VG Cats



VG Cats (short for Video Game Cats ) is a webcomic written and drawn by Canadian 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. Strips are usually presented in a large format and in full color. The author generally sets Mondays as days for updating the comic; the author mocks his tardiness in updating in one strip.

The VG Cats website also hosts Adventure Log, the official Final Fantasy XI webcomic, also written and drawn by Ramsoomair.

History
The first VG Cats strip was released on September 4, 2001. Prior to taking the VGCats.com domain, the comic was hosted at vgcats.cjb.net on Cjb.net.

For a period, VG Cats was affiliated with BuzzComix.

During April 1 (April Fools' Day), 2003, Ramsoomair posted a "Krug" page in place of the regular home page.

Some guest strips are no longer available on VGCats. They include:
 * "Rockman Zero Translation" by Flippy The Chimp
 * "The Birdshit's Everywhere" by Hammy W. Hamster
 * "The Biolizard: The Prototype of Ultimate Life" by Equidna

Characters
VG Cats is not a storyline-based comic. There are several characters that are staples of the comic. Recurring characters in VG Cats include:



Leo Leonardo, The Third
Leo Leonardo, The Third is a 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. In some strips, including strips involving Leo starring in the roles of other video game characters, he reveals a passion for killing other living creatures. Leo suffers from parasite worms in "Worms". In "The Dynamic Duo" he has an alter ego named "Brief Boy" and is Pantsman's sidekick. Leo was named after one of Ramsoomair's real cats; Ramsoomair describes the association as "in name only." . Leo was introduced on September 4, 2001 in Strip 1, "Feelin' Gassy"



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. She is typically depicted as a sardonic voice of reason, or a sadist when encountering people who she feels are annoying. She is a fan and writer of slash fan fiction, and yaoi. Aeris is also named after one of Ramsoomair's real cats; Ramsoomair describes the association as "in name only." Aeris was introduced on September 4, 2001 in Strip 2, "Pika?".



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. Krug was introduced in Strip 26, "The Incredible Krug".



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". 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.



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".



Dr. F.G. Hobo
In strips 64 through 183, Dr. F.G. Hobo is an alley-dwelling lunatic given to telling absurd, rambling stories. He tends to speak with a drunken slur. Dr. Hobo was introduced in Strip 64, "Oh Canadia!". In Strip 183, "Gin City," some men find Dr. Hobo during a snowy night. One man touches Dr. Hobo's hand. The next several panels portray Dr. Hobo's body being placed in a body bag and taken into an ambulance.



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! Trading Card Game, Beyblade, and other collectible trading card games. Ternaldo is often used to represent the ubiquitous newbie or neophyte in gaming circles - someone who is overenthusiastic and completely clueless. Ternaldo was introduced in Strip 90, "Card Sharks".

Minor characters

 * GameCube, usually very cheery but extremely anti-online, but regardless good friends with PS2. He dies "due to a lack of original and exclusive releases" in Strip #221, "Operating Buddy".
 * 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 . An Xbox is featured speaking in "Box only want friend!" without any anthropomorphic traits . In "Open Cheese Night" Xbox and Xbox 360 appear in a comedy routine
 * Nokia N-Gage not often noticed, and later becomes a rather successful poet.
 * Mrs. SNES is the mother of GameCube, Dreamcast and Wii.
 * Sega Genesis, married to Mrs. SNES and the father of GameCube and Dreamcast. He is extremely disappointed at Dreamcast for 'dropping out'.
 * Game Boy Advance & GBA SP are depicted as stereotypical hip-hop street punks.
 * Nintendo DS shown as a pervert with an obsession of having people touch him/her "down there".
 * R.O.B. the doctor who fails to save GameCube's life due to his lack of mobility . The R.O.B. is one of the NES robots originally released with the NES.
 * Wii is the little brother of the GameCube. He has not appeared in the comic yet; in "Operating Buddy" GameCube refers to the Wii as his "new baby broth-".
 * 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..
 * Major Payne. Pantsman states that he was expelled out of the army for being a masochist Payne was introduced in Strip 69, "Boundaries of Good Taste".
 * Mr. Potatomoto. A joke on Shigeru Miyamoto's name and a parody of Nintendo. He is also Ramsoomair's favorite character.
 * Mr. Kutarchini. A joke on Ken Kutaragi's name and a parody of Sony.
 * PSP - PSP is unwanted and unused by his owner, Pantsman.

ronin
(unused/FAN) the unused kitten, this note is found in deviantart "info: ronin is a stray kitten whews found by arise and Leo, she remembers her mom and dad in a island before a fire. and she will find out who is her mom and dad, with her help of arise and Leo... and now she got a powerful golden DSi that can do like a real dsi but also got magic powers like FIR, ICE, ELE, WIN, AND AID. and she can plug a VGZ in a yellow penal for going into cyberspace of the game... (like TRON, lol)"

Print version
Ramsoomair has stated that the print book, scheduled to come out in early 2007, will instead be postponed to the holiday season, due to work on a new project. The same comixpedia.com interview indicates that the project in question is something that fans have often tried to do.

VG Cats: The Animated Series
Chris Boe, a friend and associate of Ramsoomair, created an animated version of VG Cats. Boe writes and animates 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.

On November 16, 2006, Boe said that he halted production so he could focus on his other works.

Voice actors include:
 * Chris Boe as Krug and Major Payne
 * Cris Mertens as the Police Officer
 * Nicholas
 * Marie
 * Eddy
 * Kevin
 * Scott Ramsoomair as Scott Ramsoomair/Pantsman

VG Kitties
VG Kitties, a 2003 spinoff, consists of three comics and a wallpaper portraying Leo and Aeris as talking domestic cats . As of 2007 CafePress sells VG Kitties merchandise. Ramsoomair posted VG Kitties as a reward for voting for the strip in BuzzComix.

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

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
 * 2004: Outstanding Character (Visual), Outstanding Use of Color, Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic, Outstanding Gaming Comic.
 * 2005: Winner: Outstanding Use of Color, Outstanding Comedic Comic, Outstanding Short Form Comic, Winner: Outstanding Gaming Comic. Honorable mention: Character Art & Artist.
 * 2006: Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic, Winner: Outstanding Gaming Comic.
 * 2007: Outstanding Use of Color, Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic, Outstanding Gaming Comic.

Merchandise
In 2003, Ramsoomair designated CafePress as the provider of the VG Cats store. Ramsoomair ended the relationship with CafePress. On June 16, 2004 Ramsoomair announced that he established his store on Hyperion Press.

As of 2008 ZeStuff hosts the VG Cats Store.

As of 2008 CafePress sells VG Cats merchandise even though Ramsoomair is no longer affiliated with CafePress.

Trivia

 * When employees at Maxis saw the VG Cats comic that parodied Spore they responded by remaking the comic using the in game models for all of the aliens . The Maxis version can be found here. Maxis also created models of each of the creatures featured in the strip (save for the green one) and sent them to Ramsoomair, as seen here

FAN COMIC
one unused cat is something, like ronin. in vgcats fan comics (VGZ) "video, game, zodiac," example: "http://finlopow.deviantart.com/gallery/32543922"