Disaster ‘Velma’ Is So Bad It's Spawned Psyop Conspiracy Theories

‘Velma’ Is So Bad It's Spawned Psyop Conspiracy Theories

archived 14 Jan 2023 17:10:03 UTC

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‘Velma’ Is So Bad It's Spawned Psyop Conspiracy Theories

People are certainly talking about Velma, that much is true. Just…not very positively. Velma currently has the lowest audience score I’ve seen for an HBO or HBO Max production, a 7%. To get that low requires not just “review bombing” but your show also likely has to be…genuinely bad.

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‘Velma’ Is So Bad It's Spawned Psyop Conspiracy Theories​

Paul Tassi
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Jan 14, 2023, 10:20am EST
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Velma
HBO MAX
Yesterday, HBO Max bragged that Velma, the new adult-rated Scooby Doo cartoon, was its most-viewed animated premiere ever. I’m not sure precisely what that says, given that the only other Max original animated series I can even think of is Harley Quinn, plus a bunch of other older series that WB Discovery recently murdered.


But people are certainly talking about Velma, that much is true. Just…not very positively. Velma currently has the lowest audience score I’ve seen for an HBO or HBO Max production, a 7%. To get that low requires not just “review bombing” but your show also likely has to be…genuinely bad.

And it is. Velma is very, very bad.

Velma is so bad in fact, that it’s spawning conspiracy theories that creator Mindy Kaling made what is essentially a parody of what the right wing thinks left wing comedy is like. As in, a show that not just recast most roles with new races, but also features loads and loads of “white guys, amiright?” jokes. The idea is that Kaling is a secretly conservative force in media trying to make the left look bad by making a cringey adult cartoon full of “this rich white guy has a small dong” jokes that the right can point at as everything wrong with race-recasted, social justice-influenced media.


I do not want to go down a big rabbit hole about Mindy Kaling’s personal beliefs and influences here. And yet if that wasn’t the intent of the show, it sure feels like it in practice. On one side, it absolutely is working to spark mockery from the right, exactly as you might imagine it would. But on the other, it’s just not defensible at all by those who would normally welcome a progressive series.


Take She-Hulk for example. That was a hugely controversial show where it was very explicit about roasting misogynistic comic fans, perhaps often lacking in subtlety. But I would still very much defend that show, as I think its humor and fourth-wall breaking works, and most of the people who were upset about it are the very people that it’s overtly making fun of…for being upset about it.

Velma is not that. Velma is not defensible by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just bad. Making progressive jokes is fine so long as the jokes are good. They are not good. I heard the show described somewhere as a series written by TV writers who only ever talk to other TV writers. That’s a pretty good summary. And the idea here is that it’s so, so bad at landing its jabs at right wingers that it almost feels like self-sabotage.

There is a world in which this concept might have worked. I can see an “adult” Scooby Doo series where you have an overlooked Velma attempting to claw back credit from a privileged Fred, the “leader” of the gang. And yet here it’s not just jabbing at Fred for being an overconfident white dude, it’s literally “he’s such a whiny white man baby that his mommy cuts his steak and he hasn’t finished puberty so he has a small penis.” Like just…no remote hint of subtlety or nuance or anything that could make the progressive humor work.
An easy counter-example to turn to is the R-rated Harley Quinn series, also on HBO Max, which still feels true to the characters it focuses on, is full of left-leaning messaging on misogyny an LGBTQ issues, but importantly…is funny and compelling. I mean, this show recently did a full bit about the Joker running for mayor as a progressive socialist and it worked.
Velma? I don’t know what Velma is doing. I’m not sure I subscribe to this “Mindy Kaling made a dogwhistle series for right wing trolls” theory, as the Occam’s Razor explanation is that the show is just…bad. The jokes are…bad. That’s really it.
I may continue watching out of morbid fascination, but man, this is truly one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen.

 

[The Magnificence]

There is a theory that I cannot be assed to try to confirm or deny that the whole thing was an original IP by Kaling that was force fitted into the Scooby IP...and failed from the outset by not including Scooby. Presumably because Kaling would easily be overshadowed by a talking cartoon dog.

Based black chick has an interesting reaction video. No crazy conspiracies needed, just an honest assessment as a piece of media. It actually comes out better if you buy into the conspiracies:

 

[TowinKarz]

Also they aren't used to a country with no open caste system and go fucking insane

It would explain why her self-insert character suffers no consequences for being rude, dismissive and violent to everyone she meets...... this whole show is a deep-dive into her creator's brain where she's the ONLY person in the world with merit, surrounded by idiots, deviants and oppressive ciswhites, one or two might be good for a fling or friendship, but only on HER terms when SHE wants it....

This is the mind of a person who, as you said, cannot deal with a society where merit has any meaning - some people are just born better than others and the sooner we accept that, the sooner this all will make sense.

 

[Kled]

I love how she went to Scooby Doo and not one of the many many HB knockoffs.

Jabberjaw, Josie and the Pussycats, Captain Caveman, Funky Phantom, The Amazing Chan Clan. Could have taken a shit on any of these (Josie had them beat by 23 years) but chose the one with the dog.

 

[NyQuilninja]

Most of the movies are kinda the same, low budged animated ones... Cheap easy fun for kids to be entertained by Scooby-Doo, a talking dog.

Now, why the fuck did they take that IP and did an adult version??? Only kids watch Scooby-Doo! Any "adult" watching it is either a pervert, an autist or both.

Why they want to corrupt everything nostalgic?

Again I had no clue Scooby Doo was even still being watched. I have come to realized this show is quite still fondly loved. I was reading the comment sections on various YouTube channels and indeed people still love this IP. Clown world has a way of really throwing some curb balls. Don't mess with Scooby and the gang I guess

 

[CuzinEd]

A friend of mine's been rapidly falling into a mindset recently that's like an outright cartoonish example of the twitter/reddit smug politics bugman fuck stereotype. Despite the fact he now constantly acts like I'm right wing and a conspiracy nut that "fell for the grift" or some weird shit with no fucking basis, the guy has been constantly parroting some theory about how this show's somehow a 5d chess move to keep women out of the workplace and bolster transphobia and homophobia through outrage watches SOLELY because some popular twitter user they follow said that as the reason due to the Mindy bitch making some statement about the office and using what he unironically called "The Tr slur" at some point. I fucking hate the modern state of politics so fucking much this shits fake as hell. Why the fuck can't some people just accept the blatant truth that this velma shitty scooby doo spinoff is just shit because it's a mediocre adult sitcom with scooby characters haphazardly slapped into it? Fucking hell. Guy also keeps spamming dms and group chats with clickbait articles "debunking" shit that literally nobody was talking about which makes this even more fucking wild to me. I've heard this isn't an isolated case and the fact articles are now being made about it really kinda adds to my knowledge of how deep this brainrot runs.

He sounds like a fucking tard. I think it's time to tell him to STFU and find new friends.

 

[Pokemon Conquistador]

And here I thought they couldn't make a worse show than Gen Zed:

At least the makers of that dreck had the good sense to abandon the project before it hit the airwaves.

The Scooby Doo IP was obviously chosen for defilement because it's been a part of everybody's childhood. Hell, people in their 60s can remember a Scooby Doo show playing on their TVs in their youths. Scooby Doo was one of those rare cartoons that featured then-current kids culture and popular trends of its day instead of being a cartoon version of a comedy show aimed at adults; (The Flintstones = The Honeymooners, Top Cat = Sgt. Bilko, etc.) It's not surprising Scooby Doo is so loved since it's a cartoon that grows with its audience and reinvents itself for newer audiences. Turning it into a crass, adult garbagefest works about as well as trying to sell anatomically correct Barbie Dolls to children. At least with Harley Quinn, you could argue that she was always an adult character acting as a surreptitious sex joke for older fans. When she got an adult show, it seemed like a natural progression. There is absolutely no reason to put the Scooby Doo gang into an adult show besides wanting to pervert the IP. We've got plenty of fanworks and satires of the show exploring the seedier side of a bunch of teenagers travelling around in a van without adult supervision. We don't need an allegedly "adult" show exploring these well worn topics in an unfunny way.

 

[SBG]

Mike Tyson Mysteries is pretty much an adult version of Scooby Doo, so I don't think it's impossible to do adult humor with Scooby.

You'd just need to actually have competent writers.

Again I had no clue Scooby Doo was even still being watched. I have come to realized this show is quite still fondly loved. I was reading the comment sections on various YouTube channels and indeed people still love this IP. Clown world has a way of really throwing some curb balls. Don't mess with Scooby and the gang I guess

It's kinda wholesome how many people can come together in appreciation of a cute cartoon. Everyone kinda wants to defend it thanks to all the nice memories they have of it and its generally lovable characters.

No one likes seeing the characters done dirty.

Most of the movies are kinda the same, low budged animated ones... Cheap easy fun for kids to be entertained by Scooby-Doo, a talking dog.

Now, why the fuck did they take that IP and did an adult version??? Only kids watch Scooby-Doo! Any "adult" watching it is either a pervert, an autist or both.

Why they want to corrupt everything nostalgic?

I think a lot of the movies are honestly aimed at adults that enjoy the nostalgia. Otherwise why do a movie like the one about the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo? Most kids would be completely unaware of the original series as it was sorta the odd one out.

 

[Kane Lives]

If only people were this outraged when Discworld was butchered some time back.

 

[The Great Milenko]

Not even that, it was made by Mindy FOR Mindy, the main reason it sucks is that it has a maximum potential audience of ONE.

Mindy always wanted white dick. Maybe BJ Novak should have fucked her in the ass to keep this work from every happening.

 

[LaxerBRO]

Yesterday, HBO Max bragged that Velma, the new adult-rated

I have a story proposal.

The Scooby gang are now older adults and earn money solving mysteries, similar to private detectives.

However one day tragedy befalls Shaggy as a criminal they captured is released due to bail reform laws. This individual facing 20 years runs Shaggy over killing him.

The Scooby gang fractures and they go there separate ways. Finally, on the first anniversary of Shaggy's death they get together again. Over some hard discussions they realize the current legal system is not able to deal with the current times.

So they come to a conclusion to kill all the people they catch. Sort of like the A-Team but willing to kill. Such 3/4 of the episode is about the mystery and the reminder is them killing the target, disposing of the body or making the death look like an accident. We can even have a few episodes where they have to ensure a nosey FBI agent does have enough evidence to move forward with the investigation.

 

[anustart76]

Maybe WB intentionally released this bad show to justify cancelling projects

I think this is likely what happened. Animation is extremely expensive and time-consuming, and David Zaslav, the CEO of WB-Discovery, has been cutting animation massively. My guess, this was already far down the pipeline, like the cancelled Batgirl movie, but he decided to let this one go through despite how abysmal it is specifically so he could point to it to justify axing animation even more to shareholders/the board.

 

[NyQuilninja]

Mike Tyson Mysteries is pretty much an adult version of Scooby Doo, so I don't think it's impossible to do adult humor with Scooby.

You'd just need to actually have competent writers.


It's kinda wholesome how many people can come together in appreciation of a cute cartoon. Everyone kinda wants to defend it thanks to all the nice memories they have of it and its generally lovable characters.

No one likes seeing the characters done dirty.

View attachment 4275896




I think a lot of the movies are honestly aimed at adults that enjoy the nostalgia. Otherwise why do a movie like the one about the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo? Most kids would be completely unaware of the original series as it was sorta the odd one out.

View attachment 4275932

Mystery Inc was a really good show
And good direction for the series. Mike Tyson's mysteries was tits. Laughed my ass off to pigeon.
So is anyone going to watch this dumpster fire? Mindys version I mean

 

[Zero Day Defense]

I think my attitude towards that are that in manga/anime, the jokes and scenario land (unless the situation is extremely bad) while in the West, they don’t.

You don't think it's a matter of being desensitized to it in those media, to the point of auto-filtering it?

The quality of the jokes and set-up for these kinds of scenarios often range from "it's all so tiresome" to "absolutely asinine". There's not much in possible variety for setups along the aforementioned premises. It's all bawdy by definition, but the indecision between ribaldry and eroticism in execution has long been common practice in those industries, and the added fact that these scenarios also rarely fit in the narrative makes them doubly agitating. Put another way: the mangaka that employs these, probably at editorial insistence, doesn't know if he wants the reader to laugh or take off his pants.

In the West? I think Westerners who pull this are either over-influenced by manga/anime, or they want to be subversive. If the latter, then their issue is that being subversive is all they're aspiring for. Either way, I don't like it.

Even bad anime is bad in a conventional sense, not this insulting dreck.

I'm sure there's plenty of anime/manga that are "insultingly bad".

Because I don't know enough Japanese to read Japanese anime/manga discussion hubs (I'd likely not enjoy the prospect, either), I don't know how they react to them. On the other hand, I'm extremely confident that the spiteful cultural apparatuses that push these equally spitefully-made creations onto the public don't exist in Japan, and I'm going to therefore guess that "insultingly bad" works are quickly forgotten with even less controversy than we're seeing here.

A lot of woke people have that "self-hating white" mentality and would rake someone over the coals for criticizing a left-leaning show with an Indian/raceswapped lead.

The quality of the ideological mirror that is this show is extremely high.

And here I thought they couldn't make a worse show than Gen Zed:

Gen Zed was a money laundering scheme and not a show, which makes the fact it outclasses Velma even more striking.

 

[anustart76]

Mike Tyson Mysteries is pretty much an adult version of Scooby Doo, so I don't think it's impossible to do adult humor with Scooby.

You'd just need to actually have competent writers.


It's kinda wholesome how many people can come together in appreciation of a cute cartoon. Everyone kinda wants to defend it thanks to all the nice memories they have of it and its generally lovable characters.

No one likes seeing the characters done dirty.

View attachment 4275896




I think a lot of the movies are honestly aimed at adults that enjoy the nostalgia. Otherwise why do a movie like the one about the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo? Most kids would be completely unaware of the original series as it was sorta the odd one out.

View attachment 4275932

I actually thought Scooby Doo and Guess Who was pretty decent, at least the Batman episode of it was really well-done. They got Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to voice Batman and Joker, and managed to make Batman both serious and highly competent without making the Mystery gang completely useless.

 

[pwnest injun]

What I don't get is why Kaling didn't make her self insert character the talking dog..

 

[anustart76]

What I don't get is why Kaling didn't make her self insert character the talking dog..

Ahem, "I'm, like, a total Velma, like, I'm so much smarter than everyone else, and, like, everyone likes me, because I'm so talented, and I'm, like, totally hot."
Something like that, I'd imagine.

 

[SBG]

I actually thought Scooby Doo and Guess Who was pretty decent, at least the Batman episode of it was really well-done. They got Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to voice Batman and Joker, and managed to make Batman both serious and highly competent without making the Mystery gang completely useless.

I feel like it's hard to mess up with Scooby Doo since it's sorta laid out how you do it thanks to decades of prior works.

Which makes the failure with Velma all the more insane, since it ignores every tiny detail to what made the IP work in the past and instead tries wearing it like a skin suit to do Mindy's bullshit show.

 

[anustart76]

I feel like it's hard to mess up with Scooby Doo since it's sorta laid out how you do it thanks to decades of prior works.

Which makes the failure with Velma all the more insane, since it ignores every tiny detail to what made the IP work in the past and instead tries wearing it like a skin suit to do Mindy's bullshit show.

It's more the fact that they got Batman so right that impressed me. Batman is a hard character to write, doubly so if you're trying to write serious modern Batman into a silly kids' show, but they did it without making anything feel too out of place. Going from that kind of talented writing to this really says something, and I am convinced Zaslav let it through to tank animation intentionally.

 

[The Man With No Name]

View attachment 4275715
So this is the supposed high caste aryan elite of poo land? I'm not impressed, looks like a fucking pig a dress.

Mindy could never cut it in Bollywood.

 

[NyQuilninja]

Watching the first episode
I don't know who this show is for.
It's an adult show something like an adult swim show however nothing is funny and the characters are really disgusting and unbelievability mean spirited. Almost made it though the episode however I'm probably not going to finish it.