VG Cats

VG Cats (short for Video Game Cats) is a web-comic written and drawn by Scott Ramsoomair. Started on its own website, it features the adventures of a pair of anthropomorphic cats, who often play the roles of characters in popular everyday video games, which that are parodied in the strip. Strips are usually shown in a large format, as well as in full color. Ramsoomair generally sets Mondays as days for updating the comic; he frequently mocks the tardiness in updating in multiple strips due to personal reasons. The comic series often includes video game-based comedy and satire targeting the video-game industry.
The VG Cats website also hosts two extra comic series, known as Super Effective and Adventure Log. Ramsoomair updated VG Cats on a near weekly basis but happened to update Super Effective more than VG Cats. Adventure Log ended in 2008. Super Effective ended in 2015 and was cancelled in 2020, before returning in 2024. An old sprite comic based off of Super Mario characters, Bad Mushrooms, would also be hosted on the VG Cats site on its own section on the archive page. It has since been removed following a major site update in 2021.
All of VG Cats is drawn and written by Ramsoomair, with occasional guest comics, which were comics written or drawn by another webcomic/person for Ramsoomair.
==History== 
Scott Ramsoomair said he had began the strip due to boredom at work; he created comics during his lunch breaks.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRM7SBiryss The first VG Cats strip was released on either August 30, 2001 or September 1, 2001, with the site itself being put up on September 9. Ramsoomair's answer on the now removed FAQ page said it was bad timing in reference to the September 11 attacks that happened a few days after.The FAQ page on the VG Cats website (http://web.archive.org/web/20061017131332/http://www.vgcats.com/faq) Prior to taking the VGCats.com domain name, the comic was hosted at www.vgcats.cjb.net.http://web.archive.org/web/20021010082257/http://vgcats.cjb.net/ It was then moved to members.tripod.com/weblikescrapbook, which was hosted by Tripod.http://web.archive.org/web/20011101025346/http://members.tripod.com/weblikescrapbook/main.htm
The comic would become popular with the furry community, due to the main cat characters being anthropomorphic. When Ramsoomair started the comic, he was not aware of the furry community, but would say that he was aware the art was 'regarded as such', and didn't care either way. A running gag surrounding the webcomic is Ramsoomair's infamous update schedule. VG Cats was said to update every Monday, but a lot of the times would usually update late, especially in later years of the comic where a new comic would be uploaded every month or so. As of 2024, the VG Cats site now states that the comic updates monthly.https://vgcats.com/main.php Several early VG Cats would be edited and remade throughout 2003 to 2005.
According to Blind Ferret Entertainment, who handled advertising on the VG Cats site from late 2006 to 2013,http://web.archive.org/web/20061213180917/http://www.vgcats.com/advertise/ the VG Cats site had over 19,000,000 monthly page views, and 1,300,000 monthly unique viewers by 2008.http://web.archive.org/web/20080220105531/http://blindferretmedia.com/
It was announced that the comic would be ended in 2022, with Ramsoomair planning one last strip. No updates would be heard from the site that year. The last VG Cats strip for a while would be Old Mother Hubbard. In December 2023, a new VG Cats strip would be released, About, and since then the comic has officially been brought back.
==Setting==
A lot of VG Cats comics parody certain games, with Leo Leonardo III and Aeris playing the roles as certain video game characters for the parody. There are still quite a lot of comics that feature the main characters going about their daily life, such as Leo annoying Aeris with his constant banter and jokes, whether it be at their own house or walking outside. Due to the comic primarily focusing on video game parodies, not much of setting is revealed.
VG Cats does feature several common locations, such as Leo and Aeris' house, the arcade and video game stores, and Dr. Hobo's alleyway. Characters can also be seen at restaurants or pharmacies. Glimpses of city buildings and houses can also be seen in some comics that feature the characters outside. 
The characters also seem to be aware they're in a webcomic, with Leo mentioning Ramsoomair in the comic I Like Bunnies. Leo would also later say that VG Cats is 99.9% Canadian in the comic Oh Canadia!.
==Characters==
VG Cats is not a storyline-based comic, although there are several characters that are staples of the comic. Ramsoomair said that all of his characters "relate" to him "at some point". Joystiq has defined them as "adorable characters who feel most at home with violence, language, and sexual innuendo". Recurring characters in VG Cats include:
;Leo Leonardo, the Third
Leo Leonardo III is a gray cat. He is depicted as being very stupid, and doing stupid and even deranged things. He is Aeris' best friend, and they can be seen usually playing video games together. 
;Aeris
Aeris is a pink cat, who usually acts very annoyed. Her best friend and co-star, Leo, never fails to annoy her with his constant idiotic banter. 
;PantsMan
PantsMan is the self-insert character of Scott Ramsoomair. He is a superhero that wears boxers on his head, but in reality is not that good of a superhero, as he is very lazy when it comes to updating VG Cats. He sometimes acts smug or even rude in general. 
;Krug
Krug is a hulking red demon. Despite the demon association, his personality is relatively calm, and only gets set off when something bothers him or somebody hurts his feelings, even resorting to violence. 
;Ternaldo
Ternaldo is an enthusiastic Galkan fanboy who loves card games and anything nerd related. He is seen to be stupid and have a lack of social skils, and having little to none actual friends, but he doesn't really care about this. 
;Dr. F.G. Hobo
Dr. F.G. Hobo is a homeless drunkard who was an actual doctor, but overdosed on crack, which has led him to living in an alleyway where he tells Leo stories or wisdom from his delusional mind.
;Johnny Evilguy
Johnny Evilguy wears a black robe to conceal half of his face. He has an obsession with testicles, and has been running several other businesses such as a comic book shop. 
;Major Payne
Major Payne is a former military official that was kicked from the military for his sexually violent ways. 
Leo and Aeris would also be named after Ramsoomair's real life cats at the time, but according to him they have no other similarities.http://web.archive.org/web/20061017125657/http://www.vgcats.com/new/
===Minor Characters===
Most of these characters are named after video-games 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. He dies "due to lack of original and exclusive releases" in Operating Buddy. 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. An Xbox is shown 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 often goes unnoticed, and later becomes a successful poet.
:*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.
:*Mrs. SNES is the mother of GameCube, Dreamcast and Wii. She still feels hurt by Sega Genesis' liaisons with the Sega 32X and the Sega CD.
:*Sega Genesis, married to Mrs. SNES and the father of GameCube and Dreamcast. Genesis is extremely disappointed at Dreamcast for "dropping out". He is later seen trying to find some prostitutes around "Jarvis St." and has an awkward encounter with the 'NDS.
:*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. is a doctor who fails to save GameCube's life, due to his low mobility. The R.O.B. is one of the NES robots originally released with the NES.
:*PSP is unwanted and unused by his owner, PantsMan.
:*Game Boy and Game Boy Color are two grouchy old men who always gripe about how their generation of Pokémon (the first 150) are better.
:*Mr. Potatamoto represents Nintendo in several comics. Potatomoto often tricks the peas into buying his stuff, which often is just useless and very costly. Ramsoomair said that Potatamoto is his favorite character, and was described by him as a "a little tiny potato Shiggy Miyamoto".http://web.archive.org/web/20060612234249/http://comixpedia.com/an_interview_with_scott_ramsoomair_of_vg_cats
:*The Pea Brains are a bunch of young peas who represent the market and are always scammed into buying things from Mr. Potatamoto because they are gullible. They all die of, presumably, thirst, starvation, and probably a broken heart in Waiting. However, they are seen again in Subtlety.
== List of comics ==
== Related webcomics ==
Megacat and Bad Mushrooms were sprite comics Ramsoomair had made through 2001 to 2002. There were plans to remake Bad Mushrooms in the VG Cats art style in 2003, but there were only 2 comics that would be remade.VG Cats archive page in 2004(https://web.archive.org/web/20040810213334/http://vgcats.com/archive/)
VG Kitties was a short-lived webcomic that showed the two main characters, Leo and Aeris, as kittens. The three comics made for it were released in October of 2003, and was available for those who had voted for VG Cats on BuzzComix,https://web.archive.org/web/20031023025408/vgcats.com/ before being put on the main site itself later on.
Adventure Log was another short-lived webcomic that started in 2007, and parodied Final Fantasy XI Online, and lasted only seven comics. It featured the character Kiro, who was a new player to the game and trying to adjust to the game's environment. It ended in 2008. 
Super Effective is a webcomic that parodies Pokémon, and was the longest lasting webcomic Ramsoomair had made other than VG Cats. It started in 2008, and continued up until 2015. It was officially cancelled in 2020, due to time and motivation.http://web.archive.org/web/20201231033624/https://www.vgcats.com/ It was announced that it would be brought back in 2024.
== VG Cats Forum ==
The VG Cats Forum was opened sometime around late 2001 during the period where the site was hosted on Tripod. It was then re-opened and moved and hosted on VGCats.com sometime around late 2002.http://web.archive.org/web/20021128063622/http://www.vgcats.com/ The forum would continue being hosted on the site up until December 2004, where it was closed.http://web.archive.org/web/20041228233700/http://vgcats.com/ On April 18, 2005, Ramsoomair would say the forum would be returning.http://web.archive.org/web/20050420084646/http://www.vgcats.com/ It was re-opened the following month, now under forum.vgcats.com.http://web.archive.org/web/20050516233858/http://www.vgcats.com/http://web.archive.org/web/20050531214029/http://forum.vgcats.com/ By February 2011, the forum would be closed again for unknown reasons that were not brought up in a post on the site. The forum has not returned since.
For every new comic that released, there would be a post that would open up for fans to discuss the comic. The sections on the forum as of May 2005 were as followed:
General
General Discussion: General news and discussion. Not for spam, except within the "Chat Thread". There's an "Avatar & Sig thread" as well.
Links, Favorites, and Polls.: Flash movies, zanny links, your favorite beans; all in poll form.
Anime: No posting of licensed anime. KAWII DESKU NO BAKA NE-CHAN ;;;;;;=^_O=!!!
Creative Corner
Art: If your posting a lot of your art, keep it to one thread. IE, "Jae's art". Revive the thread at anytime.
Music: The hills are aliiiive with the sound of muuuuusic!
Writing: Poetry, novels, short stories, etc... Not for personal posts.
Videogames & Tech
Videogames: Gaming news, reviews, and previews. No MMORPGS.
Online Games: MMORPS and other games played online.
Tech News & Help: Technology news, computer help, and advice.
Comics
Webcomics: Talk about other webcomics here.
Print Comics: From Marvel to Calvin and Hobbes.
VG Cats: Comic comments, fan art, and fan comics.
These sections would be altered over the years.
==Merchandise==
VG Cats would have a variety of merchandise for the comic over the years. Originally, Ramsoomair would use CafePress as the main provider for the VG Cats store.https://web.archive.org/web/20030207181340/http://www.vgcats.com/store.htm However, he would later close the store the following year due to a policy change that charged creators if their creations didn't make a certain amount of money within a specific period.https://web.archive.org/web/20030621020521/http://www.vgcats.com/https://web.archive.org/web/20030810143536/http://www.vgcats.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=274 In 2003, Ramsoomair would self-host the store on the VG Cats site itself, and sell high quality prints of any comic, including other posters. For a small while in 2004, the store would be be moved to Hyperion Press.https://web.archive.org/web/20040618090923/http://www.vgcats.com/ The store would be moved again to ZeStuff through August 2004 to 2007, who would also handle advertising on the VG Cats site.https://web.archive.org/web/20040824083801/http://www.vgcats.com/http://web.archive.org/web/20060106233235/http://www.vgcats.com/advertise/ Since 2007, the official VG Cats store has been hosted on Shark Robot.http://web.archive.org/web/20081206155259/http://www.vgcats.com/
Several shirts referencing certain jokes from the comic would be made over the years, along with an offical plushie of the character Leo in 2007, which would also be sold at conventions.http://web.archive.org/web/20070714211817/http://vgcats.com/ An official book for the webcomic called VG Cats: Volume 1 would be released on November 25, 2011, and is currently stil available for purchase through the Shark Robot store.http://web.archive.org/web/20111204161004/http://www.vgcats.com/https://sharkrobot.com/collections/vg-cats
==Conventions==
Ramsoomair would show up at many conventions, and would set up a VG Cats booth. At the booth, people would be able to buy VG Cats merchandise as well, ranging from posters, shirts, badges, hats, and the Leo plushie. He would also sign posters, along with drawing sketches. After the release of the VG Cats: Volume 1 and Super Effective books, Ramsoomair would also start selling those at conventions.
Panels would also occur featuring him, where Ramsoomair would show his comic process.
Ramsoomair would make two comics about conventions. The first one was the now removed Wrath-o-Con '06, Part 1, which shows Aeris and Leo at their own VG Cats booth. Years later, the comic Total Request Live would show PantsMan signing a fan's VG Cats: Volume 1 book at a convention.
==Awards==
VG Cats has been nominated for several Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards, winning 2 awards in 2005 and 1 in 2006.
* 2003 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards, 2003: Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comichttps://web.archive.org/web/20080725101314/http://www.ccawards.com/2003_ceremony.htm
* 2004 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards: Outstanding Character (Visual), 2004 Outstanding Use of Color, 2004 Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic, 2004 Outstanding Gaming Comichttps://web.archive.org/web/20100117080609/http://www.ccawards.com/2004.htm
* 2005 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards 2005: Winner: 2005 Outstanding Use of Color, 2005 Outstanding Comedic Comic, 2005 Outstanding Short Form Comic, Winner: 2005 Outstanding Gaming Comic. Honorable mention: 2005 Character Art & Artisthttps://web.archive.org/web/20080503234826/http://www.ccawards.com/2005.htm
* 2007: Outstanding Use of Color (finalist)http://web.archive.org/web/20070221043224/https://ryanestrada.com/wcca07/ceremony/color.htm, Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic (finalist)http://web.archive.org/web/20070221070848/http://ryanestrada.com/wcca07/ceremony/anthropomorphic.htm, Outstanding Gaming Comic (finalist)https://web.archive.org/web/20080202164826/http://ryanestrada.com/wcca07/ceremony/gaming.htm.
* 2008 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards: 2003 Outstanding use of the medium (finalist)https://web.archive.org/web/20090310200607/http://www.ccawards.com/2008finalists.html
==See also==
* VGCats.com site layout
==External links==
* VG Cats on Wikipedia
* VG Cats website
==References==
Category:Webcomics
Category:VG Cats