#sdmi meta

[deathishauntedbyhumans]

WAIT i’m. oh man.

in the new timeline. fred’s name is still fred. there’s NO reason for this bc he wasn’t raised by fred jones sr and he wasn’t named fred jones jr. his last name is, presumably, chiles or some hyphenated chiles-reeves situation. but everyone is still calling him fred. the doylist explanation for this is obviously that they didn’t want to change his whole-ass name bc he’s a very well-known cartoon character and that would be one helluva schtick to pull in the last 5 minutes of the show. HOWEVER. as a watsonian explantion: do you think brad and judy named him after fred sr anyway? he would have been their teacher… if he had a strong positive impact on them, maybe in the new timeline he’s still named after his not-dad, too :’)

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

i think i'm going to make a series of posts about the oldgang flashbacks and my interpretation of what's happening in them, namely what i'm extrapolating on for the dynamics and themes i see running through the series in regards to The Bastards, so that when i post about takes that reference/rely on them people know what the fuck i'm talking about lmao

[scrappedtogether]

💖 and/or 😈 for your ask meme if they haven't been done yet?

Thank you so much for the ask! <3 I’m so, so indecisive so I just kind of rambled but THANK YOU for giving me an excuse🙏😂

For 💖:

I LOVE Alejo & Sofia! WNSD is really cool as a series in that the Gang seems to skew a little older so it’s fun to see the Gang with a friend who has a wife/son/family.

I’m also huge into Rufus & Phylidia. I wrote some meta on them in the tags of this post and I have to give them a shout-out. :)

Crystal & Whirlen and Calvin Curdles & Alma Rumblebuns have very adorable side romances in Abracadabra Doo. I enjoy Crystal & Whirlen individually and I think their interactions are so cute! The bg behind Alma and Calvin is perfect and v romantic.

Lena & Simone is !!!! SO MANY THOUGHTS ABT THEM <3

Mayor Nettles & Sheriff Bronson Stone are very adorable together. I also loved his dynamic w/Fred Jones Sr.

THE OG MYSTERY INC from SDMI. It would have been really interesting to see more background on Ricky & Cassidy & Brad & Judy & Professor Pericles. There’s so many interesting dynamics between the core group, especially concerning how everything fell apart. The way they came together only to fall apart later on has so many details that never got fully explored but would have been legit fascinating to see!!! I was also always curious about how the five of them connected to Fred Jones Sr./what that dynamic was like. :)

For totally platonic relationships: I love Crystal & Amber from Alien Invaders, Penelope Bailey and her dad from WNSD’s Recipe for Disaster, and for some reason the dynamics of the band from Simple Plan and the Invisible Man is cute to me. The relationships between the fathers and daughters in Ghoul School also always really warmed my heart (esp The Mummy & Tanis 🥰).

THE HEX GIRLS!! they really deserve the chance to be developed further and I would die and kill for a piece of media that’d get to explore their relationships with each other further.

Surprisingly, I was also pretty touched by Muttley and Dick Dastardly’s bestie-ship in Scoob!

For 😈:

Velma & Omar in Where’s My Mummy. ICONIC. They have my heart!

Captain Cutler from SDWAY!! (and him in BCSD, my little guy). He’s my fav of the iconic WAY villains. His outfits, his vibe, love it!

Bill McLemore ❤️ he is literally so dumb and weird and I have a million random thoughts abt him and how much he loves baseball

^speaking of shout to my other baseball boy Bob Taylor from The Unnatural. we love a villain who commits crimes out of love 🥹

Also: Steve from Stage Fright (just a goofy guy)! Captain Skunkbeard from Pirates Ahoy (very!! good design)! Marcy from WNSD’s A Scooby Doo Halloween (she is my always and forever Corn Princess 👑)! Meadow from Homeward Hound! Phylidia from Riva Ras Regas (I love women)! Headless Horseman from TSDS! Green Giggling Ghosts/Phantom Shadows (I actually think they are THE most iconic Scooby Doo villains of all time)! The Ghost of Mother from BCSD! and Marcie Fleach if you count her ofc 😌

[cometcrystal]

i think sdmi shows most of the gang at their absolute worst. not in writing terms (though it is for some of them) but like, mentally and in terms of character progression.

velma doesn't know how to be introspective and realize her own feelings so she takes it out on others

daphne has a set vision for her life set in her head that it takes time for her to unpack and expects others to conform to it until that happens later

shaggy is a doormat instead of just a fraidy cat, and has no drive to do much of anything at all

fred only knows his interests as a a comfort and has no concept of being emotionally vulnerable to his friends

i think they all gradually grow from these problems, but fred is the only one whose full potential as a character is shown. you get less-direct development with the girls (velma realizing she’s gay and softening, daphne becoming more accepting of fred as he is), and shaggy is just There. anyway. just some thoughts

[darkpoisonouslove]

I hadn't noticed before but as season 2 progresses, Angie Dinkley is brought in more and more often in a specific way. First, Velma asks for her expertise on aliens in 2x16. Then Velma literally impersonates her mom in 2x20. And in 2x23 we see how much Velma looks like her mother when she was young, implying that Velma is growing up into a very similar person. And that is later confirmed in 2x24 when we hear from Velma that the conversation with her mom has helped her with the approach to the mystery. All this time Velma has been growing into the open state of mind that is typical for her mom and it starts in the episode that centers on alleged aliens to prepare her for the real aliens. Peak writing right there.

[augment-techs]

AYO YOU ALSO LIKE MYSTERY INCORPORATED?? ME TOO HOLY DAMN

It’s great, isn’t it? The Gang, the design style, the voice cast, the critical difference in it compared to every other iteration. Not to mention the overarching plot, the answers to questions, the meta jokes, the pop culture references/easter eggs, THE ACTUAL FACT THAT THERE ARE CONSISTENT BACKGROUND AND SIDE CHARACTERS YOU CARE ABOUT. I mean, damn, I got sucked into it by becoming interested in a Lovecraft expy that was built up as an actually REALLY good human being and Fred’s gd Mayor Dad. SDMI takes the cake, the crown, and ALL of the bows.

[commandervisor]

For some reason, I somehow keep finding content that compares/crosses over my fandoms even though they're only superficially related and are relatively niche fandoms.

Like... couple of months ago, someone made a meta on the TV Tropes page for EOA that Tua from SWR and Esteban from EOA are similar, and apparently a couple of days ago, someone posted an SDMI/EOA crossover fanfic. Uh.

I mean, maaaaybe I have something to do with it? Not to suggest that the world revolves around me, but I guess if these occurrences aren't coincidental, it would probably because of some sort of association with other fans.

Like, the first case MIGHT BE because I frequent the SW pages a lot and once I got on my EOA groove, I started frequenting that too and I guess some people noticed. But it's kind of crazy that that person specifically compared two of my favorite characters. Maybe we just have a type?

I don't know what's going on with the second one, but looking at what this person has, it’s probably just a coincidence.

I suppose that if nothing else, we just have good taste.

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

man i need to make a compilation post with links to other sdmi posts of mine that have been straight up eaten by tumblr's garbage blog search function lmao

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

talking about sdmi meta out of context is wild because it's just 'sir blorbo bingus betrayed spoingo gungle and left them with internalized self-loathing and survivor's guilt, and then manipulated their old flame into being complicit in their murder to silence them. sir bingus did this in search of a cursed artifact to free the ancient evil god they serve and become its vessel, which their species is implied to have been created for. also this is scooby-doo and sir bingus is a talking parrot'

[scrappedtogether]

Danny Darrow

I always found Danny Darrow so unsettling.

More than his design, with his gnarled nails and eyes almost white with cataracts, ragged clothes, and hobbled figure, there was something so deeply disturbing to me about his behavior.

Danny was a kid when the Darrow Mansion sunk into the ground. He’d gone almost seventy-five years without a doctor, without a grocery store, without the sun and the physical toll it’d taken was clear.

He’s emaciated when the Gang finds him, eating rats, and he’s small in stature, like he never got the chance to grow beyond the little boy he used to be.

But his size is almost metaphorical for how little Danny has been able to grow past the boy he once was. Several of his lines in the show always made me uneasy, something about seeing this frightening old man speaking like a child always gave me chills.

[ Image ID: a gif of Shaggy blocking the door, attempting to stop Danny from breaking through while he shouts “You stay out of my room!” ]

[ Image ID: a gif of Danny asking “What’s that?” in response to Scooby calling out to him in a high-pitched, feminine tone. Scooby responds, “This is your mother speaking” to which Danny cheerfully cries, “Mommy?! You came back to me?” ]

[ Image ID: a gif of Danny jumping at Scooby after revealing himself to not be Danny’s mother as he shouts “You’re not my mommy!” ]

There’s something so alarming, disturbing, about recognizing that Danny never really grew up.

The most chilling scene for me was always this one:

[ Image ID: a gif of Danny walking around, a piece of the Planispheric Disk in his hand, as his family disappears one by one around him beginning with his father, continuing with his mother, and ending with his older sister while an older Danny narrates “My loved ones grew old and passed all around me but I hardly even noticed.” ]

Danny confesses that while his family grew old and withered and died before his eyes, he barely noticed, was completely blinded by his obsession with the Planispheric Disk Piece.

Danny Darrow stayed stuck in that moment, the moment his hands met the Planispheric Disk, for seventy-five years. His family died in front of him, his house fell apart around him, his own body decayed but he hardly noticed.

He lived to be over eighty and never grew past the little boy he’d been.

Even his preoccupation with Mystery Incorporated seems to speak to this greater sense of loneliness. For decades, he stayed obsessed with the last human contact he’d known.

And in his parting words to the Gang, it seems Danny finally got the chance to recognize how much of his life had been wasted, how much of it was stolen by the power and allure of the Planispheric Disk.

[ Image ID: a gif of Danny telling the Gang to “Keep [the treasure] and may it bring you more happiness than it ever brought me.” ]

It’s a really great intro to the Planispheric Disk, to the corruptive powers it’s had, the obsessions it’s inspired, and the lives it’s ruined, starting with the little boy who wouldn’t let go of his treasure even as everything else slipped away.

[cometcrystal]

tbh i have no clue why there are people who are arguing that mayor jones did the best he could and was a good dad in the end

fred made his peace with the good half of his father, and he appears to be a decent person in the resrt universe, sure. but like... we repeatedly see him call fred a disappointment and embarrassment, make fun of his interests, outright ignore his son's pleas for any positive attention at all, and terrorize him and his friends over some treasure. he basically had one or two moments that showed he wasnt a complete monster, that he is still human (when he saved fred from falling off the cliff) but like. that doesn't prove hes a GOOD person lmao. he's not a monster, but he's a very bad person

i would argue he caused fred just as much harm as brad and judy. the difference between him and fred's biological parents is that fred grew up with him and is thus attached to him, despite the fact that he's mistreated by him.

plus, we know that mayor jones, brad, and judy were all influenced by the evil entity, but i see a lot more agreement that brad and judy are awful people, even though they appear to also be decent people in the reset universe. they might be different there, but all the stuff from before still Happened.

fred will still forever live with the pain that his adoptive father's neglect caused him, and the fear that his biological parents caused him. just because fred wanted closure from the father he grew up with doesn't erase any of that and make it okay.

plus, you gotta think about how the entity influences people. it doesn't CREATE bad people, it just magnifies their bad traits, and usually mostly in already-not-great people. cassidy was influenced, as well, but she was still a good person through and through. likewise, danny darrow continues to behave like a damaged child his whole life, because that's the age that the entity got to him and amplified and continued that. so therefore, the behavior of fred jones sr is not anything he wasnt capable of before.

anyway im getting off track but the point of this post is: fuck mayor jones

[cometcrystal]

i think the planispheric disk probably makes you the worst version of yourself. which means it makes you do things you’d be capable of doing if pushed to the very limit -- worst case scenario, but still possible for the un-cursed version of you.

brad and judy can’t be THAT great of people if the show’s canon is what the disk’s influence did to them. it affected mayor jones and ricky just as intensely, but even they still had a shred of their humanity left at the end of it all. brad and judy were hollow to begin with. how else do you explain their actions in comparison to everyone else touched by the entity’s influence? i don’t even trust reset universe brad and judy

[cometcrystal]

can you imagine being cassidy. you and your old best friends are finally all in one place for the first time in thirty years, since you were all blackmailed by the freak. and every single one of them is either a husk of their former selves, or you’re just now realizing their former selves never existed to begin with.

was cassidy good friends with brad and judy? did she once have regular study sessions with brad that she secretly looked forward to because she enjoys his company? did she and judy used to have sleepovers and do each other’s hair? did they carry each other’s high school secrets? were judy’s secrets even real at all?

she had to have been close to pericles. maybe she saw him as a mentor figure once. maybe she believed every explanation he gave them because she cared about him and took him at his word.

after she saw ricky again, she spent all that time hoping there was still some ricky left in him. he was the only one she would work alongside. knowing she’s lost him hurt more than any of them because she KNOWS his high school secrets were real.

just IMAGINE

[cometcrystal]

cute lil thing i noticed

the gang’s default outfits are very 60′s/70′s (due to them being created in 1969). when sdmi came out, the 70′s were a few decades back.

the first mystery incorporated wear clothes that would fit in the 50′s

and when they grow up, they have a more 70′s style like the gang does (except for ricky who has not changed his clothes in 20 years), but in the actual 1980′s of the show’s timeline, they were wearing 50′s clothes

all their clothes have always been a few decades behind

now, what implications does this have for placing the other mystery solving groups and dating them year-wise???? im not gonna unpack that right now cause im kinda high

[cometcrystal]

thoughts... i know obviously ricky is the shaggy counterpart in the original mystery inc, and cassidy is the velma. so if we’re going 1:1 here that means that shelma is the ricky/cassidy counterpart

but honestly? what if velma/marcie is the ricky/cassidy counterpart? the turn to evil, the redemption, etc. marcie and ricky’s whole things also kinda mirror abigail gluck’s turn to evil. danny darrow’s semi-turn to evil (it was more of a descent to madness).

mystery inc the 2nd is already extraordinary and different from the mystery solving groups before them. who’s to say a 6th member this time around is impossible?

though this does kinda raise the idea of mystery inc the 1st being different too. every member EXCEPT cassidy turned evil. idk something something fate and destiny and reincarnation. i wanna know about the rest of the children of nibiru SO BAD!!! i wanna make more comparisons and look at what went wrong in all of them!!!

[cometcrystal]

i can’t write another post about sdmi fraphne tonight and how daphne being the way she is in that series actually kinda makes sense the more i think about it because her parents are the worst in sdmi. and if she was pressured to behave a certain way by her wealthy family who has an image to maintain and aren’t exactly the kindest and most laid-back people, she might have a very strict and narrow view of romance/social interaction in general that would be hard to unlearn. which makes her gradual understanding and accommodating of fred all the more meaningful bc it shows how much she wants him in her life. it’d be even better if, during college post-series, she started to find the goofball in her that she never knew existed. just a lil sillay. i can’t write another post about that because i have work tomorrow and i would be here all night