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DAPHNE + DISNEY PRINCESS INSPIRATION:

01. ARIEL’S QUICK-FIRE LOVE AND CURIOSITY. So what Daphne shares in common with Ariel is just how quick it is for her to like, get that “love at first sight” feeling. She jumps head first and goes all out for it, which isn’t always a good thing, you know? She’d be quick to give up something that means a lot to her, for someone she had feelings for, which obviously can totally be used against her. Asides from that, Ariel’s want to explore the world is comparable to Daphne’s. A huge perk of being in Mystery Inc. is getting to meet all kinds of people and go all sorts of places, and that’s definitely one of the reasons she likes being a part of the gang.  02. ANNA’S NAIVETY AND INNOCENCE. Sort of in the same vein as with Ariel, Anna having been locked up in her castle for so long, and being as sheltered as she is, is also easy to take advantage of? Her longing to find someone who understands her, and who she relates to, and her longing to feel affection and excitement makes her an easy target for someone looking to prey on that, which is exactly what tends to happen in most of Daphne’s unhealthy relationships. Her innocence in itself is definitely a good thing, in my opinion, because it makes her a softer, better person, and it is not her fault that there are people out there that would look to use that against her. 03. MULAN’S DESIRE TO PROVE HERSELF. Y’all had to know this one was coming. I think specifically the parallel that I see is Mulan’s drive to do right by her family. While the motivation is slightly different (Mulan wants to prove to her family that she won’t shame them, and obviously do right by her father, while Daphne wants to prove herself not just to her family, but more so to herself too), it’s also very similar. In the end Mulan ended up showing that a woman can fight just as well as a man, pushing herself to do things she previously didn’t think she could (like the scene in Make A Man Out Of You, where she reaches the top of the post) and to me that really represents a lot of Daphne’s same motivations. 04. TINKERBELL’S STRUGGLE TO FIND HER PLACE. I know she’s technically not a Disney Princess, but I had to include Tink?? The first thing I noticed she shared in common with Daph is the jealousy that’s common for both of them to feel (BPD vibes). But more than that, in the first Disney Fairies movie, it took Tinkerbell a while to find somewhere she considered home. She would mess up, and ruin things, and was looked at as an outcast because she wasn’t able to find the place where she belonged –– that’s Daph!! Her home is with Mystery Inc, and they’re her family. Anywhere else would just be odd and unfitting for her. Mystery solving is one of the things she’s best at, and denying that would be the same as not letting Tinkerbell find her place with the tinker-talent fairies.

UPDATED: 06.29.22

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❛   . ·ﾟ 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨   / … 03 .

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❛  . ♡ ·  girlhood, mirrors, self and identity .  .  .  who am I when I am not with you ? 

daphne blake, mystery incorporated ( 2022 ) / hannah green, ‘school of performing arts’ / jennifer check, jennifer’s body ( 2008 ) / sylvia plath, ‘mirror’ ( 1961 ) / helen oyeyemi, boy, snow, bird ( 2014 ) / nina sayers, black swan ( 2010 ) / megan abbott, dare me ( 2012 ) 

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❛   . ·ﾟ 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨   / … 02 .

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❛   . ·ﾟ 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨   / . . . 01 . 

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WHAT MAKES DAPHNE A GOOD DETECTIVE?

TENACITY & STUBBORNESS: A good detective doesn’t give up when things get rough. They don’t stop just because silly things like “the police” do things like “arrest them” and threaten to put it on their “criminal record”. They persevere! And that’s exactly what Daphne does. Growing up, it was what her parents always taught her. Her dad never let up during business deals, and her mom was a force to be reckoned with when the occasion came about. Her sisters never gave up on their dreams, and so Daphne was taught to never give up on hers. Roadblocks can be pains in the ass, but she doesn’t let them stop her. CURIOSITY: Daphne is endlessly curious. She is as nosy as nosy gets. She’s the kind of person to keep her ears up in all situations. The kind of person that can hear her name being said from down the hall, a floor up, or a block down from where she is. That same curiosity extends to other things too. It’s one of the things she’s exceptional at –– meddling. Hence being a meddling kid. Revolutionary concept, I know.

SERENDIPITY: The stars aligned, alright? If Daphne hadn’t ever gotten into mystery novels, if she didn’t occasionally watch the news, perched on her dad’s lap, if she hadn’t grown up in Coolsville, or Crystal Cove, maybe she’d have never been inspired to pursue mystery solving. Maybe she’d have gone on to become a beauty queen, or a makeup artist, or a journalist or something –– but no, things just worked out the right way. She met Velma and Fred and Shaggy, and things just fit together. We call that serendipity. The best kind of chance and luck. Some would even call it fate.

GOOD PEOPLE SKILLS: Having good people skills is on the same level of manipulation really. A definite asset is being tactful and clever about how you get information, and that’s definitely up Daphne’s Alley. I can’t help but think about that moment in Legally Blonde when Reese Witherspoon was all like, “Happy people don’t kill themselves.. They just don’t!” Well put, Reese. Daphne’s just good at getting people to do what she wants. Se’s charming, and pretty, and that works in her favor. Sometimes it can feel like a burden, to have that be one of the only things people know you for ( being pretty –– something that isn’t so much a skill, as it is an opinion ) but she deals with it. Beat em at their own game, right? Asides from that, she can connect with people easily, and that really helps in getting information. 

GOOD GRASP ON PSYCHOLOGY: Similar to the point above, she gets people and that helps in understanding how they tick. She understands social cues and human behavior, because she’s arguably one of the most raw-feeling members of Mystery Inc ( in my opinion ). Daphne understands feeling a lot. She’s an emotional person, so she can connect with people and place herself in their positions. Good people skills and understanding psychology, combined with a certain level of empathy gives her a definite advantage, I think.

FUNDS: I had to mention this. She has an advantage. She can afford to take self-defense lessons, and get equipment, and get bailed out of jail, and anything like that. Daphne has her own trust fund, of course, but she also has her parents to depend on if she’s in trouble before she’s gotten her inheritance. She’s very privileged and lucky like that.

WHAT MAKES HER A BAD DETECTIVE?

IN OVER HER HEAD: Daphne, in most verses, can be tricked fairly easy. A nice guy/girl can easily get to her. That perfect balance of being charming and attractive and witty, and she’s a goner.

LACK OF PRACTICALITY: Unless she’s got some kind of silent-ass thousand dollar heels, girl wears some noisy ass shoes. She’s gotten used to them, of course, so she can usually stay quiet, but if she’s on an unfamiliar surface ( on top of a plane for whatever reason, or too stressed to concentrate on being quiet ) it can be easy to slip up nd expose herself. It’s simple not practical! But Daphne’s also not willing to compromise that unless she has to and the situation calls for it ( camping, at a space station, etc. etc. ). She also simply doesn’t care about learning certain skills, despite them definitely helping her in the long run ( learning to fix cars, etc. ).

LEANING ON MYSTERY INC: When she first goes solo, it doesn’t go entirley too well. She’s been part of a team for so long, it’s weird suddenly being on her own. She doesn’t have Velmas smarts or Fred’s ingenuity and trapmaking. All she’s got is an eagerness to prove herself and . Sure, eventually she gets the hang of things. But she will never be as good as she was with Mystery Inc. It’s a crushing truth. She is good on her own –– but not great. Simply put, she works best with someone else. And that is nothing to be ashamed of.

CONCLUSION.

Like I mentioned above, Daphne’s lack of conventional book smarts means that when on solo cases, she’ll be playing catch up a lot. It takes longer to rescue herself, she’s slower on the uptake, and piecing things together and gathering clues and information will obviously take longer because she’s only one person working on a single case, as opposed to having four minds ( plus Scooby! ) working together.

However, despite not being the most well trained investigator, she has what a lot of people don’t have. Drive and motivation and passion. Important things to have. Most people aren’t lucky enough to pursue something that they’re passionate about, whether because of situational issues or financial stability. Daphne though, she’s lucky. While she’ll never be rich working on cases, she has the freedom to go after what she loves and still be able to live comfortably.

She tries not to take that for granted.

UPDATED: 04.16.17

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DAPHNE BLAKE AND HER LOVE FOR WONDER WOMAN.

“ WHO YOU ARE. EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR. YOU’RE MY HERO. ” ––– daphne blake, to wonder woman

01. ORIGIN STORIES: Daphne first heard of Wonder Woman when she was young, around nine or ten. News of her strength and good deeds had become a national headline, reaching as far as little ol’ Coolsville. Drawn in by her cool outfit, gorgeous hair, and her undeniable strength, defying even that of the well known Superman, Daphne had her first crush on Wonder Woman, fueled by curiosity, admiration and a longing to follow in her footsteps.

02. GIRLS ARE SUPERHEROES TOO: As she grew up, Wonder Woman was in the background of Daphne’s adolescence. Always saving some city from national destruction, and making the small adventures the gang went on, and the crimes they solved, seem like stepping stones, to an extent, to what Daphne secretly had always wanted to do. At fourteen, Daphne decided to even dress up as her. When Halloween came to an end, she reluctantly hung up her gold-plated lasso, wondering if she would ever come close to meeting Wonder Woman.

03. MEETING WONDER WOMAN: While on a trip to Greece, the gang finally meets Wonder Woman ( SD&GW )! Daphne takes a moment to let her know just how much she’s inspired her and how she stands for so many of the things Daphne stands for. While they solve their ongoing case together, Daphne refused to believe this would be the last time they’d see each other again.

04. TO DIANA PRINCE, WITH LOVE: And it wasn’t. With Mystery Inc. broken up, and Daphne pursuing different jobs in the city. While working on launching Dame Cosmetics and taking a small break from crime and mystery solving, she encounters Diana Prince and the two grow close. Eventually, Daphne finds out that Diana and Wonder Woman are one and the same, and she’s delighted to realize that her childhood idol has been one of her closest friends longer than she may have realized!

UPDATED: 02.02.20

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DAPHNE BLAKE + INTELLIGENCE & KNOWLEDGE :

While Daphne is historically looked down on for not “contributing anything” to the team, something I’ve loved about the more modern interpretations of the Scooby Doo series is the effort made to give her things to be good at, and to be knowledgable about which would make sense for the others not to. As a result, Daphne’s background as a rich, educated young girl with a high-society family that has reach means she knows a lot about very obscure or random topics.

As a non-exhaustive list of some of her biggest interests:

CHEESES & THEIR HISTORY ( as seen in Mystery Incorporated Season 2, Episode 17 )

FASHION HISTORY –– She may not know a lot about the Gettysburg Address, or whatever happened with the founding fathers, but Daphne’s supremely intelligent and great at retaining information about fashion history and its accuracy. She probably has a cousin in California who works as a Fashion Historian Consultant on historical shows & movies. Let’s name that cousin AJ BLACKWELL.

ABSTRACT ART

CHEMICALS & BIOLOGY –– like someone such as Elle Woods ( reference HERE ), Daphne’s knowledge of Chemicals and Biology comes from her interest in makeup and its effects on the body. She knows, for example, a lot of big words and names for the chemicals used in lipsticks, and what to avoid putting on your skin etc. She knows how the skin, as an organ, functions –– she could probably be a freaking Dermatologist if she wanted to be, honestly. Some of this knowledge is researched, while a lot of it comes from her family members, and even more so, from her connections to the makeup industry, and to doctors ( being as her sister is one [ a neurobiologist ] herself ).

On top of this, there’s also the many hobbies that she’s had in Be Cool, Scooby Doo which indicate Daphne as a sort of Jack of All Trades who can very easily pick up many different skills like JUGGLING; PUPPETEERING, etc.

A lot of Daphne’s obscure knowledge comes, like I said, from the people she knows. Unlike someone like Velma ( and this isn’t a slight against her ), Daphne’s knowledge comes from living, and socializing, and learning from experience, and from others. Yes, sometimes it comes from research, but if, per se, she knows something about a very specific sub-species of spider, it’s because her parents went on a hunting trip in the summer to Paraguay and got bit by one. She’s great at remembering things and storing them away. And it’s part of what makes her so freaking smart.

Furthermore, while this post is primarily about mainstream Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, if we were to look at the different kinds of intelligence she excels at –– the most obvious one being INTRA-PERSONAL & INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE ( though as a teenager, she isn’t always the best at that either ) –– she is also gifted with:

MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE: Having once joined the Hex Girls as a stand-in singer for their lead, Thorn, Daphne possesses an understanding of music at least instinctively. While she may not be able to read music or have a huge learned understanding of Musical Science and Theory, she’s naturally gifted musically. 

LINGUISTIC INTELLIGENCE: Daphne’s a people-person. She’s very charming and knows how to use her words to influence people; get them to trust her; comfort them, etc. She’s canonically a journalist and news reporter, and as such has to be either on air on short-notice, or constantly writing pieces to air. Therefore, while she might not be a Poet Laureate, she has a way with words.

BODILY-KINESTHETIC: I headcanon that part of the reason Daphne was so clumsy was a sort of… over-awareness of her body growing up ( among other things, mentioned below ). Also, with it constantly growing and changing, Daphne wasn’t always comfortable in it, even if she appeared to be. As a result, it’s not until she’s older and able to receive training that she really feels super comfortable and at ease moving around and defending herself. That being said, she did also receive poise and etiquette training in her youth, so she does have a natural-born grace that just can’t be faked.

And to address the elephant in the room since I said Daphne could be very adept at using her body to her advantage: Yes, my Daphne is clumsy and very  much danger-prone, but I don’t think it’s because she lacks grace ( though she sometimes does, hello, ABRACADABRA DOO ) –– I think it’s because she lacks an awareness of her surroundings a lot of the times. It’s what makes her a pretty reckless driver –– she’s aware only of herself and her friends, and her goals, and not necessarily that loose floorboard in front of her.

Finally, let’s also not forget that Daphne has something else that makes her a key facet of Mystery Inc –– something that all the members have: creativity. Daphne is able to think outside of the box. She affords people the benefit of the doubt, she is able to suspend disbelief at times when other’s wouldn’t. In a practical sense, she’s also about to use that creativity to get the gang out of tough situations ( such as when she used a pore strip to unlock a fingerprint ID in Monsters Unleashed )! I think this is actually part of the reason her and Fred are so shippable –– in this regard, they’re both very, very creative.

So, to summarize. Daphne is super smart and awesome.

UPDATED: 01.25.22

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                                    MYSTERY , MYSTERY , MYSTERY. 

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                                  MISS DAMSEL - QUEEN DANGER. 

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                     DAPHNE ANNE BLAKE : COOLSVILLE’S COOLEST. 

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. . . 𝐀 𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 –––  daphne channels her frustration and upset into something that lifts her spirits. she’ll go to her vanity and take off all her makeup, and start applying it from the start. the routine is therapeutic and relaxing for her. she starts with washing her face, and moisturizing. applies the foundation and counts the brush-strokes, the dabs of her beauty blender against her skin. then the setting powder and the contour / highlight, a pop of color on her cheeks. she’s calmer now, a smile on her lips as she slides her lipgloss on. picking out eyeshadows is a lovely distraction, and her head feels clearer as she focuses on getting the precise tip of her liner right. a few sprays of her setting spray and she’s ready to go, considerably happier, lighter on her feet.

but sometimes it’s different. how many times has daphne paused half-way through, mascara hovering in front of her to wonder if this, her makeup –– her warpaint –– is the reason she has to suffer so much? for a second, she wants to shrink into herself, hide all her pretty so she’s safe –– but it’s just a moment, and it passes. she knows that people are going to poke at her no matter what. it doesn’t matter if she’s bare-faced or slathered in make-up. girls will burn no matter what they do with their own bodies. 

so she might as well look fabulous doing it. 

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THE PUBLISHED WORKS OF DAPHNE BLAKE.

Daphne begins working on her writing around college. She considers a writing major or minor for a while, and for a vast majority of her time in college until dropping out ( in my main verse ) she is a part of her college’s newspaper publication, as well as occasionally writing segments for an anonymous podcast she works at with her girlfriend, and her girlfriends best friend, titled The Lush. Daphne never showed anyone the stories she wrote, usually flash fiction pieces, but would sometimes submit them; only her girlfriend, Vivica, knew about them.

When reuniting with Mystery Inc. writing takes a physical back-burner, but the ideas don’t stop coming. Daphne completes her first draft of a novel at the age of 22. It doesn’t get published until she’s 45. Along the way, however, other things do.

01. GHOULSVILLE: STORIES TO KEEP YOU UP AT NIGHT ( written at 23, and published at 24 [ foreword by velma dinkley ] ): Her first ever published piece of work. This anthology of short stories and flash fiction is 190 pages long, and is composed of 17 pieces. Daphne took a lot of inspiration from her adventures with Mystery Inc. as well as the many places she visited alone; with Fred; or with Velma. Some of the most popular stories are: ‘Don’t Knock It Till You Try It (Cannibalism)’, ‘The House on Pleasant Hill’, and ‘The Girl Who Cried Clown’: stories about a cannibalistic town, a haunted house and a girl who day by day began to turn into a killer clown. Daphne asked for Velma to write her foreword after asking her to be the first person to read the stories. The book sold over 2 million copies in its first week due to the promotional work, and made it onto the Times Best Seller’s list at number two, staying there for a total of 8 consecutive weeks.

02. SWITCHBLADE: 10 STORIES OF GIRLHOOD HELL. ( written at 25, published at 25; adapted into a Netflix series at 34 ): This anthology was longer, 220 pages long, but premiered as number one on the young adult best seller’s list. It was also given a Goodreads award the year of its publication. The cult favorite from this collection is definitely,  “Locker-room Confessions”, a thriller/love story between two girls who conspire to kill the other’s abuser. When Daphne was 34, the collection was adapted into a Netflix series by the same title ‘Switchblade’, an anthology series composed of ten episodes circling around ten different girls living in the same town, and struggling to survive.

03. BLAKE ( written 27-30, never published ): This book began as a series of notes and documents she put together during and after her investigation of her parent’s murder. Most of it is told as diary entries, with many retrospective scenes. The manuscript for it is 342 pages long, and it is some of the most heartfelt writing Daphne’s written. In a sense, it’s also the rawest and most stripped writing, because of how dark of a place she was in when she wrote the book. She contemplated publishing it, playing around with the idea many times. The Blake Family murders were well known by the time she finished the book wholly, and tell-alls were already in development; many youtubers and newscasters covering the story. It was only fair for her to cover it too, and tell her truth. But in the end, Daphne decided not to, so as to respect her family’s privacy and not make the situation about herself.

04. MISS DAMSEL ( written 20s-30s, published at 31 ): This is the first autobiography Daphne writes, focused primarily on her experiences in Mystery Inc. and in the mystery-solving business as a whole. She outlines what it was like to be ‘Dangerprone Daphne’ and her different connections with the Mystery Inc gang. Within it are interviews with the rest of the gang,  but it mostly focuses on her life through adolescence and her young adult years.

05. QUEEN DANGER ( written at 33, published at 35 ): Her second autobiography is more of a memoir and focuses more on the strides she’s made personally, and her personal development outside of Mystery Incorporated; its tone follows that of an influencer biography, written in anecdotes. Queen Danger surpassed Miss Damsel by 200,000 copies in the first week.

06. MYSTERY JANE ( written at 22, published at 45; adapted to a graphic novel at 46 ): Though Daphne’s written nonfiction and fiction alike, this would be her first officially published novel. It was written when she was only 22, and kept secret for years after. She began revising it in her early forties and finally decided to pitch it to her publishing house when she was 44. The novel centers around a teenage superhero, Emma Reins, whose secret identity, Mystery Jane, has her solving mysteries and going on adventures with her giant pet dragon, and her pet dragon’s pet dragon…fly. She often makes calls to her best friend, Daisy for help, while her boyfriend, Eddy, is the son of the head detective of the city’s police force. This novel arguably did the best out of everything Daphne’s ever written, and it’s her favorite of everything she’s ever written. Then came the graphic novel adaptation. Daphne worked with a local indie artist from Coolsville to illustrate it ( Collie St. Cool, found on my multimuse ). 50% of the proceeds went to charity; it also broke the record of the number of interviews and readings Daphne’s ever done for anything she’s written.