Scooby-Doo's Fred Jones has created several traps to catch the Mystery Incorporated's villains, but some were more effective than others.
Fred Jones is a master trap maker. Over the course of the Scooby-Doo franchise, Freddie has crafted hundreds of traps for monsters and villains. These traps aren't always successful, but Freddie really can't be blamed for that when Shaggy and Scooby always seem to mess them up.
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Of all of Freddie's traps, there are a select few that stand above the rest. Whether these traps succeeded or failed doesn't matter. It's the craftsmanship and sheer ingenuity that it took to create these traps that make them stand out from the crowd.
In the episode "In Fear of the Phantom" from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Velma's favorite band, The Hex Girls, are being haunted by a mysterious phantom. The Phantom tells the Hex Girls that he wants them to stop performing. To catch him, Daphne poses as a member of the band.
The gang set a trap for The Phantom, but it doesn't work and Daphne is captured. Freddie becomes distraught after this and begins to realize he has feelings for her. Eventually, they get Daphne back and set a new trap. The Phantom tries to take Daphne again, but she has been replaced by a dummy. When The Phantom grabs the dummy, Freddie pulls on a cord and a net falls on the villain. It may have taken a couple of tries to perfect the trap, but Freddie's genius did catch The Phantom and helped him realize he loved Daphne.
When Freddie, Shaggy, and Scooby are a little low on money, they begin working at a construction company in the episode "High Rise Hair Raiser." They soon find out that the construction site is being haunted by the Specter of Ebenezer Crabbe.
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One night, Freddie plants a bucket of cement on a beam for the Specter to walk under. Unfortunately, the Specter overheard the plan and purposely avoided the trap. In the end, though, the gang were still able to catch the Specter and save the day. This just goes to show that even when Freddie's traps don't go as planned, they can still work.
A suit of armor, a crossbow, a cannonball, and a spring were all Freddie needed to construct a trap. While this may seem like a very strange set of items to most people, Freddie is a master trap maker. Freddie is able to craft these items into the perfect device to capture The Phantom in "Hassle in the Castle."
Unfortunately, Scooby is known for being clumsy. Scooby accidentally springs the trap so both he and the Phantom get caught in it. Over the years, Freddie has become an expert at making traps that are Scooby-proof.
Freddie and Mystery Inc. have gone on countless adventures. Each adventure sees him meticulously crafting the perfect trap. However, sometimes Freddie doesn't have time to set up a trap and instead has to think on his feet.
In "Scooby-Doo, Where's the Crew?," Scooby and the gang are on a cruise, being haunted by Captain Pescado and his fellow ghosts. Towards the end of the episode, the gang is being chased by them. Freddie, Shaggy, and Scooby hang back while the girls continue the chase. Freddie has Shaggy and Scooby hang from a crane and drop a net on the ghosts. Only a trap master like Freddie could come up with a plan in a tense situation.
The very first episode of Scooby-Doo didn't feature one of Freddie's traps. However, the second episode, "A Clue For Scooby-Doo," did. In this episode, the gang goes up against The Ghost of Captain Cutler, an evil scuba diver.
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Freddie comes up with a plan: he'll attach a bar of soap to a hose in order to make Captain Cutler slip down a ramp and into a boat. Unfortunately, however, Scooby messes the trap up, but this still remains one of Freddie's impressive yet bizarre traps.
In A Scooby-Doo! Christmas, the gang goes up against the Headless Snowman who has been destroying the fireplaces in old homes around town. The children in the town are upset because it means that Santa won't be able to come down the chimney to deliver their presents.
Freddie and the girls set up a series of space heaters while Scooby and Shaggy lure the Headless Snowman into the trap. Once he is in the trap, Freddie parks the Mystery Machine in the entrance so he can't escape. This is one of the rare occasions that Freddie's trap went off without a hitch.
Freddie's trap in "A Night of Fright is No Delight" starts pretty modestly. The gang is staying the night in a mansion that's haunted by the Green Ghosts. Freddie comes up with a plan: he, Daphne, and Velma will lure the ghosts into a room. Scooby will turn on a fan that will push the ghosts into some soap suds. They will slip onto an ironing board, which will launch them into a washing machine that's manned by Shaggy. However, things don't go according to plan.
Through a series of clumsy mistakes, Shaggy and Scooby somehow end up on a flying washing machine. The plan went horribly wrong, but it started well and was a fun watch.
"The Night The Clown Cried" takes place several months after Mystery Inc. split up. Crystal Cove is being terrorized by a monster known as Crybaby Clown, so the gang reunites to take on the threat.
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Daphne has not yet returned, but Freddie believes that she will rejoin the group at the last minute. He plans an elaborate trap involving Shaggy and Scooby dressing up as zombie donut salesmen and trapping the clown in a giant donut. Unfortunately, the donut was supposed to be dropped by Daphne, who never came. This just shows that Freddie's traps only work when everyone does their part.
Sometimes, Freddie's traps are a bit too elaborate for their own good. This usually ends up with them failing horribly. However, when these traps do work, they are incredibly entertaining.
In "Diamonds are a Ghoul's Best Friend," The Frozen Fiend terrorizes a hockey game between the United States and Russia. Freddie has Shaggy and Scooby dress up in costumes to distract the Frozen Fiend. Freddie and Daphne then swoop down on a trapeze with water guns that freeze the villain. Although Shaggy and Scooby got caught in the blast, the plan still worked perfectly and the gang solved the mystery.
In "Block-Long Hong Kong Terror" from What's New, Scooby-Doo?, the gang celebrates Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. However, the festivities are ruined by a dragon who steals an ancient candy ring. In Freddie's words, the only way to fight a dragon is with a duck.
Freddie takes Shaggy's rubber duck, Duck Guy, and turns him into a 20-foot tall antimitotic duck equipped with armor plating, four-wheel drive, a super water blaster, and cup holders. Duck Guy is able to fight the dragon using his water blaster, and the gang saves the day. In the end, the amount of effort Freddie put into this trap makes it his best.
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Molly McNabb is a Comics List Writer for CBR. She is currently in her last year at Southeast Missouri State University, receiving a degree in history and a minor in creative writing. Molly has been a comic book fanatic ever since her cousin first introduced her to Spider-Man. She is proud (and somewhat ashamed) to say she has collected over 200 Pop Vinyls and counting. (Sorry mom.)
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