiru Entity and removing its taint on Crystal Cove from history and existence, they're unsatisfied with the new Lighter and Softer reality because there are no mysteries to solve. Lucky for them, Harlan Ellison tells them that there's still many more mysteries to come since the show is a Stealth Prequel.

Fred

Frederick "Fred" Jones Jr./Fred Chiles

Voiced by: Frank Welker

• Adaptational Badass: His traps more or less failed Once per Episode in previous incarnations. His traps in this series, however, are far more effective and have a greater success ratio, without losing their complexity. In addition to all the traps and crazy plans he makes, Fred has the most physical prowess of the gang and has occasionally used that to his advantage, like when he punched out Crybaby Clown and in the Man in the Mirror where he fought his biological dad.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: One of the greatest examples of this benefiting a character. While Fred is now perhaps an even greater source of comic relief than Shaggy or Scooby in this adaptation, he is also given a surprisingly complex character along with it, something that he has never possessed in any previous incarnation of the show.
• Adaptational Curves: In the original series, he was well built compared to the skinny Shaggy. Here, he has a Heroic Build.
• Adaptational Dumbass: While most modern incarnations of Fred depict him as somewhat dim, this version dials it up to 11.
• Ancestral Name: Shares the same given name with his dad, Fred Jones, Sr.
• Badass Driver: Some of the moves Fred pulls of in the Mystery Machine are pretty impractical, but also amazing.
• Break the Cutie: Season 1's finale is not kind to him. He manages to break out of it in Season 2, but not until after several episodes of him in the throes of a Heroic BSoD.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He's quite smart but only ever applies himself to mystery solving, causing him to constantly skip and be generally indifferent to his schoolwork, resulting in him doing poorly.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: For all of his quirks, Fred is very competent at catching criminals. Whereas the rest of the gang all have some semblance of lives outside of solving mysteries, Fred has devoted himself to it, and it shows.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Does to this to Mayor Jones in the last episode, pointing out that he ruined the lives of the original Mystery Inc., framed Professor Pericles for a crime he didn't actually commit, stole Fred from his birth parents, lied to him for his entire life, and pretty much manipulated everything all for a treasure that might not even exist.
  • And he does it again to his real parents, Brad and Judy Chiles, for trying to steal the gang's pieces of the Planispheric Disc and declares to them that he will not return to their home.
  • Season 2 has him drop this trope also trying to reconcile with Daphne.
• Character Development: The most out of the gang. Fred goes from a naive man child who pursues mysteries out of obsession to a caring leader who solves mysteries to help the innocent.
• Character Exaggeration: Fred used to always build the traps, but this Fred is flat-out obsessed with them. He has gone on record saying "For trap's sake", meaning his obsession is either religious, sexual, or, god willing, both. It's not helped by a moment early in the series when he tries to stop Daphne finding a Traps Illustrated magazine stuck in his sofa, and tells her he Reads It For The Articles.
• Chaste Hero: Made ever-so-evident in Episode 17 after Fred pulls Daphne from Danny Darrow's swimming pool trap. She pretends to need artificial respiration and is expecting mouth-to-mouth. He presses on her stomach instead.
  • Later becomes a Celibate Hero when in Episode 24 the two kiss and are going to be engaged, but after solving the mystery Fred breaks it off to leave town and find his real parents.
• Chick Magnet: Downplayed. Several attractive women flirt with him, but his obliviousness puts an end to it pretty quickly. Daphne is also hopelessly in love with him.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Let's just get it out there: Fred's nuts.
  Daphne: (as her hair is being chewed on by animated, mounted moose head): Ah!! Freddy!
  Fred: (whacks moose head with snow shoe): Knock it off, Tyler!
  Daphne: Fred, you know that moose?!
  Fred: I spend a lot of time alone. He's a good listener!
• Collector of the Strange: Fred's almost fetishistic obsession with traps extends to his decor. He has an open Bear Trap sitting on the floor of his bedroom.
• Complexity Addiction: Fred's traps are frequently more complicated than they probably need to be.
• The Comically Serious: He has a tendency to say downright bizarre things in a completely serious manner.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Ironically, after he realizes how much Daphne means to him, turns into this when Daphne doesn't want him anymore.
• Crazy-Prepared: He has made insane customizations to the Mystery Machine, and has even booby-trapped all of his friends' houses in case a monster strikes.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Fred may be naive when it comes to relationships and other people skills, but he exhibits great cunning when it comes to traps and considerable intelligence while pulling off a complicated Xanatos Gambit in "Wrath of the Krampus".
• Diagnosis of God: In a 2020 podcast, Mitch Watson discussed how Fred was written with autism in mind; “...in our version of Mystery Incorporated Fred is slightly on the spectrum. You know, he is slightly, he’s a little bit Asperger’s-y, you know, with his obsession with traps and his inability to sort of read human emotions properly and everything. So again, we never said this in the series, but this is what we, this was what was in our minds.”
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?:
  • Fred yells this during his Heroic BSoD in Episode 4 after he blurts out that Daphne's voice sounds as "sweet and perfect as a trap snapping shut on a criminal".
  • Again in Episode 13. Daphne overhears him call the biology teacher, whom they think is behind the cicada attacks, a "girlfriend stealer".
  • Zig-zagged in Episode 15 after Daphne kisses him:
    Fred: She digs me! She digs me! SHE!! DIGS!! MEEEEE!!!
• Ditzy Genius: He's an excellent detective who is great at both strategizing and building traps, but he's an oblivious loon when it comes to almost anything else.
• Dumb Blonde: Downplayed. See Cloudcuckoolander and Ditzy Genius.
• Freudian Excuse: His obsession with traps is revealed to have happened as a result of his belief that his mother abandoned his family, causing him to start building traps in hopes that they'd be able to keep the other people in his life from leaving him. Both his belief that his mother abandoned him and his bizarre and unhealthy way of dealing with it are the result of the distant and abusive parenting his father gave him.
• The Generic Guy: Deliberately avoided. Even Fred, the former Trope Namer himself, is given a much more developed personality than ever before.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: While he's quite insensitive, it's clear that he's a good guy who simply doesn't understand what he's saying is hurtful.
• The Hero: While Scooby does gain a much bigger focus later in the show Fred does have the main focus in a lot of the story driven episodes.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Has one after he thinks his meddling got Professor Raffalo attacked by the monster. Played for Laughs.
  • An even more devastating one occurs during Episode 4, when he believes his latest trap has led to Daphne being hurt. Also Played for Laughs.
  • Yet another in Episode 7 after his trap fails and Daphne is kidnapped. Again.
  • The reveal of who he really is in Episode 26; this time NOT played for laughs results in him having a complete breakdown, cutting off all ties from his friends and leaving Crystal Cove on a Journey to Find Oneself.
• Hero Protagonist: For the first time in Scooby Doo history, Fred could actually be described as the main character of the show, having more direct involvement with the plot than any of his teammates.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: A weird case. He seems to believe that he and Shaggy are this, and assumes the two of them will be living together for the rest of their lives, but they actually spend the least amount of time together out of all of Mystery Inc.
• Hidden Depths: Fred is a much more conflicted character than he initially seems.
  • In the second season (notably "Wrath of the Krampus" and "The Man in the Mirror"), Fred proves himself quite the competent strategist.
• Hunk: Especially noticeable when opposite Shaggy.
• I Am Who?: The Heroic BSoD in Episode 26 should explain this.
• Innocently Insensitive: A big problem of his, particularly when dealing with Daphne. He means well, he just has no filter.
• Innocent Innuendo: Has a habit of spouting accidental double entendres when talking with other men. Naturally, everyone notices but him.
• In the Blood: Inverted with Fred Jones Sr. But as it turns out his love for mysteries and traps is inherited, as demonstrated with his real parents Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves. Brad even looks like an older Fred.
• I Read It for the Articles: His exact words when Daphne finds a Traps Illustrated magazine at his house.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Fred isn't so much about the justice as the traps, but that chin certainly fits the trope.
  • Danny Darrow calls him "Mr. Perfect Big-Chin Man" to which Daphne asks if they've met. This hints at his true parentage.
• Leaving You to Find Myself: Well, himself via finding his real parents.
• The Leader: Actually deconstructed to a degree. Fred's singleminded obsession with solving mysteries has clearly negatively impacted the lives of his friends, and each of them has expressed an interest in leaving the mystery solving business entirely. Character Development sees him become more attentive and understanding to his teammates.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Fred in Episode 26 is far more focused and serious than he is for most of the series. Other times involve taking on other trap masters.
• Missing Mom: Who's either dead or divorced from Mayor Jones.
  • Episode 23 has Fred waxing emotional after seeing a picture of his mom, whom Shaggy said disappeared when Fred was very young.
  • Episode 26 shows that he's actually not the mayor's son and the picture is from a magazine, but rather the son of Brad and Judy of the original Mystery Inc.
• Mr. Fanservice: He spends a good portion of one episode shirtless...though he still leaves his ascot on.
• No Name Given: In his Episode 26 backstory, he is only called a "baby boy", so he is now a character with no real name known. In Season 2 he decides to keep his first name after meeting his birth parents, and eventually resumes going by "Jones" as well after learning that they were in league with Mr. E.
• Nice Guy: While he is frequently Innocently Insensitive in his bluntness and naivety, Fred never intentionally tries to hurt others.
• No Social Skills: Fred's crippling lack of any sort of social awareness is played for both laughs and drama.
• Oblivious to Love: Initially Fred didn't seem to pick up that Daphne is flirting with him, and he actively seemed in denial about it. At some point he seems to have come to terms with it and returns the feeling, as by Episode 23 Fred has a multi-page list of everything Daphne does, and in his sleep he mumbles Daphne's name and "traps" in the same sentence. And then in Episode 50 he outright tells Daphne he loves her.
• Otaku: Fred is a serious Trap Otaku.
• Pungeon Master: In "Howl of the Fright Hound" with a series of dog puns. He even explains his "flea" pun after capturing the robot dog. Daphne implores him to stop.
• The Reveal: He's really not the Mayor's son to begin with.
• Sad Clown: For all of his goofiness(which compared to Shaggy and Scooby is still relatable and realistic), Fred frequently alludes to experiencing feelings of emptiness, which he attempts to fill with obsessive fixations on solving mysteries and building traps. When these feelings come to the forefront they are decidedly not played for laughs.
• Secret Legacy: Fred's real parents were the original members of Mystery Incorporated which Fred and the rest of the Gang were inspired by and have been investigating what happened to them.
• Schedule Fanatic: Fred makes a multi-page schedule for Daphne so he'll know where she is every minute of the day.
  Daphne: (showing Velma the schedule) And this is just today! Part one! Of twelve!
• Shout-Out: In Season 2, Fred's appearance and demeanor became that of Tom Hanks in "Cast Away."
• Single-Target Sexuality: Fred's only two loves are Daphne and traps. He's generally indifferent to everything else.
• Standardized Leader: Averted!
• Stealth Pun: It's established fairly early that Fred's sport is soccer, but they don't explicitly state what position he plays until the final episode, though it's obvious in hindsight: he plays goal, a position that's sometimes known as the trapper.
• The Stoic: Has a silly and goofy side, but like all his other or original incarnations, is the inflexibly serious and quietly composed member of Mystery Incorporated.
• Tastes Like Feet: Fred sniffs a bookbag in Episode 12, and declares that it smells like "a baboon smoking a cigar while bathing in a bath of moldy tuna and curdled ranch dressing".
• Tin Man: Fred thinks that real men don't have feelings, and is very confused by the fact he does, in fact, have feelings... for traps... and Daphne.
  • Episode 23 shows that Fred is probably controlling of Daphne because his mom disappeared and he's afraid Daphne could as well. Daphne assures him it's not happening.
  • Episode 24: After Fred's dad declines to thank him for solving the mystery, a disconsolate Fred finds consolation in the only person he believes understands him—Daphne. So much so that he proposes marriage to her after they graduate. She accepts and the two have their first real kiss.
  • But now...the engagement's off thanks to the Mayor revealing that he isn't Fred's dad.
• Took a Level in Badass: Fred is at his most competent here, pulling off both impressive Xanatos Gambits and dominating in fist fights regularly.
• Trap Master
  • Episode 17 had him pitted against another, villainous Trap Master, in which he treated him as if he were the ultimate rival. Which leads to a a great moment when they start discussing different types of traps.
  • In Episode 49 he led the gang through a Temple of Doom without accidentally setting off any of the traps, later the Monster of the Week triggered all of them.
• Was It All a Lie?: Asks this to Mayor Jones after the truth comes out. His response is soul crushingly honest.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: His bizarre obsession with mystery solving seems to partially stem from a desire to impress his distant father. Later episodes make their relationship make much more sense because...
• You're Not My Father: Mayor Jones really ISN'T Fred's biological father. Brad and Judy, two of the original Mystery Incorporated members, are his real parents. He was NOT happy.
  • Fred reconciles with Sr. in Episode 48. He tells Sr. that while he wasn't his real father, he was the best "dad" he had to raise him.

Daphne

Daphne Blake

Voiced by: Grey DeLisle

• All Women Are Lustful: Like Velma, she makes some overtly sexual passes at Fred multiple times.
• Big Eater: In Episode 19, she waits over 2 hours for a table at a restaurant, only to get dragged off to a mystery as soon as a table became available. By the time she finally gets a chance to eat, she's so hungry that she manages to out-eat Scooby and Shaggy.
• Body Horror: Daphne has many, many allergies. They are NOT pretty.
• Book Dumb: While Daphne generally comes off as quite clever, being capable of keeping up with Velma and Fred's logic fairly easily and even putting together the clues to find the culprit on her own on a few occasions, her grasp on the English language is substantially lower than it probably should be; falling victim to Malapropism and Metaphorgotten with alarming frequency. This is justified to a degree, as she and her friends frequently cut class to solve mysteries.
• Bound and Gagged: "In Fear of the Phantom", "Escape From Mystery Manor", and "The Night the Clown Cried II - Tears of Doom".
• Break the Cutie: Episode 26 has her absolutely devastated when Fred breaks off their engagement and cuts off all ties from her.
• Character Development: Compare her obsession with Fred in the first season to after he has broken up with her by the second season. They eventually rekindle their relationship, but she is notably less infatuated with him.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: To Fred. She was particularly jealous when the new girl, Alice May, and Fred took an instant liking to each other and planned to go to the prom together.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Sometimes.
  Daphne: Is she trying to tell me that Alice May is the enemy and that Fred is pinned down on the beach and that I can't get up until he's safe! Or is Fred the beach and I'm the one pinned down? Or are we both the beach? It doesn't matter because I understand! ...I think.
• Composite Character: Being most like the first show's version, but more clever and resourceful, like her later incarnations.
• Damsel in Distress: She can sometimes be a helpless damsel-in-distress, clumsily getting caught by the monster on most occasions. But less times compared to precedent animated shows.
• Exact Eavesdropping: Because she's tied up above him, Daphne overhears Fred expressing frustration about his feelings toward her and how he wishes he didn't care so much about her. After she falls from her captivity, she misses his realization that he does love her.
• Genre Blind: One moment in Episode 7 where, when a book drops off the shelf mysteriously, she puts it back instead of reading it. Then it keeps flying out, once with enough force to bounce off the previous shelf, and the mysterious Trickster Mentor (probably Mister. E) lampshades it by saying "Oh, for crying out loud..."
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: She has this with her sister Daisy (the doctor), who acts condescending and casually insults her (to the point where Daphne jumps for joy when she believes Daisy's been attacked by a monster and possibly hurt). Daisy likes to hold her success in career and relationships over Daphne's head. Her relationship with her other sisters is ambiguous, save for Delilah (militant) whom she seems closer to despite all of her military talk and implied sadism.
  • One line of Episode 4 implies she has a gossip-based rivalry with her sister Dawn as well.
• Hidden Depths: She has her moments, most notably when she manages to figure out the secret behind the Horrible Herd. Velma is taken aback by how perceptive and intelligent such a conclusion is for Daphne over her own contributions to the group.
• Lipstick-and-Load Montage: Daphne undergoes one - instructing the other girls to "turn her into a rock star" - when she joins the Hex Girls in "In Fear of the Phantom".
• Metaphorgotten: Seems to be a common problem with Daphne.
  Mrs. Blake: Why have ground beef when you can have a nice prime rib?
  Daphne: But I don't even like meat! I like vegetables... like Fred.
• Ms. Fanservice: Spends most of Episode 4 in a bikini, and there's a scene where Velma rubs suntan lotion on her back. Her Hex Girl outfit in Episode 7 is also very revealing as is her nightwear in The Wild Brood, when the gang and Sheriff Stone are in her bedroom.
• Noodle Incident: She has many to tell concerning her family. The latest is that her sister Dawn tried to train chickens to spell her name as part of an engagement announcement.
• Plucky Girl: She is trusting, enthusiastic, and kind, and at times lovestruck.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: Daphne regular outfit is a purple mini-dress with pink tights. She comes from a very rich family.
• Self-Induced Allergic Reaction: Daphne does this to check the quality of gator goods as fake animal skins make her break out.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: Her behavior towards Fred in the earlier episodes can be summarized as this. She grows out of it in later episodes as she, Fred and their relationship become more complex.
• Sweet Tooth: She finds chocolate addictive.
• Tastes Like Feet: Daphne describes a book as smelling like "old clam chowder being gargled by a seal".
• That Man Is Dead: Daphne pulls a temporary version, directed at Fred, when she takes the name Crush for her short stint with the Hex Girls.
  Fred: Darn it, lady, I'm serious! Where is she?
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Velma's Tomboy.
• Tsundere: Towards Fred. While she's usually completely lovey dovey with him and is willing to looks past a lot of his less desirable qualities out of sheer devotion, she does have a breaking point, and will blow up at him whenever he completely overlooks her feelings in favor of his own.
• The Unfavorite: She seems to be this to her parents, who expect her to live up to her successful quadruplet (or is it quintuplet?) older sisters. When she balks at going to the same college where they all graduated before age 13, her mother tells her to her face she wishes Daphne had been a boy. Post-Cosmic Retcon, this is reversed, as seen when her parents wish her sisters were more like her after the retcon removed the successful careers of the sisters to make Daphne look better.
• Woman Scorned: Subverted. She and Fred were about to be married after graduating, but now Fred's called off the wedding so he can search for his parents alone. She's not happy about this.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Wow! Daphne's gonna get married to Fred after graduating! Oh, wait... no, she's not, thanks to Mayor Jones revealing the truth and Fred leaving off to parts unknown.

Velma

Velma Dinkley

Voiced by: Mindy Cohn

• Action Girl: While she's still the smart one, she's a lot more actiony than previous incarnations.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Compared to previous incarnations, she is more cynical, self-centered, bossy and sarcastic, similar to the titular protagonist of Daria. Most of these changes, however, are to do with her being written a lot more like an actual teenager would act.
• Adaptational Sexuality: This incarnation of Velma is a lesbian, as stated by the show's producer.
• Agent Scully: Velma is usually the one to say that there's a rational explanation for things, but that might begin to change. See O.O.C. Is Serious Business.
• All Women Are Lustful: She's much more forceful than Shaggy is in their relationship, and all but outright states that she wants their relationship to go to the next level.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Listens to Klezmer music and frequently proclaims "Oy!" or "Oy Gevalt!" It's never important to the story, though.
  • The original Velma may also be Jewish. In Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy it is revealed that her great-grandfather was an immigrant from Germany, and Germany at that time had quite a large Ashkenazi Jewish population, many of whom immigrated to US. She is also known for being "bookish smart", a Brainy Brunette, and a Deadpan Snarker, which are often seen as "typically Jewish" characteristics.
• Berserk Button: Don't tell her you don't want to go to prom with her. Or choose your best friend/dog over her.
• Blind Without 'Em: Just like all her previous incarnations, though she goes at least one episode without them willingly.
• Blunt "No":
  Orc Biker: Velma, do you believe in Love at First Sight?
  Velma: (smiling) In your case... (frowns) No.
• Bound and Gagged: In the "The Wild Brood" when she is kidnapped.
• Brainy Brunette: More auburn hair, but she is certainly one of the best examples .
• Break the Cutie: Episode 26 was probably the start of a long road of pain that Velma's gonna have to endure for her actions. See below as to why.
• Butt-Monkey: Velma is the constant target of cracks about her appearance in the second season, including being mistaken for a boy twice. She even lampshades how ludicrous this is.
• Catchphrase: "Jinkies!"
• Character Development: Many fans were thrown off by her Adaptational Jerkass traits, which is Taken Up to Eleven when she clearly grows to dislike Scooby because of her jealousy towards his close relationship with Shaggy. By the end of the first season, she has made amends with both of them, and is a bit nicer in general in the second season.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: To Shaggy. When Scooby is incarcerated, she pretends to be him by wolfing down Shaggy's fries, licking her lips and saying Scooby's catchphrase.
• Coming Of Age Queer Romance: Downplayed because even though the creators have confirmed that Velma is a lesbian, the censors wouldn't let them show it directly. Velma did have a secret relationship with Shaggy but the creators claimed that the relationship always felt wrong to Velma but she didn't understand why. After they broke up over Scooby, a lot of her frustration was directed inwards because she was questioning her own sexual identity and the breakup pushed these questions to the forefront of her mind. While the series didn't directly say what happened, it's apparent that Velma did figure out that she was gay and she had moved on from Shaggy by dating Marcie "Hot Dog Water" Fleach in the reset timeline.
• Deadpan Snarker: Like you would not believe. Her snarkiness is so innate it allows the generally-clueless Fred to see right through her Rorschach disguise in "The Night the Clown Cried".
  Fred: Wry sense of humor, tinged with a whiff of disdain and superiority...
• Friend Versus Lover: She pursued a relationship with Shaggy and became frustrated when he seemed more interested in Scooby and in food than in her. Velma suffered the ignominy of losing her romantic interest to his dog.
  • Late in Season 1, Shaggy comes back around to showing romantic interest in Velma. She seems to reciprocate at first, then tells him she no longer feels that way and hopes they can still be friends. The following episode, she says she "sent him back to his dog", implying that she may very well still feel romantic feelings for Shaggy, but is afraid she'll give into them, only to be dumped for Scooby a second time.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: According to the creators, this was why she was so determined to stick with Shaggy in the first season: she spends a lot of scenes being very oddly emphatic about her and Shaggy being in a relationship and asking him to stay in it, despite the fact that they clearly have little romantic chemistry.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: When she and Shaggy were dating, he was noticeably taller than her which makes Velma the Tiny Girl.
• Incompatible Orientation: Per Tony Cervones, her relationship with Shaggy was always meant to come off this way, which is why they were portrayed as unsuitable romantic partners.
• I Wish It Were Real: In Episode 20, she became friends with a mermaid. Or rather it was a professional swimmer disguised as a mermaid. She then quips that she wished that the supernatural stuff was real.
• Jerkass Ball: In the first half of the first season she gets hit with this, spending much of the season feuding with Scooby for Shaggy's attention. Eventually this culminates in her not caring when Scooby gets framed for a crime he didn't commit and being sent to a maximum security kennel and acts dismissive towards Shaggy's concerns (making it pretty hard to blame Shaggy for dumping her). She gets better in the second half.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Velma is snarky, apathetic and blunt, but she cares about her friends and helping people through solving mysteries.
• Jewish Smartass: Velma is Ambiguously Jewish (she listens to Klezmer music and peppers her speech with "Oy" and "Oy gevalt"), and has a sarcastic wit similar to that of Daria. That being said, both her Jewish roots and her Deadpan Snarker personality traits were implied in many previous incarnations of Scooby-Doo, but MI made both of them explicit.
• Magic Skirt: Usually, but averted in Episode 4 - Velma has to hold her skirt down, denying a Panty Shot, after she gets catapulted into the air by the Man Crab.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: You know that whole thing about keeping Angel's identity a secret? Well, remember your line of 'Maybe we're not a team anymore' in Episode 11? Well, you definitely called it, kiddo!
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Velma being dumped by Shaggy for Scooby. While this doesn't get brought up in every episode, it doesn't stop for the odd antagonist or bystander from rubbing in the fact that her boyfriend dumped her for a dog.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Velma, who is usually the one saying there's a rational explanation for the stuff going on around town, admits that SHE'S starting to think the curse of Crystal Cove is real, you KNOW things are bad.
  • It comes to a near boil in Episode 48 when Velma bursts into tears after she feels that logic and fact have deserted her.
• Poor Communication Kills: Well, holding onto the identity of a former Mystery Inc. member wasn't the brightest idea you had. Many of your friends are pretty much pissed off at you now!
• Secret-Keeper: Kept Angel/Cassidy's real identity secret, and got everyone hating her for it.
• Seen It All: Because she and the rest of the gang have debunked so many notorious mysteries around Crystal Cove, she's developed this attitude towards supernatural occurrences, which annoys her parents (since she is disrupting their business built making said oddities tourist attractions through tours and merch sales).
• Small Name, Big Ego: Seen in Episode 17; when she, Scooby and Shaggy are in a trap, it states that only the smartest of the group could get out. Velma assumes it's her... until we see that the one who created the trap isn't seeing 'Cassidy' as the smartest; it's 'Pericles' (who corresponds to Scooby)! Velma tries to hide the fact that she made an error once they're free.
• The Smart Girl: Velma is frequently referred to as the smartest member of the new Mystery Incorporated, as well as the smartest student at Crystal Cove High.
• Teen Genius: Definitely smarter than the average high schooler, although she's not made a lot of friends because of how haughty she acts about it (in one episode her mother tells her to tone it down if she wants to be less off-putting to others).
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Daphne's Girly Girl.
• Truth in Television: Despite being confirmed as gay by the creators, she still dates Shaggy, apparently having not yet come to terms with her sexuality—which is quite common among LGBT teenagers in Real Life.
• Tsundere: Very much. One scene has a quick glimpse of her as a borderline Yandere.
• Twofer Token Minority: She's both gay and Jewish—although the latter was only ever heavily implied, and the former was only ever stated by the creators.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Chewed out by Daphne after Fred is going to leave to find his parents and breaks up Mystery Inc. because of her hiding the fact that she knew who Angel was all along.
  • The others chastise her in Episode 33 for automatically suspecting the phantom that spoiled a movie party at a graveyard the night before was the graveyard groundskeeper, saying it was "villain profiling" and against team standards.
• Woman Scorned: When Shaggy tries backing out of going to the prom, Velma gets so mad that she kicks away, not one, but two tombstones.
• Working with the Ex: After she and Shaggy break up, she's noticeably antagonistic for a while, but it goes away, and by Season 2, they are friends again. According to the creators, she's gotten over him. When the gang find Shaggy and Daphne making out because of a trance, she doesn't bat an eyelash, while Fred and Scooby freak out.
• Wrench Wench: She's seen fixing the Orcs' motorcycles in "The Wild Brood".
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: You know Velma's really pissed at Shaggy when, in Episode 11, she calls him by his proper name.
  Velma: (coldly and abruptly) Goodnight, Norville.
• Youthful Freckles

Shaggy

Norville "Shaggy" Rogers

Voiced by: Matthew Lillard

• Adaptational Badass: Shaggy is quite a bit more competent and level-headed in this adaptation.
  • It turns out in the new timeline that he's so good at cooking food himself that he's the president of the chef club and has multiple cooking awards.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: Actually downplayed. While he still engages in slapstick with Scooby from time to time, his cartoonier characteristics are toned down.
• Ask a Stupid Question...: Shaggy does this all the time, though he did provide the sarcastic answer once:
  Velma: What kind of Man Crab needs to use stairs to get under the volleyball tournament?
  Shaggy: One that's industrious and has a degree in engineering?
• Bound and Gagged: "The Grasp of the Gnome".
• Break the Cutie: Getting sent to military camp and separated from his friends (especially Scooby) did a number on his self-esteem.
• Catchphrase: "Zoinks!"
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's more consistently on the ball than in previous shows.
• Deadpan Snarker: To go with his more grounded portrayal, Shaggy is more likely to respond to the more outrageous antics of those around him with stunned disbelief.
• Disguised in Drag: Velma points out that Fruitmeyer's is currently hiring female servers, which gives the gang an opportunity to put people on the inside and investigate the place. Cut immediately to Shaggy and Scooby poorly disguised as women in Fruitmeyer's uniforms. When Shaggy questions why he and Scooby are dressed as girls when the gang already has two girls in it, Daphne gives a very good reason: she and Velma refused.
• Embarrassing First Name: Norville.
• The Everyman: With his goofiness downplayed and Fred, Daphne and Velma all becoming more complex and flawed characters, Shaggy ends up being the most normal guy in the group.
• Friend Versus Lover: Caught between Scooby and Velma, mainly because he used the idea that Scooby wouldn't approve to avoid letting the others know they were dating. Shaggy tried to take Velma to the prom without telling Scooby first, leaving Scooby behind. Eventually, he caught them alone, accusing Shaggy of "cheating on him". It went downhill from there. In Episode 10, he chooses Scooby. Velma, of course, is pissed.
  • Shaggy tries to get back with Velma, and she seems to reciprocate before eventually telling him she no longer feels that way about him.
• The Heart: He's actually the most emotionally grounded member of the group in this adaptation.
• Henpecked Husband: While he and Velma were dating, she was rather controlling of him.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Scooby. And boy, did the decision break Velma's heart.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: When him and Velma were dating, he was noticeably taller than her making him the Huge Guy.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: Severely averted in Episode 5 by the tight pants Velma bought for Shaggy and insists he wears. He could barely walk in them, let alone look good in them. He goes back to his oversized pants at the end.
  Shaggy: Shaggy likes it baggy!
• The Lancer: While Fred is a courageous but socially inept and frequently inadvertently insensitive, Shaggy is cowardly but reasonable and understanding. Notably, Shaggy begins the series in a (somewhat) committed relationship while Fred is Oblivious to Love.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: In "Heart of Evil" when Scooby Doo is kidnapped, Shaggy threatens Ricky Owens for information, and demands to be the one in charge of leading the rescue mission, and shows competence in hand to hand combat during said mission, which he claims are the result of his stay in military school where he Took a Level in Badass.
• Like Is, Like, a Comma:
  • Episode 5 lampshades this with Velma making him or someone else pinch him with a wristband every time he does it.
  • Harlan Ellison chews him out for it in Episode 12.
    Ellison: What if "like", like, were used in, like, its proper grammatical form and not, like, as a conversational pause, like every third, like, word?
• Look, a Distraction!: Pulls this on Scooby and Velma in Episode 9 when they have him cornered with a Friend Versus Lover shake-down.
• Lovable Coward: He is very cowardly, often scared by the monsters they chase, and vise versa.
• Nice Guy: He's the only member of the gang who never puts his own interests above the rest of the group, and acts as a confidant to every member of the team at one point or another.
• Only Sane Man: Bizarrely assumes this role frequently in the group's dynamic, being the least prone to getting caught up in interpersonal conflicts.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Significantly more downplayed in comparison to previous versions of the show, as he now gets more focus as the most emotionally grounded member of the team and a potential love interest for Velma. This reaches a point where Fred tends to get more jokes than he does.
• Took a Level in Badass: His military training may have been brutal on him, but it made him an effective field leader and skilled at hand to hand combat.

Scooby-Doo

Scoobert "Scooby" Dooby Doo

Voiced by: Frank Welker

• A Day in the Limelight: He doesn't do nearly as much in this series as he has in the past, so he gets several episodes that focus almost solely on him to make up for it.
• Adaptational Badass: This is probably the bravest and most active incarnation of the character, and when he steps up, nothing can stop him.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In this version, he is more of a jerk and talks more often, which adds to the attempt in developing the characters. In particular, he spends much of the show feuding with Velma for Shaggy's attention - rather jarring if you remember that in previous Scooby-Doo productions like A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo in Where’s My Mummy?, Velma is all but stated to be Scooby's second best friend. He does get better, though
• Ambiguously Bi: While Scooby has always been attached to Shaggy due to them being best friends, this version may be a little too attached to Shaggy, as he frequently has displayed a possessiveness over Shaggy even going as far as to refer to him as "My Shaggy" and has been against Shaggy ever having a romantic relationship (In which he has even accused Shaggy of "cheating on him" when Shaggy was dating Velma) and has even been controlling of Shaggy's decisions. He has lightened up after Shaggy and Velma broke up and when Shaggy met Mai Lee.
• Anti-Anti-Christ: It was stated by several characters that, since previous mystery-solving groups that appeared in Crystal Cove were betrayed by the Team Pet thanks to the Nibiru Entity's influence, Scooby would inevitably be corrupted as well. Instead, Scooby's the one who destroys the Entity.
• The Atoner: When he sees how hurt Velma is when Shaggy chooses him over her, he regrets causing a Friend Versus Lover situation and tries to patch things up with her.
• Attention Whore: This is the main reason why he wouldn't let Shaggy have a relationship with Velma, or any other girl. This decreases after Shaggy breaks up with Velma and when Scooby sees how upset Velma is about it. Even further when he meets Nova.
• Big Damn Heroes: In Episode 10.
  • Also in the series finale. Shaggy throws him the heart of the jaguar, and he freakin' kicks it in midair and hits the Nibiru Entity clear in its only weak spot, thus destroying it for good.
• Big Eater: In Episode 23, Scooby says his stomach needs a stomach.
• Big Friendly Dog: It wouldn't be Scooby if he wasn't this, even with being a more abrasive portrayal.
• Brain Bleach: In Episode 8 after witnessing the "secret pirate".
  Scooby: My brain needs a shower.
• Butt-Monkey: More than Shaggy in this series.
• Catchphrase:
  • "Scooby-Dooby-Doo!", as usual.
    • Taken into badass extremes in some episodes.
  Scooby: (from "All Fear the Freak") I'll get the gang back together, Pericles. We'll be coming for you, or my name isn't Scooby-Dooby-Doo!
  Scooby: (from "Gates of Gloom") Professor Pericles is gonna regret the day he ever messed with Scooby-Dooby-Doo.
• Clear My Name: Went through this in Episode 10.
• Companion Cube: Scooby uses Shaggy's old ventriloquist dummy to replace Shaggy as a best friend. It's no longer seen at the end of Episode 7.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: He starts to get jealous as Shaggy spends more time with Velma, to the point of competing with her for his attention. He even finds a ventriloquist dummy to serve as a stand-in for Shaggy.
• A Day in the Limelight: "Where Walks Aphrodite", if only for the first two acts.
  • Don't forget him taking charge in "Mystery Solvers Club States Finals"!
  • And he does a little more in the later episodes that draw the series to a close.
• Deadpan Snarker: Surprisingly.
  Shaggy: I can sure go for a big stack covered with clams and syrup at the Clam Cabin. Right, Scoob?
  Scooby-Doo: Choke on it.
• Determinator: If his ending phrase to Pericles doesn't make him this, then what is?
• Friend Versus Lover: Scooby tries his hardest to drive a wedge between Shaggy and Velma and indirectly succeeds, as she gets fed up with the fact that Shaggy seems more interested in hanging with Scooby than dating her. He does show remorse after seeing how hurt Velma is about it, and tries his best to make amends.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Shaggy. When he discovers Shaggy's relationship with Velma, Scooby outright accuses Shaggy of cheating on him.
• It Has Been an Honor: In Episode 5, when Scooby and Shaggy are moments away from impending doom at the hands of spookified children.
  Scooby: Goodbye, Shaggy. You were a dog's best friend.
• Jerkass Ball: During the height of the "love triangle" between him, Shaggy, and Velma, Scooby does everything he could to break the latter two up. He later regrets it after seeing how hurt Velma is by this.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Scooby is the same Lovable Coward he always was, but if you're trying to kill his friends, he will murder you with a forklift.
  • The Nibiru Entity also finds it out the hard way when Scooby sends an ancient spear right into the Entity's Soul Jar, erasing him from existence!
• Lovable Coward: The "coward" part is downplayed, particularly as the series goes on; Shaggy and Scooby are still scaredy-cats, but Scooby is also much more assertive and prone to Let's Get Dangerous! moments than he was in previous series. By the end, he's taking down Nazi robots and even personally kills an Eldritch Abomination.
• Nice Guy: Though a tad more flawed then other incarnations, Scooby is still the same lovable dog he always is.
• Non-Human Sidekick: To Shaggy.
• Out of Focus: More focus so far has been going into pulling out the human cast from their "traditional" characterizations, so Scooby is not in the spotlight as much. He is given several spotlight episodes to rectify this, but sticks to the background in all other ones.
• Plucky Comic Relief: The show's darker tone contrasts with his character heavily, meaning he tends to stay out of the plot and sticks to screwing around instead.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: In "Howl of the Fright Hound", he tells a robot to "PLAY DEAD!" before delivering the final blow.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Inverted. Instead of fading into the background, this comic relief steps up to the plate. He's at his most prominent (and least humorous) when the situation is the most serious.
• Skyward Scream: In Episode 8.
  Scooby: Where's my Raggy!?
• Speech-Impaired Animal: Your Trope Codifier at work. Arguably upgraded to Talking Animal, as he is far more articulate and intelligent than any prior version of the character, tends to speak in much longer sentences, and hardly begins each word with an "R" sound.
  • In Episode 20, Velma reminds him that he's next to impossible to understand on the phone.
• Stealth Insult:
  • "Freddie. You're a special boy."
  • After forgiving Shaggy, Scooby tells him "You're the only dummy for me."
  • At the end of Episode 18:
    Barty Blake: Fred Jones, you buffoon!
    Scooby: Yeah. Buffoon.
• Took a Level in Badass: Like Shaggy, he steps up and takes action more often. He's also the one to deliver the killing blow to the Nibiru Entity by hurling the Heart of the Jaguar in its weak spot with a single karate kick!
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: He's a talking dog. This garners nothing besides the occasional "I can't believe I'm seriously letting a talking dog do this.", which only makes the Apathetic Citizens situation even worse. It later turns out that the influence of the Anunnaki might have something to do with this as well as an apparent expanded universe that have as equally weird things going on.
• Unwitting Pawn: Episode 16 has him get hoodwinked into helping Professor Pericles steal a treasure so he can stop a lesser deluded maniac.
• Weirdness Coupon: In the few scenes in which we actually see the gang at school, Scooby seems to attend Crystal Cove High right alongside Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Brenda, Cheryl, Dylan, Ethan, Gary and Hot Dog Water. That's right... attends. A throwaway line in "When the Cicada Calls" implies that he's actually registered as a student and not just being allowed to hang around with Shaggy. This probably has something to do with the fact that he's a talking dog.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Shaggy sees Scooby as not just a dog, but his best friend. Which leads to problems...

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