With the recent Velma trailer dredging up more controversy for the new animated show, fans of the Scooby-Doo franchise are wondering when the fanbase grew to be so toxic. It's true that Velma takes extreme liberties with what makes Scooby-Doo iconic because of the show's mature tone, but the calls for boycotts due to racial changes have unfortunately shown how bigoted the internet can be.
While the upcoming animated show is leaving many skeptical, Velma as a character has remained iconic for a number of reasons. She's smart, sassy, and passionate, features which can be gleaned from many memes that sum up the character.
Velma Ain't Having None Of It
Due to how many costumed villains the Mystery Gang goes up against, it should come as no surprise that they're fazed by very few things. This is especially true for Velma, given how engrossed she is with the supernatural in most continuities.
Because of Velma's experience fighting monsters, the character is more than willing to bite back at any threats made by costumed creatures. Even if they appear to be genuine supernatural beings, Velma isn't afraid to tell a villain off for being a bully.
Carrying The Team
Though meant to be taken as a joke about Velma's extreme physical stamina, the meme says more about the character than the creators likely intended. She's the brains of Mystery Incorporated, and arguably the only competent person out of the bunch in one Warner Animation's longest running franchises.
In most iterations of Scooby-Doo, it's Velma who pieces the clues together to solve the mystery while everyone else fumbles around her. The fumbling is ironically important to the team capturing monsters, but it otherwise makes Fred, Shaggy, Scooby, and Daphne look like accessories to Velma's mystery solving business/hobby.
Hard To Ignore The History
While the choice to make Velma a member of the LGBTQ+ community in Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! is one that many fans of Scooby-Doo are delighted with, there are others who have been less welcoming to the alteration of the character. Some of it comes from people who are simply homophobic while others don't think the choice makes sense considering the character's long history of being attracted to men.
Regardless of how one feels about Velma being a lesbian, there's no denying that an important facet to the character is her attraction to dorky/nerdy personalities. Some of these romances were treated with seriousness, though many of them were played up for laughs (due to Velma's awkwardness).
Velma Is Bi
Velma's sexuality is one of the less important aspects of the character, yet many have chosen to make a big deal out of the choice to give Velma a female love interest in Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!. Mystery Incorporated producer Tony Cervone even went so far as to make clear that this wasn't the first time Velma was gay, having written the character that way back in 2010.
As the above meme demonstrates, debates over Velma's personality are frivolous given the character's malleability. In different continuities, she's been shown to be gay, straight, and bi, facts which did little to change who Velma was a character.
Velma's Inconsistencies
In many iterations of Scooby-Doo, Velma is shown to be invested in solving mysteries and open to the notion that the supernatural might be real. More recently, however, the writers have shifted the character's beliefs so that she is now a skeptic of anything otherworldly such as ghosts and zombies, believing that it all can be explained with science.
While these two philosophies make Velma an inconsistent character across multiple adaptations of Scooby-Doo, they do point to the fact that the character is always seeking knowledge. Whether Velma believes in curses or not, she'll gladly read up on the history of them in order to understand how they might pertain to a mystery.
Velma Is A Vengeful Spirit
A justified means of expressing frustration at HBO's/Warner's cancelation of animated projects, the meme is rather ironic considering Velma was one of the few HBO Max shows that wasn't cut from the streaming service's programming. Of course, there's more to the image than simple irony.
While Velma is generally not the type of person to wish others dead, the threat does reveal how much passion the character has. It's evident in the way Velma speaks about mysteries, and in the fact that she and her friends travel all over the world to solve them.
Going Down The Reddit Thread
Though some would argue that Velma's mind and maturity would make her the pure embodiment of LinkedIn, there is an argument to be made that FellowKids' meme is accurate in labeling Velma as a Reddit user. She's always looking to gather information to solve mysteries, and part of that involves going down Reddit threads to see what people have to say about the supernatural.
Beyond simply suggesting Velma's penchant to commit to a variety of research, the meme also suggests that Velma might use Reddit because of who she is as a person. The character has a tone of hobbies, and is no doubt passionate enough about some of them to go on Reddit and share her feelings with other like-minded individuals (something that can be said about all the members of Mystery Incorporated).
Can't Find Her Glasses
It's typically seen as shallow to judge a person by their looks/physical appearance, yet when many people think of Velma, they think of her inability to see things without her glasses. It's arguably one of her most defining characteristics considering how frequently her poor eyesight is used for comedic effect.
While the above meme does a great job of demonstrating one of Scooby-Doo's most quotable gags, it also reveals a more important aspect of Velma's character. The juxtaposition of image and text reveals that Velma is a clumsy person given how often she loses her glasses, a fact which has been played up in most adaptations of the Scooby-Doo property.
Idiot Sandwich
While most versions of Velma are kind and sweet toward her friends, sometimes the character can be mean and judgemental. This is especially evident in the meme where Velma makes Shaggy call himself an idiot sandwich.
What makes the image so striking is the fact that certain the version of Velma from Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated would absolutely treat Shaggy like an idiot sandwich. The two have a rather contentious relationship due to the latter's choice to choose Scooby over her, a choice which many would be insulted by if they were in a similar situation.
Ace Detective
Without question, Velma Dinkley is the smartest member of Mystery Incorporated. She's the one with all the knowledge about history and the supernatural, is usually the one who puts the clues together, and (as the above meme indicates) is responsible for solving the mysteries.
Despite Velma's ability to piece puzzles together, she isn't the smartest person in the world. When the mysteries in Scooby-Doo aren't lazily constructed using the most random of elements, fans can typically solve them on their own, often beating Velma at deducing who the culprit is behind the mask.