While reacting to the trailer for the HBO Max original show Velma, popular Twitch streamer xQc struggled to find Shaggy, as many characters have been redesigned for the spin-off cartoon.
For the past 54 years, the character designs for Scooby-Doo and the rest of the Mystery Inc. gang have primarily stayed the same. These five characters have been largely recognizable, from their clothes to their skin tone to their voices.
This is thanks to Scooby-Doo being a cartoon, save for a few live-action films. But even the crime solvers in the 2002 film and beyond were easily recognized due to their hairstyles, outfits, and mannerisms. And the same can mainly be said for Velma.
Velma is a new spin-off prequel to the Scooby-Doo universe geared toward adults with its humor and storyline. And instead of having the same caucasian cast we’ve seen for 54 years, Velma represents more ethnicities by making Shaggy, aka Norville, African American, and the titular character, Velma Dinkley, South Asian.
xQc doesn’t recognize Shaggy in HBO Max’s Velma
While watching the trailer for Velma on stream, xQc was seemingly confused by what he was seeing. “Wait… I don’t remember her looking like this,” he stated before searching for a picture of Velma online. “When I was a kid, I watched some of the cartoons. Am I crazy? Because I thought she was skinny and white?”
However, xQc seemed the most perplexed toward the end of the trailer, wondering where franchise favorite herb lover Shaggy had been. As he clicked back through the video, looking for a glimpse of the caucasian Rogers, he stumbled onto a scene where a white man with a goatee can briefly be seen in the reflection of a car window. “Him?” xQc asked, pointing at the character that vaguely looked like the traditional Shagster.
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Ironically, the reflection overlapped with the actual Shaggy’s face. This explains why xQc didn’t understand a punchline earlier in the trailer. Shaggy’s character, who has drawn suspicion of being a “pothead” for years, looks at the camera and states that he doesn’t do drugs, followed by a long pause.
Despite wearing the same attire that Shaggy has been known for over the last 50+ years, xQc isn’t completely to blame. Nowhere in the commercial is he referred to as “Shaggy.” Instead, he’s listed as Norville – Shaggy’s real first name.
xQc quickly realized who Shaggy was once his chat had explained they had changed his ethnicity. “I didn’t know. I just thought that Velma was only about Velma. That there were no other Scooby-Doo characters. And I thought they just decided to make her skin more tan or something. But then I realized – I get it – they reinterpreted the show and made both main characters black.”
So, in the end, xQc finally found out which character in the trailer was meant to be Shaggy.
