Shaggy
A silent background character in Daria who has an uncanny resemblance to Shaggy Rogers of the Scooby-Doo cartoon show, hence the nickname. Shaggy is a skinny teen with unkempt light brown or dirty blond hair who wears an olive-green T-shirt, baggy gray or mauve pants, and stylish sunglasses even indoors. His earrings appear to have a long animal canine dangling from each. He has a long neck with a prominent Adam's apple, and his mouth is perpetually twisted to one side as if considering something or expressing mild disdain.
One source says the character's original name for production purposes was Boy Teen 8. In "Cafe Disaffecto," a seating chart is shown in Mr. O'Neill's hands, according to which Shaggy is actually named Dewey. For consistency, the more commonly used nickname will be used here. (Do not confuse with the Daria fan artist, Beatnik Shaggy.)
Early Appearances
Shaggy appears in the very first Daria episode, "Esteemsters," at the back of the small group of new students that Principal Li is showing around Lawndale High. Daria and Quinn are at the front of the group. This implies that he, too, was a new student and beginning 10th grade there. He's also in a rear corner of Mr. O'Neill's self-esteem class with Daria and Jane. In "The New Kid," Shaggy is revealed to be on the school's yearbook staff. He shares various classes with Daria and Jane in the series (such as Jane's math class in "See Jane Run"), but he never interacts with them. He went to the Mall of the Millennium in "Malled" and on the paintball expedition in "The Daria Hunter."
Unusual Characteristics
Shaggy has a curious place in the lore of this fandom, as various episodes appear to show him doing impossible or at least unlikely things. He appears in two places at one time in "The Invitation" and "This Year's Model," and is shown in a flashback at least three years earlier at a Lawndale High football game, watching Tommy Sherman play, in "The Misery Chick." (Several other background students also appear in the shot, none so clearly as he.) In "Groped by an Angel," he is seen sitting at a table with the Three Js listening to Quinn talk about her guardian angel, which is unusual because Quinn is shown in other episodes (e.g., "The New Kid") to be very particular about who sits at a lunch table with her.
He also has a knack for appearing during certain important events in the series. He watched Kevin Thompson crash his motor scooter and injure his leg in "A Tree Grows in Lawndale," was aboard the doomed passenger ship Princess Fairy in "Just Add Water" (wearing a suit, no less), hears Daria's startling speech about her father in "Jake of Hearts," and is one of the few eyewitnesses to the falling out between Daria and Jane in a school hallway when Daria admits kissing Tom Sloane ("Dye! Dye! My Darling").
Shaggy in Fanfic
Despite his peculiarities, Shaggy does not often appear in Daria fanfic, and to date has never had major roles. He appears (still mostly in the background) in Richard Lobinske's First Summer story, "Fun on the Fourth," as "Beatnik Shaggy"; in Richard's story "Spelling It Out" as Dewey; and in Canadibrit's "Process of Elimination" as Shaggy. In TAG's "A Hard Days' Night, he uses the codename Shaggy but is actually named Dewey.
In Kara Wild's Driven Wild Universe installment, "In Her Own Words," Shaggy has a more prominent role as a character named Vince Rogers, founder of an infamous underground newspaper in the Lawndale area. Wild named him before the MTV website revealed "Shaggy" as his official name. This is his most notable appearance in fanfic so far.
His peculiar appearances on the show were given a fairly convoluted explanation in "A Hard Days' Night," which as expected involved supernatural forces.
External Links
- Shaggy character page on Backgrounders
- Shaggy Guy in the Daria Character Database
- Shaggy in Sick, Sad World
- PPMB thread about background characters' names: "BURNOUT GIRL'S REAL NAME!" (For Shaggy/Dewey, look for the entries on August 3, 2005.)
- Daria Encyclopedia 0.0: search for "Shaggy:" (with colon) for details
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