It always seems like I get lots of questions from people about my site. So hopefully this page will cut down on some of my "I have a question..." e-mails. (Plus give information to needy SK fans!)

Sorry that this page looks kind of dry, but when you have a lot of information to convey....

So before you e-mail.... read this page! This page includes:

• Info about SWAT Kats in general
• Info about SWAT Kats stuff (& how to find)
• Info about the Fan Art Page
• Info about the SWAT Kats RPG

1. "What is SWAT Kats?" --- SWAT Kats is a cartoon show made by Hanna-Barbera from 1993-1995. It was cancelled, likely due to some bad treatment (impossible airtimes and crappy merchandise.) It was about two humanoid cats (called "kats") who fly around in a jet (the Turbokat) and fight supervillains. Also featured in the series are a police/military force called the Enforcers, headed by Commander Feral, and a gutsy Deputy Mayor, Callico Briggs.
2. "When will there be new episodes?" --- General opinion is that the show 's premise was not of extremely high quality- or popularity- and thusly has an infinitesimally small chance of being revived. So for those of you wanting to know when new episodes of SK are coming out... they aren't and probably never will. Sorry.
3. "Where can I find more info about the SWAT Kats?" --- There are a huge number of SWAT Kats websites out there (probably due to the fact that SK was a likeable if shallow cartoon) and almost all of them have some info about the show. Your best bets for general SWAT Kats information are the SK Xtreme site and Klawz's SWAT Kats Devotional. To find files and other "computer stuff" about SWAT Kats, there is a large amount of hard-to-find files here on Strike's SK Zone. Other good sites for this sort of thing all depend on what sort of files you are looking for - most SK sites are specialized. See the SK Links page to narrow down your choices.
4. "When does SWAT Kats come on?" Cartoon Network shifts their schedules around a lot, but SWAT Kats has stayed on a basic routine schedule for the past three years or so. I feel pretty safe posting this- CTN will probably do just as it always has regarding airtimes and dates.
• Most of the year, they show SWAT Kats on a Saturday afternoon. The specific time switches from year to year, but it's usually around 2 to 4 pm EST. They once tried shifting it to a Sunday morning, but I guess that didn't work too well because they never did it again.
• Around the end of March/beginning of April, they show a SuperChunk (3-hour block, Saturday afternoon) of SWAT Kats. Sometimes they show another one in October or November.
• CTN begins showing SWAT Kats regularly during the summer, after June Bugs programming is over. It is usually on weekdays, early in the afternoon- before Toonami. (It is usually the show just before. It actually used to be a Toonami show, but they shoved it out in favor of Thundercats, when they got that show.) They usually stick with the Saturday afternoon episode, too. They generally show the episodes in order- excluding the Sat. afternoon one.
• They stop airing SK on weekdays in October or November. (Since there are only 24 episodes, they rerun them all through three or four times.) They usually keep the Saturday afternoon episode, but sometimes they'll drop it for a couple of months and put it back later.

1. Posters. By far the hardest SK item to find. Sold for a short time in California K-Marts. I believe there are two posters, however, I might be wrong- there might only be one. The Tremblays (the brothers who originally thought up SWAT Kats, and sold the idea to Hanna-Barbera) were, at one point, offering an original SK animation cel, in return for an SK poster... if anyone could find one.
2. Action Figures. One of the easier items, but it gets harder to find them the longer you wait to look. Four figures: T-Bone, Razor, Dr. Viper, and Dark Kat. Sold through Toys R' Us and Kay-Bee Toys (Kay-Bee is now out of business.) I doubt they have them on display shelves any longer, but you might get lucky. Try looking in bargain bins. If you're desperate, try looking on toy resale sites, or toy newsgroups.
3. Videos. There are 3 tapes, each featuring two first-season episodes. I have no idea what their specific names are, but if you go to Blockbuster or Hastings, you may luck out. (If they search their databases, they should be listed under "SWAT Kats.") They will probably not have any copies on hand, but more likely than not will be able to order them from their suppliers. However, animation companies tend to put their videos on "moratorium" - making the video completely unavailable for a long period of time. (Disney, the most notorious offender, keeps their videos on moratorium for 8 years.)
4. Video Game. Probably the easiest thing to find. The video game was made for Super Nintendo (yeah, that old thing!), and actually came out AFTER the show had been cancelled. Thus it didn't sell too well, and there are plenty of copies still lying around. Mostly they were sold through Toys R' Us, but I doubt you'll find a copy there. The most likely place you're going to find them will be at video game resale businesses like FunCoLand or Video Game Trading Post. Even pawn shops will deal in video games, sometimes. You may not get the box or the instruction book, but most of the moves can be figured out. (It's not a very complicated game.) If you're looking to rent, Hastings and Blockbuster (and other movie rental places) sometimes keep a few SNES games around, until they break or get lost. They also usually keep a bargain bin of previously-played games. Sometimes if you find a rental copy, the manager of that outlet will be willing to sell you the game at a previously-played price. (They're out to make money, remember.)
5. Books or Comics. There are no SK books or comics. The rumor that the TV show was based on a comic book is wrong. The original drawings (by Christian and Yvon Tremblay) have a comic-book style, but that's it.
6. Miscellaneous junk. The hardest stuff to find (aside from posters) and will probably be the most valuable. (However small that value may turn out to be- SK was not a very popular show when it was new.) Restaurant "happy meal" giveaways such as whistles shaped like the Turbokat. Toy "SWAT Kats" handcuffs. Stuff like that.
7. Animation Cels/Lithographs. I was wrong, THESE are the most valuable. These are extremely hard to find and are generally very expensive. (I found one a few years ago, at it was priced at almost $400.00) The only place that would carry these are the Warner-Brother's stores. (WB owns H-B.) Usually they don't sell them, though, since cels from shows like the Jetsons, Flintstones, and Scooby Doo have a much greater chance of being bought. So your best bet would be to look in large stores (the one I found was in the Washington DC area, in the Tyson's Corner mall. I don't believe that the store is there any longer) and cross your fingers. Occasionally the stores can order cels. However, the availabilty of special-ordering depends entirely on the corporation's whim, and if they say "maybe we can get it" it is almost certainly a "no." A better place to look would be an animation cel newsgroup, or auction want ads like e-bay.
8. You will almost always have better luck using online companies to find your SWAT Kats merchanidise. Auction sites such as E-Bay and Yahoo! Auctions will often have someone trying to sell an SK video or action figure. They may be used, and not in the packaging, but the price is usually right (and who wants to keep action figures in the packaging, anyway?) Other places like specialized newsgroups (for toy buyers, cel buyers, etc) are generally a good place to look, also. Online movie merchants (Reel.com is a good one) can sell you the SK videos....
9. Lastly- I reccommend that if you DO find any of this stuff, BUY it (with the exception of the cels.). There are tons of SK fans on the internet who have been trying to find some of this stuff for years. If you find two T-Bone action figures, and post a notice to the newsgroup or mailing list, you will get offers from people to buy them from you. You might even make a profit!

1. "What's on the Fan Art Page?" --- All of the stuff on the Fan Art page is drawn by SWAT Kats fans. Not all of it is directly from the TV show- I have tried to say whether the subject is "RPG character" "Fanfic character" etc.... I did not used to restrict the page to "stuff only from the tv show"- since SK fan fiction and SK RPGs are based on the TV show and usually have the same types of characters and stuff, I used to accept that sort of material, too.
2. Recently, I have changed the acceptance guidelines for the SK Fan Art Page. Due to time constraints, I am no longer able to upload all of the art that people send to me. This is probably a good thing in a way, since the FA page had become more of a furry art archive than a SWAT Kats fan art archive. From here on out, the only art that will be uploaded to the page will be the work that includes characters or other things from the TV show. No longer am I able to upload art that pertains to fan fiction or RPG - unless it includes an SK character. I'm sorry about these new restraints, but I just can't keep up with everything anymore.
3. "Where do you draw the line?" ---  I have two lines: Unrelated Stuff and Not Allowed Stuff.
• Not Allowed Stuff is anything with naked characters in it, any sexual type content, etc. If you don't want your parents to see you looking at it, then it's not going to be on my page. This also means that I don't allow things like vulgar words or gestures, IF the content of the pic depends on that word or gesture. For instance, if the SWAT Kats were giving Feral the bird, I woudln't allow that pic. However, I *would* allow a pic where a slight obscenity were used, if I didn't feel that it stood out or was particularly offensive. This is really a judgement call on my part.
• Unrelated Stuff is a bit more vague of a category. If you send me one picture of Razor and seven pictures of your personal kat character that you made up, the only one that will be posted is the one of Razor- unless one of the 'personal' pics also features a character from the TV show. The Fan Art Page isn't meant to be a personal art gallery for its members- I would like everything on it to be related to SWAT Kats. Also unacceptible is stuff like Road Rovers fan art. It's SORT of like SWAT Kats, but close only counts in horseshoes and handgrenades. If you start sending stuff like the doodles of whatever you drew in history class, those won't be accepted either- unless I feel there is a particularly good sketch.
4. "How do I submit art?" --- Just send me an e-mail with the art attached. Make sure you include the best e-mail address to reach you at, as well as the name you would like to be known as on the Fan Art Page. (i.e. "A She-Kat", "Ashrin", "Aun", "Nick Ball".) You can use your real name or a made-up name; however, I will not accept 'names' that are taken even partially from the TV show. It's confusing. (i.e. "Sarah Clawson," "Commander Feral," "Callie Kat.") There are a couple of artists on the page with those names (Callista SK, DJ Clawson), but that was before I made this rule. Be CERTAIN to send ALL Fan Art correspondence to strike@sprintmail.com - I may lose it, otherwise.
• Please remember that the most universally read files are .jpg/.jpeg and .gif . Bitmaps are also easily read, but their huge file size makes them impractical to use. If you send a .tif or other uncommon file type, I will most likely take the liberty of converting it to .jpg . Then I'll send it back to you and tell you that it's what I'm going to put on the page instead of the weird file you sent me.
• Please remember that if a picture is of a huge viewing size, it makes it incredibly difficult for a browser to look at it. If you know how, please shrink the file to a viewable size. If I receive a file that I consider too big (as in, completely off the screen) I will once again take liberties and shrink it for you. Then I'll send you an email telling you I'm going to put my version on the page, unless you want to shrink it yourself and re-send it to me.
• If I receive a file that is over 350 or 400 kb, I will probably attempt to save it with a different compression, to make the file size smaller. 350 kb is a lot of picture, and the only time a file that large is really acceptible is if it's drawn and viewed very large, and looks terrible if it's made any smaller. Since modifying the compression usually blurs the picture a little, I will send you the modified pic and ask you if it's okay to put on the page, instead of your original, huge file. This is just for the convenience of the viewer, and if you don't want me to do it, then I won't.

1. "Who are all these kats that weren't on the TV show?" --- They're all made-up characters. Strike, Klawz, Bender, Cameron - they're all made up. RPG means "Role Playing Game." Just like in Monopoly when you play with too many people and run out of shoes and irons and cars, and have to use things like buttons and pennies, we (the players) needed more, and more diverse, chracters than the TV show could provide. So, we made them up, and use them in the game. You don't have worry "Did I miss an 'Agent X' in the TV show?" because there wasn't ever an Agent X in the TV show.
2. "What's an RPG?" --- RPG stands for Role Playing Game. There's lots of different types of these. Two of the more popular kinds are Dice (Dungeons and Dragons) and Cards (Magic: The Gathering.) Since chat rooms and online services have become popular, a third type of RPG has sprouted up: Free-form. It's basically an organized chat room. We all arrive at the specified time, pick out a plot that everyone is going to follow, and make up the story, actions, and dialogue as we go. (Rules are sometimes made up along the way, too!) There isn't really a GM (game-master, a rather dictator-like position)- instead we have someone who makes sure that everyone is following the plot, and isn't getting too gory or obnoxious or anything.
3. "When and where do you meet?" --- The RPG meets in an IRC chat room (IRC is a chat program, anyone can use it, it's free.) The RPG's set meeting times are on Fridays and Saturdays at 11pm EST. If you can't be there at those times, then please don't apply to join. It's a waste of our time.
4. Any further info on the RPG can be found on the RPG section of this page, or if you have specific questions, feel free to e-mail me.

Fin