I usually make this post in January, but time has not been on my side this year! So here we are, almost to the end of March and I'm finally getting this done!
2022 was a year that taught me a lot about the people in the Scooby community and showed me who my true friends are. The community is not what it used to be. Everyone used to have one common goal - to share our love of Scooby-Doo! I'm not sure that is the goal anymore, but it is still my goal and I will continue to make posts that I enjoy and videos that make me happy and bring positivity and fun to the Scooby community.
I'm hoping 2023 is a better year all around, though it is looking like an odd year for Scooby-Doo! With movie cancellations happening, the Scooby-Doo! Krypto, Too movie leak and Mystery Pups being up in the air, who knows what the future holds for Scooby! I keep hoping we'll see a new movie this year (besides Krypto, which may or may not get an official release) or the announcement of a new series. I guess we'll wait and see!
Now let's get into the real reason I am writing this...to see what's new in 2023!
GOOSE CREEK CANDLES
January 3, 2023 - Goose Creek released a line of Scooby-Doo candles for Valentine's Day. Each soy blend 3-wick candle was 14.5 ounces and sold for $25.50. Each candle has a different scent - sugar cookie, tangerine, cotton candy, vanilla and sandalwood, strawberry cake and chocolate covered strawberry.
ALDI’S TEAM SCOOBY MUG
January 11, 2023 – Aldi’s posted the Team Scooby mug in their flyer for Valentine’s Day. The mug included a plush Scooby and a box of candy. It was sold for $6.99.
THE VELMA SERIES
Did you watch Velma? What did you think? Did anyone else notice that Mindy Kaling deleted all of her Velma tweets except the one announcing the series? Are you looking forward to season 2?
SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERY MAHEM EXHIBIT
January 22, 2023 – The Scooby-Doo Mansion Mayhem exhibit closed at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. It was a wonderful exhibit packed with Scooby facts and fun! We got to see The Mystery Machine from the first live action movie, original artwork for the show, play games and I got to meet some great Scooby friends at this exhibit and spent the weekend with them in person. It was so much fun!
February 12, 2023 – The Scooby-Doo Mansion Mayhem exhibit opened at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The exhibit included original artwork for Where Are You, interactive games and pictures, lots of photo ops and even the Mystery Machine from the first live-action movie. The exhibit is open through April 9, 2023.
April 22, 2023 – The Scooby-Doo Mansion Mayhem Exhibit opens at Mayborn Museum Complex in Waco, TX.
September 2, 2023 – The Scooby-Doo Mansion Mayhem Exhibit opens at The Magic House in St. Louis, MO. The exhibit runs though January 15, 2024.
EASTER GREETER AND SCOOBY PLUSH
I don’t have exact dates for release on these, as they tend to be available at different times depending on where you are located in the US. We got a new Easter greeter this year – Scooby wearing bunny ears and a bow tie with a carrot in his mouth. I love that purple bow tie! Scooby sold at Walmart for $25.00.
Another Scooby-Doo plush was available at Weis grocery stores. This one is holding an Easter egg in one hand and a paint brush in the other. Scooby shuffles side-to-side while ‘The Bunny Hop’ plays.
Be sure to also check out Cracker Barrel. They have a bunch of Scooby-Doo merchandise available on their website and in stores.
SCOOBY-DOO COMIC BOOKS
There are 2 comic book series that are still releasing. Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? and The Batman & Scooby-Doo! Mysteries (series 2). Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? releases every other month and Batman/Scooby releases monthly, at least until they reach the 12th issue, when it is supposed to end.
Here are the releases that have happened so far and the ones that are coming:
Scooby-Doo! Where Are You?
February 7, 2023 – Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #120
April 4, 2023 – Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #121
The Batman & Scooby-Doo! Mysteries (Series 2)
January 10, 2023 – Batman & Scooby-Doo! Mysteries #4 (Featuring yours truly!)
February 14, 2023 – Batman & Scooby-Doo! Mysteries #5
March 14, 2023 – Batman & Scooby-Doo! Mysteries #6
April 11, 2023 – Batman & Scooby-Doo! Mysteries #7
May 9, 2023 – Batman & Scooby-Doo! Mysteries #8
SCOOBY-DOO! AND THE MYSTERY PUPS NEWS
February 21, 2023 – Character art for the series Scooby-Doo! and the Mystery Pups was leaked online. We got to see what the pups will look like, and they resemble Fred, Daphne and Velma a bit. We also got a look at Scooby, Shaggy and the camp counselors.
March 3, 2023 – Roger Eschbacher posted on social media that Mystery Pups may be shelved due to losing HBO Max as a distributor. He said “From a colleague: Our show, Scooby-Doo: Mystery Pups has wrapped early because we lost our distribution with HBO Max. It is a very entertaining show that I cannot openly share, but it might get picked up again if they find another distributor.”
While many outlets were saying the show is cancelled, I’m staying hopeful that the show will release through a different distributor.
March 8, 2023 – Almost a week after getting the news that Mystery Pups is shopping for a new network, someone leaked the storyboard animatics for episodes 1, 7 and 13, including a song from episode 7, on 4chan.
VELMA AT STARBUCKS
February 23, 2023 – My friend sent me a picture of a sign in front of Starbucks in Downtown Bethlehem, PA that had a picture of Velma on it and said “For a Limited Time! Try the Velma! Iced pumpkin spice latte with white mocha cold foam.”
I tried the drink on February 24th when my co-worker dropped one off for me at work. I am not a coffee drinker. For me to be able to drink coffee at all, it needs 9-10 teaspoons of sugar and French vanilla creamer. Needless to say, this was disgusting! I did not add sugar to it, so maybe that would have made it better. I drank 1 sip and then put it in my fridge. After a couple days, I ended up throwing it away.
SCOOBY-DOO PINBALL MACHINE
February 26, 2023 – I got to be in person with the Scooby-Doo pinball machine and it was amazing! Bartari in Scranton, PA was holding a pinball tournament and the Scooby-Doo pinball machine was featured in it. They had a 2nd one available for people to play and the line was crazy! We got to be 2nd in line to play the game. The guy in front of us played for 45 minutes and got over 6,000,000 points! We were not as good at pinball and it only took us 10 minutes to play and I think my score was around 15,000 points! You can check out my video of the pinball machine on YouTube.
Be sure to keep an eye on Spooky Pinball LLC, as they are posting events that are happening around the US or look at the Pinball map to see if you can find the Scooby pinball machine near you. To purchase a pinball machine, contact PinballStar Amusements!
SCOOBY-DOO! AND KRYPTO, TOO! LEAKED
March 4, 2023 – The full Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too! movie was leaked online. While there has been speculation (and articles stating) that the movie was cancelled, I don’t believe WB has officially cancelled the movie. Now I’m curious as to whether the movie will get an official release.
MEZCO TOYS 5 POINTS SCOOBY-DOO FRIENDS & FOES DELUXE BOXED SET
March 17, 2023 – Mezco Toys FINALLY made this 5-Point Scooby-Doo figure set available for preorder! It was announced on February 19, 2022 at Mezco Toyz Fair.
The set includes Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Ghost of Elias Kingston, Green Ghosts, Spooky Space Kook, The Mystery Machine and the mansion playset. It also includes several accessories – candelabra, Daphne’s shoulder bag, flashlight, map, bowl of ice cream, box of Scooby Snacks, hero sandwich, magnifying glass, lantern, chest, Stuart Wetherby head portrait, sets of shackles, photograph, removable hoods for Green Ghosts, projector, Henry Bascomb head portrait, removable helmet for Spooky Space Kook, and sausage link.
The set can be preordered on MezcoToyz.com for $180.00.
WB’S 100TH ANNIVERSARY
April 4, 2023 – WB celebrates it’s 100th anniversary on April 4th and they have been busy releasing some merchandise with Scooby and crossovers between Scooby-Doo and The Looney Tunes. We have seen clothing, Funko Pops, Hot Wheels Cars, DVD releases and more.
This T-shirt was released at Kohl’s, Walmart and Target and features The Looney Toons characters dressed up like the gang in the Mystery Machine.
Hot Wheels released a line of WB 100th anniversary cars, including this Mystery Machine with the same image that is on the shirt.
Funko released POP Figures of the Looney Toons characters dressed as the gang. This is the first time they released the Mystery Machine and sadly, it was with Bugs Bunny as Fred instead of Fred. That was a bit disappointing!
McDonald’s had WB 100th anniversary toys including Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Fred, Daphne, villains and DC characters, Tom & Jerry and more.
April 11, 2023 – Warner Bros. has a Best of WB 100th Anniversary: Scooby-Doo! 10-Film Collection that includes “Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog Straight Outta Nowhere”, “Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!”, “Scooby-Doo! Sword and the Scoob”, “Scoob!”, “Scooby-Doo”, “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed”, “Scooby-Doo! Curse of the 13th Ghost”, “Scooby-Doo! and Batman: The Brave and the Bold”, “Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost” and “Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island.”
Where is Scooby-Doo! on Zombie Island? Where is Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost? How are they not part of this collection? Who chose these movies? Obviously not fans!
HANDMADE BY ROBOTS FIGURES
There are some Handmade By Robots figures coming soon! These are definitely being added to my collection! I’m so excited! We’ve got Charlie the Robot, Phantom Shadow, Vincent Van Ghoul (which I am beyond excited about because this came about on the Scooby Panel during a live draw done by the Handmade By Robots artist himself!), The Creeper, The Black Knight and Miner Forty-Niner.
FIGURES TOY COMPANY FIGURES
The Scrappy-Doo figure became available this year at Figures Toy Company. In the description, they call him the “little, lovable nephew” of Scooby-Doo. I’m not sure loveable would be the word I would use to describe him.
WENDYS KIDS MEAL TOYS
Wendy’s still has the Scooby-Doo! Pop-Up Mysteries Kids Meal toys. There are 6 sets in all from the episodes What a Night for a Knight, Spooky Space Kook, A Clue For Scooby-Doo, A Night of Fright is No Delight, Jeepers, It’s the Creeper and Foul Play In Funland.
SCOOBY-DOO! AND THE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED LIBRARY
August 8, 2023 – Scooby-Doo! and the Mystery of the Haunted Library is a book coming out in August. Written by Matthew K. Manning and Illustrated by Pedro Riquelme, this hardcover picture book follows the gang as they solve a mystery in an elementary school library.
The Synopsis: When Shaggy and his pup Scooby-Doo sneak into Crystal Cove Elementary School’s library after hours, they discover the reason it’s been closed–there is a ghost living in it! At least that’s what the librarian, Miss James, believes. Now the Mystery Inc. Gang must try to find out who is actually ripping pages out of library books–and they suspect it’s not a real ghost. Join Shaggy, Scooby, Velma, Fred, and Daphne in this Mystery Inc. picture book mystery as they check another spooky case off their list.
You can preorder the book at Target for $18.99.
MY THOUGHTS
The future of Scooby-Doo shows and movies is up in the air right now, but we have a lot of merchandise to look forward to. I’m excited to see what the rest of the year holds and what else we may get!
I hope that we see some of the cancelled projects, especially Scoob! Holiday Haunt, and a new series would be nice. Something tasteful and not parody-like.
We’ll just have to wait and see what is to come.
Am I missing anything? What are you most looking forward to? Is there anything you want to see this year?
