VG Cats

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VG Cats
The VG Cats strip "Link Finally Snaps" parodies the video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.[1]
Author(s)	Scott Ramsoomair
Website	http://www.vgcats.com/ RSS web feed
Launch date	September 1, 2001[2]
Genre(s)	Video game, Parody, Gag-a-day

VG Cats (short for Video Game Cats)^[3][4] is a webcomic written and drawn by Canadian cartoonist Scott Ramsoomair. Published on its own website, it features the adventures of a pair of anthropomorphic cats, who often play the roles of characters in popular video games that are parodied in the strip.^[5] Strips are usually presented in a large format and in full color. The author generally sets Mondays as days for updating the comic, although he's adapted to about a bi-monthly update schedule recently; he mocks his tardiness in updating in various strips.^[6][7]

The VG Cats website also hosts Adventure Log, the official Final Fantasy XI webcomic written and drawn by Ramsoomair, and Super Effective,^[8] a webcomic parody of the Pokémon game series.

The comic series often includes video game-based humor and satire targeting the video game industry.^[9][10]

History

Ramsoomair said that he began the strip due to boredom at work; he created comics during his lunch breaks.^[11] The first VG Cats strip was released on September 1, 2001. (His answer on the FAQ page said it was a bad timing, probably in reference to the September 11 attacks that happened that same year)^[2] Prior to taking the VGCats.com domain, the comic was hosted at www.vgcats.cjb.net.^[12] For a period, VG Cats was affiliated with BuzzComix.^[13] During April 1 (April Fools' Day), Ramsoomair replaces the regular home page with fake pages, like a "Krug" page in 2003 ^[14][15] or a Myspace profile for Solid Snake in 2007. ^[16]

The 100th strip became the first and only Flash-animated strip (there is a .gif comic parodying Halo) in the series so far. The 200th strip has yet to be published (although it started with #201), but Ramsoomair posted on the archive listed as "TBA (To be announced) Never."^[17]

In 2006, Ramsoomair made a strip depicting creatures from Maxis' videogame Spore, and Maxis created a version of the strip replacing all the drawn characters with in-game versions, and sent him custom figurines of the creatures.^[18]

Some guest strips are no longer available on VGCats. They include:

• "Rockman Zero Translation" by Flippy The Chimp^[19]
• "The Birdshit's Everywhere" by Hammy W. Hamster^[20]
• "The Biolizard: The Prototype of Ultimate Life" by Equidna^[21]

Characters

VG Cats is not a storyline-based comic. There are several characters that are staples of the comic. Ramsoomair said that all of his characters "relate" to him "at some point."^[22]

Joystiq has defined them as "adorable characters who feel most at home with violence, language, and sexual innuendo".^[23] Recurring characters in VG Cats include:

Aeris

A blue-eyed female cat with pink fur, Aeris is friends with Leo, though she hardly ever tolerates his stupidity. Though easily the most sensible character, she has a look of cuteness about her but a quick temper and little patience for the foolishness that surrounds her, and is almost always upset with the other characters, to the point of terminating Leo's existence in strip #258 when she travels back in time and prevents his birth, effectively "aborting him from time" ^[24] (two strips later, Leo reappeared, claiming that he "got better").^[25] She is typically depicted as a sardonic voice of reason, or a sadist when encountering people who she feels are annoying. Aeris was introduced on September 4, 2001 in Strip 2, "Pika?".^[26]

She is a Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children fan, and is left-handed. She is not very good at fighting games and usually gets irritated whenever Leo beats her and detests the Xbox. She also parodies video game characters just as much as Leo does, mostly female ones. She is a fan and writer of slash fan fiction,^[27] and yaoi.^[28] Aeris is also named after one of Ramsoomair's real cats; Ramsoomair describes the association as "in name only."^[3]

Leo Leonardo, The Third

Leo Leonardo, The Third^[29] is a 21-year old^[24] green-eyed male cat with grey fur. Leo, enthusiastic but credulous, is typically the more foolhardy of the two cats. While he usually projects a general air of idiocy, he has shown signs of a deeper intelligence, or at least marginal quantities of common sense. Some strips show Leo starring in the roles of video game characters such as Solid Snake, Link,^[30] Fox McCloud, Leon S. Kennedy, and Mario. Leo was named after one of Ramsoomair's real cats; Ramsoomair describes the association as "in name only."^[3] Leo was introduced on September 4, 2001 in Strip 1, "Feelin' Gassy".^[31]

He was born from an orange female cat with dark green eyes, and a grey male cat with light green eyes, who appears characterized as a gentleman with a top hat, monocle, bow tie and tea cup.^[24]

Pantsman

The alter ego of Scott Ramsoomair, Pantsman is an incompetent superhero who conceals his identity by wearing trousers and sometimes underpants on his head. His greatest weakness is vodka cooler, which causes him to drop his trousers and transform into "Peter Pantsless".^[32] He also wears a pair of jeans around his neck, to provide a two tailed cape. He was introduced in Strip 37, "I Like Bunnies", to help explain the inconsistent updating of the comic.^[33]

Krug, Lord of the Unpleasant

A horned red demon of limited intelligence, a childlike demeanor, and a voracious appetite (occasionally eating companions), Krug can act in a violent manner at times and tends to talk in the third person. His alter ego is Dr. Van Kruglor, and is the arch-nemesis of Pantsman.^[32] Krug was introduced in Strip 26, "The Incredible Krug".^[34]

Ternaldo

Ternaldo is a collectible card game fan oblivious to the finer points of social interaction. He is a Galka, a playable character race in Final Fantasy XI. Ternaldo enjoys Yu-Gi-Oh!, Beyblade, and other collectible trading card games.^[35][36] Ternaldo is often used to represent the ubiquitous newbie in gaming circles - someone who is overenthusiastic and completely clueless. Ternaldo was introduced in Strip 90, "Card Sharks".^[37]

Dr. F.G. Hobo

In strips 64 through 183, Dr. F.G. Hobo^[38] is an alley-dwelling lunatic given to telling absurd, rambling stories. He tends to speak with a drunken slur, and uses a dead squirrel as his phone.^[39] Dr. Hobo was introduced in Strip 64, "Oh Canadia".^[40] In Strip 183, "Gin City", some men find Dr. Hobo during a snowy night. A paramedic checks Dr. Hobo's pulse, then the next several panels portray Dr. Hobo's body being placed in a body bag and taken into an ambulance.^[41]

Johnny Evilguy

Johnny Evilguy is a greedy and unscrupulous antagonist named after an example character in the Neverwinter Nights scenario creation guide. He usually appears as a shop owner, in various circumstances, often trying to rid himself of a surplus of testicle-based produce. He was introduced in Strip 52, "Nutsack".^[42]

Major Payne

Pantsman states that Major Payne was expelled from the army for being a masochist.^[43] Payne was introduced in Strip 69, "Boundaries of Good Taste".^[43]

Minor characters

Most of these characters are named after video game consoles, and are drawn to physically resemble an anthropomorphized version of the consoles they represent.

• GameCube, usually very cheery character who is extremely anti-online but good friends with PS2 regardless.^[44] He dies "due to a lack of original and exclusive releases" in Strip #221, "Operating Buddy".^[45] His last words are "Shiggy?...is that you?"
• PlayStation 2, GameCube's more popular but somewhat simple friend; equally cheery.
• PC and Xbox seen once in the comic appearing to be good friends, manage to trigger GameCube's anti-online attitude.^[44] An Xbox is featured speaking in "Box only want friend!" without any anthropomorphic traits.^[46] In "Open Cheese Night" Xbox and Xbox 360 appear in a comedy routine.^[47]
• Nokia N-Gage often goes unnoticed,^[44][48] and later becomes a rather successful poet.^[49]
• Mrs. SNES is the mother of GameCube, Dreamcast and Wii.^[50][45]
• Sega Genesis, married to Mrs. SNES and the father of GameCube and Dreamcast. He is extremely disappointed at Dreamcast for 'dropping out'.^[50]
• Game Boy Advance & GBA SP are depicted as stereotypical hip-hop street punks.^[51]
• Nintendo DS shown as a pervert with an obsession of having people touch him/her "down there".^[51][52]
• R.O.B. is a doctor who fails to save GameCube's life due to his lack of mobility.^[45] The R.O.B. is one of the NES robots originally released with the NES.
• Dreamcast son of Mrs. SNES and Genesis. He is very angry at his father for always criticizing him. He is said to have "dropped out" because the real Dreamcast was taken off the market after only two years.^[50]
• Mr. Potatamoto. Ramsoomair described him as a "a little tiny potato Shiggy Miyamoto."^[22] Potatamoto represents Nintendo in several comics.^{[53][54][55][56]} Ramsoomair said that Potatamoto is his favourite character.^[57]
• Mr. Kutarchini. A joke on Ken Kutaragi's name and a representation of Sony. He is a zucchini.^[55][56]
• The Peas, a crowd of gullible peas who worship Potatamoto. Due to this, they are frequently scammed and swindled by various vegetable videogame producers. Known peas are "Pea-Bob" and "Pea-Steve."
• PSP - PSP is un-wanted and un-used by his owner, Pantsman.^[58]
• Game Boy and Game Boy Color - Game Boy and Game Boy Color are two grouchy old men who always gripe about how their generation of Pokemon (the first 150) are better than the 493 now.^[59]

Animated Series

The logo for VG Cats: The Animated Series

Chris Boe, a friend and associate of Ramsoomair, created an animated version of VG Cats.^[60][61] Boe wrote and animated the episodes. The series, VG Cats: The Animated Series, is produced by Boe and VGCats.com. As of 2008, the first half of one episode, "Episode 1: A Tale of Two Kitties", has been produced. The first episode was released on January 21, 2006.^[62] On November 16, 2006, Boe said that he halted production so he could focus on his other works.^[63]

Voice actors include:^[64]

• Chris Boe as Krug and Major Payne
• Cris Mertens as the Police Officer
• Nicholas
• Marie
• Eddy
• Kevin
• Scott Ramsoomair as Scott Ramsoomair/Pantsman

Related comics

Bad Mushrooms, a sprite comic created by Ramsoomair prior to the creation of VG Cats, is hosted on VGCats.com.^[12]

Adventure Log, the official Final Fantasy XI webcomic written and drawn by Ramsoomair.^[65]

Super Effective, also done by Ramsoomair, began in April 2008 as a comic parody the popular game series Pokémon.^[8] It is also hosted on the VGCats website. The strip was originally intended to feature on Mondays, at the same time as VG Cats, but Ramsoomair decided to change the time to Thursdays.

VG Kitties, a 2003 spin-off, consists of three comics and a wallpaper portraying Leo and Aeris as talking domestic cats.^{[66][67][68][69]} Ramsoomair posted VG Kitties as a reward for voting for the strip in BuzzComix.^[70][71]

Merchandise

In 2003, Ramsoomair designated CafePress as the provider of the VG Cats store; Ramsoomair soon ended the relationship with CafePress. On June 16, 2004 Ramsoomair announced that he established his store on Hyperion Press.^[72][73] As of 2008 ZeStuff hosts the VG Cats Store.^[74] As of 2008, Ramsoomair is no longer affiliated with CafePress, but it still sells VG Cats merchandise on its website.^[75]

Awards

VG Cats has been nominated for several Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards, winning 2 awards in 2005 and 1 in 2006.

• 2003: Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic^[76]
• 2004: Outstanding Character (Visual),^[77] Outstanding Use of Color,^[77] Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic,^[77] Outstanding Gaming Comic.^[77]
• 2005: Winner: Outstanding Use of Color, Outstanding Comedic Comic, Outstanding Short Form Comic, Winner: Outstanding Gaming Comic. Honorable mention: Character Art & Artist.^{[citation needed]}
• 2006: Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic, Winner: Outstanding Gaming Comic.^{[citation needed]}
• 2007: Outstanding Use of Color (finalist),^[78] Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic (finalist),^[79] Outstanding Gaming Comic (finalist).^[80]
• 2008 Outstanding use of the medium (finalist)^[81]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

VG Cats

• VG Cats web site