I don't want to watch this.
Yes, I get the appeal... but wouldn't it be better if they just made this series with my childhood intact.
I am Filipino and I consider this racist.
It's okay if I don't know the characters but unfortunately, the Scooby Gang is cartoon royalty. Why in the blue hell is Velma brown? Yes, Mindy Kaling is brown but can they just have her voice attached to the character? The same thing can be said with Daphne except for the eyes, there is nothing character-changing to the Constance Wu-voiced popular girl.
And what the hell are they doing to Shaggy and Scooby?
At least Scooby doesn't exist in this series.
But why is Shaggy black?
Is this some sort of homage to Michael Bay? I mean, why settle for the normal-looking turtles when you can make them extra unlikeable?
Look, they said at the start of the trailer that this is Velma's retelling and despite the route, they went with, I can agree that this is their prerogative. With that said, ever since a couple of Filipino Americans are telling the homegrown Filipinos to adopt the Filipinx word, I have had enough of this woke-ness. Mindy Kaling has to adapt to Velma and not the other way around. Furthermore, I like Velma being the shy, smart-alec, sudden leader who goes into Kobe Bryant when they need a clutch answer or solution.
And yeah, I think this is racist when everyone thinks they need to have diversity for the sake of appealing to every demographic.