Discussion Main / TheMeddlingKidsAreUseless

I think one of the problems with this trope is that the name, while clearly referring to Scooby-Doo, doesn't actually describe Scooby-Doo.

The previous entry for the franchise was a mess, but one thing it did mention was the tiny number of cases when the trope applied. In all of seasons with the full Scooby gang and actual mysteries, the meddling kids were legitimately necessary protagonists and the criminals "would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids" — out of a couple hundred episodes The Meddling Kids Are Useless maybe two or three times. That ain't a Trope Namer. In Scooby-Doo, The Protagonists Resolve The Plot.

I'd suggest a better name for the trope would be Superfluous Protagonist, since 1) the trope doesn't actually apply to 99% of the Trope Naming franchise and 2) current best practices give tropes widely applicable names instead of references to specific media.

Not sure about this:

• Guards! Guards! has the Watch figure out who the Supreme Grand Master is, but it is implied that Vetinari was already aware of what was going on, and the Watch are ultimately useless in getting rid of the Dragon

I hesitate to suggest that the Patrician isn't in total control of every situation all the time, but I think if Vetinari really knew that his secretary was summoning a dragon that killed people and, worse yet, destroyed property, he'd have done something about it before it got as far as it did. That's why he's got an Assassins' Guild. When he does become aware, his reaction is to ensure he's locked in his own dungeon, where it's relatively safe. The boys in brown don't just figure out who the Grand Master is, they're the ones who actually stop him.

moving discussion:

• dinosaurdan: We need to change the name of this trope to "Scooby Doo Investigation". the Hardy Boys avert this trope so many times, that their name should not be in the trope name.
  • BonsaiForest: If that's true, I agree, even though I'm responsible for giving this trope its name. But Scooby Doo Investigation brings to mind Shaggy Search Technique, which is about finding clues through random stumbling. Is there another possibility?

  • BonsaiForest: Another name possibility - Jonny Quest Adventure? In the original Jonny Quest, Jonny was hardly involved in the adventure or solving the problem at hand, despite having the show named after him.

  • dinosaurdan: Ok, that sounds good.

  • BonsaiForest: Do we request a rename? How do we get to make it redirect to the new article? Anyway, Jonny Quest Adventure is probably a much better name. I also think it could use a picture from the original cartoon and a caption saying something like "Yeah, he doesn't actually do anything in the story" to get the reason for the name across.

YKTTW: Here, launched as Hardy Boys Investigation.