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VG Cats

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VG Cats
Logo with the two main characters, Leo (left) and Aeris (right)
Author(s)Scott Ramsoomair
Websitehttp://www.vgcats.com/
Launch dateSeptember 1, 2001[1]
Genre(s)Video game, parody

VG Cats (short for Video Game Cats[2][3]) is a webcomic written and drawn by Canadian cartoonist Scott Ramsoomair. Published on its own website, it follows the adventures of a pair of anthropomorphic cats, who both have an interest in video games, and often play the roles of characters in popular games that are parodied in the strip.[4][5]

The VG Cats website also hosted Adventure Log, a Final Fantasy XI webcomic written and drawn by Ramsoomair, and Super Effective,[6] a webcomic parody of the Pokémon game series. Adventure Log has not been updated since 2008 and "Super Effective" was on hiatus from 2014 , recently resuming updates on September 8th, 2024.

The comic series often includes video game-based humor and satire targeting the video game industry.[7][8]

History

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Ramsoomair said that he began the strip due to boredom at work; he created comics during his lunch breaks.[9] The comic's protagonists, Leo and Aeris, were both named after Ramsoomair's real life pet cats,[2] who were themselves named after characters from Final Fantasy. The first VG Cats strip was released on September 1, 2001. (His answer on the FAQ page said it was bad timing, probably in reference to the September 11 attacks that happened that same month.)[1] Prior to taking the VGCats.com domain, the comic was hosted at www.vgcats.cjb.net.[10] For a period, VG Cats was affiliated with BuzzComix.[11] During April 1 (April Fools' Day), Ramsoomair replaces the regular home page with fake pages, like a "Krug" page in 2003[12][13] or a Myspace profile for Solid Snake in 2007.[14]

In 2006, Ramsoomair made a strip depicting creatures from Maxis' video game 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.[15]

In February 2022, Ramsoomair announced the end of the webcomic in a now deleted post on Patreon.[16] However, he later began to update the main Patreon account again on July 20, 2023,[17] and released a new addition to comic sometime in December of the same year.[18][19]

Development

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Ramsoomair said that VGCats was "basically ... along the lines of Penny Arcade." The comic originally focused on 2 gamers;[2] Ramsoomair said by 2006 that within the preceding one to two years he began focusing upon parodies of video games instead of the two gamer format.[5]

Characters

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Partial cast of characters
Partial cast of characters

VG Cats is not a plot driven comic, though there are several characters that are staples of the comic. Ramsoomair said that all of his characters "relate" to him "at some point."[20]

Joystiq has defined them as "adorable characters who feel most at home with violence, language, and sexual innuendo".[21] Central characters in VG Cats include:

Aeris

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Aeris is blue-eyed female cat with pink fur. She has a short-temper, and frequently verbally and physically abuses Leo. Her violent behavior extends to how she interacts with other characters, often assaulting other characters in the strip, as well making sarcastic quips towards them. She is also shown to have an interest in fan fiction, as well as both reading and writing yaoi.[22][23] Aeris made her first appearance on September 4, 2001 in Strip #2, "Pika?".[24]

Leo Leonardo, The Third

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Leo Leonardo, The Third[25] is a green-eyed male cat with grey fur. Leo is shown to be unintelligent, impulsive, and have a loose grasp of reality. It is implied that Leo may have been born with Intellectual disability.[26] He does, however, occasionally show signs of intelligence,[27] and even takes part in similarly violent behavior as Aeris.[28] Leo was introduced on September 4, 2001 in Strip #1, "Feelin' Gassy".[29]

Pantsman

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The alter ego of Scott Ramsoomair, Pantsman is an incompetent superhero who concealed 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".[30] He also wore 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.[31]

Animated series

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The logo for VG Cats: The Animated Series

Chris Boe, a friend and associate of Ramsoomair, created an animated adaptation of VG Cats.[32][33] Only the first half of the first episode, "Episode 1: A Tale of Two Kitties", has been produced, and was released on January 21, 2006. Boe wrote and animated the episode.[34]

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Bad Mushrooms, a sprite comic created by Ramsoomair prior to the creation of VG Cats, is hosted on VGCats.com.[10]

Adventure Log, the official Final Fantasy XI webcomic written and drawn by Ramsoomair.[35] It has not been updated since 2008.

Super Effective, also done by Ramsoomair, began in April 2008 as a comic parody of the popular game series Pokémon.[6] It is also hosted on the VGCats website. It has not been updated since 2014.

VG Lewds

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After comic #380 in 2018, Scott created a Patreon account for furry-themed pornography based around Leo and Aeris among other video game related characters titled VG Lewds.[36] On the same day as the aforementioned comic, Scott stated in a blog post that the site's advertising revenue was no longer able to sustain him financially, and asked his users to help "support me in this newest venture".[36]

As of March 2022, the VG Lewds Patreon was shut down without comment, with Ramsoomair later stating that he wanted to focus on an ending for the strip.[37][16]

Merchandise

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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.[38][39] Afterwards ZeStuff hosted the VG Cats Store.[40] As of 2008 Shark Robot hosts the VGCats store.[41] As of 2008, Ramsoomair is no longer affiliated with CafePress, but it still sells VG Cats merchandise on its website.[42]

Awards

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

References

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  1. ^ a b FAQ. VG Cats
  2. ^ a b c "All About the Site" Archived October 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, VG Cats
  3. ^ "Internet provides new way to get daily dose of funnies" The Rocket page 2 Archived December 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Maragos, Nich (November 7, 2005). "Will Strip For Games: Gaming Comics Online". 1UP.com. p. 3. Retrieved December 6, 2006.
  5. ^ a b "About the Site." VGCats. October 17, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  6. ^ a b "Super Effective", VG Cats
  7. ^ "Geeks' favourite Web comics". New Straits Times.
  8. ^ "Interview: DC's Web Comics Imprint", IGN.
  9. ^ "NYCC 2008 VG Cats Interview", Tokyopop.
  10. ^ a b "#01 Bad Bushrooms", VG Cats
  11. ^ "Archive of the home page of" BuzzComix
  12. ^ "welcome to kgug!", VG Cats
  13. ^ "Main.htm", VG Cats
  14. ^ "April Fool's Alert #8: VG Cats gets a makeover ... Metal GEAR?!". Joystiq.
  15. ^ Sources:
  16. ^ a b "VG Cats is creating Comics & Art | Patreon". March 12, 2022. Archived from the original on March 12, 2022. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  17. ^ "VG Cats | creating Comics & Art | Patreon". November 20, 2023. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  18. ^ "VG Cats!". December 8, 2023. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  19. ^ "VG Cats! Comics". VG Cats. Archived from the original on January 27, 2024. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  20. ^ "Gonzo Gaming: An Interview with Scott Ramsoomair of VG Cats" Archived December 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. ComixTalk.
  21. ^ "VG Cats tackle the next-generation of consoles". Joystiq.
  22. ^ "VG Cats! Comics". January 26, 2021. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  23. ^ "VG Cats! Comics". November 9, 2020. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  24. ^ "#02: Pika?", VG Cats
  25. ^ "#97: Behind the Scenes, Part 1", VG Cats
  26. ^ "VG Cats! Leo & Aeris Collection". February 27, 2021. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  27. ^ "VG Cats! Comics". February 24, 2021. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  28. ^ "VG Cats! Comics". March 27, 2021. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  29. ^ "#01: Feelin' Gassy", VG Cats. Retrieved February 13, 2009.
  30. ^ "#87: It's Lightish Red", VG Cats
  31. ^ "#37: I Like Bunnies", VG Cats
  32. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210516104441/http://www.vgcats.com/oldnews.php, (see entry for Thursday, January 19, 2006)
  33. ^ "VGCats.htm", Chris Boe
  34. ^ "VG Cats: The Animated Series Episode 1 part 1 & 2" Archived March 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. SheezyArt. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
  35. ^ Adventure log Archived April 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Vg Cats
  36. ^ a b Ramsoomair, Scott. "Lewdity". Archived from the original on March 4, 2019.VG Cats
  37. ^ "VG Lewds is creating Lewd Comics, Pinup Art, and Rule34".
  38. ^ "Main Page", VG Cats
  39. ^ "VG Cats Items", Hyperion Press
  40. ^ "VG Cats" ZeStuff, January 8, 2007
  41. ^ VG Cats: T-Shirts, Prints, Buttons and More! Archived December 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Shark Robot
  42. ^ "VG Cats online stores on CafePress:
    • Krug Keel: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store.aspx?s=krugkeel
    • Pac Cat: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store.aspx?s=paccat
    • Pantsman: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store.aspx?s=pantsman
    • Snowy Day: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store.aspx?s=la_snowyday .
    • Grr Baby/Kitty Thong: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store.aspx?s=grrbaby.
  43. ^ "2003 ceremony of Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards". Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved May 15, 2008.
  44. ^ a b c d "The 2004 Cartoonists' Choice Awards". Archived from the original on January 17, 2010. Retrieved May 15, 2008.
  45. ^ "The 2005 Cartoonist's Choice Awards". Cartoonist's Choice Awards. 2005. Archived from the original on May 3, 2008. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  46. ^ "Outstanding Use of Color". ryanestrada.com. Retrieved January 30, 2008.
  47. ^ "Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic". ryanestrada.com. Retrieved January 30, 2008.
  48. ^ "Outstanding Gaming Comic". ryanestrada.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2008.
  49. ^ "The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards – 2008 Winners & finalists". Archived from the original on March 10, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2008.
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