History WesternAnimation / SWATKats

The cartoon was created by Christian and Yvon Tremblay, two brothers from UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}. It ran on Creator/{{TBS}} and in syndication from 1993 to 1995, alongside ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'', and it also occasionally airs on Creator/CartoonNetwork's sister network Creator/{{Boomerang}}. There were a total of 23 original episodes over two seasons, with one special ClipShow episode capping the series off. The story takes place in "[[CityOfAdventure Megakat City]]", which is inhabited by [[TalkingAnimal Anthromorphic Kats]], and chronicles the adventures of two BadassNormal {{Superhero}} [[HeterosexualLifePartners best friends]] [[TheyFightCrime who fight]] [[SuperVillain super-crime]] under [[SecretIdentity secret identities]].

* AwesomeMcCoolname: "SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron". Also pretty much everyone and everything associated with them, and for bonus points the names sometimes start with "Mega" or "Turbo".
** "Chance Furlong" and "Jake Clawson" are some pretty cool names too.

* BadassBookworm: Razor.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Mac Mange and T-Bone.

* CoolPlane: The [=TurboKat=]. Even more so because it's based (physically, anyway) on the already cool real-life F-14 Tomcat (of ''Film/TopGun'' fame), with the level of tech turned UpToEleven. The damn thing can HOVER like a Harrier jumpjet, after all. Even the [[VideoGame/AceCombat Falken and Wyvern]] could legitimately get jealous.

** Weird. "Katastrophe" ''also'' had three different ones: [[spoiler:Dark Kat always planned to screw over everybody, so Viper anticipated that and decided to screw him first, and he recruited the Metallikats to screw Dark Kat with him. Also averted, in the sense that Dark Kat thought he could force the Metallikats to do his dirty work for him and screw Viper first. Please do not take any of these statements literally. If you do, considering we're talking about robots and mutated monsters, keep a bottle of BrainBleach handy. Thank you for visiting Wiki/TVTropes. Have a nice day.]]

* FourFingeredHands: The entire cast.
* FriendOnTheForce: Felina Feral.
* FungusHumongous: Dr. Viper's ravenous half cat, half mushroom assistant in "Katastrophe".
* FunnyAnimal: The entire cast are cats.
* FurryConfusion: Ann Gora wears earrings in the ''human'' position, apparently fixed to her jaw.
** Or they just dangle really low.

* GiantEyeOfDoom: "Mutation City".
* GirlFriday: Callie to Mayor Manx.

* CatsHaveNineLives: Referenced several times throughout the series.

* SkunkStripe: Felina's hair color.

* TheCommissionerGordon: Callie Briggs.
* ConvectionShmonvection: Flying around inside a volcano...right above the lava... piece of cake!
* ConveyorBeltODoom: Dark Kat tries to kill the heroes with one in "Night of the Dark Kat". [[ComplexityAddiction He should]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption have]] [[BondVillainStupidity known better]].

On July 23, 2015, the Tremblays began a Website/{{Kickstarter}} [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1820796125/swat-kats-revolution campaign]] to help fund a SequelSeries called ''SWAT Kats: Revolution''. Their initial goal was $50,000. When the campaign ended a month later, they'd collected $141,500 in pledges from 2,014 backers, which meant that we should've seen at least a two-minute teaser (among other materials) for the new show. In 2022, after nearly five years of DevelopmentHell, the series reboot has been picked up by India-based Toonz Media Group. Ironically, India is one of the countries with the biggest fanbase for the show.

On July 23, 2015, the Tremblays began a Website/{{Kickstarter}} [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1820796125/swat-kats-revolution campaign]] to help fund a SequelSeries called ''SWAT Kats: Revolution''. Their initial goal was $50,000. When the campaign ended a month later, they'd collected $141,500 in pledges from 2,014 backers, which meant that we should've seen at least a two-minute teaser (among other materials) for the new show. However, as of February 2020, there's been no sign of the teaser and no new information regarding ''Revolution'', and it appears to be indefinitely stuck in DevelopmentHell.[[labelnote:note]]The Tremblays actually have a proof of concept and several materials ready, and have been pitching the series to several distributors, such as Netflix. However, none have shown any interest.[[/labelnote]]

In 2022, after nearly five years of DevelopmentHell, the series reboot has been picked up by India-based Toonz Media Group. Ironically, India is one of the countries with the biggest fanbase for the show.

On July 23, 2015, the Tremblays began a Website/{{Kickstarter}} [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1820796125/swat-kats-revolution campaign]] to help fund a SequelSeries called ''SWAT Kats: Revolution''. Their initial goal was $50,000. When the campaign ended a month later, they'd collected $141,500 in pledges from 2,014 backers, which meant that we should've seen at least a two-minute teaser (among other materials) for the new show. However, as of February 2020, there's been no sign of the teaser and no new information regarding ''Revolution'', and it appears to be indefinitely stuck in DevelopmentHell.[[labelnote:note]]The Tremblays actually have a proof of concept and several materials ready, and have been pitching the series to several distributors, such as Netflix. However, none have shown any interest.[[/labelnote]] Time will tell if the squadron will fly again in the future.

* AliensAndMonsters: Many of the show's villains fall into this category.

* ConfidenceSabotage: In "Razor's Edge", Dark Kat sets up an elaborate BatmanGambit in which two of Razor's missiles hit a building and seemingly cause it to explode and injure an elderly couple. This causes Razor to lose his self confidence and be reluctant to fire missiles, which makes him a danger to him and T-Bone. Later on, T-Bone and Felina discover that Dark Kat had rigged the building to explode. Meanwhile, Razor, while visiting the couple in the hospital, discovers that they're actually criminals hired by Dark Kat to pretend they were injured. Upon realizing the truth, Razor regains his edge and he and T-Bone stop Dark Kat's giant black widow robot.

* XtremeKoolLetterz: Starting with the title.

* PoliceAreUseless: Back-and-forth. The Enforcers are a fairly effective police force formed to fight super-terrorists such as Dark Kat. They do a damn fine job in "The Pastmaster Always Rings Twice". [[BadassNormal Without the SWAT Kats' plane and gear]] and only conventional gas grenades and a convenient tar pit, they took out a frigging ''[[TyrannosaurusRex tyrannosaur]]'' and were just this side of getting the Pastmaster on their own. But it seems that the show takes place during their "fall from glory." The quality of their equipment is falling - the [=TurboKat=] is built out of the Enforcers' ''garbage'' but easily outperforms their current gear - and its leadership is in decline, with Feral being pigheaded and only sometimes competent, and Lt. Commander Steele being a complete idiot and a traitor. As a result, the Enforcers CantCatchUp to two hardcore badasses and the enemies that show up to challenge ''them''.

* DeathBySecretIdentity: In "Metal Urgency", the Metallikats learns the [=SWAT=] Kats true identities. However, despite wanting to know who they were, Commander Feral refused to make a deal with the Metallikats and deactivated them. It's then subverted when the Metallikats are brought back in future episodes, [[LaserGuidedAmnsia but don't remember the SWAT Kats identities]].