''"If I got a buck for every moment I'm mothering you guys..."
— Top Cat
Cats, Gangs and Leaders
is a Top Cat fanfiction by Samasim.
A horrible murder results in Top Cat’s gang losing a member, and Officer Dibble learns soon enough just how seriously Top Cat takes his role as leader. The story takes on a much Darker and Edgier tone than the 1960’s TV show.
This story is currently unfinished, but the tropes on this page will be updated, should it ever be completed.
Cats, Gangs and Leaders provides examples of:
- A Father to His Men: Top Cat was implied to be this in the original show. Here it’s the entire crux of the story.
- Ascended Extra: Spook, who in the show was one of the lesser focused on members of the gang, is this story’s deuteragonist.
- Bad Boss: Gold Pelt, in stark contrast to Top Cat. He takes sadistic pleasure out of torturing other cats, even if they work for him.
- Berserk Button: For Top Cat, hurting any member of his gang. Particularly Benny, as evidenced by the story Officer Mahoney tells Dibble in chapter 8. In short, a young Mahoney was left with a broken nose for hurting a certain blue kitten.
- For the gang, seeing Top Cat hurt. In chapter 6, Spook goes absolutely feral when Gold Pelt back hands Top Cat, and becomes more and more enraged the more Gold Pelt tortures his leader.
- Choo Choo also comes close to attacking someone when he finds out she (albeit unwillingly) had a hand in getting Top Cat hurt.
- For Gold Pelt, it’s the vulgar nickname Top Cat calls him by.
- For the gang, seeing Top Cat hurt. In chapter 6, Spook goes absolutely feral when Gold Pelt back hands Top Cat, and becomes more and more enraged the more Gold Pelt tortures his leader.
- Big Bad: The mysterious Gold Pelt, or G.P., leader of a far more dangerous gang of alley cats.
- The Dragon: Monster, Gold Pelt’s right paw cat and muscle.
- The Brute: Saber, whose much more feral than Monster, and is even implied to be a cannibal.
- Break the Cutie: Spook and Choo Choo
- Break the Haughty: Top Cat
- By-the-Book Cop: Officer Dibble. His biggest struggle in the story is wrestling between sternly sticking to his cop duties, and wanting to reach out and help this rag tag bunch of cats he’s grown to care about.
- Cain and Abel: Top Cat and Gold Pelt turn out to be brothers.
- Cannot Self Terminate: After crossing the Despair Event Horizon, Spook wants nothing more than to die. He's trapped and unable to though, as his boss wants to purposely keep him alive just to make him suffer.
- Cliffhanger: The story leaves off on one, since it’s currently unfinished.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Poor Choo Choo is subject to this when he tries to join Gold Pelt’s gang to get to Spook. He has most of his claws ripped out in the process.
- Spook suffers this for two days straight in chapter 9.
- Continuity Nod: Some minor characters from the show make appearances, like Officer Mahoney, Dibble’s cousin (though here he's named Tony rather than Patrick), and the hulking nurse from episode 7.
- Creepy Monotone: Gold Pelt’s default mode.
- Fancy Fancy goes into this at the end of chapter 7. Though it’s not an angry example, but more of an indicator for how emotionally dead he’s become due to the events that have transpired around him.
- Cruel Mercy: Gold Pelt's reason for continuing to keep Spook alive in chapter 9.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to the original, far more light hearted show.
- Despair Event Horizon: Spook crosses it when Gold Pelt seemingly murders Top Cat in front of him.
- Diving Save: Spook for Top Cat when the latter has a knife thrown at him.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Top Cat towards Dibble.
- Ear Ache: Spook has one of his ears grazed by a thrown knife, and the other shot off by a bullet.
- Fingore: Choo Choo has most of his claws painfully ripped out.
- Frame-Up: On top of nearly killing him, Gold Pelt also frames Top Cat for the kidnapping of the Mayor's daughter.
- The Heart: Benny. He’s the one who comforts Top Cat the most throughout the story, and even goes against Top Cat’s wishes and asks Officer Dibble for help out of worry.
- Heroic BSoD: Top Cat in chapter 9. Dibble worries that he'll never snap out of it.
- High on Catnip: Top Cat apparently turns to sniffing catnip when he’s stressed.
- Manipulative Bastard: Gold Pelt and Monster
- Mood Whiplash: In the midst of chapter 5, Top Cat gets roped into babysitting a couple of puppies, one of them being a Mouthy Kid who he partakes in Snark-to-Snark Combat with. The chapter ends with T.C. being taken at gunpoint to Gold Pelt, and things go further down hill from there.
- My Greatest Failure: How Top Cat sees his inability to shoot Gold Pelt when he had the chance. He couldn’t bring himself to take someone’s life, and it resulted in Spook losing an ear when pushing T.C. out of the way of a thrown knife.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Choo Choo really should have known better than to approach someone named Monster.
- Nice Guy: Dibble's cousin Tony. So nice a guy that he's one of the only humans Top Cat will open up to.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Spook tries this on Gold Pelt and his gang, but they see right through it.
- Pet the Dog: Top Cat regards the two puppies he’s roped into looking after with much disdain, but he still wraps his tail protectively around them when they sleep and hides them when danger approaches.
- Police Are Useless: Top Cat thinks so, at least. Which is why he won’t let Dibble or any other cop help him and his boys. He doesn’t trust that one of the cops won’t shoot Spook, who has temporarily joined up with a more dangerous gang.
- Precision F-Strike: The normally mellow Spook snaps and unleashes a tirade of curses towards Gold Pelt once finally pushed to the edge. Gold Pelt and his gang hang a lampshade on it in amusement.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Benny reveals to Dibble that he’s a master at this, and that it works on Top Cat every time.
- Rebellious Rebel: Spook
- Serious Business: Claws to the cats. Dibble is a little perplexed as to why Top Cat and his gang are so horrified at Choo Choo losing his claws, and assumes it must be an alley cat thing.
- Slashed Throat: Happens to Top Cat in chapter 6. Fortunately he survives.
- Sleep Cute: The entire gang, minus Spook, in a picture Tony shows Dibble.
- Stepford Snarker: Top Cat masks his unhappiness under several layers of snark.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Maybe. It’s implied that Top Cat and Gold Pelt look very similar and share some sort of past.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Dibble strongly believes so, and is horrified and angered when he thinks Top Cat may have resorted to this. He didn’t.
- Terms of Endangerment: Gold Pelt to both Top Cat and Spook.
- Too Dumb to Live: Benny. Both Top Cat and Dibble note that if it weren’t for them looking out for him, Benny probably would have been offed years ago. Though it’s more due to Benny’s naivety than dumbness.
- Choo Choo falls prey to this too, and unfortunately neither Top Cat nor Dibble is around at the time to save him. See Cold-Blooded Torture above.
- Undercover Cop Reveal: Agent S/Shirley, Gold Pelt’s spy, turns out to actually be working for the police.
- Undying Loyalty: All of Top Cat’s gang to their leader. Even Spook, who’s joined up with another gang, still remains loyal to Top Cat, risking his life for him twice.
- You Could have Used Your Powers for Evil: Gold Pelt to Top Cat in chapter 6, regarding Top Cat’s swindling skills.
- You Killed My Father: The story opens with Spook’s parents having been murdered by a gangster, prompting the usually most laid back member of Top Cat’s gang to become obsessed with seeking revenge.
