VG Cats is a
webcomicWebcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
written and drawn by Canadian
cartoonistA cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Scott Ramsoomair. Published on its own
websiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
, it features the adventures of a pair of
anthropomorphicAnthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
catThe cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s, who often play the roles of
characterA player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
s 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, however, the current update schedule is once a month or even less; he frequently mocks his tardiness in updating in various strips due to personal reasons and frequent convention appearances.
VG Cats is a
webcomicWebcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
written and drawn by Canadian
cartoonistA cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Scott Ramsoomair. Published on its own
websiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
, it features the adventures of a pair of
anthropomorphicAnthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
catThe cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s, who often play the roles of
characterA player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
s 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, however, the current update schedule is once a month or even less; he frequently mocks his tardiness in updating in various strips due to personal reasons and frequent convention appearances.
The
VG Cats website also hosts
Adventure Log, the official
Final Fantasy XI, also known as Final Fantasy XI Online, is a MMORPG developed and published by Square as part of the Final Fantasy series. It was released in Japan on Sony's PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002, and was released for Microsoft's Windows-based personal computers in November 2002...
webcomic written and drawn by Ramsoomair, and
Super Effective, a webcomic parody of the
Pokémonis a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
game series. Adventure Log has not been updated since 2008.
The comic series often includes video game-based humor and
satireSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
targeting the video game industry.
History
Ramsoomair said that he began the strip due to boredom at work; he created comics during his lunch breaks. 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) Prior to taking the VGCats.com domain, the comic was hosted at www.vgcats.cjb.net. For a period,
VG Cats was affiliated with BuzzComix. During April 1 (
April Fools' DayApril Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
), Ramsoomair replaces the regular home page with fake pages, like a "Krug" page in 2003 or a
MyspaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
profile for
Solid SnakeMetal Gear, initially released in 1987, introduces Solid Snake, the rookie recruit of the elite special-forces unit FOXHOUND. Snake is sent by team leader Big Boss into the rogue nation Outer Heaven to rescue his missing teammate Gray Fox and discover who or what the "METAL GEAR" mentioned is, and...
in 2007.
In 2006, Ramsoomair made a strip depicting creatures from
MaxisMaxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
' videogame
SporeSpore is a multi-genre single-player god game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. The game was released for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems in September 2008 as 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.
Development
Ramsoomair said that
VGCats is "basically" "along the lines of
Penny ArcadePenny Arcade is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website loonygames.com. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have established their own site, which is typically updated with a new comic...
." The comic originally focused on two gamers; 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.
Characters
VG Cats is not a storyline-based 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."
JoystiqJoystiq is a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 that has since become one of the most successful sites within the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs. It is the centerpiece of WIN's own network of video gaming blogs, which also includes a blog dealing specifically with the popular MMORPG World of...
has defined them as "adorable characters who feel most at home with violence, language, and sexual innuendo". Recurring characters in
VG Cats include:
Aeris
A blue-eyed female cat with pink fur, Aeris was introduced on September 4, 2001 in Strip 2, "
Pika?".
Leo Leonardo, The Third
Leo Leonardo, The Third is a green-eyed male cat with grey fur. Leo was named after one of Ramsoomair's real cats; Ramsoomair describes the association as "in name only." Ramsoomair euthanized the real-life cat Leo on July 19, 2010. Leo was introduced on September 4, 2001 in Strip 1, "
Feelin' Gassy".
Pantsman
The
alter egoAn alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
of
Scott Ramsoomair,
Pantsman is an incompetent
superheroA superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
who conceals his identity by wearing
trousersTrousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately...
and sometimes
underpants-Boxer shorts:Boxer shorts, or simply boxers, have an elasticated waistband that is at or near the wearer's waist, while the leg sections are fairly loose and extend to the mid-thigh. There is usually a fly, either with or without buttons...
on his head. His greatest weakness is
vodka coolerAlcopop is a colloquial term describing certain flavored alcoholic beverages, including:#malt beverages to which various fruit juices or other flavorings have been added...
, which causes him to drop his trousers and transform into "Peter Pantsless". He also wears a pair of
jeansJeans are trousers made from denim. Some of the earliest American blue jeans were made by Jacob Davis, Calvin Rogers, and Levi Strauss in 1873. Starting in the 1950s, jeans, originally designed for cowboys, became popular among teenagers. Historic brands include Levi's, Lee, and Wrangler...
around his neck, to provide a two tailed
capeCape can be used to describe any sleeveless outer garment, such as a poncho, but usually it is a long garment that covers only the back half of the wearer, fastening around the neck. They were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon, and have had periodic...
. He was introduced in Strip 37, "
I Like Bunnies", to help explain the inconsistent updating of the comic.
Animated Series
Chris Boe, a friend and associate of Ramsoomair, created an animated version of
VG Cats. Boe wrote and animated the episode. Only the first half of the first episode, "
Episode 1: A Tale of Two Kitties", has been produced, it was released on January 21, 2006.
Related comics
Bad Mushrooms, a
sprite comicSprite comics are webcomics that use computer sprites, often taken from video games, for significant portions of their artwork. There are also animated sprite comics where each "strip" is a separate mini-movie, animated using technologies such as Flash.The comic Neglected Mario Characters is...
created by Ramsoomair prior to the creation of
VG Cats, is hosted on VGCats.com.
Adventure Log, the official
Final Fantasy XI webcomic written and drawn by Ramsoomair. 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
Pokémonis a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
. It is also hosted on the VGCats website. It is currently updated infrequently.
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. Afterwards
ZeStuffOpened in 2004, ZeStuff was an online retailer which sold tabletop gaming, webcomic and geek-related merchandise and apparel. They also sold official merchandise from such webcomics as Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire, VG Cats, and 8-bit Theatre, and games like Carcassonne. The site stopped...
hosted the
VG Cats Store. As of 2008 Shark Robot hosts the VGCats store. As of 2008, Ramsoomair is no longer affiliated with CafePress, but it still sells
VG Cats merchandise on its website.
Awards
VG Cats has been nominated for several Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards, winning 2 awards in 2005 and 1 in 2006.
- 2003
The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards is an award voted on by web cartoonists themselves. This was the first year that artists were invited to submit "introductions" for the awards, creating an online awards ceremony.-Outstanding Comic:...
:
- 2004
The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards is an award voted on by web cartoonists. Because of planning problems, there was no online ceremony in 2004.-Outstanding Comic:* Count Your Sheep — by Adrian Ramos...
: , , ,
- 2005
- Outstanding Comic:* Scary Go Round by John Allison * Copper by Kazu Kibuishi* Ctrl+Alt+Del by Tim Buckley* Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques- Outstanding Newcomer:* Beaver & Steve by James Turner...
: Winner: , , , Winner: . Honorable mention:
- 2006
The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards is an award voted on by web cartoonists. The results of the 2006 WCCA were announced on 17 July 2006. The ceremony was introduced by the characters of Kristofer Straub....
: , Winner:
- 2007
The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards is an award voted on by webcartoonists. The nominations were announced in January 2007 and the results in February 2007...
: (finalist), (finalist), (finalist).
- 2008
The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards is an annual award voted on by web cartoonists themselves. The nominations ballots for the 8th annual award cover webcomics active in 2007 and were emailed to pre-registered voters by 7 January 2008 and closed those submissions on 23 January 2008...
(finalist)
External links