1369: Take That, Scrappy!
| Take That, Scrappy! |
 Made by: LittleLooney |
Explanation[edit | edit source]
In the original strip, Jon was showing Garfield a photo of his old neighbor's dog, Scraps, who enjoyed playing fetch, and then one day died by chasing a stick into a thresher.
This edit changes the dialogue to reference Scrappy-Doo, Scooby-Doo's nephew who was introduced to the series in 1979 to save it from cancellation. Although he succeeded in that regard and was pretty well-received at first, he became the subject of increasing dislike as his tenure continued, as, combined with Scrappy's brash and supposedly annoying personality, it coincided with several creative changes that weren't welcomed by longtime fans–namely, plots with actual monsters and supernatural phenomena rather than people in costumes and the gradual removal of Fred, Daphne, and Velma from the main cast, though Daphne later returned and the other two made occasional guest appearances. Scrappy's negative reputation has mostly persisted to this day, to the point where the TV Trope about characters hated by a show's fans is named after him.
This strip's title comes from a different page on TV Tropes, describing when a work has a joke or other bit at the expense of its fan-disliked character(s). Scrappy-Doo is, of course, no stranger to this, as most of his appearances since 1988's Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf have treated him either as a villain or the butt of a joke.
The author writes:[edit | edit source]
I don't think it was accidental how the name "Scraps" is similar to that of "Scrappy." And how it just so happened to be a dog, either. Additionally, if you look at the original, you'll see the name Scraps has quotation marks around it, which doesn't really make sense.
Original strip: 2000-05-03.
Transcript[edit | edit source]
Jon {pointing at a photo in a photo album}: This is a picture of Scrappy, our neighbor's dog on the farm.
Jon: I hated him with a passion.
Jon: Then, one day he blew up.
Garfield: Yeah, nobody really cares about the Scrappy anyway.
