If you peruse social media, chances are you’ve been seeing Shaggy from Scooby-Doo in your timeline. Despite his reputation as a coward always running from conflict, a running gag in memes depicts him as an unbeatable fighter. The joke snowballed to the point where Shaggy memes have taken over the internet, with Shaggy now basically serving as the “Chuck Norris of 2019” when it comes to online gags.
It may not make sense, and it seems to have come from completely out of nowhere. Like many memes, however, there’s something oddly humorous about it. That Shaggy can destroy anything (or anyone) he wants is such a bizarre concept that it’s hard not to laugh at it. Still, one also has to question if the joke is going a tad too far, as a fan petition on Change.org has been created to add him into the violent fighting game, Mortal Kombat 11. As ridiculous as that idea may seem, the petition has now reached over 335,000 signatures as of this writing. Goofy or not, people really want to see the Scooby-Doo star in the anticipated sequel.
These numbers continue to change rapidly, with new signatures being added every few seconds. Each day will likely see thousands more added to the overall total. The goal now is to reach 500,000 signatures, and given the tremendous growth already achieved by the petition, that certainly seems very possible. At this point, it will be impossible for developer NeverRealm Studios to ignore the craze, although it remains to be seen if they’ll actually reference Shaggy in any way – even if it’s just a subtle reference.
Hack and Slash Shaggy variation ?pic.twitter.com/TGFhfwAVkX
— Ed Boon (@noobde) February 1, 2019
This idea is much more realistic than it seems. Because Warner Bros. carries the rights to Scooby-Doo and owns NeverRealm Studios, there wouldn’t really be much red tape blocking Shaggy’s appearance in the game from happening. What it comes down to, really, is whether the studio will sign off on the developers adding a character primarily known for being child-friendly into a game where he could literally be torn in half. Beating people up as Shaggy sure sounds funny, but adding him to the game means he could be violently killed as well, and is that really want everybody wants to see?
Ultimately, we’ll see if Shaggy ends up making it into the game in some form or another. Mortal Kombat 11 hits store shelves and digital outlets on April 23 for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4.
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