After losing co-founder Joseph Barbera and animator Ed Benedict, Hanna Barbera is again saying good-bye to yet another legend. Iwao Takamoto, who designed Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and the rest of the Mysteries Inc. gang, passed away yesterday at the age of 81.

While Ed Benedict is credited with designing the original Flintstones characters, Takamoto designed the Great Gazoo. He also created Muttley, the wheezing dog featured on such shows as Laff-A-Lympics, Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines and Wacky Races; and Astro, the Jetson's dog who, oddly enough, sounded not unlike Scooby-Doo (both were voiced by Don Messick). His other credits at Hanna Barbera include Josie and the Pussycats, Jabberjaw and many, many others.

First of all, I've been out of the loop for the past few days so I wasn't able to post about this when the news first broke, but for those who haven't yet heard, animation legend Ed Benedict passed away on August 28 at the age of 94. Casual cartoon fans may not recognize the name Ed Benedict, but they will recognize his contribution to television animation, as he was responsible for designing some of the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters such as Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, Quick Draw McGraw and Huckleberry Hound. It was Benedict's designs that made Hanna-Barbera's cartoons instantly recognizable. Before joining Hanna-Barbera in the latter half of the 1950s, Benedict worked at Disney before moving to TV commercials and eventually a gig at MGM with Tex Avery. Ren and Stimpy creator John K. was also an admirer of Benedict's work, and has a lovely tribute to the man over on his blog.

You see what I did? I took the "you're out" catchphrase from Project Runway and made it about homosexuality! Applaud me for my cleverness! ... Okay, don't. On to my point: The fashion industry has plenty of gay designers (shock, surprise) so it's not that startling to see more than a few on a reality show about fashion design. This season, there were a few brief discussions about sexual orientation, including some stories that let us better understand and appreciate the designers (like Daniel Vosovic's background and how accepting his parents were when he finally came out). Well, I was reading this article/interview with some of the designers about sex advice (I swear, a friend sent this to me) and was surprised to read that Zulema (aka She-tangi) is a lesbian. A married one, at that.