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Both Ghostbusters and Scooby-Doo vans in town joke meme

The meme features a nighttime photo of two iconic fictional franchise vans parked side-by-side under a gas station canopy: the white Ecto-1 from the Ghostbusters franchise, and the bright multicolored Mystery Machine from the Scooby-Doo franchise. Two unidentifiable people stand next to the Ecto-1. Text placed above the photo reads 'How bad do things have to be for both of these to be in town?', creating a humorous joke that the simultaneous presence of the ghost-fighting team's vehicle and the mystery-solving group's vehicle implies the town is facing an unprecedentedly severe combination of supernatural hauntings and strange unsolved mysteries.
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How bad do things have to be for both of these to be in town?

Overview

The meme features a nighttime photo of two iconic fictional franchise vans parked side-by-side under a gas station canopy: the white Ecto-1 from the Ghostbusters franchise, and the bright multicolored Mystery Machine from the Scooby-Doo franchise. Two unidentifiable people stand next to the Ecto-1. Text placed above the photo reads 'How bad do things have to be for both of these to be in town?', creating a humorous joke that the simultaneous presence of the ghost-fighting team's vehicle and the mystery-solving group's vehicle implies the town is facing an unprecedentedly severe combination of supernatural hauntings and strange unsolved mysteries.

Origin notes

This meme is sourced from the X.com (formerly Twitter) account WholesomeMeme, distributed via RSS feed. It leverages cross-generational nostalgia for the two popular family-friendly media franchises to make a relatable joke about absurdly terrible hypothetical situations. The photo likely features real-life replica versions of the two fictional vans, with the humorous caption added by a creator before being shared by the WholesomeMeme account.

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