My Favorite Scooby-Doo Plush

I have quite a few plush Scooby's and this one just happens to be my favorite. This 13" tall Scooby-Doo is from Six Flags and he has a Scooby puppet on one hand and a Shaggy puppet on the other. The puppets are what make this for me! I just think the puppets are so adorable! The little Scooby (at least, I think it's Scooby and not Scrappy) is soooo cute and Shaggy with his messy hair is cute too! 

I first saw this Scooby listed on Facebook Marketplace for $15.00 and I had asked the seller to ship it to me, but she refused. I gave up on it, but then saw it was still available a few weeks later and I messaged her again to see if she would ship it to me. This time, the seller ignored me. I never heard anything back. 

About 2 months later, I saw Scooby was still listed. The seller was located in Long Branch, NJ, which was just an hour and a half from me, and things were starting to open back up after being shut down due to Covid. At the time, I had no idea that this was going to be my favorite plush, I just knew that it was so cute and I hadn't seen it before. Plus, it came with a little candy machine (pictured below). I messaged the seller and asked if I could pick it up. She said yes, and my husband and I drove the hour and a half to pick up Scooby! 

As soon as I got him, he was just too awesome! He was a great find! 

He will make an appearance in the Scooby Panel on December 17th when we talk about our favorite Scooby collectibles in our collections and our grails! 

Scooby is copyright 2008. 

Review: Straight Outta Nowhere! Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog

** Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own. **

** Contains Spoilers**

I finally got to sit down and watch this movie for a second time so I could do this review. The very first thing I noticed...the Mystery Machine has a license plate and it says ZOINKS! Already, we're off to a good start!

The second thing that stood out was that Scooby called himself a dog! Usually, he's like "Rog, Rhere?" but in this movie he says "I'm not a chicken, I'm a dog!" (Scooby seems to have learned how to pronounce all of his letters in recent years!)

The opening credits were fun. They really put in a lot of effort to make them exciting and to include a lot of Easter Eggs from both Scooby-Doo and Courage the Cowardly Dog. The whole carnival game theme was a nice idea and the way they implemented the characters into it made it really enjoyable. 

This was definitely a Courage movie with Scooby and the gang going to Nowhere and not being the heroes. I remember watching Courage the Cowardly Dog years ago and thinking 2 things...1. this show is super weird! and 2. I love the relationship between Courage and Muriel. It was such a heartwarming bond. Sadly, Thea White passed away on July 30, 2021 before the movie came out, but I am so happy she got to voice Muriel one last time. 

I was a bit sidetracked when the credits were rolling because my son came home from work and he was telling me some fun stories, but I don't recall them doing anything at the end to honor Thea White. If I'm wrong, let me know. Like I said, I wasn't fully paying attention.

A third thing stood out to me in this movie...the bond between Shaggy and Scooby. They were genuinely wanting to keep each other safe and help the other one when they were in trouble. I know we see this all the time, but it was nice to see that they didn't try to use Courage to come between their friendship to make the story more dramatic. (Ugh...like in Scoob!!)

I thought it was funny that Shaggy kept calling Courage a little pink dude and Eustace an angry old dude and Eustace was calling Shaggy a shaggy haired fella. It added a little humor to the movie.

I think crossing over with Courage was super fun, especially since Courage is as scared of monsters as Shaggy and Scooby. They fit well together! Also, Courage and Eustace sharing their love of food brought them together, even if just for a minute. Courage even had his own snacks!

Greedy old Eustace was in heaven when the people brought him all the gold and jewels, but that rap he did was a little over the top. I mean, I was laughing so hard because it was just ridiculous to see this old man, shirtless, wearing what looked like an adult diaper under his pants with this huge chain around his neck rapping. 

The one thing I didn't like about the movie was the way they treated the Mystery Machine. At least it didn't blow up, they had Eustace's truck do that, but the side swiping of the Mystery Machine was just not a fun scene to watch. It made me cringe. Though the damage was minimal when you think about it. The Mystery Machine rolls over several times, I mean it literally should not have been drivable after they were done with it, but the Mystery Machine came out looking like nothing ever happened. (For more weird things in Scooby-Doo, including the Mystery Machine being destroyed and good as new 5 minutes later, check out our latest Scooby Panel.)

The Dark Matter Meteor, also known as the disco ball as I had deemed it while watching the movie, ended up transforming everyone into different shapes. While it was a fun scene, they could have done better transformations. 

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I even called the villains at the end in a conversation I had with someone. It just made sense, knowing that the movie was taking place in Nowhere. That dance scene was a fun way to end the movie too. 

Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog was released on September 14, 2021 and is available now on DVD. 

SCOOBYMUSEUM.COM - Scooby Museum Is A New Website For Scooby-Doo Collectors

I am so bad at keeping up with my blog! It's been 19 days since ScoobyMuseum.com went live and I am just posting about it now. I guess better late than never! 

On September 7, 2021 ScoobyMuseum.com was launched for all of the Scooby-Doo community to use! The website allows collectors to keep track of their collections and the items that they are looking to add to their collections. It's also a great place to see what Scooby merchandise is out there, from vintage to new pieces. 

We started working on this website 5 years ago, and it was initially supposed to launch on Scooby's 50th Anniversary. However, life got in the way and we kept finding it difficult to make the time to work on the site. Covid didn't make it much easier as I went from working 30 hours a week to working 60 hours a week and my husband was working completely from home, which meant he was also working longer hours. Plus we moved mid Covid and we had a lot of work to do to the house. 

Somehow, we managed to get Scooby Museum to a point where we could finally launch it and I thought the 52nd Anniversary of Scooby-Doo would be the best day to do that, but then I realized that everyone in the community would be making posts that day and the museum posts would get lost in the shuffle. So we launched on September 7th. We had 1969 items added to the museum on the day of launch, which was the year that Scooby-Doo first aired. 

With the Scooby-Doo community growing so much over the past few years, it seemed like the perfect time to launch! If you want to know more about the history of the Scooby-Doo Fandom, check out ScoobySnax blog post A History of the Online Scooby-Doo Fandom.

I am super excited to say that as of yesterday, 1,000 items have been added to the website since launch on the 7th. That is so amazing!! It means that the community is benefiting from the site and working on using it to track their collections. That makes me so happy!!

There have even been some suggestions to the site made by users!!!! 

Bradford N Smith suggested keeping track of the number of times an item has been added to someone's collection or favorite lists. The numbers you see next to the icons do just that.

Alexa Lawlor from the Unmasked History of Scooby-Doo Podcast suggested that we create reports on the most popular and rarest collectibles. As the site grows, it will be interesting to see how much these change. 

I love that people are using the site! Speaking of which, I have a bunch of people to thank for helping to make this site happen! Thank you to:

Mike Burns - My husband! This site never would have existed without him! He coded the whole site from scratch. He took my vision and he made it a reality. I definitely couldn't have done this without him! Plus, he really supports my Scooby obsession! 

Bradford N Smith - Bradford is a writer and his goal is to write a Scooby cartoon for WB. I don't know why they haven't hired him yet! He does write Scripts and pitches that you can check out on his Instagram page! I have to thank Bradford for helping to test the Scooby Museum. He added over 1,000 items to the museum, let us know when he encountered errors, made a list of items that needed to be updated and lists of items in a group that were missing. He also wrote the script for the promo video and he suggested keeping track of the items added to everyones favorites and collections. 

Danii Meger - Danii is the Guinness World Record Holder for the most Scooby-Doo items in her collection. She is also a voice actress. Danii did the voiceover for the Scooby Museum promo video. 

Jeffrey G. Flegler -  Jeffrey is an artist and musician. He created the logo for the Scooby Museum by incorporating the haunted mansion, what looks like a Mystery Machine and a magnifying glass.

Wendy Brydge - Wendy is an artist, blogger, Scooby collector and co-host on the Scooby Panel. Wendy created the amazing artwork that is the background of the mobile version of the website. Her piece is called Scooby's Clues and it is available as a print. Just contact Wendy for more info on the print or other commissioned pieces. 

Trevor Hawkins - Trevor is a pop artist. He created the artwork that is the background of the PC version of the site. I purchased that piece from him a few years ago and I knew it would make the perfect background for the website. Contact Trevor for commissioned pieces.

Derek Queen - Derek is a graphic designer, co-host of That Groovy Scoobcast and Scooby-Doo collector. Derek added the first item to the museum after it went live and he has added over 500 items to the museum since. 

I also want to thank everyone who has signed up to become a member and everyone who has added items to the museum.  I'm excited to see more items added and what everyone has in their collections. I'm also excited to come up with new enhancements to the site! 

Now to get my collection tracked on the site so I know what I have! Happy collecting!! 

Follow Scooby Museum on social media:

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Scooby-Doo and PMC Team Up for An Iconic Collaboration

 Pestle & Mortar Clothing are teaming up with Warner Bros. to bring us 5 Scooby-Doo t-shirt designs, a jersey and a sweatshirt! This new collection will be available on Thursday, August 19th! 

You can check out all the amazing designs on pestlemortarclothing.com. 

I can't wait for these to come out!

Scooby-Doo Closer Look Video Series

I started this closer look video series of Scooby merchandise to show items in detail. I really like the look of some of the products and I think they need to be in the spotlight. 

The first 3 videos in the series are of new merchandise that just came out in July 2021. I will be featuring older merchandise in some upcoming videos as well. 

I hope you enjoy the series! Be on the lookout for new closer look videos on Mondays at 10am on my YouTube channel. 

Review: Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery

Today is the 6th anniversary of Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery!! I have not seen this movie since it came out in 2015, on the 10th anniversary of the day my dad died. I remember walking through Walmart with tears in my eyes because that day, heck the whole month of July, was really hard for me. But I was determined to find the movie! (Oddly, I wasn't able to find my copy and I had to buy a new copy just so I could watch it again and write this review.) 

I have pretty much claimed that this is my least favorite movie, but I could not remember exactly why. It has been 6 years since I saw it, but I know that there was a reason...

Near the beginning of the movie, the gang are in the Mystery Machine dressed up like Kiss, all but Fred anyway. He wasn’t a fan of Kiss. The Ascot Five was more up his alley! It was kind of cool to see them dressed up and wearing the makeup. 

The cartoon intro of Kiss playing a show and the gang walking around aimlessly was kind of weird to see because the gang wasn't reacting to Kiss at all in the intro. They felt disconnected from each other. It was kind of weird.

Before I continue with the movie, let me just say that I like Kiss' music. I'm not a huge fan, but I have seen them in concert, and I enjoyed the show, with the exception of meeting Sebastian Bach from Skid Row at the show. It was at a time when they did half the show in makeup and the other half without. They were showy and larger than life in the makeup and without it they were laid back and played an acoustic set. It was kind of like night and day. 

Back to the movie…Can it be any more over the top? Confetti bombs every time Kiss enters and exits, the costume change sequence, their own theme park, the way they basically glow and the super powers that they had. Not to mention the huge guitar ship (which was also really cool) that came out of the ground when they started playing I Was Made For Lovin’ You and the Ferris Wheel being a portal to Kissteria. It was clear in this movie that Kiss (or at least Gene Simmons) have some huge egos!

I can get past the egos. I was enjoying the music and the over-the-top storyline, sort of. It was rubbing me the wrong way that Gene Simmons character, The Demon, was mean to the gang, especially Scooby and Shaggy. Pretty much as soon as they met, Gene Simmons told the gang that Kiss were the best mystery solvers, and the gang should scram. Simmons said to Scooby “Beat it mutt before you dent my armor” just because Scooby was trying to give him a hug for saving their lives.

There was a point when I thought that Gene Simmons was finally warming up to Scooby and Shaggy. He told them that the secret to breathing fire was swallowing your fears. Shaggy and Scooby ended up getting cornered by a statue that the Crimson Witch brought to life, and they thought about what Gene had said, and they swallowed their fears, and they were able to breathe fire and destroy the statue! It was their shining moment! Nothing could ruin this fo…no wait! Gene Simmons could ruin this for them, and he did! He showed up, gave them a thumbs up and he said, “well done, pathetic scum!” Let me type that again…Gene Simmons said to Shaggy and Scooby “WELL DONE, PATHETIC SCUM!” And that was the line that ruined this entire movie for me!

That line and the inappropriate flirting between Daphne and The Starchild had me not very thrilled about what I was watching. The gang are teenagers, Daphne being about 16 and a minor. At the time the movie was released Paul Stanley (The Starchild) was 63 years old. 63!!!! So we have a 16 year old and a 63 year old flirting throughout the whole movie, and no one thinks this is a problem? There was no outrage over this…but everyone practically lost their minds when Daphne was upset about being a size 8 in Frankencreepy. Daphne and The Starchild kissed at the end of this movie. Not just a little peck either. 

Yes, I am aware that this is a cartoon. However, I don’t think inappropriate relationships have any place in the Scoobyverse or in kids shows all together. We have talked a lot on the Scooby Panel about relationships within the gang and I have said that I don't like them at all. I felt like this crossed the line though. I can handle a Daphne/Fred relationship or Velma/Shaggy, but this Daphne/Starchild relationship creeped me out!

One other things annoyed me about this movie, though it was kind of funny at the same time. All the Kiss product ads! I know Gene Simmons will put the Kiss logo on just about anything to make money, so I got that it was a joke to put the ads all over, but it made me feel like I was watching a very long infomercial about Kiss products.  

My original assessment of the movie stands, and now I remember why I felt that way. I do tend to hold the unpopular opinion about this movie, and I’m ok with that. I just can’t allow anyone to call Scooby and Shaggy pathetic scum! Or have Daphne taken advantage of by a 63 year old man! These things go against everything I believe in! 

What did you think of the movie?

Getting a Little Personal...It Probably Won't Happen Again!

I don't usually post anything personal here, but I ate a fortune cookie today and I got this fortune and it made me think about how true it is.

"The small steps you take will ultimately bring you great fortune."

I have always been very shy and I don't typically put myself into the spotlight in any way, which is why I remained mostly anonymous for so long on my pages and why I didn't really do much with my YouTube channel. I've always felt like people won't care about what I have to say. Add in anxiety with talking to people I don't know or public speaking, and I have myself a recipe for holding myself back from doing the things I want to do. 

I have had so many ideas for so many years, Scooby Panel being one of them, that I kept saying how fun it would be or how cool it would be to do, but I'd always talk myself out of it. I'd tell myself that no one is going to care about my opinion or I'll never find people that would actually want to talk about Scooby-Doo with me. I even went as far as to write down a ton of topics that I'd want to discuss with people, thinking that I'd never really do anything with them. 

At the beginning of 2021, my husband convinced me that I should just start Scooby Panel, put myself out there, enjoy myself, and not worry about if anyone will care. So I reached out to a few Scooby friends (Wendy and Cameron) to see if they'd be interested in doing the panel, and they were super excited about it! As I reached out to other people, I was actually surprised how many of them were interested in doing the panel! 

I had thought all these years that the idea probably wouldn't go over too well and it would take me way out of my comfort zone, and here I am getting people excited about being on the panel. It was really fulfilling for me because I finally put myself out there and I didn't fall flat on my face. 

So how does the fortune from the cookie come in? The small steps I took - coming up with the idea, writing down topics, asking people in the Scooby community to be a part of it, actually recording episodes, and releasing those episodes - have brought me great joy and have helped me to be a bit more confident about my ideas. Plus, I have gotten to talk to some amazing people and even made some new friends in the Scooby community. 

Today, not only is Scooby Panel a YouTube web series, it's also available as a podcast on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Deezer, and more. And while I still get nervous before we record, I feel great that I have finally made my idea a reality! 

If you have ideas, work at making them a reality. If I can do it, so can you!

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