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 anthropomorphiccats, 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" has not been updated since 2014.
The comic series often includes video game-based humor and satire targeting the video game industry.[7][8]
History
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 in July 20, 2023,[17] and released a new addition to comic sometime in December of the same year.[18][19]
Development
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
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
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 sarcasticquips 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
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
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
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]
Related comics
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
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,[36] and asked his users to help "support me in this newest venture". Ramsoomairt later disabled adverts on the VG Cats website altogether in 2020, citing ethical reasons.[citation needed]
As of March 2022, the VG Lewds Patreon was shut down without comment, with Ramsoomair later stating that he wanted to focus on a ending for the strip.[37][16]
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.[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]
