Krampus, a mythical German beast that punishes bad children, terrorizes Crystal Cove's misbehaving kids, turning their hair prematurely white. Scooby and the gang are called to look into the mystery; as they do, the original Mystery Inc. use the distraction as an opportunity to steal the other three pieces of the Planispheric Disc, which are in a briefcase inside the Mystery Machine.
The episode provides examples of:
- Actually a Doombot: When the gang unmasks the Krampus, it turns out that he's actually Charlie the Robot dressed up in a monster costume. But who was controlling Charlie and why? This is followed up in the Twist Ending.
- Ambiguous Situation: It isn't made too clear as to why ex-Mayor Jones helped in the scheme, though it's implied he did it to get back at the original Mystery Incorporated ("After hearing what we had planned, he was more than glad to help us take you down.").
- Army of Thieves and Whores: The gang gets help from numerous allies and culprits from throughout the show up to this point to help ensure the MacGuffin does not fall into the hands of the original Mystery Incorporated. Even numerous random civilians of Crystal Cove and inmates help sell the scheme.
- Big Eater: Shaggy and Scooby promise to help chase after Krampus once they're done eating the prison food on their trays. Velma has to drag them away from the table.
- Bluff the Eavesdropper: The entire episode, orchestrated by the gang, starting when the original Mystery Incorporated bugs the kids.
- Brand Name Takeover: Averted and played straight. Velma mentions "Googling", but checks for further information on her "favorite internet encyclopedia".
- The Bus Came Back: Fred Jones Sr., original mayor of Crystal Cove. Whether he was reformed or not is still up in the air.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Poor Fred—first he calls out his fake mayor dad and now he tells off his biological parents and decides to live away from them for now on.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- Charlie the Robot is missing from the museum displays. It turns out he was dressed up as the Krampus.
- Jason Wyatt is remote-controlling the Krampus.
- The man that Shaggy and Scooby ask if they could share tables in the prison cafeteria is ex-Mayor Jones. They give him the pieces of the disc under the table for temporary safekeeping.
- Velma recruited Marcie into the plan as she is the only person outside of the original Mystery Inc. that knows how to get into their lair due to her former alliance with Mr. E.
- The Con: Mystery Inc., with a little help from several others, including Hot Dog Water, Jason Wyatt, and former mayor Fred Jones Sr, created the hoax of the Krampus to distract Mr. E and his allies so they could acquire Mr. E's segments of the Planispheric Disc.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: Mystery, Inc. visits the prison to consult with the grade-school-age Mary Anne Gleardan, one of their former antagonists.
- Continuity Nod:
- A great number of supporting characters from Season 1 make cameo appearances.
- Fred says that he and the gang left the pieces of the disc with ex-Mayor Jones, because no one would think that Fred would still trust him, nevermind want anything to do with him. In "Menace of the Manticore", Fred says that he left the piece of the Planespheric Disc that they found in Darrow Mansion with Shaggy and Scooby because nobody would suspect them as being trustworthy enough to keep something of high importance safe. Ironically, a major point of that episode was that Mayor Jones was obviously looking for the piece and thus was probably evil.
- Cool Car: Brad and Judy are impressed by how Mr. E has kept the Enigma Machine in such good condition after all these years.
- The End... Or Is It?: With a completed Planispheric Disc, the gang wonders what comes next. The scene cuts to a cavern containing lots of treasure and a crystal coffin. All is quiet, until the coffin lights up."Nibiru!" [Evil Laugh]
- Enemy Mine: In a twist of fate after realizing that his real parents would betray him Fred Jones Jr. winds up taking sides with his fake father Fred Jones Sr., the former mayor of Crystal Cove.
- Everybody Has Standards: Presumably why the inmates (except for maybe ex-Mayor Jones, whose intent in helping out is vague) agreed to helping the gang keep a MacGuffin out of evil hands, even though Mary Ann and Mrs. Wyatt were the only ones promised to get shortened jail time for helping.
- Evil Plan: Mr. E, Brad and Judy's scheme is to take our heroes' pieces of the Planispheric Disc while they are distracted.
- Foreshadowing: Fred and Daphne notice that Charlie the Funland Robot is missing from the museum.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The monster encyclopedia entry on Krampus has tidbits such as Victorian scientists working to replicate his and Santa Claus' "good/bad radar" and speculates he is the product of ancient aliens interbreeding with Earth animals, which foreshadows Scooby Doo and Professor Pericles' ancestry.
- Hidden Depths: Sheriff Stone effortlessly busts moves on a Dance Dance Revolution-type game.
- Hidden Wire: The original Mystery Incorporated has one on the kids, and the kids have one on Brad.
- I Gave My Word: Though it isn't shown, ex-Mayor Jones gave back the pieces of the disc to the gang after the scheme was completed, as they have all of the pieces in the final scene.
- Insane Troll Logic: Fred confides to Daphne that the Krampus's cold, authoritative, and disciplinarian attitude reminds him of Mayor Dad and that he misses him, despite that all we've seen of the Krampus so far was that it was a complete literal monster. Given the Twist Ending, this can either be chalked up to Fred overacting since this is the first time he's done anything about his false father for a while or just being the usual Cloudcuckoolander, or Fred indirectly confessing to his parents that he feels they've been doing a worse job of parenting than the man who kidnapped him has and hopes that they'll have a Heel Realization from this.
- Irony:
- Fred reflects on how ex-Mayor Jones was far more critical of him than his actual parents are but nevertheless paid far more attention to him.
- During the video, Fred reflects on the bitter irony of how ex-Mayor Jones was more helpful to him than his actual parents.
- It's Personal: Implied to be why ex-Mayor Jones was happy to help out in the Krampus scheme against the original Mystery Incorporated, considering Pericles stole two of the disc pieces from him at the end of Season 1, Brad and Judy took Fred back from him, and Ricky bringing back the Myth Arc to the present day caused a few problems for Mayor Jones in Season 1.
- Monster of the Week: The Krampus, a monster from Alpine folklore who attacks Crystal Cove's "naughty" and whose roar turns people's hair white with terror.
- Mythology Gag:
- The password Mr. E. uses in his lab is similar to the FEED organ password from the original series.
- Charlie the Robot was in the Krampus costume.
- Oh, Crap!: While the original Mystery Inc.'s overall reactions to the video qualify, Mr. E in particular gets a specific one when he learns that Hot Dog Water took part in all of this.
- Out-Gambitted: The original Mystery Inc. took advantage the Krampus mystery to steal the other three pieces of the disc while the new Mystery Inc. was distracted. Too bad for them, the new gang set the whole thing up to steal their pieces while they were distracted. Their reactions to the video explaining it all were priceless.
- Rapid Aging: What the Krampus does to naughty children and people who get in his way, growing their hair out and turning it white just by roaring in their face. It's later explained that this is caused by a bunch of chemicals that Jason Wyatt came up with.
- Red Herring: The reveal of Charlie the Robot being dressed as Krampus comes mere moments before the original Mystery Inc. escapes with the briefcase. It appears as if the whole thing was masterminded by Pericles (who had earlier stated a fondness for Krampus), but that's very much not the case.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Mr. E was the only one of the original Mystery Inc. that thought Krampus would be a problem. The ending proves him right in a way he never saw coming.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Except this time, the gang and their allies along with the rest of the town are responsible for it in order to keep the Big Bad Ensemble at bay.
- Secret Test of Character: Early on, Fred let his parents see what was in his briefcase and said he wanted them to have it in case anything happened to him. During the video, Fred admits he secretly hoped his parents wouldn't betray him. It's the one part where he's not smug about pulling off his gambit.
- So Proud of You: Upon seeing the laser defenses in the Mystery Machine, Brad and Judy express pride in Fred's abilities.
- Twist Ending: The Krampus mystery was staged by the current Mystery Inc., Mayor Nettles, Sheriff Stone, Mary-Ann, Jason Wyatt, Hot Dog Water, and even former mayor Fred Jones Sr. all just to get the remaining three pieces of the disc. This is revealed by a DVD they leave for the original Mystery Inc. in exchange for the three pieces Marcie managed to steal.
- What Are You in For?: When Shaggy and Scooby go to the prison cafeteria to eat the food there, one of the inmates asks Shaggy this. Shaggy's response is, "The Food!" At first, it seems to be a filler scene, since nothing of note happens, but the Twist Ending reveals that the duo used this moment as a ploy to hand off the pieces of the disc to ex-Mayor Jones.
- When the Planets Align: Then Ancient Astronauts will return.
- Fred: We have the whole thing. That leaves only one question.
Scooby: What do we do now?
